Russia and Central Asia
Physical Characteristics
Russia and Central Asia—Physical Features WS
1. How many times zones does Russia cover?
11
2. Which mountain range is usually considered the dividing point between Europe and
Asia?
The Ural Mountains
3. Where is the Volga River located?
Western Russia; begins near Moscow and flows into the Caspian Sea
4. Is there more land on the European or Asian side of Russia?
Asian side
5. Russia spans nearly 170 degrees of longitude, which is almost half the globe. How
many total degrees of longitude are there?
180
--What is the name of the 0 degree longitude line?
The Prime Meridian
--What is the name of the 180 degree longitude line?
The International Date Line
6. Name two reasons why it is difficult to govern a huge country like Russia.
The expansive land area; the weak infrastructure; the diverse economies and cultures
of the Russian people
7. What is permafrost? Where in Russia can it be found?
Permanently frozen subsoil; Northern Russia in the Tundra (upper high latitudes) and
the Subarctic Climate region (lower high latitude)
8. Where in Russia and Central Asia might you find a steppe region? What is the land
like in a steppe?
Southern Siberia and Central Asia in the land of the “Stans” (mostly Kazakhstan and
western Uzbekistan; this area has a semi-arid climate and is predominantly grasslands
used for nomadic farming
9. Where can you find deserts in Central Asia?
In eastern Uzbekistan (Kyzyl-Kums), Turkmenistan (Kara-Kums), and Southeastern
Kazakhstan (Muyun-Kums)
10.What is chernozem soil? Where can you find it?
Nutrient rich, fertile (arable) soil or “black earth”; along the North European Plain in the
Ukraine and western Russia within the Fertile Triangle
11.Where in Russia can you find a tundra climate? What is the land usually like in
these areas?
Northern Russia in the upper high latitudes close to the Arctic Circle
12.Which country in Europe, formerly known as the “breadbasket of the Soviet
Union”, is famous for its black earth?
The Ukraine
13.Is there a higher population on the European or Asian side of Russia?
The European side
14.Which rebellious region of Russia can be found in the Caucasus Mountains?
Chechnya within the Caucasus Mountains
15.Where do the Ural Mountains begin and end?
The Kara Sea in the north and extend to the land just north of the Caspian Sea in the
south
16.Where is the Aral Sea?
Central Asia, in southwestern Kazakhstan and northwestern Uzbekistan
17.Where is Siberia?
The Russian land area east of the Ural Mountains
18.Describe the population density in Siberia.
Sparse (some village life-styles in the central uplands, some nomadic-herding in the
southern parts; but, wages are high in Siberia for workers willing to brave the bitter
cold climate)
19.Where in Russia and Central Asia might you find good farmland?
Along the North European Plain, in the Fertile Triangle known for the rich, black soil chernozem
20.Name two reasons why it is difficult and expensive to develop the resources in
Siberia.
Cold climates, expansive land area, poor infrastructure, lack of capital and human
resources
21.What river in Russia is the longest river in Europe?
The Volga
22.Why is the Aral Sea polluted?
The poor agricultural practices of the Soviet government (over-irrigation and
irresponsible use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and nuclear weapons testing)
23.Where are the Caucasus Mountains?
They span the land area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea
24.Which body of water does the Ob River flow into?
The Arctic Ocean
25.What is the climate like in much of Siberia?
Bitter cold temperatures, tundra and subarctic climates
26.Which body of water does the Amur River flow into?
The Pacific Ocean by way of the Strait of Tartar
27.Name three resources found in Siberia.
Oil, coal, natural gas, iron ore, timber (taiga)
28.What types of resources can be found in and around the Caspian Sea?
Oil and natural gas
29.Where in Russia might you find a taiga region?
The lower high latitudes, in the subarctic climate region
30.Which lake in Siberia is the deepest freshwater lake in the world?
Lake Baikal
31.Which river can be seen from the Kremlin in Moscow?
The Volga
32.What is the world’s largest landlocked sea?
The Caspian Sea (actually a salt water lake)
33.Which huge region in Russia is called “the sleeping land”?
Siberia
34.Why was a canal built between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea? Which larger
sea can be reached if you can get to the Black Sea?
The transportation of goods to the Mediterranean Sea and into the Atlantic Ocean
35.The Amur River forms part of the border between Russia and which Asian
country?
China
36.Name another river somewhere else in the world that forms part of a border
between two countries.
The Rio Grande between the U.S. and Mexico, the Danube between Bulgaria and
Romania,
the Jordan between Jordan and Israel
37.Why is the Aral Sea shrinking?
Diversion of water from the Syr Darya and the Amur Darya, both feeder rivers to the
Aral Sea, for the over-irrigation of the land area within Central Asia (Kazakhstan and
Uzbekistan) to grow cotton as a cash crop; with the shrinking of the water body the salt
concentration also increased
38.Which body of water separates Russia from Alaska?
The Bering Strait