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, 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 very interesting to study. After reading our article, you will understand that this opinion is wrong.
Where are the Great Plains?
Boundless high plateaus are located between the Cordilleras in the west and the Central Plains in the east. The researchers gave the name to this territory - the Great Plains. Continent North America is also famous for its Central Plains, but the Great Plains are distinguished by their absolute heights, dry climate and thickness of sedimentary rocks. Under the thickness of loess-like rocks and forests lie layers of Paleogene and Cretaceous rocks. Since predominantly steppe vegetation dominates here, the Great Plains are often called the Prairie Plateau.
The continental climate, position (rather high) above sea level, and easy soil erosion became the reasons for the development of erosion processes in these territories. The most characteristic feature of the relief is ravines. Erosion sometimes reaches gigantic proportions - thousands of hectares of once fertile soil turn into badlands.
Great Plains: dimensions
This foothill plateau in Canada and the United States is located east of the Rocky Mountains. Its height is from 800 to 1,700 meters above sea level. Length - three thousand six hundred kilometers. Width - from five hundred to eight hundred kilometers. The map shows that this is a huge territory - the Great Plains. Their area is 1,300,000 square kilometers.
Relief
The plains stretch for 3600 km from north to south. They represent a heterogeneous territory. On Canadian soil (the Saskatchewan River basin) is their northern part - the Alberta Plateau. Moraine landforms predominate here. The plateau is distinguished by forest landscapes located on soddy-podzolic soils. There are often individual aspen pegs.
In the Missouri basin (Missouri Plateau), there is an undulating moraine topography with strong erosional dissection, forest-steppe vegetation of aspen and birch coppices, separated by forb steppes. This landscape is typical for the Ishim steppe (Southern Siberia). In the middle part of the plateau there is a ridge of terminal moraines.
South of the Missouri Plateau is the High Plains Plateau. These areas are not affected by glaciation; the surface is dissected by rivers, slightly undulating. There is no forest vegetation here - this plateau is dominated by mixed-grass steppe, densely covered with ravines. This part of the Great Plains has been plowed up for a long time, and erosion is particularly progressing here.
Even further south is the Llano Estacado plateau. It has a more leveled relief, which in some places is diluted by karst sinkholes. The vegetation of this plateau is steppe; here you can find single yuccas and columnar cacti.
In the very south of the Great Plains there is the Edwards Plateau, which in its landscape appearance is reminiscent of neighboring areas of Mexico with its characteristic succulents (yuccas, cacti). This plateau is poorly dissected and is characterized by a predominance of chestnut soils.
Animal world
The Great Plains, whose area 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 steppe bison and pronghorn antelope; in the southern and central regions live the steppe fox, wolf, and prairie dogs. The most common birds are the steppe falcon and the meadow grouse.
Russian Plain
Experts more often call this territory the East European Plain. This is a real natural pantry of Russia. Judge for yourself: its foundation contains coal, iron ores, oil and natural gas, and other useful resources. Its fertile soils, according to experts, can easily feed Russians.
The Great Russian Plain ranks second in area in the world, second only to the Amazon Lowland. It is classified as low plains. This territory is washed by the White and Barents seas in the north, and the Caspian, Azov and Black seas in the south.
Like many other great plains of the world, the Russian one is in the southwest and west and adjacent to the mountains - the Sudetes, the Carpathians, in the northwest it is limited by the Scandinavian Mountains, in the east by the Urals and Mugodzhary, and in the southeast by the Caucasus and Crimean Mountains .
Dimensions
The Russian Plain stretches from east to west for 2.5 thousand kilometers. From south to north - 2750 kilometers. The total area of the territory is five and a half million square kilometers. The maximum height was recorded on Mount Yudychvumchorr (Kola Peninsula - 1191 meters). The lowest point is located on the coast of the Caspian Sea, it is characterized by a minus value of -27 meters.
The following countries are partially or completely located on the territory of the Russian Plain:
- Kazakhstan.
- Belarus.
- Lithuania.
- Latvia.
- Poland.
- Moldova.
- Russia.
- Estonia.
