Russia's Physical Geography

Other Features

Russia's Climate

Siberia

The 'Stans

Seas & Lakes

Rivers

Mountians

Overview of Russia

By K. Kallies

Russia's Physical Geography

Summarize Russia in the flap called "Overview of Russia" in your foldable. It should be 4-5 sentences

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Extending nearly halfway around the Northern Hemisphere and covering much of eastern and northeastern Europe and all of northern Asia, Russia covers some 5,600 miles from west to east. It also varies from 1,500- 2,500 miles wide north to south. By far the world’s largest country, it covers nearly twice the territory of Canada, the second largest. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and the eastern third of Europe, spanning 11 time zones and incorporating a great range of environments and landforms, from deserts to semiarid steppes to deep forests and Arctic tundra. Russia contains Europe’s longest river, the Volga, and its largest lake, Ladoga. Russia also is home to the world’s deepest lake, Baikal, and the country recorded the world’s lowest temperature outside the North and South poles. Central Asia, central region of Asia, extends from the Caspian Sea in the west to China in the east. It is bounded on the north by Russia and on the south by Iran, Afghanistan. The region consists of the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan. Central Asia’s landscape can be divided into the vast grassy steppes of Kazakhstan in the north and the Aral Sea drainage basin in the south. About 60% of the region consists of desert. Most of the desert areas are unsuitable for agricultural use except along the margins of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya river systems

Overview of Russia & Central Asia

Summarize the Climate of Russia in the flap called "Russia's Climate" in your foldable. It should be 4-5 sentences

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Russia’s vast expanse of land extends from east to west, and all of the country lies in the same high latitude range. The result is much of the subregion has cold, snowy winters. There is variation in how cold and how long the winters last, and the warmth and length of the summers. The tundra occupies the parts of the subregion that are farthest north and covers about 10% of Russia. Here, the sky stays dark for many weeks before and after the winter solstice. Then, for several weeks in the summer, there is continuous sunlight. Its short growing season and thin, acidic soil lying just above the permafrost limit the kinds of plants that can grow there. Only mosses, lichens, and dwarf shrubs thrive here. South of the tundra lies the subarctic climate zone. While not as severe as the tundra climate, this zone only has four months of the year when the temperature rises above 50°F. The rest of the year is cold. The biome here is boreal forest, or taiga, which consists of broad expanses of coniferous evergreen trees. Russia’s midlatitude climates, found in the western region, are not as severe and have milder winters and warmer summers. Although still relatively cold, these climates are where most Russians live and where much of Russia’s agricultural production takes place. The natural biome here is deciduous forest, although much of it has been cleared for agriculture and construction.

Russia's Climate

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Watch the videos & answer the questions below

Siberia’s biome, or large geographic area of plants and animals, is a taiga. Siberia is full of pine and spruce trees. Large mountains and many rivers are also part of the landscape of Siberia. The Siberian landscape is usually covered in permafrost. Siberia has a short summer season. During this time, when the top layer of frost melts, residents can grow vegetables. Growing food is hard because the soil does not have many nutrients. Many people instead rely on reindeer meat, milk, and fish as their main food sources. These foods have many nutrients so the people are not malnourished. However, the living conditions are certainly not easy. Historically, Siberia has had a very low population. However, in recent years Siberia has gained population and become more economically developed because of the Trans-Siberian railroad has allowed people and goods to travel more easily in the region.

Directions

1. Define the following words - permafrost & taiga 2. Summarize Siberia. 3. According to the video, how cold can it get in Siberia? 4. How has the Trans-Siberian Railroad help this area? 5. According to the video, why was the Trans-Siberian Railroad built? 6. Why did Russia conquer Siberia?

Siberia

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Mountains

Key

Caucasus Mountains

Ural Mountains

Questions to Answer in Foldable

1. What do the Ural Mountains do? What are they responsible for? 2. How many lanuages are spoken in the Caucasus Mountians? 3.

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Watch the videos & answer the questions below

The Volga River flows from the European portion of Russsia, through central and sourthern Russia before finally draining into the Caspian Sea. The Volga River is almost 2,200 miles long is widely regared as the national river of Russia. Four of Russia's largest cities are located along its banks. Even though the Volga remains frozen for half of the year, it plays a very important role in Russia. It is vital for transportation and for providing hydroelectric power to the people of Russia. It is also responsible for providing 33% of Russia's usuable water, even though the River itself it considered to be extremely polluted. The river also has a symbolic meaning in Russian culture – Russian literature and folklore often refer to it. The Lena River is the longest River in Russia at over 2,700 miles. This river mainly runs through Siberia, so in the winter, it is covered with a thick layer of ice, which doesn’t melt completely until mid-summer. The Ob river basin, with all its tributaries, is the largest in Russia with an area of 2.99 million sq Km (larger than Argentina). The Yenisei River is another major river in Russia at 5.500 kilometers long. It is believed to be the natural boundary between Western & Eastern Siberia. The Yenisei river is fed by the Angara (its greatest tributary), which is the only river born out of Lake Baikal.

Directions

1. What are the major rivers in this region? 2. Give a brief description of each river. 3. Why is the Volga River important? (give at least 4 reasons) 4. Why are rivers important to Russia?

Rivers

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Seas & Lakes

Key

Caspian Sea

Aral Sea

Lake Baikal

Questions to answer in the foldable

1. Why is Lake Baikal important? 2. How much of the world's freshwater does Lake Baikal hold? 3. What is happening to the Aral Sea? Why? 4. Summarize the Caspian Sea in 15-20 words.

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Kazakhstan

The 'Stans

key

Turkmeinstan

Kyrgyzstan

Tajikistan

Uzbekistan

Questions to answer in the foldable

1. Describe each country in 15-20 words 2. How many ethnic groups are in Kazakhstan? 3. What does "stan" mean? 4. Where does the majority of the population in this area live? 5. What religion is dominat in this area?

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Northern European Plain

2)

A large, flat area of land that is located in the western part of Russia. This area has exrremely fertile soil called Chernozem. Abouth 75% of Russia's population live in the western part of Russia on the Northern European Plain.

Crimean Peninsula

4)

A peninsula located in Ukraine that Russia took control of an annexxed in 2014 in order to gain access to the Black Sea. This seizure of land was considered to be the largest land grab since World War II.

Arctic Sea

6)

The Arctic Sea is north of Russia and is located within the Arctic Circle. Russia is 1 of 5 countries that border the Arctic Sea. Becauseo of this, Russia aims to make use of the many natural resources located in the Arctic Sea. However, some of Russia's policy in the Arctic Sea has led to the destruction of the envrionment.

Kamchatka Peninsula

5)

Is a peninsula on the far eastern side of Russia in the Pacific Ocean. This peninsula has a large number of volcanoes (127) of which 22 of them are still active. It has a very low population density with just 2.3 people per square mile. Russia's first geothermic powerstation was built here

Kuril Islands

3)

They are an archipelago of islands located in the northern Pacific Ocean. Russia has controlled these islands since they invaded Japan at the end of World War II. Japan still insists that these islands are under their control. This as led to an ongoing dispute between both of the countries. Each laying claim t the islands because of their natural resources

Arctic Circle

1)

A line of latitude around the Earth, at approximately 66°30′ N. Because of the Earth’s inclination of about 23 1/2° to the vertical, it marks the southern limit of the area within which, for one day or more each year, the Sun does not set (about June 21) or rise (about December 21). The length of continuous day or night increases northward from one day on the Arctic Circle to six months at the North Pole

Write a brief summary (5-10 words) of each feature in the "Other Features" section of the Foldable

Other Features

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