I. Physical Features A. Landforms of Australia 1. Australia, the sixth largest country in the world, is also a continent. a) Australia is mostly flat. b) It also has low relief, or few differences in the elevations of adjacent, or neighboring areas. c) South and southeast is the best farmland. d) Two major rivers, the Murray and the Darling, drain these areas. 2. A chain of mountains known as the Great Dividing Range stretches along Australia’s eastern coast.

I. Physical Features a) Tasmania is also part of Australia. b) Although called a mountain chain, the Great Dividing Range is more accurately, or correctly, an escarpment. c) It is a rocky face of a plateau that plunges to the lowland below. 3. To the west, the range blends into the outback. a) The outback is a vast area of plains and plateaus that is largely flat and dry. b) Dotted with eroded masses of rock. c) Ayers Rock (Uluru) is sacred to the Aborigines, who were the first people to settle Australia. 4. Off Australia’s northeastern coast lies the Great Barrier Reef

I. Physical Features B. Landforms of New Zealand a) A coral reef is a structure formed by the tiny skeletons of small sea animals (1,250 miles long). B. Landforms of New Zealand 1. The country of New Zealand includes two main islands – North Island and South Island. a) The Cook Strait separates the two main islands. 2. New Zealand lies along a fault line where two tectonic plates meet. a) The large central plateau of North Island has active volcanoes as well as geysers, hot springs carry steam and heated water to the Earth’s surface where they erupt.

I. Physical Features C. Landforms of Oceania 3. Along the South Island’s western coast are the southern Alps. a) Snowcapped Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak, soars 12,349 ft. high. b) Glaciers cut deep fjords and formed green valleys. 4. East of the Southern Alps stretch the Canterbury Plains. a) New Zealand’s best farming area. C. Landforms of Oceania 1. New Zealand is part of Oceania, a grouping of thousands of islands in the Pacific Ocean.

I. Physical Features a) Three types: high, low, and continental. 2. Volcanic activity formed the mountainous high islands centuries ago. a) High islands like Tahiti and the Fiji Islands, feature mountain ranges that split. b) The islands hold bodies of freshwater, and volcanic activity has provided fertile soil. 3. Coral formed the low islands. a) The Marshall Islands are examples of atolls, or low-lying, ring shaped islands that surround shallow pools of water. b) Little soil.

I. Physical Features D. Landforms of Antarctica 4. Continental Islands were formed centuries ago by the rising and folding of rock from the ocean floor. a) Tectonic activity b) Rugged mountains, plateaus and valleys. c) New Guinea and the Solomon Islands are continental islands. D. Landforms of Antarctica 1. Antarctica lies at Earth’s southern polar region. a) The Transantarctic Mountains divides Antarctica into two distinct areas. b) To the east is a plateau where the South Pole is located. c) To the west is a group of islands that are linked by ice. 2. A huge ice cap covers Antarctica.

I. Physical Features E. Natural Resources a) In some places, the ice is two miles thick. b) At the coast, the ice cap spreads into the ocean which is called an ice shelf. c) Huge chunks of ice occasionally break off , forming icebergs, which float freely in the ocean. E. Natural Resources 1. Natural resources vary greatly throughout Australia, Oceania, and Antarctica. 2. Australia mines bauxite, copper, nickel, and gold. 3. New Zealand has some deposits of gold, coal, and natural gas. a) Its rivers and dams supply hydroelectric power, and its hot springs provide geothermal energy.

I. Physical Features 4. The smaller islands of Oceania generally have few natural resources. a) Some larger islands have deposits of oil, gold, nickel, and copper. 5. Scientists have discovered huge mineral resources in Antarctica, but the nations of the world have agreed not to mine here due to cost and the protection of the environment. 6. The isolation of these islands has lead to having plants and animals of particular uniqueness. a) Two well known marsupials, mammals that carry their young in a pouch, the kangaroo and the koala, inhabit Australia.

I. Physical Features b) New Zealand is home to the kiwi, a flightless bird that has become the nation’s symbol.