- Ukraine.
Relief
The relief of the Russian Plain is dominated by planes. This geographical location is characterized by rare earthquakes, as well as volcanic activity.
Hydrography
The main part of the waters of the Russian Plain has access to the ocean. The southern and western northern regions flow into the Arctic Ocean. The northern rivers include the Onega, Mezen, and Northern Dvina Pechora. Southern and western rivers carry their waters to the Vistula, Neman, Neva, etc. The Dniester and Dnieper, the Southern Bug flow into the Black Sea, and the Don into the Azov Sea.
Climate
The Russian Plain has a temperate continental climate. Average summer temperatures can range from -12 degrees (in the Barents Sea region) to +25 degrees (in the Caspian Lowland). Maximum winter temperatures are recorded in the west. In these areas the air temperature does not drop below -3 degrees. In Komi this figure reaches -20 degrees.
Precipitation in the southeast falls up to 400 mm (during the year), in the west their amount doubles. change from semi-desert in the south to tundra in the north.
Chinese plain
Many people have probably heard about this plain, but perhaps not everyone knows where the Great Chinese Plain is located. One of the largest plains in Asia. In the east it is washed by the Yanshan Mountains in the north, and in the west by the Taihangshan Range. Its eastern slopes have steep ledges more than a thousand meters high. In the southwest are the Dabeshan and Tongboshan ranges. The total area of the plain is more than 325 thousand square kilometers.
In the foothill, western part, which is made up of ancient alluvial cones, the plain reaches a height of one hundred meters. Closer to the sea it drops less than fifty meters.
Relief
On the sea coast the plain is almost flat, only slight slopes are noticeable. There are swampy depressions occupied by small lakes. Within the plain are the Shandong Mountains.
Rivers
In addition to the largest river, the Yellow River, the Huaihe and Haihe rivers flow here. They are characterized by rather sharp fluctuations in flow and monsoon regime.
The maximum summer flow often exceeds the spring minimum by almost a hundred times.
Climatic conditions
The Chinese Plain has a monsoon subtropical climate. In winter, dry and cold air dominates here, which comes from Asia. In January the average temperature is -2...-4 degrees.
In summer the air warms up to +25...+28 degrees. Up to 500 mm of precipitation falls annually in the north and up to 1000 mm in the south.
Vegetation
Today, the forests that previously grew here with an admixture of subtropical evergreens have not been preserved. There are groves of ash, thuja, poplar, and pine.
The soils are mainly alluvial, which have undergone significant changes during agricultural cultivation.
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.
Vast areas of the lowland are inextricably linked with the life of the Amazon River, the largest drainage area in the world. A huge part of its territory near the river floodplain is regularly flooded, resulting in the formation of swampy areas (marches).
Plains are very large areas of the earth's surface, the fluctuations in elevation are small, and the existing slopes are insignificant. They are distinguished by absolute height and method of formation or, in other words, by origin. What are the different types of plains in terms of height and origin?
What are the heights of plains?
Based on absolute height, plains are divided into lowlands, hills, and plateaus. A lowland is a plain whose highest areas do not exceed 200 meters above sea level. Examples of such plains are the Caspian or Amazonian lowlands.
If the difference in elevation of the earth's surface on a plain is in the range from 200 to 500 meters, then it is called an elevation. In Russia, such plains include, for example, the Central Russian Upland or the Volga Upland.
Plateaus or, in other words, mountain plateaus are plains located above half a kilometer above sea level. These are, for example, the Central Siberian Plateau or the Great Plains in North America.
What are the types of plains by origin?
Based on their origin, plains are divided into alluvial (or, in other words, accumulative), denudation, marine, continental accumulative, aquaglacial, abrasion and strata.
Alluvial plains are formed as a result of long-term deposition and accumulation of river sediments. Examples of such plains are the Amazon and La Plata lowlands.
Denudation plains are formed as a result of long-term destruction of mountainous terrain. This is, for example, the Kazakh small hills.
Marine plains are located along the coasts of seas and oceans and they were formed as a result of the retreat of the sea. An example of such a plain is the Black Sea Lowland.
