Biosphere

Thanks to the life-giving qualities of air and water, Earth is populated by countless species of plants and animals. This horde of organisms comprises the biosphere. Most of the planet’s life is found from three meters below the ground to thirty meters above it and in the top two hundred meters of the oceans and seas.

In regard to the life-forms that make up the biosphere, have you ever asked what life is? What does it mean to be alive? Have you ever tried to define life? If so, how did you define it? If these questions strike you as odd, consider them for a moment (they are almost as difficult as defining the origin of life). Of course, we all have an intuitive sense of what life is, but if you had difficulty, as is probably the case, with answering these questions, you are not alone. These questions are open to debate and have been from the beginning of time. One thing is certain; life is not a simple concept, and it is impossible to define.

Along with the impossibility of defining life precisely, it is not always an easy thing to tell the difference among living, dead, and nonliving things. Prior to the seventeenth century, many people believed that nonliving things could spontaneously turn into living things. For example, it was believed that piles of straw could turn into mice. Obviously, that is not the case. There are some very general rules to follow when trying to decide if something is living, dead, or nonliving. Scientists have identified seven basic characteristics of life. Keep in mind that, for something to be described as living, that something must display all seven of these characteristics (i.e., ‘‘characteristic’’ is plural). Although many of us have many different opinions about what ‘‘living’’ means, the following characteristics were designated ‘‘characteristics of living things’’ with the consensus of the scientific community.

• Living things are composed of cells: living things exhibit a high level of organization, with multicellular organisms being subdivided into cells, and cells into organelles, and organelles into molecules, and so forth.

• Living things reproduce: all living organisms reproduce, either by sexual or asexual means.

• Living things respond to stimuli: all living things respond to stimuli in their environment.

• Living things maintain homeostasis: all living things maintain a state of internal balance in terms of temperature, pH, water concentrations, and so on.

• Living things require energy: Some view life as a struggle to acquire energy (from sunlight, inorganic chemicals, or another organism) and release it in the process of forming adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The conventional view is that living organisms require energy, usually in the form ATP. They use this energy to carry out energy-requiring activities such as metabolism and locomotion.

• Living things display heredity: living organisms inherit traits from the parent organisms that created them.

• Living things evolve and adapt: All organisms have the ability to adapt or adjust to their surroundings. An example of this is adapting to environmental change resulting in an increased ability to reproduce.

Interesting Point: Again, if something follows one or just a few of the characteristics listed above, it does not necessarily mean that it is living. To be considered alive, an object must exhibit all of the characteristics of living things. A good example of a nonliving object that displays at least one characteristic for living is sugar crystals growing on the bottom of a syrup dispenser. On the other hand, there is a stark exception to the characteristics above. For example, mules cannot reproduce because they are sterile. Another nonliving object that exhibits many of the characteristics of life is a flame. Think about it, a flame:

• respires,

• requires nutrition,

• reproduces,

• excretes,

• grows,

• moves,

• is irritable, and

• is organized.

We all know that a flame is not alive, but how do we prove that to the skeptic? The best argument we can make is as follows:

1. nonliving materials never replicate using DNA and RNA (hereditable materials); and

2. nonliving material cannot carry out anabolic metabolism.

Lithosphere

The lithosphere is of prime importance to the geologist and geographer. This, the solid, inorganic, rocky crust portion of the Earth, is composed of rocks and minerals that, in turn, comprise the continental masses and ocean basins. The rocks of the lithosphere are of three basic types: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic.

Soil Geology

We use soil for our daily needs, but we do not sufficiently take account of its slow formation and fast loss. Simply, we take soil for granted. It’s always been there—with the implied corollary that it will always be there—right? But where does soil come from?

Of course, soil was formed, and in a never-ending process, it is still being formed. However, as mentioned, soil formation is a slow process—one at work over the course of millennia, as mountains are worn away to dust through bare rock succession. Any activity, human or natural, that exposes rock to air begins the process. Through the agents of physical and chemical weathering, through extremes of heat and cold, through storms and earthquake and entropy, bare rock is gradually worn away. As its exterior structures are exposed and weakened, plant life appears to speed the process along.

Lichens cover the bare rock first, growing on the rock’s surface, etching it with mild acids and collecting a thin film of soil that is trapped against the rock and clings.This changes the conditions of growth so much that the lichens can no longer survive and are replaced by mosses.

The mosses establish themselves in the soil trapped and enriched by the lichensand collect even more soil. They hold moisture to the surface of the rock, setting up another change in environmental conditions. Well-established mosses hold enough soil to allow herbaceous plant seeds to invade the rock. Grasses and small flowering plants move in, sending out fine root systems that hold more soil and moisture, and work their way into minute fissures in the rock’s surface. More and more organisms join the increasingly complex community.

Weedy shrubs are the next invaders, with heavier root systems that find their way into every crevice. Each stage of succession affects the decay of the rock’s surface and adds its own organic material to the mix. Over the course of time, mountains are worn away, eaten away to soil, as time, plants, weather, and extremes of weather work on them.

The parent material, the rock, becomes smaller and weaker as the years, decades, centuries, and millennia go by, creating the rich, varied, and valuable mineral resource we call soil.

Perhaps no term causes more confusion in communication between various groups of average persons, soil geologists, soil scientists, soil engineers, and Earth scientists than the word soil. In simple terms, soil can be defined as the topmost layer of decomposed rock and organic matter that usually contains air, moisture, and nutrients and can therefore support life. Most people would have little difficulty in understanding and accepting this simple definition. Then why are various groups confused on the exact meaning of the word soil? Quite simply, confusion reigns because soil is not simple—it is quite complex. In addition, the term soil has different meanings to different groups (like pollution, the exact definition of soil is a personal judgment call). Let’s take a look at how some of these different groups view soil. 

Average people seldom give soil a first or second thought. Why should they? Soil isn’t that big a dea —that important—it doesn’t impact their lives, pay their bills, or feed their bulldog, right? Not exactly. Not directly.

The average person seldom thinks about soil as soil. He or she may think of soil in terms of dirt but hardly ever as soil. Why is this? Having said the obvious about the confusion between soil and dirt, let’s clear up this confusion.

First of all, soil is not dirt. Dirt is misplaced soil—soil where we don’t want it, contaminating our hands and fingernails, clothes, and automobiles and tracked in on the floor. Dirt is what we try to clean up and to keep out of our living environments. Secondly, soil is too special to be called dirt. Why? Because soil is mysterious and, whether we realize it or not, essential to our existence. Because we think of it as common, we relegate soil to an ignoble position. As our usual course of action, we degrade it, abuse it, throw it away, contaminate it, ignore it—we treat it like dirt, and only feces hold a more lowly status than it does. Soil deserves better.

Why?

Again, because soil is not dirt—how can it be? It is not filth, or grime, or squalor. Instead, soil is clay, air, water, sand, loam, organic detritus of former life-forms (including humans), and most important, the amended fabric of Earth itself; if water is Earth’s blood, and air is Earth’s breath, then soil is its flesh and bone and marrow—simply put, soil is the substance that most life depends on. Soil scientists (or pedologists) are people interested in soils as a medium for plant growth. Their focus is on the upper meter or so beneath the land surface (this is known as the weathering zone, which contains the organic-rich material that supports plant growth) directly above the unconsolidated parent material. Soil scientists have developed a classification system for soils based on the physical, chemical, and biological properties that can be observed and measured in the soil.

