Transcript East Asia- Physical Geography

East Asia- Land of Contrasts
Natural Resources
Compare resource “rich” and “poor”
Physical Geography - Mountains
Mongolian Plateau – home of the Gobi Desert
Kunlun Mtns. – source of the Huang He and Yangtze rivers
Quinling Shandi – divide northern and southern China
Plateau of Tibet – sandwiched between Himalayas and Kunlun Mtns.
Himalayas – includes Mt. Everest & K2 (world’s highest mountains)
Physical Geography – Rivers & Plains
North China Plain VERY fertile farmland,
but high population
density as well
Chang Jiang –
literally “Long River”
(over 3,900 miles),
aka “Yangtze”, site of
Three Gorges Dam
Huang He – aka
Yalu Jiang – Amur River –
Xi Jiang – joins
forms border
the Pearl River to “Yellow River” for the forms border
heavy silt, called
between China between Russia
empty into South
“China’s Sorrow” due
and eastern
and Korean
China Sea at
to severe flooding
China
Peninsula
Hong Kong
Physical Geography – Issues
Yangtze River
flooding and the
Three Gorges
Dam
Japan’s bulging
population
problem and not
enough space
Volcanoes,
earthquakes and
tsunamis are always
a threat to Japan
Physical Geography – Issues
Yangtze and Three Gorges
• The Yangtze River has a long history of intense flooding, including:
• 1998 – 3,000 dead, 14 million displaced, $24 Billion losses
• 1954 – 30,000 dead
• 1935 – 142,000 dead
• 1931 – 135,000 dead
• 1911 – 100,000+ dead
• 1887 – 1,000,000+ dead
•To prevent future flooding disasters, the
Chinese built the Three Gorges Dam
• 330 feet tall, almost 1 ½ mile wide
• total project cost - $26 Billion`
• will create a reservoir 410 miles long
video
Physical Geography – Issues
Yangtze and Three Gorges
Positive Effects
Negative Effects
1. Reservoir creation will control or 1. Energy produced will only cover
3% of China’s needs, not 10% as
eliminate future flooding threats
predicted.
2. 22,500 MegaWatts of clean
2. Dam will slow river traffic,
energy will be produced,
restricted to available locks
reducing the need for coal
instead of the ½ mile-wide river.
burning power plants
3. Over 1 million people will have to
be displaced from ancestral lands
3. Transportation by ocean-going
4. Historical and religious sites will
ships will be possible to
be flooded as reservoir rises
Chongqing, over 800 miles
5. Destruction or modification of
inland (Houston to El Paso)
natural habitat may harm river
species
6. Loss of free-flowing sediment
may decrease farmland fertility
Physical Geography – Issues
Population Density
• Japan’s population is about ½ of the U.S.
(around 127,000,000 in 2008) but the
country is smaller than California
• The average population density for the
country is more than 871 people per
square mile (U.S. avg. is 80 per sq. mi.)
• Tokyo is the world’s most populated
urban area, with an estimated population
of 35,676,000 in 2007, including Tokyo
and suburban areas
Physical Geography – Issues
Population Density
• By using land reclamation activities like landfill and dredging,
Japan has “created” land to build three large airports in the
waters surrounding the natural islands.
• Over 96 square miles of new land have been added in
Tokyo Bay, and overall, Japan’s reclamation projects add
2-3 square miles of new land each year, making it possible
to build new housing or park space for the people of Japan
Physical Geography – Issues
Extreme Nature in Japan
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The Japanese islands were created by tectonic
movement between the Pacific and Philippine
Plates moving northwest and the Amur plate
moving southeast, resulting in very active and
unpredictable earthquake and volcanic activity
Active volcanoes create a “spine” of Japan, so
most of Japan’s population lives less than 75
miles from a volcano
1,000+ tremors or quakes/year in Japan
Most are unnoticed, but they can be major:
• 1923 – Kanto - killed 100,000+
• 1995 – Hanshin (Kobe) – killed 6,400+,
100,000 homeless, $100+ Bil. to rebuild
Physical Geography – Issues
Extreme Nature in Japan
• Japan’s location on the “Ring of Fire” also
creates the potential for tsunamis
• Underwater earthquakes
can start a wave of energy
that can travel across the
ocean and create a
tsunami as it nears land
video
• Typhoons (called “hurricanes” in
the Atlantic) can bring intense
winds (100+ mph) and heavy rain
(1-2 in./hour for 12+ hours) and
can create intense flooding due to
storm surge at the eye of the
storm
Physical Geography – Issues
Emergency Preparedness
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Most major cities in Japan hold city-wide
emergency disaster drills at least once per year
•
Japanese Meteorological Agency makes
predictions for weather and seismic activity
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Up-to-the-minute online earthquake reporting
keeps people informed about potential problems
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Alert levels are announced on TV and radio
stations to alert people of volcanic activity
Human & Physical Geography – Issues
Overpopulation in China
China’s area is slightly smaller than the
U.S. but their population is over 4 X bigger
(US 300 M vs. China 1.3 B)
• In 1776, China’s population equaled
U.S. population in 2000
• China passed 1 billion in 1980
• Physical features (desert, mountains) limit
suitable living space
• East coast port draw people to the already
crowded cities
•
Human & Physical - Issues
China’s Population Density
• One Child Policy (since 1979)
limits family size, in hopes of
slowing and reversing
population growth
•
cultural preference for boys
has led to selective abortions,
spoiled “Little Emperors”,
infanticide and increased
numbers of orphans
•
Fertility rate has fallen from
more than 5 children per
woman in China during the
1970’s to China to less than 2
per woman today