Continental accumulative plains are located at the foot of the mountains and they were formed as a result of the deposition and accumulation of rocks brought by water flows. Examples of such a plain are the Kuban or Chechen plains.
Aquaglacial plains are plains that were once formed as a result of glacier activity, such as Polesie or Meshchera.
Abrasion plains were formed as a result of the destruction of the coastline of the seas by waves and surf.
Stratified plains make up 64% of all continental plains. They are located on platforms of the earth's crust, and are composed of layers of sedimentary rocks. Examples of such plains are the East European, West Siberian and many others.
My friend Nina lives in Kazakhstan. When I went to visit her, I saw what the plains of this country are like. We drove by car to the village along the spring steppe, and it seemed to me that it had no boundaries.
What are called plains
Today my son Sasha and I are learning geography again. Let's figure out what plains are and what their characteristics are.
Plains are large areas of the earth's surface with a slight slope (no more than 5°). Height fluctuation on the plain is up to approximately 200 m.
Signs of plains by absolute height.
- Elevated (elevation difference 200–500 m above sea level).
- Low-lying (elevation difference no more than 200 m).
- Mountainous (lie at a level above 500 m).
- Depressions (their highest point is located below sea level).
- Underwater plains.
The plains differ in the type of relief:
- horizontal or flat;
- wavy;
- hilly;
- stepped;
- concave.
There are denudation and accumulation plains. Denudation appeared during the destruction of mountains. Accumulative ones are formed during the accumulation of sedimentary deposits.
The largest plain on Earth
To make it clear to Sasha what plains are, we looked at the Amazonian lowland as an example. This plain is the largest on our planet. Its area is more than 5 million km². It is located in South America, in the Amazon River basin and was formed as a result of the activity of this river; it is accumulative. The plain stretches from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean. The relief of this area is heterogeneous. Western Amazonia is very low and flat. In the eastern Amazon you can find elevations up to 350 m. But basically this plain is flat.
Economic importance of the plains
I told my son how important the plains are to the economy. The plains have always been of great importance in people's lives. Grain and vegetable crops grow best in their spaces.
Cows, sheep and horses graze in the vast expanses of steppes, pampas and prairies. This is possible thanks to the grasses and shrubs that grow in abundance on the plains.
The plains provide the basis for people's nutrition, and this is very important.
Mostly villages and large cities with their industry are located on the plains.
Plains are the most convenient places for people and animals to live. The plains are home to the majority of people, 65% of the world's population.
The relief of the plains is not very diverse. This is explained by the homogeneity of the geological structure of the platform areas of the continental crust and their low mobility. The significant elevation of some platform plains (for example, in Eastern Siberia and North America), which determines the great depth of their erosional dissection, is the result of neotectonic movements.
Platform plains occupy more than half of the total land area. More than 80% of all plains are primarily flat stratal and accumulative. Accumulative plains are low and in total area are significantly inferior to stratal plains - pppa.ru. Denudation - usually elevated, with an uneven surface, the relief of which reflects the unequal resistance of rocks to destruction.
The surface of plains in general can be horizontal, inclined, convex, concave; the general nature of its relief is varied: flat, hilly, wavy, stepped, etc.
Types of plains
Plains are spaces that are mostly large in area and in which elevation fluctuations are very small. Geologically, the plains correspond to platforms. Plains lying at a low altitude above sea level (up to 200 m absolute height) are usually called lowlands, while those located high up are called flat hills or plateaus. Examples of plateaus include Ustyurt, the Colorado Plateau in North America, etc.
Plains are a purely morphographic concept, and from a genetic point of view they can be very diverse. So, the following genetic types of plains are distinguished:
Primary plains, or plains of marine accumulation - the most extensive in area, are formed as a result of marine accumulation during temporary flooding of platform areas by transgressions of shallow epicontinental seas with their subsequent transformation into land with oscillatory movement of a positive sign - pppa.ru. They represent a seabed exposed from under the water, covered with sedimentary marine deposits, usually already covered with a cloak of eluvium or some other continental formations - glacial, fluvial, aeolian, which often determine the secondary micro- and mesorelief of these plains. Examples of marine accumulation plains are the plains of the European part of the former USSR, the West Siberian Plain, and the Caspian Lowland.
