Natural Environments
Chapter 17:1
[Image source: http://www.giantbomb.com/siberia/3035-3893/images/]
[Map source:
http://westshore.hs.brevard.k12.fl.us/teachers/sarverr/world_cultures_maps.htm]
[Map source:
http://westshore.hs.brevard.k12.fl.us/teachers/sarverr/world_cultures_maps.htm]
[Image source: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/commonwealth/ussr_terrain_1974.jpg]
Physiographic Diagram of Northern Eurasia
[Map source: World Regional Geography by Heintzelman and Highsmith, 395]
Russia’s northern
location influences
how land can be
used.
[Image source: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/commonwealth/soviet_land_82.jpg]
The Caucasus
Mountains Region
(aka the Near-Abroad)
[Map source: The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk, page xxi]
The Far East
Region
(aka Primorsky Krai, or the
Maritime Territory)
[Map source: The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk, page xxiv]
Tundra (Sami word tūndâr "uplands", "treeless mountain
tract“) is a type of biome where the tree growth is hindered
by low temperatures and short growing seasons.
The ecotone (or ecological boundary region) between the
tundra and the forest is known as the tree line or timberline.
[Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Biome_map_11.svg]
Arctic tundra vegetation is composed of dwarf
shrubs, sedges and grasses, mosses, and lichens.
[Image source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Tundra_in_Siberia.jpg]
The Taiga, aka boreal forest, is the
world's largest terrestrial biome,
comprising 29% of the world’s trees.
[Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Distribution_Taiga.png]
The taiga is a biome characterized by
coniferous forests consisting mostly
of pines, spruces and larches.
[Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jack_London_Lake_by_bartosh.jpg]
[Image source: http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/45/4445-004-5806C32A.jpg]
[Image source: http://blog.oup.com/2013/04/environmental-history-russia-steppes/]
The Ural Mountains unevenly
divides Russia into two parts:
[Map source: http://westshore.hs.brevard.k12.fl.us/teachers/sarverr/world_cultures_maps.htm]
Dniepir River
Don River
[Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_River_(Russia)#/media/File:Donrivermap.png]
Volga River
• longest river in Europe
• Europe's largest river in terms of
discharge and watershed
• flows through central Russia and into
the Caspian Sea
• viewed as the national river of Russia
• eleven of the twenty largest cities of
Russia, including the capital,
Moscow, are in the Volga's watershed
(drainage basin)
• often referred to as Volga-Matushka
(Mother Volga) in Russian literature
and folklore
[Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga_River]
o the combined Ob-Irtysh
system, the fourth-longest
river system of Asia
o Ob river basin consists
mostly of steppe, taiga,
swamps, tundra, and semidesert topography
o floodplains of the Ob are
characterized by many
tributaries and lakes
o is ice-bound at southern
part from early in
November to near the end
of April; northern
Salekhard, 100 miles
(160 km) above its mouth,
from the end of October to
the beginning of June
Ob River
[Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ob_River#/media/File:Ob_watershed.png]
o the largest river system
flowing to the Arctic Ocean
o central of the three great
Siberian rivers that flow
into the Arctic Ocean
o drains a large part of
central Siberia
Yenisei
River
[Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yenisei_River#/media/File:Yeniseirivermap.png]
o easternmost of the three great
Siberian rivers
o flows into the Arctic Ocean
o 11th longest river in the world
o 9th largest watershed in the
world
o 3rd largest river in Asia
o the largest of the rivers whose
watershed is entirely within the
Russian territorial boundaries
Lena River
[Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_River#/media/File:Lena_watershed.png]