Soils engineers are typically soil specialists who look at soil as a medium that can be excavated using tools. Soils engineers are not concerned with the plant-growing potential of a particular soil but rather are concerned with a particular soil’s ability to support a load. They attempt to determine (through examination and testing) a soil’s particle size, particle-size distribution, and the plasticity of the soil.

Earth scientists (or geologists) have a view that typically falls between pedologists and soils engineers—they are interested in soils and the weathering processes as past indicators of climatic conditions, and in relation to the geologic formation of useful materials ranging from clay deposits to metallic ores.

Would you like to gain a new understanding of soil? Take yourself out to a plowed farm field somewhere, anywhere. Reach down and pick a handful of soil, and look at it—really look at it closely. What are you holding in your hand? Look at the two descriptions that follow, and you may gain a better understanding of what soil actually is and why it is critically important to us all.

1. A handful of soil is alive, a delicate living organism—as lively as an army of migrating caribou and as fascinating as a flock of egrets. Literally teeming with life of incomparable forms, soil deserves to be classified as an independent ecosystem or, more correctly stated, as many ecosystems.

2. When we pick up a handful of soil, exposing Earth’s stark bedrock surface, it should remind us (and maybe startle us) to the realization that without its thin, living soil layer, Earth is a planet as lifeless as our own Moon.

Hydrosphere

The hydrosphere includes all the waters of the oceans, lakes, and rivers, as well as groundwater—which exists within the lithosphere. Approximately forty million cubic miles of water cover or reside within the Earth. The oceans contain about 97 percent of all water on Earth. The other 3 percent is freshwater: (1) snow and ice on the surface of Earth contains about 2.25 percent of the water; (2) usable groundwater is approximately 0.3 percent; and (3) surface freshwater is less than 0.5 percent.

In the United States, for example, average rainfall is approximately 2.6 feet (a volume of 5,900 cubic kilometers). Of this amount, approximately 71 percent evaporates (about 4,200 cubic centimeters), and 29 percent goes to streamflow (about 1,700 cubic kilometers).

Beneficial freshwater uses include manufacturing, food production, domestic and public needs, recreation, hydroelectric power production, and flood control. Streamflow withdrawn annually is about 7.5 percent (440 cubic kilometers). Irrigation and industry use almost half of this amount (3.4 percent or 200 cubic kilometers per year). Municipalities use only about 0.6 percent (35 cubic kilometers per year) of this amount.

Historically, in the United States, water usage is increasing (as might be expected). For example, in 1975, 40 billion gallons of freshwater were used. In 1990, the total increased to 455 billion gallons. Projected use in 2002 is about 725 billion gallons. The primary sources of freshwater include the following:

1. captured and stored rainfall in cisterns and water jars;

2. groundwater from springs, artesian wells, and drilled or dug wells;

3. surface water from lakes, rivers, and streams;

4. desalinized seawater or brackish groundwater; and

5. reclaimed wastewater.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is the body of air that surrounds our planet. But what is air? Air is a mixture of gases that constitutes the Earth’s atmosphere. What is the Earth’s atmosphere? The atmosphere is that thin shell, veil, or envelope of gases that surrounds Earth like the skin of an apple—thin, very thin—but very, very vital. The approximate composition of dry air is, by volume at sea level, nitrogen, 78 percent; oxygen, 21 percent (necessary for life as we know it); argon, 0.93 percent; and carbon dioxide, 0.03 percent, together with very small amounts of numerous other constituents (see table ). The water vapor content is highly variable and depends on atmospheric conditions. Air is said to be pure when none of the minor constituents is present in sufficient concentration to be injurious to the health of human beings or animals, to damage vegetation, or to cause loss of amenity (e.g., through the presence of dirt, dust, or odors or by diminution of sunshine).

Where does air come from? Genesis 1:2 states that God separated the water environment into the atmosphere and surface waters on the second day of creation. Many scientists state that 4.6 billion years ago a cloud of dust and gases forged the Earth and also created a dense molten core enveloped in cosmic gases. This was the protoatmosphere or proto-air, composed mainly of carbon dioxide, hydrogen, ammonia, and carbon monoxide, but did not last long before it was stripped away by a tremendous outburst of charged particles from the Sun. As the outer crust of Earth began to solidify, a new atmosphere began to form from the gases outpouring from gigantic hot springs and volcanoes. This created an atmosphere of air composed of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen, sulfur dioxide, and water vapor. As the Earth cooled, water vapor condensed into highly acidic rainfall, which collected to form oceans and lakes.

For much of Earth’s early existence (the first half ), only trace amounts of free oxygen were present. But then green plants evolved in the oceans, and they began to add oxygen to the atmosphere as a waste gas, and later oxygen increased to about 1 percent of the atmosphere and with time to its present 21 percent. How do we know for sure about the evolution of air on Earth? Are we guessing, using ‘‘voodoo’’ science? There is no guessing or voodoo involved with the historical geological record. Consider, for example, geological formations that are dated to two billion years ago. In these early sediments, there is a clear and extensive band of red sediment (‘‘red bed’’ sediments)—sands colored with oxidized (ferric) iron. Previously, ferrous formations had been laid down showing no oxidation. But there is more evidence. We can look at the time frame of 4.5 billion years ago, when carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was beginning to be lost in sediments. The vast amount of carbon deposited in limestone, oil, and coal indicate that carbon dioxide concentrations must once have been many times greater than today, which stands at only 0.03 percent. 

The first carbonated deposits appeared about 1.7 billion years ago, the first sulfate deposits about 1 billion years ago. The decreasing carbon dioxide was balanced by an increase in the nitrogen content of the air. The forms of respiration practiced advanced from fermentation 4 billion years ago to anaerobic photosynthesis 3 billion years ago to aerobic photosynthesis 1.5 billion years ago. The aerobic respiration that is so familiar today only began to appear about five hundred million years ago. The atmosphere itself continues to evolve, but human activities—with their highly polluting effects—have now overtaken nature in determining the changes. And, when you get right down to it, that is one of the overriding themes of this text—human beings and their affect on planet Earth. The atmosphere is an important geologic agent and is responsible for the processes of weathering that are continually at work on the Earth’s surface.

Gas Chemical     Symbol       Volume (%)

nitrogen                N2               78.08

oxygen                 O2                20.94

carbon dioxide     CO2               0.03

argon                   Ar                  0.093

neon                    Ne                  0.0018

helium                 He                 0.0005

krypton                Kr                 trace

xenon                  Xe                  trace

ozone                   O3               0.00006

hydrogen             H2               0.00005

Landforms

Based on personal experience, when introducing students to the geological and geographical aspects of environmental science initially, there is some confusion as to the exact difference between geology and geography. This is partially the case because, while there are several differences between the two sciences, they are also wed in many respects. To save on time and to avoid confusion, the best way to differentiate between the two sciences is to simply point out that for the purpose of this book geology is defined as the science that deals with the natural structure of Earth and geography deals with the human-drawn or human-made national borders and lines on Earth.

One thing is certain: certain aspects of geology, such as Earth’s internal forces involved in the building and development of mountains, continental plains, and coastal basins, are relevant to physical geography. Moreover, rock type and structure are important as variables that influence the effectiveness of rain, wind, and weathering processes on landforms.

We have all seen the photographs of the Earth taken from outer space; they show the surface of the Earth as being far from uniform. Earth’s surface is covered with natural features called landforms. These features are classified by type in order to describe them—mountains, valleys, plains, and so forth. The features’ names help us to locate specific places. Along with classification by type, landforms can also be classified and organized by the genetic processes that create them.

