Transcript North Africa, Southwest Asia and Central Asia

North Africa, Southwest
Asia and Central Asia
Unit 6 Chapter 17 Section 1
The Land
• 4 major Tectonic plates are responsible for shaping the areas around
North Africa, Southwest Asia, and Central Asia.
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Anatolian Plate
Eurasian Plate
Arabian Plate
African Plate
• Tectonic plate movement is responsible for building mountains, shifting
land masses, and causing earthquakes in this region.
The Land
• Mountains• Atlas Mountains – Longest Mountain range in Africa
• Caucus Mountains – Situated between the Black sea and the
Caspian Sea
• Kums - Deserts
Kums
Peninsulas and Seas
• 3 Important Peninsulas in this region of the world
• Arabian Peninsula
• Sinai Peninsula
• Anatolia Peninsula
Peninsulas and Seas
• 3 land locked bodies of salt water east of the Mediterranean Sea.
• Dead Sea- Smallest of the 3
• Caspian Sea- largest inland body of water on Earth
• Aral Sea – Shrinking due to Soviet Era irrigation. Eventually split
into 2 bodies of water, North Aral Sea and South Aral Sea
Rivers
• Nile River – Earth’s longest River at 4,160 miles.
• Nile Delta – Fertile land that surrounds the Nile River in Egypt.
-90% of Egyptians live along the Nile Delta.
Aswan High Damn- Built to Control Nile’s Flow. Created lake Nasser
as a result
Alluvial Soil- Rich Soil made up of sand and mud.
Early Civilizations
• Mesopotamia – Greek for the land between 2 rivers.
- The Tigris and the Euphrates.
Farming has occurred in this region for over 7,000 years.
Wadis – Streambeds that remain dry until a heavy rain.
Alluvial Soil
Wadi - Oman
Oil and Natural Gas
• 60% of Earth’s Oil Reserve lie beneath this region.
• 50% of Earth’s Natural Gas also lies in this area.
• Economies in this region are very reliant upon Oil. Major
fluctuations on the global fuel market severely influence many oil
rich countries economies.
• Reasons for fluctuations include - Lower Demand, Conflicts (Iraq
War), Political Instability.
Minerals
• Minerals also bring in large quantities of Money to the countries in
this region. Roughly 10% of worlds Iron Ore Reserve within this
region.
• Turkmenistan – Sulfate and Sulfur
• Morocco – Phosphate (used in fertilizers)