Great Plains: description, area, geography

There are many places on our planet that are of interest not only to researchers and scientists, but also to ordinary travelers. These are high mountains, impenetrable forests, stormy rivers. But in this article we will introduce you to the great plains of the world. Do not think that these vast territories are not too interesting to study. After reading our article, you will understand that this opinion is erroneous.

Where are the Great Plains?

The boundless high plateaus are located between the Cordilleras in the west and the Central Plains in the east. Researchers gave the name of this territory - the Great Plains. The continent of North America is also famous for its Central Plains, but the Great Plains are characterized by absolute heights, dry climates and the thickness of sedimentary rocks. Under the thickness of loesslike rocks and forests, there are layers of Paleogene and Cretaceous rocks. Since here predominantly predominantly steppe vegetation, the Great Plains are often called the plateau of the Prairie.

The continental climate, the position (quite high) above sea level, easy erosion of soils have become the reasons for the development of erosion processes in these territories. The most characteristic feature of the relief is ravines. Erosion sometimes reaches a gigantic size - thousands of hectares of once fertile soil turn into Bedlands.

Great Plains: dimensions

This piedmont plateau in Canada and the USA is located to the east of the Rocky Mountains. Its height is from 800 to 1,700 meters above sea level. The length is three thousand six hundred kilometers. The width is from five hundred to eight hundred kilometers. The map shows that this is a huge territory - the Great Plains. Their area is 1300000 square kilometers.

Relief

Plains stretched for 3600 km from north to south. They are a heterogeneous territory. On the land of Canada (the Saskatchewan river basin) lies their northern part - the Alberta plateau. Here, moraine forms of relief predominate. The plateau is distinguished by forest landscapes located on sod-podzolic soils. Often there are individual aspen splits.

In the basin of Missouri (Missouri plateau), there is a wavy moraine relief with a strong erosion dismemberment, forest-steppe vegetation from aspen and birch copses, separated by herbaceous steppes. Such a landscape is typical for the Ishim steppe (Southern Siberia). In the middle part of the plateau there is a chain of terminal moraines.

To the south of the Missouri plateau is the plateau of the High Plains. These territories are not affected by glaciation; The surface is dissected by rivers, slightly wavy. There is no forest vegetation here - on this plateau there is a mixed herb steppe, densely covered with ravines. In this part the Great Plains have long been plowed up, and erosion here is particularly progressing.

To the south is the plateau of Llano Estacado. It has a more leveled relief, which in some places is diluted with karst funnels. The vegetation of this plateau is steppe, here you can find solitary yuccas and columnar cacti.

On the very south of the Great Plains is the Edwardian Plateau, which resembles the neighboring areas of Mexico with its characteristic succulents (yucca, cactus). This plateau is dismembered weakly and differs predominance of chestnut soils.

Animal world

The great plains, the area of which is huge, are distinguished by a fairly diverse fauna, which is directly related to the nature of the landscapes. In the northern part you can find a steppe bison, antelope of a hornhorn, in the southern and central regions there live the steppe fox, wolf, prairie dogs. From the birds are common steppe falcon and meadow grouse.

The Russian Plain

Experts often call this territory the East European Plain. This is a real natural treasure of Russia. Judge for yourself: in its foundation lie coal, iron ore, oil and natural gas, other useful resources. Its fertile soils, according to experts, can easily feed the Russians.

The Great Russian Plain takes the second place in terms of area in the world, second only to the Amazonian lowland. It is classified as low plains. From the north this territory is washed by the White and Barents seas, the Caspian, Azov and Black in the south.

Like many other great plains of the world, Russian in the south-west and west, and is adjacent to the mountains - the Sudeten, the Carpathians, in the northwest it is bordered by the Scandinavian mountains, in the east - by the Ural Mountains and Mugodzhary, and to the southeast by the Caucasus and the Crimean Mountains .

Dimensions

The Russian plain stretches from east to west for 2.5 thousand kilometers. From the south to the north - to 2750 kilometers. The total area of the territory is five and a half million square kilometers. The maximum altitude is recorded on the mountain Yudychvumchorr (Kola Peninsula - 1191 meters). The lowest point is on the coast of the Caspian Sea, it is characterized by a minus value of -27 meters.

On the territory of the Russian Plain, some countries, such as:

• Kazakhstan.
• Belarus.
• Lithuania.
• Latvia.
• Poland.
• Moldova.
• Russia.
• Estonia.
• Ukraine.

Relief

The topography of the Russian Plain is dominated by planes. Such a geographical situation is characterized by rare earthquakes, as well as volcanic activity.

Hydrography

The main part of the waters of the Russian Plain has an outlet to the ocean. The southern and western rivers belong to the basin of the Atlantic Ocean. The rivers of the northern regions flow into the Arctic Ocean. The northern rivers include Onega, Mezen, Severnaya Dvina Pechora. The southern and western rivers carry their waters to the Baltic Sea. These are the Western Dvina, the Vistula, the Neman, the Neva, etc. The Dniester and the Dnieper, the Southern Bug flow into the Black Sea, and the Don into the Sea of Azov.

Climate

The Russian plain is characterized by a temperate continental climate. Average summer temperatures can range from -12 degrees (in the Barents Sea region) to +25 degrees (in the Caspian lowland). The maximum winter temperatures are fixed in the west. In these areas, the air temperature does not fall below -3 degrees. In Komi this indicator reaches -20 degrees.

Precipitation in the southeast falls to 400 mm (during the year), in the west their number increases twice. The natural zones vary from the semi-desert in the south to the tundra in the North.

Chinese Plain

For sure, many people have heard of this plain, but perhaps not everyone knows where the Great Plain of China is. One of the largest plains in Asia. In the east it is washed by the Yellow Sea, in the north the mountains of Yanshan are limited, and in the west - the ridge of Taihanshan. Its eastern slopes have steep ledges, a height of more than a thousand meters. In the south-west are the Dabeshan and Tongboshan ranges. The total area of the plain is more than 325 thousand square kilometers.

In the foothill, the western part, which is composed of ancient cones of removal, the plain in height reaches a hundred meters. Closer to the sea, it falls less than fifty meters.

Relief

On the sea coast the plain is practically flat, only small inclines are visible. There are swamped and small lakes occupied by small lakes. Within the plain are the Shandong mountains.

Rivers

In addition to the largest river, the Huang He River, the Huaihe River and the Haihe River flow here. They are characterized by fairly sharp fluctuations in runoff and monsoon regime.

The maximum summer run-off often exceeds the spring minimum almost a hundred times.

Climatic conditions

The Chinese plain is characterized by a monsoon subtropical climate. In winter, dry and cold air prevails here, which comes from Asia. In January, the average temperature is -2 ...- 4 degrees.

In summer the air warms up to +25 ... +28 degrees. A year falls to 500 mm of precipitation in the north and up to 1000 mm in the south.

Vegetation

To date, there have not been preserved forests that grew here earlier with an admixture of subtropical evergreen plants. There are copses of ash, thuja, poplar, pine.

Soils are mainly alluvial, which underwent considerable changes during the agrarian processing.

Amazonian Lowland

This is the greatest plain in the world. It covers an area of more than 5 million square kilometers. Its maximum height is 120 meters.

The vast territories of the lowlands are inextricably linked with the life of the Amazon River - the largest catchment area in the world. A huge part of its territory near the floodplain of the river is regularly flooded, resulting in the formation of swampy areas (marches).