365 Days of Climate Awareness 288 – Introduction to Asia

Asia is the world’s largest continent, covering 44,579,000 sq km/17,212,000 sq mi, about 30% of the world’s land area (8.7% of the globe’s surface), and holding 4.7 billion people, about 59% of the world’s total population. It contains the world’s largest country by area, Russia, and its two most populous countries, China (1.413 billion) and India (1.409 billion), which together comprise 35% of the planet’s total population. It is home to the world’s tallest mountain range, the Himalaya, which are still growing due to the Indian continental plate’s ongoing tectonic collision. Asia contains 55 countries, of which 49 are UN members, 1 is an observer, and four are nonmembers.

The dominant religions, each practiced by roughly a quarter of the population, are Islam and Hinduism (Christianity is sixth, at 7%, behind atheism, Buddhism and folk religions). The boundary between Europe and Asia is commonly marked by the Ural Mountains, created roughly 300 million years ago by the collision of Baltica (proto-Europe), Kazakhstania and Siberia. It is then traced through the Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, Black and Mediterranean Seas, incorporating the Arabian Peninsula and Indonesia.  It spans both hemispheres, from the southern tropics up to the northern Arctic.

Köppen-Geiger climate zones, 1980-2016

Continental boundary between Europe and Asia.

Part of Asia, including eastern Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula, is actually on the North American continental plate. Asia contains six of the world’s major rivers: the Tigris and Euphrates draining the mountains of Turkey and Iran, and the Ganges, Indus, Yellow, and Yangtze, which all emerge from the Himalaya. The Himalaya are home to mountain glaciers totaling 10% of the world’s total fresh water.

Global Tectonic Boundaries (note boundary in upper right between the North American and Eurasian plates. Alaska and eastern Siberia are North American).

Satellite mosaic photo of a portion of the Himalayan range.

Siberia, one of the world’s most intimidating and unexplored regions, is the site of massive basalt deposits known as the Siberian Traps. These were produced by gigantic hotspot volcanoes, like Yellowstone but possibly much bigger, which erupted over the course of two million years, building the Siberian plateau and changing the world’s climate irrevocably.

Tomorrow: the Siberian traps.

Be brave, and be well.