© T. M. Whitmore Today South Asia - Huge & Complex region  India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan  Bangladesh, Pakistan Environment

© T. M. Whitmore Last time – Questions? East Asia continued  Hong Kong (a special case of China)  Japan  Korea  Taiwan (Formosa)

© T. M. Whitmore S AsiaS Asia: Regions Barriers Regions  Himalayas & foothills Himalayas  Tectonic landscapes Tectonic  Deserts Deserts  The Great River valleysGreat River valleys  The Deccan PlateauDeccan  Coastal & southern lowlandslowlands

Indus Ganges Brahmaputra E. Ghats Deccan Plateau W. Ghats Indus Ganges Indus Ganges Indus Ganges IndusBrahmaputra Ganges Indus Natural mountain barriers Thar Desert

The Himalayas

Himalayan Foothills

© T. M. Whitmore Tectonic Landscapes Indian plate collision with Eurasian plate Indian plate collision with Eurasian plate  Himalaya (and other( Mountain barriers to the N and W  => severe earthquake hazard  Oct Pakistan Earthquake

Oct quake

N

W. Ghats E. Ghats Deccan Plateau

The Deccan Plateau

W Ghats

The Southern Lowlands

© T. M. Whitmore Deserts West of Indus R. valley Thar or Great Indian

The Thar Desert

Copyright 2005 All Enthusiast, Inc.

© T. M. Whitmore Great River Valleys Great River valleys  Indus  Ganges, Gangetic plain Ganges  Brahmaputra & the delta (Bangladesh) Brahmaputra Valley population concentration

Indus Ganges Brahmaputra

© T. M. Whitmore The Gangetic Plain

© T. M. Whitmore

Indus Ganges Brahmaputra

Bangladesh

© T. M. Whitmore Climatic regions Dry and semi-arid in W Rainfall variable with elevation, aspect, location, and season Hot tropical and semi-tropical Seasonal progression of temperatures

© T. M. Whitmore Monsoon The “monsoon” is the summer rainfall regime in most of S Asia and SE Asia The “monsoon”  A system of alternating-direction winds  Gives rise to “seasons” wet & dry

Calicut in the W Ghats

Dominant Wind Patterns in the Winter (October to April) – Dry Season H (Cold) L (Warm) Monsoon Region

Dominant Wind Patterns in the Summer (April to October) – Wet Season H (Cold) L (Warm) Monsoon Region

Average Annual Precipitations (in millimeters) Monsoon east Dry continental Gobi Desert Ganges Delta Borneo Raining every day with no dry season Mawsynram, India (467” of rain per year; mm). Most precipitation on earth

Monthly precipitation (mm)

© Pearson Education – Prentice Hall

© T. M. Whitmore Environmental hazards Tectonic (mentioned already) Climatic  Variable monsoons (too little & too much rain) monsoon  Tropical cyclones (like our hurricanes) Tropical cyclones  Huge populations live in low lying areas (subject to flooding) Huge populations live in low lying areas Human induced  Deforestation & Desertification Deforestation  Salinization Salinization Global climate change

Variation in the monsoon Increased variability

> 13 m

1999 floods in Bangledesh: Dieter Ludwig/Sipa

Bangladesh

In 1991 over 100,000 were killed in a single storm; 300,000 killed by a single storm in Tropical Cyclones (hurricanes)

Cyclone Sidr Category 4

Cyclone Sidr Category 4 11/15/07

> 13 m

(Mumbai (Bombay)) >21m > 7m > 15 m

> 13 m

Chipko movement activists

Salinization, caused by salty irrigation water Salinization, caused by high water table