Genetic Landforming Processes

Genetic landforming processes work across the globe’s seven large landmasses, the continents. These processes include Aeolian landforms, coastal and oceanic landforms, erosion landforms, fluvial landforms, mountain and glacial landforms, slope landforms, and volcanic landforms. Genetic landforming processes and individual landforms are described in the following text; many of the individual landforms are described in greater detail later in the text. Keep in mind that many of the landforms listed and described below are produced by more than one landforming process. For example, landforms produced by erosion and weathering usually occur in both coastal and fluvial environments. However, to eliminate redundancy, each landform is only listed and described once under a specific process.

Volcanic Landforms

A volcanic landform is characterized by the type of material it is made of. Later processes modify the original landform to other forms. Volcanic landforms include the following:

• caldera—very large, cauldronlike depression that is usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption. Calderas are enclosed depressions that collect rainwater and snowmelt, and thus lakes often form within a caldera.

• geyser—a hot spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam.

• lava—molten rock.

• lava spine—an upright cylindrical mass of lava caused by the upward squeezing of pasty lava inside a volcanic vent.

• lava tube—a natural conduit through which lava travels beneath the surface of a lava flow, expelled by a volcano during an eruption.

• maar—a broad, low-relief volcanic crater that is caused by an explosion caused by groundwater coming into contact with hot magma.

• malpais—a landform characterized by eroded rocks of volcanic origin in an arid environment.

• mamelon—a hill formed by eruption of stiff lava.

• mid-ocean ridge—an underwater mountain range, typically having a valley known as a rift running along its spine, formed by plate tectonics.

• oceanic trench—narrow topographic depressions of the sea floor.

• pit crater—a depression formed by a sinking of the ground surface lying above a void or empty chamber.

• pseudocrater—a volcanic landform that resembles a true volcanic crater but differs in that it is not an actual vent from which lava has erupted.

• subglacial mound—a type of subglacial volcano that forms when lava erupts beneath a thick glacier or ice sheet.

• tuya—a distinctive, flat-topped, steep-sided volcano formed when lava erupts through a thick glacier or ice sheet.

• volcanic dam—a natural dam produced by volcanic activity.

• volcanic field—a spot of the Earth’s crust that is prone to localized volcanic activity.

• volcanic plateau—a plateau produced by volcanic activity.

• volcanic plug—a volcanic landform created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano.

Slope Landforms

Generally, when discussing slope, we are primarily concerned with hillslopes—that is, the slopes connecting hilltops with river channels in valley bottoms. Slopes include slopes created by river sediments, rainwash, and rockfall (talus). Although discussed in detail later in the text, it should be pointed out that slope has a great influence on mass movement and wasting. Slope not only influences the evolution of landforms but also gives geologists important information about the formation of landforms. Slope landforms include the following:

• alas—a steep-sided depression formed by the melting of permafrost; it may contain a lake.

• defile—a narrow pass or gorge between mountains or hills.

• dell—a small wooded valley.

• escarpment—a transition zone between different provinces that involves a sharp, steep elevation differential, characterized by a cliff or steep slope.

• glen—a valley, typically one that is long, deep, and often glacially U-shaped.

• gully—a landform created by running water eroding sharply into soil, typically on a hillside.

• hill—a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain, in a limited area.

• knoll—a small, natural hill.

• mountain pass—a saddle point in between two areas of higher elevation.

• ravine—a very small valley, which is often the product of stream-cutting erosion.

• ridge—a geological feature that consists of a continuous, elevational crest for some distance.

• rock shelter—a shallow cavelike opening at the base of a bluff or cliff.

• scree—an accumulation of broken rock fragments at the base of mountain cliffs.

• vale—a wide river valley, with a particularly wide floodplain or flat valley bottom.

Mountain and Glacial Landforms

Mountain and glacial landforms include the following:

• areˆte—a thin, almost knifelike, ridge of rock that is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys.

• cirque—an amphitheaterlike valley or valley head, formed at the head of a glacier by erosion.

• crevasse—a huge crack formed by two glaciers colliding.

• dirt cone—a feature of a glacier in which dirt that has fallen into a hollow in the ice forms a coating that insulates the ice below.

• drumlin—an elongated, whale-shaped hill formed by glacial action.

• esker—a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel.

• glacier—a large, slow-moving mass of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity and high pressure.

• glacier cave—a cave formed within the ice of a glacier.

• glacier foreland—region between the current leading edge of the glacier and the moraines of latest maximum.

• hill—a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain, in a limited area.

• kame—an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel, and till that accumulates in a depression on a retreating glacier and is then deposited on the land surface with further melting of the glacier.

• kame delta—a glacial landform made by a stream flowing through glacial ice and depositing material upon entering a lake or pond at the end or terminus of the glacier.

• kettle—a shallow, sediment-filled body of water formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters.

• monadnock—an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surround plain.

• moraine—any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris (soil and rock) that can occur in the currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past ice age.

• moulin—a narrow, tubular chute, hole, or crevasse through which water enters a glacier from the surface.

• nunatak—an exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within an ice field or glacier.

• outwash fan—a fan-shaped body of sediments deposited by braided streams from a melting glacier.

• pingo—a mound of earth-covered ice found in the Arctic and subarctic that can reach up to 70 meters (230 feet) in height and up to 600 meters (2,000 feet) in diameter.

• pyramidal peak (glacial horn)—a mountaintop that has been modified by the action of ice during glaciation and frost weathering.

• rift valley—linear-shaped lowland between highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift or fault.

• sandur—a glacial outwash plain formed of sediments deposited by meltwater at the terminus of a glacier.

• side valley—refers to a valley whose brook or river is confluent to a greater one.

• stream terrace—a relict feature from periods when a stream was flowing at a higher elevation and has downcut to a lower elevation.

• tunnel valley—a deep but narrow valley with a ‘U’-shaped cross-section and frequently a ‘U’-shaped plain that is usually found filled with glacial till.

• valley—a depression with predominant extent in one direction.

Fluvial Landforms

Fluvial landforms result from erosion by water flowing on land surfaces. Fluvial landforms include the following:

• ait—a small island in a river.

• alluvial fan—a fan-shaped deposit formed where a fast-flowing stream flattens, slows, and spreads, typically at the exit of a canyon onto a flatter plain.

• anabranch—a section of a river or stream that diverts from the main channel or stem of a watercourse and rejoins the main stem downstream.

• arroyo—usually dry creek bed or gulch that temporarily (or seasonally) fills with water after a heavy rain.

• bayou—a small, slow-moving stream or creek, or a lake or pool that lies in an abandoned channel of a stream.

• braided river—one of a number of channel types and has a channel that consists of a network of small channels separated by small and often temporary islands called braid bars.

• Carolina Bay—elliptical depressions concentrated along the Atlantic seaboard within coastal Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and north-central Florida.

• drainage basin—an extent of land where water from rain or snowmelt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean.

• exhumed river channel—a ridge of sandstone that remains when the softer floodplain mudstone is eroded away.

• gully—landform created by running water eroding sharply into soil, typically on a hillside.

• lacustrine plain—a plain that originally formed in a lacustrine environment, that is, as the bed of a lake from which the water has disappeared, by natural drainage, evaporation, or other geophysical processes.

• lake—a terrain feature, a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of a basin and moves slowly if it moves at all.

• levee—a natural or artificial slope or wall to regulate water levels.

• meander—a bend in a sinuous watercourse.

• oasis—an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source.