Alluvial plains are formed as a result of the accumulative activity of rivers and are composed of layered river sediments on the surface. The thickness of the latter in some cases can reach a very significant thickness - several tens and even hundreds of meters (the lower reaches of the Ganga River, the Po River valley, the Hungarian Lowland), in others it forms only a thin covering over eroded bedrock. The first occurs in river deltas and in areas of tectonic subsidence, covering parts of river basins, the second - in normal floodplains of mature river valleys. Alluvial plains include the Kura-Araks, Upper Rhine and other plains.
Fluvioglacial plains. The transfer, sorting and redeposition of solid clastic material over large areas can also be produced by meltwater from glaciers flowing from under their ends or edges. These waters usually do not have the character of regular permanent watercourses near their outlet, often changing their water content and direction of flow - pppa.ru. They are overloaded with washed-up fragmentary moraine material, sort it by size, transport it and deposit it, widely distributing it as they wander in front of the glacier front. Examples include the Munich and other plains at the northern foot of the Alps, the Kuban, Kabardian, and Chechen plains at the northern foot of the Greater Caucasus.
Lake Plains They represent the flat bottoms of former lakes, dried up either due to the descent of rivers flowing from them, or due to the disappearance of the dam, or due to the filling of their baths with sediment. Along their margins, such lacustrine plains are often contoured by ancient coastlines, expressed in the form of low abrasion ledges, coastal levees, coastal dune ridges or lacustrine terraces, indicating the standing of the former lake level. In most cases, plains of lacustrine origin are of insignificant size and are much smaller in size than the first three types. An example of one of the most extensive lacustrine plains is the plain of the Quaternary periglacial Lake Agassiz in North America. Lake plains also include the Turaigyr-kobo, Jalanash and Kegen plains in Kazakhstan.
Residual or marginal plains. These names mean spaces that initially had a high absolute height and a sharply defined relief, perhaps once even representing a mountainous country, which acquired a flat character only as a result of long-term exposure to exogenous factors of destruction and demolition - pppa.ru. These plains are therefore in the final stage of the descending development of a mountainous country, assuming a continued state of relative tectonic rest, which seems to rarely occur. As an example of a marginal plain, already somewhat modified by subsequent processes, one can cite the sloping plain stretching along the eastern base of the Appalachian Mountains of North America, gently sloping to the east.
Volcanic upland plateaus. They occur in cases where huge masses of predominantly basic lava flow to the surface through cracks in the earth’s crust. Spreading due to its great mobility over vast spaces, lava fills and buries all the unevenness of the primary relief and forms lava plateaus of enormous area. Examples include the Columbia basalt plateau of North America, the trap plateau of the northwestern Deccan, and some parts of the Transcaucasian Plateau.
Differences in plains by heightCompared to mountainous areas, plains, which are usually located on platform areas of the earth's crust, are surprisingly stable. But their history is much older and sometimes more complex than that of the mountainous regions. The plains vary in their height above sea level.
Lowlands
Lowlands, or low plains, do not reach heights of 200 m, and sometimes even lie below sea level in the interior regions of continents, such as the Caspian Lowland (-28 m). Extended low-lying plains stretch along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean in the United States, along the Baltic and North Sea coasts in Europe. A common occurrence in such places is waterlogging and flooding.
Coastal plains are sometimes located in places where the earth's crust sags and experiences subsidence, for example, the Padan lowland, which lies in the valley of the Po River. Venice is located in this area, a famous city with canal streets that suffers from floods every year. The low-lying lands of the Netherlands - polders - were reclaimed from the sea. Life has forced the local population to adapt to the constant threat of flooding.
Lowlands occupy valleys and river deltas. Some of the most extensive such lowlands are the Amazon in South America (the valley of the Amazon rivers and its tributaries) and the West Siberian in Asia (between the valleys of the Ob and Yenisei rivers).
