Physical Aspects of the Asian Continent

Source: geographia.com.br

Aspects of relief

The Asian continent is bathed in the north by the Arctic Glacial Ocean, in the east by the Pacific and in the south by the Indian Ocean. It is limited by the Ural Mountains, the Caucasus Chain and the Caspian, Black and Mediterranean Seas. The Ural Mountains establish the border with the European continent in the western portion, through a natural barrier that separates the European and Asian portion from Russia.

It is interesting to note that in Asia there are two extremes of altitude on Earth: the continental depression with lower altitude in the Dead Sea region (-416 m) and Mount Everest (8,848 m), located in the Himalayan Mountain Range.

The highlands are predominant in the continent, since in them are the dividers of the hydrographic basins and the springs of the main rivers, such as the Ganges, Indo, Huang-ho (Yellow), Yang-tse (Blue) and Ob. In Japan, on the Korean peninsula and in western China we have the predominance of mountainous relief. In Mongolia we have arid plateaus with up to 2,000 m of altitude. The plains are found at the ends of the continent and in areas bathed by large rivers. Among the main ones we can mention Siberia (Russia), Indo-Gangetic (India) and the Chinese plain of the Yellow and Blue rivers, in the eastern extremes of China.

Ural Mountains: natural border between Asia and Europe with 2,500 km of extension

We must also consider in importance the Himalayan Mountain Range, the youngest mountain range on the planet, formed in the last 50 million years. Due to the shocks between the Indian plate and the south of the continent that gave rise to it, the mountain range rises about 5 cm per year. It covers five countries: Pakistan, Nepal, India, Bhutan and China (including Tibet). The name comes from the word Himalaya, which in the Sanskrit language means "dwelling of snow" and form an arch about 2500 km long.

Mountain chain of the Himalayas where the highest altitude of the planet is located

Hydrography

When it comes to hydrography of the Asian continent, it is worth mentioning that the main civilizations in the ancient world developed along the Asian rivers, such as the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, west of the continent in Mesopotamia (Middle East). To the north in the highland areas we have extensive rivers Ob, Yenisei and Lena, and due to the extreme cold in winter, most watercourses remain frozen. The banks of the Indus and Ganges (India and Pakistan) and Yellow and Blue (China) rivers have developed important civilizations. To this day this river supplies densely populated areas. East of the Caspian Sea, the main rivers are the Syr Daria and the Amu Daria, which flow into the Sea and Aral (inland sea) and due to the dry climate of the region, many rivers have temporary watercourses. We must consider that over the centuries these rivers have had important employment in the supply and development of the people and today they are used for the production of hydroelectric power due to variations in slope, in addition to the common uses of irrigation and navigation.

Three Gorges Hydroelectric Power Plant located along the Yangtzé River (Blue River) in China