• oxbow lake—a U-shaped body of water formed when a wide meander from the mainstem of a river is cut off to create a lake.

• pond—a body of water smaller than a lake.

• proglacial lake—a lake formed either by the damming action of a moraine or ice dam during the retreat of a melting glacier or by meltwater trapped against an ice sheet due to isostatic depression of the crust around the ice.

• rapid—a section of a river where the riverbed has a relatively steep gradient causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence.

• riffle—a shallow stretch of a river or stream, where the current is below the average stream velocity and where the water forms small rippled waves as result.

• rock-cut basin—cylindrical depressions cut into stream or riverbeds, often filled with water.

• spring—any natural occurrence where water from below the surface of the Earth flows onto the surface of the Earth and is thus where the aquifer surface meets the ground surface.

• stream—a flowing body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks.

• stream terrace—relict feature, such as a floodplain, from periods when a stream was flowing at a higher elevation and has downcut to a lower elevation.

• swamp—a wetland featuring temporary or permanent inundation of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water.

• wadi—Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley.

• waterfall—a body of water resulting from water, often in the form of a stream, flowing over an erosion-resistant rock formation that forms a nickpoint, or sudden break in elevation.

Erosion Landforms

The following landforms are the result of either erosion or weathering or a combination of both.

• butte—an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top (smaller than mesas, plateaus, and tables).

• canyon—a deep valley between cliffs, often carved from the landscape by a river.

• cuesta—a ridge formed by gently tilted sedimentary rock strata in a homoclinal structure.

• dissected plateau—a plateau area that has been uplifted, then severely eroded so that the relief is sharp.

• eolianite—any rock formed by the lithification of sediment deposited by Aeolian processes (i.e., the wind).

• gulch—a deep V-shaped valley formed by erosion.

• gully—a landform created by running water eroding sharply into soil, typically on a hillside.

• hogback—a homoclinal ridge, formed from a monocline, composed of steeply tilted strata rock protruding from the surrounding area.

• hoodoo—a tall, thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland.

• lavaka—a type of erosional feature common in Madagascar.

• limestone pavement—a natural karst landform consisting of a flat, incised surface of exposed limestone that resembles an artificial pavement.

• malpais—a landform characterized by eroded rocks of volcanic origin in an arid environment.

• mesa—an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs.

• pediment—a gently inclined erosional surface carved into bedrock.

• peneplain—the final stage in fluvial or stream erosion.

• potrero—a long mesa that at one end slopes upward to higher terrain.

• tea table—a rock formation that is a remnant of new strata that have eroded away.

• tepui—a tabletop mountain (mesa) found only in the Guayana highlands of South America.

• valley—a depression with predominant extent in one direction.

Coastal and Oceanic Landforms

The main agents responsible for formation of coastal landforms are deposition and erosion, which are the result of waves, tides, and currents. Coastal and oceanic landforms are also heavily dependent on the type of rock present (i.e., the hardness or softness of rock—how resistant/nonresistant it is to erosion). Many coastal and oceanic landforms are listed and described below.

• abyssal fan—underwater structures that look like deltas formed at the end of many large rivers.

• abyssal plain—flat or very gently sloping areas of the deep ocean basin floor.

• arch—a natural formation where a rock arch forms, with a natural passageway underneath. They commonly form where cliffs are subject to erosion from the sea, rivers, or weathering; the processes find weaknesses in rocks and work on them, making them bigger until they break through.

• archipelago—a chain or cluster of islands that are formed tectonically (i.e., by forces and movements within the Earth).

• atoll—an annular reef enclosing a lagoon in which there are no promontories other than reefs and islets composed of reef detritus; in an exclusively morphological sense, a ring-shaped ribbon reef enclosing a lagoon in the center.

• ayre—a body of water divided from the sea by a narrow bar of land.

• barrier bar—a long and narrow (linear) landform within or extending into a body of water, typically composed of sand, silt, or small pebbles.

• bay—an area of water bordered by land on three sides.

• beach—landform along the shoreline of a body of water. A raised beach is an emergent coastal landform, a wave-cut platform raised above the shore line.

• beach cusps—shoreline formations made up of various grades of sediment in an arc pattern.

• beach ridge—a wave-swept or wave-deposited ridge running parallel to a shoreline.

• bight—a bend or curve in the line between land and water, or a large, shallow bay.

• channel—the physical confine of a river, slough, or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.

• cliff—a significant, vertical, or near vertical erosion-formed rock exposure.

• coast—where the land meets the sea.

• continental shelf—the undersea extended perimeter of each continent and associated coastal plain.

• coral reef—sea or ocean structures produced by living organisms.

• cove—a circular or oval coastal inlet with a narrow entrance.

• dune—hill of sand built by Aeolian processes.

• estuary—a semienclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea.

• firth—various coastal waters in Scotland.

• fjord—glacier cut U-shaped drowned valley.

• headlands—coastline feature surrounded by water on three sides.

• inlet—a narrow body of water between islands or leading inland from a larger body of water, often leading to an enclosed body of water, such as a bay, lagoon, or marsh.

• isthmus—the narrow strip of land connecting two larger areas of land.

• lagoon—body of comparatively shallow salt or brackish water separated from the deeper sea by a shallow or exposed sandbank, coral ref, or similar feature.

• machair—refers to a fertile, low-lying grassy plain found on some of the northwest coastlines of Ireland and Scotland.

• mid-ocean ridge—an underwater mountain range, typically having a valley known as a rift running along its spine, formed by plate tectonics.

• ocean basin—large geologic basin covered by seawater and well below sea level.

• oceanic trench—narrow topographic depressions of the sea floor that can be hemispheric in length.

• ocean plateau—large, relatively flat submarine region that rises well above the level of the ambient seabed.

• peninsula—a piece of land that is nearly surrounded by water but connected to mainland via an isthmus.

• ria—a drowned river valley.

• river delta—a landform that is created at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or another river.

• salt marsh—a type of marsh that is transitional intertidal between land and salty or brackish water.

• sea cave—type of cave formed primarily by the wave action of the sea.

• shoal—a sandbar that is somewhat linear within or extending into a body of water, typically composed of sand, silt, or small pebbles.

• sound—a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, and wider than a fjord, or it may identify a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land.

• spit—a deposition landform off coasts; one end is connected to land and the other far end juts into open water.

• stack—a landform consisting of a steep and often vertical column or columns of rock in the sea near a coast.

• straight—a narrow, navigable channel of water that connects two large navigable bodies of water.

• surge channel—a narrow inlet on a rocky shoreline.

• tombolo (Italian for mound)—a deposition landform in which an island is attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land such as a spit or bar.

• volcanic arc—a chain of volcanic islands or mountains formed by plate tectonics as an oceanic tectonic plate subducts under another tectonic plate and produces magma.

• wave-cut platform—the narrow, flat area often seen at the base of a sea cliff or along a large lakeshore caused by the action of the waves.

Aeolian Landforms

An Aeolian (derived from the Greek Aeolus—god of the winds) landform is a surface feature produced on Earth (and other planets, e.g., Mars) by the erosive or constructive action of the wind.

These wind-constructed landforms are rarely preserved on the surface of the Earth except in arid regions where, in most cases, there is a lack of moving water to erase them. Aeolian landforms are listed and described below.

• barchan—an arc-shaped sand ridge (dune), comprising well-sorted sand.

• blowout—sandy depressions in a sand dune ecosystem caused by the removal of sediments by wind.

