3.Climate.

Climate in Eurasia is very different, because the continent is very large and occupies all the climatic belts of the northern hemisphere. Winter is very cold in the north and hot in the south. The amount of rainfalls changes from 50 mm a year in central Asia to 5 000 mm a year at the foot of Himalayas.

The Arctic Polar Circle crosses the northern part of the continent; the southern part comes close to the equator. Large part of the continent lies in the temperate climatic belt, where western winds blow. Trade winds influence on the southern part of Eurasia and monsoons – on the eastern part of the continent.

The size of the continent also influences the climate of it. The coastal regions receive many rains from the oceans. The cold air masses from the Arctic Ocean spread far southward. The continental climate with cold winter and hot summer is in Central Asia. The Atlantic Ocean brings warm and wet air to the western part of the continent. On the shores of the Mediterranean Sea forms the Mediterranean climate.

Relief is among the chief factors influencing on the climate of Eurasia. The Alps, the Caucasus and the Himalayas block the way to the cold arctic air masses and to the warm and wet equatorial air masses.

Climatic Belts.

(Laboratory Work).

Climatic belt	Geographical position Relief	Rainfalls	Winds	Winter t^o	Summer t^o
Equatorial
Subequatorial
Tropical
Subtropical
Temperate
Subarctic
Arctic

4.Inland Waters.

Many large rivers are situated in Eurasia. They have their sources in the mountains and flow into the four oceans. The largest rivers of Russia flow into the Arctic Ocean. They are the Ob (5 410 km), the Irtysh (4 248 km), the Yenisei (4 102 km), the Angara (1 779 km) and the Lena (4 400km).

Almost all rivers in foreign Europe flow into the Atlantic Ocean. They rise in the mountains. They are the Seine (776 km), the Vistula (1 047 km), the Oder (854 km), the Elbe (1 165 km), the Danube (2 850 km), the Rhine (1 320 km), the Don (1 870 km), the Dnieper. The longest river here is the Danube. The second largest river is the Don.

The rivers of Eastern Asia empty their waters into the seas of the Pacific Ocean. They rise in the high mountains. They are: the Amur (4 440 km), the Hwang Ho (4 845 km), the Yangtze (5800 km). The rivers of the Indian Ocean basin are: the Indus (3 180 km), the Ganges (2 700 km), the Tigris (1 850 km), the Euphrates (3 065 km), the Mekong (4 500). They are rain-fed and snow-fed.

The Volga (3 531 km) is the longest river in Europe falls into the inner sea – the Caspian Sea, which is sometimes called the greatest salt lake.

There are some lakes in Eurasia. They are: Lake Baikal ( 1620 m deep) – the deepest lake in the world, Lake Geneva ( in the Alps; 310 m deep), Lake Balhash (26 m deep), Lake Issyk-Kul (668 m deep), Lake Onega (127 m deep), Lake Ladoga (230 m deep).

5.Natural Zones.

Geographical position	Natural Zone
	Arctic deserts	Tundra	Taiga and Coniferous Forests
	Extreme north of Asia; islands of the Arctic Ocean	Northern part of the continent up to the Arctic Polar Circle	Northern part of the continent; south from Tundra
Climatic belt	Arctic	Subarctic	Temperate
Temperature	-40^o -32^o in winter, 0^o+8^o in summer	-16^o-48^o in winter, +8^o+16^o in summer	+24^o+16^oin summer, -8^o-40^o in winter
Rainfalls	100-500 mm a year	100-1000 mm a year	250-1000 mm a year
Soils	Arctic desert and tundra soils	tundra soils; frozen ground	Podzolic soils
Vegetation	Moss, lichen	Moss, lichen, dwarf shrubs, dwarf trees, bilberry, cowberry	Fir, pine, silver fir, larch, birch, cedar
Animals	Polar bear, walrus, seal, Gull, polar owl, polar fox, reindeer	Wolf, polar fox, reindeer, ptarmigan, polar owl, geese, ducks, swans	Brown bear, wolf, lynx, fox, squirrel, sable, owl, deer, beaver, grouses

Geographical position	Natural Zone
	Mixed and Deciduous Forests	Steppes and forest steppes	Deserts and Semi Deserts
	Western Europe; East Asia	From the Black Sea to the Amur	Central Asia; on the Arabian peninsula; the basin of the Indus; the Plateau of Iran
Climatic belt	Temperate	Temperate	Temperate, subtropical
Temperature	+16^o+24^o in summer, 0^o+16^o in winter	+24^o+32^o in summer, 0^o+16^o in winter	+24^o+32^oin summer, 0^o+24^o in winter
Rainfalls	500-2000 mm a year	100-500 mm a year	100-250 mm a year
Soils	Podzolic and brown soils	Black, chestnut, grey forest soils	Sands, grey desert soils
Vegetation	Birch, maple, pine, beech, oak, chestnut, cedar, silver fir, linden	Grass, oak, birch, aspen, poplar, chestnut	Cactus, tough grass, saxaul, camel thorn, thorny bush
Animals	Beaver, squirrel, hare, deer, sable, tiger, boar, hedge-hog	fox, rodents, field mouse, hamster, antelope, eagle, snake	Rodents, fox, antelope, camel, lizard, snake, scorpion, hyena, camel, kulan, wild horse

Geographical position	Natural Zone
	Tough Evergreen Forests	Savannahs	Wet Equatorial Forests
	On the coast of the Mediterranean Sea	On the Hindustan and Indo-China peninsulas	On the south-eastern islands
Climatic belt	subtropical	Tropical, subequatorial	equatorial
Temperature	+16^o+24^o in summer, 0^o+16^o in winter	+24^o+32^o in summer, +24^o+16^o in winter	+24^o+26^oall year round
Rainfalls	500-2000 mm a year	500-2000 mm a year	2000-3000 mm a year
Soils	brown soils	Red ferro-aluminum soils	Red-yellow ferro -aluminum soils
Vegetation	oak, olive-tree, Italian pine, lemon, orange, laurel, camellia, grapes, cypress	Grass, palm, acacia, mimosa	Palm, liana, cocoa palm, bamboo, tree-fern, bread-tree, spices
Animals	antelope, deer, hyena, roe, lizard, porcupine, snake, tortoise	Porcupine, antelope, ox, rhinoceros, elephant, parrot, cobra	Leopard, tiger, rhinoceros, elephants, monkey(gibbon, orangutan), crocodile, snakes(cobra)