The fertile lands of the Mesopotamian lowland (the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Western Asia) are the birthplace of one of the most ancient civilizations.
Hills
The hills occupy heights of about 200-500 m above sea level. These are the Great American Plains, the Central Siberian Plateau, the Brazilian Plateau, and the deserts of Australia. Hills are a combination of flatter and hillier areas. Sometimes there are “islands” on them - low single mountains, remnants of former mountain ranges.
Plateau
Plateaus have all the features of plains, but are raised to heights sometimes comparable to the heights of mountains. As a rule, deep steep-sided canyons divide the plateaus into separate areas. They were first leveled by denudation, then uplifted by neotectonic movements, such as the Altiplano in the Andes, the Ustyurt Plateau in Kazakhstan, and the Colorado Plateau in North America.
Deserts are often located on plains in dry tropical zones: the Sahara in Africa, the deserts of Central Asia, the high mountain Gobi Desert, and the vast deserts of Australia.
Plains are the most common type of landform on the earth's surface. On land, plains occupy about 20% of the area, the most extensive of which are confined to platforms and plates. All plains are characterized by small variations in elevation and slight slopes (slopes reach 5°). Based on absolute height, the following plains are distinguished: lowlands - their absolute height is from 0 to 200 m (Amazonian); elevations - from 200 to 500 m above sea level (Central Russian); mountainous, or plateaus - over 500 m above ocean level (Central Siberian Plateau); the plains lying below ocean level are called depressions (Caspian). According to the general nature of the surface of the plain, there are horizontal, convex, concave, flat, and hilly. Based on the origin of the plains, the following types are distinguished: marine accumulative (see Accumulation). Such, for example, is the West Siberian Lowland with its sedimentary cover of young marine strata; continental accumulative. They were formed as follows: at the foot of the mountains, the products of destruction of rocks carried away by water flows are deposited. Such plains have a slight slope to sea level. These most often include regional lowlands; river accumulative. They are formed due to the deposition and accumulation of loose rocks brought by the river (Amazonian); abrasion plains (see Abrasion). They arose as a result of the destruction of coastlines by wave action of the sea. These plains arise the faster the weaker the rocks, the more frequent the waves, the stronger the winds; structural plains. They have a very complex origin. In the distant past they were mountainous countries. Over millions of years, the mountains were destroyed by external forces, sometimes to the stage of almost plains (peneplains), then, as a result of tectonic movements, cracks and faults appeared in the earth’s crust, along which magma poured onto the surface; it, like armor, covered the previous unevenness of the relief, while its own surface remained flat or stepped as a result of the outpouring of traps. These are structural plains.
An example is the Great Victoria Desert. Upland plateaus above 500m high, such as the Ustyurt Plateau, the Great Plains of North America and others. The surface of a plain can be inclined, horizontal, convex or concave. Plains are classified according to the type of surface: hilly, wavy, ridged, stepped. As a rule, the higher the plains, the more dissected they are. The types of plains also depend on the history of development and their structure: alluvial valleys, such as the Great Chinese Plain, the Karakum Desert, etc.; glacial valleys; water-glacier, for example Polesie, the foothills of the Alps, the Caucasus and Altai; flat, low-lying sea plains. Such plains are a narrow strip along the coasts of seas and oceans. These are such plains as the Caspian and Black Sea. There are plains that arose in place of the mountains after their destruction. They are composed of hard crystalline rocks and crumpled into folds. Such plains are called denudation plains. Examples of them are the Kazakh sandpiper, the plains of the Baltic and Canadian shields.
Plains by structure
Based on their structure, plains are classified into flat and hilly.
flat plains
If a piece of land has a flat surface, then it is said to be a flat plain (Fig. 64). An example of a flat plain is certain sections of the West Siberian Lowland. There are few flat plains on the globe.
Hilly Plains
Hilly plains (Fig. 65) are more common than flat ones. From the countries of Eastern Europe to the Urals stretches one of the largest hilly plains on the globe - the Eastern European, or Russian. On this plain you can find hills, ravines, and flat areas.