• desert pavement—a desert surface that is covered with closely packed, interlocking angular or rounded rock fragments of pebble and cobble size.

• desert varnish—dark coating found on exposed rock surfaces in arid environments.

• dune—hill of sand built by Aeolian processes.

• erg—large, relatively flat area of desert covered with windswept sand with little or no vegetative cover (NASA 2009).

• loess—a homogeneous, typically nonstratified, porous, friable, slightly coherent, often calcareous, fine-grained, silty, pale yellow or buff, windblown sediment.

• medanos—in South America, medanos refers to continental dunes, whereas dunes refer to dunes of coastal regions.

• playa—a dry or ephemeral lakebed, generally extending to the shore, or a remnant of an endorheic lake (a lake that does not flow into the sea).

• sandhill—an ecological community type found in many parts of the world.

• ventifact—rocks that have been abraded, pitted, etched, grooved, or polished by wind-driven sand or ice crystals (Segerstrom 1962).

• yardang—a wind-abraded ridge found in a desert environment.

Kuwait

KUWAIT IS A COUNTRY in the MIDDLE EAST, bordering the PERSIAN GULF, between IRAQ and SAUDI ARABIA. The establishment of Kuwait took place in the 18th century by an Arab tribal group that came north from QATAR. They selected a defensible position at a prominent point on the southern edge of a broad bay near the outflow of the Euphrates River, at the head of the PERSIAN GULF.

Kuwait, as its place name implies in Arabic, began as a fortification near the water. The location provided a suitable point for transfer of goods to and from ships and liaison with the camel caravans of Arabia and Mesopotamia. Kuwait lay just on the margins of the OTTOMAN EMPIRE and acted as a trading center for goods entering or leaving the established routes serving that vast domain. In 1751, the Al Sabah family became the principal leaders of the small coastal commercial state. This ruling dynasty continues in a hereditary emirate type of government. As other gulf emirates before him, the Kuwait emir formalized relations with the BRITISH EMPIRE and became a protectorate by treaty in 1899.

UNIMAGINABLE WEALTH

Kuwaitis survived as traders and fishermen with meager wealth rising from the sea in the form of pearls. Oil was discovered in 1937 and once full exploitation began after World War II, unimaginable wealth began to rise from the desert. Kuwait quickly became a superrich oil country and developed a robust welfare state. On June 19, 1961, Kuwait became fully independent from Britain. The next 30 years saw continued development of the petroleum industry and massive wealth accumulation by the Kuwaiti government. Virtually every aspect of a citizen’s life, education, health care, and housing was subsidized or provided for by the state government.

In 1990, neighboring Iraq used alleged theft of oil from a shared oil field as a pretext for invasion and annexation. Several United Nations (UN) resolutions demanded Iraq restore the Kuwait government and withdraw its troops. A UN-sponsored, U.S.-led coalition of nations established a large military force in Saudi Arabia. Once the UN-declared deadline of January 15, 1991, passed, coalition forces conducted an air and ground campaign that resulted in the liberation of Kuwait. Kuwait rapidly rebuilt its ransacked nation and reestablished oil production. Kuwait then became the staging area for U.S. and coalition forces, which maintained UN-mandated economic and military sanctions against Iraq for over a decade. In 2003, a U.S.-led coalition force launched a successful invasion of Iraq from Kuwait and other neighboring areas.

Kuwait’s economy continues to be centered on the petroleum industry and the government sector. Its proven oil reserves account for about 10 percent of the world total. Kuwait’s service and market sectors stand to benefit from the large-scale reconstruction and reorganization of the economy of Iraq. More than 90 percent of the population lives within the environs of Kuwait City and its harbor. An estimated 65 percent of the citizens of Kuwait, along with the royal family, belong to the Sunni branch of Islam.

Kuroshio Current

THE KUROSHIO IS a warm northeasterly ocean current off the coast of JAPAN. This current is also called the gulf stream of the Pacific or Japan Current. Kuroshio means “the black stream” in Japanese, named after the deep ultramarine color of the high salinity water, which is found flowing north of the current’s axis. The system includes the following branches: Kuroshio, up to 35 degrees N; Kuroshio extension, extending eastward into two branches up to 160 degrees E longitude; North Pacific current, a further eastward continuation, which throws branches to the south as far as 150 degrees W; Tsushima current, branches of the main current that run into the Japan Sea, along the west coast of JAPAN; and Kuroshio counter-current, the large swirl or eddy on the east and south east of the Kuroshio.

The Kuroshio originates from the greater part of North Equatorial current, which divides east of the PHILIPPINES. The Kuroshio is the current running from Formosa to about 35 degrees N latitude. It continues directly as a warm current known as the Kuroshio Extension, from there it is continues as the North Pacific current. Water enters the Kuroshio over a broad front, 621 mi (1,000 km) in width, which then accelerates and narrows. A narrow band less than 62 mi (100 km) in width and about .6 mi (1 km) of maximum depth runs for 1,864 mi (3,000 km) along the western edge of the Pacific, between the Philippines and the east coast of Japan. A narrow, intense flow persists for 930 mi to 1,240 mi (1,500 to 2,000 km) after the current leaves Japan’s east coast, after which there is a marked drop in velocity. Here, there is no land boundary on the lefthand side to generate a fractional boundary layer.

Kuroshio is a fast ocean current (2 to 4 knots). Every second, the current carries some 50 million tons of sea water past Japan’s southeast coast, a flow equal in volume to about 6,000 rivers the size of the DANUBE or the VOLGA. On the whole, there are two distinct types of water in the current: warm, saline water on the right and cold, dilute water on the left The current undergoes marked changes in speed in the location of its axis, which varies from place to place and with seasons. Apart from changes resulting from tides, shortterm changes from a major shift in the axis of the Kuroshio can occur as it flows past southern Japan. When meanders develop, cold water is brought up toward the surface between the Kuroshio and the coast, and the temperature drops to as much as 50 degrees F (10 degrees C) below normal. This change has a profound effect on coastal and offshore fisheries.

The Kuroshio Current plays a vital role in the circulation of the North PACIFIC OCEAN. The current involves great volumes of water capable of carrying large amounts of heat. The heat, which is carried north by this flow, has an effect on climate of the adjacent land areas. Water temperature offshore strongly influences cloud cover and rainfall. On the southern coast of ALASKA, the effect of the Kuroshio Extension creates a somewhat more temperate climate.

Mount Kosciusko

MOUNT KOSCIUSKO (also spelled “Kosciuszko”) is the highest point (7,310 ft or 2,228 m) in mainland AUSTRALIA. Named after the Polish military leader Thaddeus Kosciuszko (1746–1817), the mountain is a core component of the Kosciuszko National Park in the state of New South Wales. One of the Australian Alps national parks, the park is a UNESCO (United Nations) Biosphere Reserve. It contains six wilderness areas, and its alpine and subalpine areas contain herb fields, bogs, feldmarks and plant and animal species found nowhere else in the world. The park is also home to the headwaters of Australia’s biggest river system the Murray-Murrumbidgee, as well as several glacial lakes, including Blue Lake, which is also a wetland reserve.

Kiandra, in the north of the park, was the scene of one of the shortest gold rushes in Australia. The discovery of gold in 1859 led to a sudden influx of goldseekers, so that by early 1860 there were about 4,000 people in the town, which had 25 stores, 14 hotels, and a jail. After 1861, once the rush was over, the population stabilized between 200 and 300. Kiandra is now a ghost town and a heritage attraction along with a number of other historic huts and homesteads that have become conserved as part of the cultural heritage of the region.

