Chapter 15 Notes

Physical Geography of Russia & the Republics: A Land of Extremes

• Region is 3x’s the size of U.S.

• Crosses 11 time zones & 2 continents

• 1/6 of all land area

Section 1- Landforms & Resources

• Northern European plain– Contains 75% of regions

population• Moscow• St. Petersburg• Kiev

– Chernozem- black earth

Section 1- Landforms & Resources

• Ural Mts.- dividing line between Europe & Asia– Eurasia- name given for

the single landmass of Europe & Asia

Section 1- Landforms & Resources

• DON’T WRITE• Transcaucasia- region that consists of

Armenia, Azerbaijan, & Georgia

Section 1- Landforms & Resources

Transcaucasia Central Asia

• Lake Baikal- – Deepest lake in the world– Holds 20% of worlds

freshwater supplies

Section 1- Landforms & Resources

• Siberia- the part of Russia that lies on the continent of Asia– Very inaccessible– 1/5 of world’s timber resources– Very cold winters

Section 1- Landforms & Resources

• Continentality- the effects of being so far away from large bodies of water– Hotter summers – & colder winters– Kansas?

Section 2- Climate & Vegetation

• Taiga- largest forest on earth

Section 2- Climate & Vegetation

• DON’T WRITE

• Reindeer

Section 2- Climate & Vegetation

• Aral Sea- once 4th largest freshwater lake in world– Water from its 2 main rivers has

been diverted to cotton fields – No native fish left of 24 species

Section 3- Human-Environment Interaction

• Runoff- rainfall not absorbed by the soil that runs into streams & rivers– This has severely damaged

the Aral Sea

Section 3- Human-Environment Interaction

• Don’t Write – Some areas of Siberia get to -95° F in the

winter• Cracks steel• Tires Explode

– “Whispering of the Stars”• When you exhale, your breath freezes into crystals

that fall to the ground & make a noise

Section 3- Human-Environment Interaction

• Don’t Write• Warm weather melts the ice & snow

causing flooding– Brings enormous clouds of insects

• Permafrost in the region also means buildings have to be built up off of the ground

Section 3- Human-Environment Interaction

• Don’t Write

• Russian winters stopped Napoleon & Hitler– Napoleon left Russia with 100,000 troops at the

beginning of winter, by the time he got back to France he had lost 90,000 troops

Section 3- Human-Environment Interaction

Section 3- Human-Environment Interaction• DON’T WRITE• Trans-Siberian Railroad- links

Moscow and Vladivostok– 5700 miles long– Crosses 7 time zones