The first proposals to protect Mount Kosciusko and the surrounding regions were developed in the 1930s by the Sydney Bushwalking Club and the National Parks and Primitive Areas Council (NPPAC). In 1935 and 1936 the NPPAC exhibited a plan for the reservation of the region in Sydney. The proposed park was designed for the special purposes of water conservation, wildlife propagation, and public recreation of various kinds, including trail riding, recreational walking and motor camping. Despite the enthusiasm of the NPPAC for the conservation proposals, the main force for its eventual acceptance was more utilitarian conservation notions of the need for irrigation water, the production of hydro-electricity and soil protection.

On April 19, 1944, the Kosciusko State Park Act was assented to by the New South Wales Parliament. Besides the protection that the act gave to the Kosciusko region, it is significant for two reasons. First, it was the first national park in New South Wales that was provided with security of tenure through permanent reservation that could be revoked only by a special act of parliament. Second, it provided for the establishment of a primitive (wilderness) area. Despite its conservation significance, the park served as the core of the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme which was completed in 1972. The scheme left an extensive road network and lakes in the park that is now heavily used by tourists.

South Korea

AN ECONOMIC GIANT of East Asia, South Korea’s economy took off after the Korean War of the 1950s. South Koreans now enjoy a per capita income 20 times that of the North but desires for reunification remain strong. Relations began only in 2000, but South Koreans worry about the vast sums of capital that would be required to bring their northern cousins up to similar living standards.

Like its neighbor to the north, North KOREA, most of South Korea (Republic of Korea) is mountainous, with higher peaks concentrated in the Taebaek Range, the “backbone,” running along the eastern coast of the peninsula. The western coast is far more level, with numerous inlets and thousands of islands—South Korea’s overall coastline is more than 1,488 mi (2,400 km), mostly because of these features. South Korea shares a border of 151 mi (248 km) with North Korea, and lies across the Korea Strait from Japan, and the Yellow Sea from CHINA. The climate is said to be one of the healthiest in the world, temperate most of the year, with the southernmost regions (notably the island of Cheju) lying within the subtropical zone, influenced by the warm Japan Current from the south.

The southeast also has resorts and hot springs near Pusan. While the south has more agricultural resources than the north, it lacks the north’s mineral resources and must import most of the raw materials needed in its factories. The central-west regions are the most fertile, growing rice, root crops, and fruit. Ginseng has been one of the country’s signature crops for centuries, centered on the town of Komsan, where richly mulched soil is carefully shaded by thatch or fiber mats, then left to fallow for 10 to 15 years before another planting. Most rivers are relatively short but navigable, like the Han (Han-gang), which flows through Seoul to its port city, Inchon, 24 mi (40 km) away. The many islands that lie off the west and southwest coast of Korea are mostly of volcanic origin and are noted for their beauty, coral beds, diverse marine life, sponges, and pearls. The largest, Cheju, 62 mi (100 km) south of the mainland, is mostly mountainous and famous for its mother-of-pearl. Its largest peak, Halla (6,435 ft or 1,950 m), looks white from a distance because of the large outcroppings of rock.

South Korea has six cities with populations over 1 million (and containing over half the total population): Pusan, Taegu, Taejon, Kwangju, and the conurbation of Seoul and Inchon, with a total of 13 million people. Seoul means “capital” and has been the center of various Korean kingdoms for centuries. The Koreans originally migrated from Manchuria and set up several small principalities, which were gradually united into one state by the end of the 7th century. These earlier tribal groupings were called the Han, from which the preferred modern name for the state is derived: Han’guk, or Tae-han.

The Kingdom of Koryo emerged in the 10th century, providing the country’s modern name, but it was transformed in the 14th century and renamed Joseon (or Choson, the name still preferred by North Korea). Influenced by Chinese politics and religion, Korea in turn influenced Japanese society, notably through the introduction of Buddhism. A golden age of Korean history followed, during which the Koreans invented the world’s first movable metal type, developed a world-famous silk industry, and invented a new (non-Chinese) alphabet. Weakened by internal factions, Christian ideologies from Western missionaries, and government corruption, the kingdom closed its ports to all foreigners but the Chinese in 1864, until its ports were forced open by the Japanese, who gradually extended their influence over the peninsula from protectorate (1905) to outright annexation in 1910. 

Brutal imperialist rule by the Japanese over the succeeding decades remains a source of great resentment among Koreans. Liberated from Japanese rule by the UNITED STATES and the Soviet Union in 1945, the two powers’ rival occupation led to the Korean War of 1950–53, and the partition of the country into North and South. The DMZ (demilitarized zone) dividing the two countries lies only 25 mi (40 km) north of Seoul, and the city grew significantly in the 1950s from the nearly 1 million refugees who fled the North. Land reform, education and economic expansion following the war has transformed the country from a poor agrarian society to one of the world’s most industrialized. Light industry changed over to heavy industry in the 1970s (steel, iron, chemicals), then to high-tech industries such as automobiles, ships, and electronics. Giant corporate conglomerates (known as chaebols, “fortune clusters”) are now known all over the world—Hyundai, Daewoo, and Samsung—and have become global in outlook (Daewoo Motors, for example, has factories in POLAND, UZBEKISTAN, and INDIA).

In 1996, the top four chaebols accounted for 80 percent of the GDP and 60 percent of the exports. Despite this prosperity, Koreans face increased population problems, especially with urban crowding and severe housing shortages. The government is encouraging the development of new centers of technological research and industry, notably in the cities of the south, especially Pusan, the country’s second largest city, and the country’s premier harbor.

North Korea

THE DEMOCRATIC People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea, is one of the world’s most politically isolated countries. Separated from its sister nation (South KOREA) to the south since 1953, the Democratic People’s Republic holds on to its Cold War ideologies long after its chief sponsors have either collapsed (the Soviet Union) or turned toward liberalized economy and better relations with the West (such as CHINA). Less populated and less developed economically than the south even before the split, North Korea is almost completely unable to feed its population because of extreme economic centralization and international blockades.

North Korea occupies the northern portion of the Korean peninsula, roughly from the 38th parallel (38 degrees north latitude, the Demarcation Line of July 27, 1953) to the border with Manchuria (China) and SIBERIA (RUSSIA). Its is bordered on the east and west by the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea. Most of its northern border is with China, with only 11.8 mi (19 km) bordering Russia, in the far northeastern corner. The southern border with the Republic of Korea (South Korea) is 151 mi (248 km) long, along the demilitarized zone (the DMZ), still the area of the world with the highest concentration of permanent military presence, with North Korea’s 1.1 million-person army (the world’s fifth largest) facing off against 600,000 South Korean troops and a sizable American military force.

The terrain is mostly hilly, with higher mountains in the interior, separated by deep, narrow valleys. There are wider coastal plains in the west, in which is located the country’s only major city, P’yongyang, and its port city, Namp’o.

The mountains of North Korea are generally higher than in the south—as a result, most of the best farmland is in the south (only about one-sixth of the land in the north is suitable), while the north is richer in timber and minerals (coal, iron, copper, zinc, and other ingredients for heavy industry). The mountain ranges that run the length of the Korean peninsula from north to south are mostly along the eastern edge of the country, with the terrain sloping gradually toward the west. The eastern coast is thus generally more steep, while the west coast has more coastal indentations and small islands (though in no way comparable to the thousands in the south). The central range for the northern end of the peninsula is called the Nangnim Range.

The highest mountains, however, are further to the northeast, including Paektu-san (Korea’s highest), on the border with China, from which emanate the two main rivers in the north that form most of the border with China, the Yalu River, flowing west into the Korea Bay and into the Yellow Sea, and the Tumen River, east to the Sea of Japan, its mouth only 80 mi (129 km) from Vladivostok, Russia’s major city in the Far East. Both of these rivers are navigable for a considerable distance, and both provide China and North Korea with hydroelectric power. Many of the mountains in this far northeastern corner are extinct volcanoes.

Further south, North Korean territory includes the northernmost end of the Taebaek Range, mountains of medium height that hug the eastern coast, including one of the best known mountains in all of Korea, the Kumgang-san (Diamond Mountain), with its “12,000 peaks,” famous scenery, spring foliage, and ancient legends about odd-shaped rocks and ravines. The Taedong River, flowing through the center of P’yongyang, is not the longest in North Korea, but it is the major transport river from the interior, past the capital and into the Korea Bay. The capital is the only city with over a million inhabitants in the north (versus six in South Korea).

Though most of the cultural and political centers in Korean history have been in the southern end of the peninsula, P’yongyang was the center of the Goryeo kingdom (the origin of the name Korea), dominating this region and much of Manchuria before the seventh century. The North prefers to use the name of Korea’s former ruling dynasty, Joseon, or Choson, with more ties to these northern kingdoms, rather than the name preferred by the South, Han’guk. The Choson ruled a united peninsula until the Japanese conquest in 1910.

After 1945, Korea was divided into spheres of influence by the UNITED STATES and the Soviet Union at the 38th parallel. The Soviets refused to submit to United Nations elections to decide on the form of government, so a republic was set up in the south in 1948, followed a few weeks later by the north. War from 1950 to 1953 effected little change in the nation’s divided status but caused a massive depopulation of the north when nearly 1 million refugees fled south.

Political and economic mismanagement for the past 50 years has driven the country’s industries into the ground: official government estimates for famines between 1995 and 1998 claim the loss of over 200,000 lives, while international groups claim much higher figures, around 1.5 million. The population has shifted dramatically from 20 percent urban in 1953 to 60 percent in 1987. Reunification talks have become a possibility only in the last few years, with the first meeting between the two presidents in 2000. Korean athletes marched together for the first time at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, and limited border crossings have begun, allowing families to visit relatives they have not seen in over 50 years.

Kopet Mountains

THE SMALL RANGE of mountains that forms the northern boundary of IRAN with TURKMENISTAN is known as the Kopet Dag, or Kopet Mountains (Köpetdag in Turkmen). The range stretches for 400 mi (645 km), from a point near the CASPIAN SEA to the Harirud River in the east, which flows from northwestern AFGHANISTAN to a desert delta in southeastern Turkmenistan (where it is called the Tejen River). The highest point in the range is the Kuh-e Quchan (10,466 ft or 3,191 m), in the southern part of the range in Iran. The highest point in the northern range, which forms the border between the two countries, is Mount Shahshah (9,600 ft or 2,912 m), which looms over the city of Ashgabat to the north.

Most of the population of Turkmenistan is clustered in towns and cities in the foothills of the Kopet Dag, including Ashgabat, its largest city and capital. The northern and southern ranges are divided by the valley of the Atrak River (entirely in Iran, until it forms the border west of the Kopet Dag ranges) and the largest city of the Iranian province of Khorasan, Mashhad. Many of the local inhabitants are semi-nomadic sheepherders, while others cultivate the region’s fruit specialties in the rich LOESS foothills and the mountain gorges: pomegranates, plums, figs, almonds, walnuts and pistachios, plus plants known for centuries for their medical properties, aromas, and dyes. This cultivation is aided by the fact that the mountains receive more rain than any other part of Turkmenistan.

The isolation of these mountains by deserts on both sides has produced a large variety of flora and fauna that are found nowhere else, a fact that has led the local Turkmen government to create the Syunt-Hasardag Nature Reserve—over 74,000 acres (30,000 hectares)—in the southwest portion of the range. The reserve is home to the region’s most famous wildlife, its hunting birds, including the golden eagle, black griffin, and desert kestrel. Other animals include leopards, boars and desert hyenas.

The mountains are tectonically active and frequently prone to earthquakes—the most devastating in recent history was in 1948, which completely destroyed Ashgabat. The mountains have served as a barrier for various empires centered on the Iranian plateau from invasions from the north but also as a meeting point between Central and South Asian civilizations, as the terminus (end point) of the Great SILK ROAD from CHINA to Persia.

Kolkata

CALCUTTA, RECENTLY renamed Kolkata after its original village site of Kolikata and an on-site temple of goddess Kali, was founded by Job Charnock in 1690 on behalf of the British East India Company. The same location in northwestern INDIA was also a Portuguese and Dutch encampment site during the mid-17th century. It is, however the British encampment that started the impetus to develop the area as a trading center that eventually formed the core of a huge Calcutta metropolis leading to the evolution of a 50-mi- (80-km-) long linear conurbation (continuous urban agglomeration) along the Hughly (Hooghly) river.

Calcutta was the capital of British India (1757–1911) and thereafter it was relegated to the capital of the undivided Bengal Province. It has been the capital of the state of West Bengal since 1947. The Calcutta Metropolitan District was formed in 1961 as a planning unit for the entire conurbation. It consists of over 500 administrative units, including the two largest cities: corporations of Kolkata and its twin city of Haora (Hawrah).

Only 1 degree south of TROPIC OF CANCER, Kolkata falls in the monsoon climatic regime with most of its annual average rainfall of 64 in (162 cm) falling in the four-month period of June through September. Its January temperature average is 67 degrees F (19 degrees C), while July averages 85 degrees F (29 degrees C). The British established a port, Fort Williams, and an initial water transport network to connect the city with an extensive HINTERLAND that contained the richest agricultural and mineral resource region of India.

An extensive railroad network was developed in 1850s. Using the hinterland, Calcutta became the primary manufacturing center of India specializing in jute textiles, paper mills, heavy engineering, and rubber. By 1921, 35 percent of India’s industrial workers were based in Calcutta. 

Calcutta’s economy stagnated in the 1970s because of the antipathy of both domestic and foreign investors in the face of labor union agitation and the Marxist West Bengal state government’s anti-capitalist rhetoric. However, Calcutta was the pacesetter for the country for political, educational, and economic leadership. In recent years, Calcutta’s importance has been displaced by MUMBAI, the population of which in 2000 was 16 million, in comparison to Calcutta’s 13 million.

Nonetheless, Calcutta remains the second-largest metropolis of India; its world rank stands at seventh. The City of Calcutta, the main hub of the metropolis, has one of the highest densities of population, over 62,000 people per square mi (24,000 per square km); one out of every three lives in slums; and the rich/poor contrast in housing is very vivid. Hindus constitute 83 percent of city population and Muslims make up 14 percent. The remaining 3 percent are Christians, Jains, and Sikhs. The city has high linguistic diversity.

The port of Calcutta was the leading export and import center of the country during the 19th and most of the 20th century. It has lost its position to Mumbai. Calcutta is the home of the Calcutta (1857) and Jadavpur (1955) universities. Four Nobel laureates are associated with the city. Rabindranath Tagore had his home here; Mother Teresa did social work and lived here; C.B. Raman worked and researched here; Amartya Sen studied, taught, researched, and lived here, too.

Kolkata, jammed with a combination of vehicles, automobiles, buses, trains, hand-pulled carts, and thousands of pedestrians, introduced a 10.2-mile (16.4-km) long subway system in 1984. The subway, which is being extended farther south and north, carries 25 percent of the commuters.

Kola Peninsula

THE KOLA PENINSULA IS one of RUSSIA’s regions of great contrast: at once an area of stark natural beauty and of severe ecological danger; rich in minerals, but one of Russia’s poorest regions; and an area that is both closely linked to the concerns of Western Europe and strictly isolated from the outside world. The peninsula is the westernmost of Russia’s numerous peninsulas that jut out into its Arctic seas and has provided strategic sheltered harbors for Russia’s northern fleets since the 18th century.

Geographically, the Kola Peninsula forms the heel of the Scandinavian landmass, pointing in the opposite direction from the other three Scandinavian projections that form NORWAY, SWEDEN, and FINLAND. The peninsula covers roughly 50,000 square mi (128,000 square km), separating the White Sea from the much larger Barents Sea to the north. Its coasts on these two seas differ sharply: along the White Sea and its tributary, Kandalaksha Bay, the coast is low and smooth; the coast along the Barents Sea, called the Murman Coast, is mountainous and heavily indented. These coastal mountains form the easternmost extension of the Scandinavian ranges that form the backbone between Norway and Sweden.

The center of the peninsula is a granite and gneiss plateau, with several large lakes, and is covered with tundra in the north and forests in the south. The plateau rises to form some moderate peaks, the highest reaching 3,930 ft (1,191 m). This mountainous region is rich in minerals. Several large rivers drain the peninsula to the north or south, including the Tuloma and the Kola. The Kola River connects the north coast and the region’s chief city of Murmansk to the White Sea via Lake Imandra and a short canal. This passage allows ships from Russia’s main northern port, Arkhangelsk, on the White Sea, to reach the Murman Coast, one of the few Arctic coasts to remain unfrozen throughout the year.

Because these waters offer Russia’s only year-round access to the ATLANTIC OCEAN, it has served as home to Russia’s Northern Fleet since the 19th century. Murmansk was the site of a 1918 Allied troop landing and an important base in World War II. It then became a major center for the Soviet Union’s nuclear submarine program. The numerous fjords between Murmansk and the Norwegian border (less than 60 mi or 100 km away) are stocked with naval and air bases, and have thus provided a source of heightened tensions with NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO) member Norway. NATO maintains numerous early warning systems on its side of the border, keeping an eye on the stocks of nuclear weapons kept on the Kola Peninsula since the 1950s.

The decay of Soviet power and the collapse of the Soviet Union have left behind about 155 nuclear submarines in the fjords of the Kola Peninsula, about half of which are unfit for use. Most of these are even unfit to be moved or dismantled, creating one of the world’s largest nuclear waste problems. It is estimated that roughly two-thirds of the world’s nuclear waste has been dumped off the peninsula, not counting that which is sitting in rickety ships near Murmansk. The nearby Kola Nuclear Power Station provides about 60 percent of the region’s power, but has been declared one of the world’s least safe reactors, having come close to a meltdown as recently as 1993.

The Russian government continues to restrict travel to and from this region, but its heavily impoverished population looks to Norway and Finland for aid rather than to Moscow. The western part of the peninsula forms part of Lapland, the homeland of the seminomadic Saami people that stretches across northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland. The Saami (or Lapps) live in the southeastern parts of the peninsula, while areas in the west are populated by Karelians, close kin to Finns. The languages of both Saami and Karelians are related to other Uralic languages, whose people live elsewhere in northern Russia.

Kiribati

THE REPUBLIC OF Kiribati consists of 33 atolls straddling the equator and the INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE. The country is composed of the Gilbert Islands, the Phoenix Islands, and the Line Islands. The Gilbert Islands are made up of 17 atolls, are home to the majority of the population, include the capital Bairiki, and harbor the once phosphorous-rich island of Banaba. The Phoenix Islands are composed of 8 atolls, none of which has a permanent population. These islands were part of a government relocation program in the 1930s and 1940s as an answer to overcrowding on other islands, yet by 1952 the plan was considered a failure.

Resurrection of a similar plan began in 1995 and may lead to future permanent settlements. The Line Islands, of which only three of the eight are inhabited, include the largest of the islands, Kiritimati (CHRISTMAS ISLAND). Kiritimati is the largest atoll in the world and encompasses approximately half of the Kiribati landmass. A remote country, Kiribati is primarily composed of atolls with little variation in topography. The reefs, flats, and lagoons surrounding the atolls are natural attractions for the growing tourism industry. Global warming issues and the resulting rising sea levels have become a concern for the nation, as most of the country is at sea level. The climate is tropical with the potential for typhoons occurring primarily from November to March.

The majority of the population is of Micronesian ancestry with many of the ancestors originating from Tonga and Fiji. English is the official language, while IKiribati is widely spoken. In 1892, the British proclaimed the island group a British protectorate. From 1963 until 1979, the islanders were given an advisory position in the political decisions of the nation and gained final independence from the British on July 12, 1979. With the independence came the name change from the Gilbert Islands to Kiribati, which is the local translation for the Gilberts.

This sovereign democratic republic is resided over by a president, composed of three administrative units that are split into six districts and 21 island councils, and holds a parliament consisting of 42 representatives. Local affairs are handled by local councils. Prior to 1995, the islands were split by the international date line (180 degrees longitude), but in a unilateral move, Kiribati moved the international date line so the entire country could share the same time zone.

The economy is presently based on copra and fish exports, the granting of fishing rights to foreigners, the remittance of income from overseas workers, and international aid. Tourism has become a major export earner bringing in approximately one-fifth of the GDP. The local currency is the Australian dollar.

Mount Kilimanjaro

A MAJESTIC ROCKY GIANT, Mount Kilimanjaro is crowned by an icecap, impressively dominating the scenery. Mount Kilimanjaro towers above the Masai Steppe or the Great Rift Valley, which is believed to be the site of the origin of humankind. Pictures that shaped our imagination of East Africa are firmly connected to Kilimanjaro. The highest mountain of Africa is a volcanic massif situated in the territory of northeastern TANZANIA. The mountain consists of lava-dominated shield volcanoes and has three main volcanic centers, named Shira, Kibo, and Mawenzi. The highest point of the Kilimanjaro at the crater Kibo is called Uhuru Peak. At 19,340 ft (5,895 m) above sea level, it is Africa’s highest elevation point. Mawenzi (east of Kibo) rises to 16,896 ft (5,149 m), and Shira (west of Kibo) to 13,000 ft (3,962 m).

Kilimanjaro is a very young volcanic massif: it started to grow less than 1 million years ago and ceased to grow about 450,000 to 300,000 years ago. Volcanic activity subsequently became sporadic, and today the inner crater of the Kibo shows only residual activity. The last blow of ash from the Kibo could be witnessed probably about 200 years ago. The volcanoes of the Kilimanjaro are part of a chain of Cenozoic volcanoes in East Africa. The major factors influencing the volcanic activity of this area are the PLATE TECTONICS of the East African Rift System (EARS), which marks the lines along which the eastern subplate is separating from western subplate.

Kilimanjaro rises from 2,297 ft (700 m) above sea level to its highest peak in a relatively confined space, which stretches from east to west about 53 mi (85 km) and from north to south about 50 mi (80 km). It is thus an ideal example of the geomorphologic and ecological change in different altitudes and is characterized by a distinctive differentiation of the natural area. Five major vegetation zones can be found at Kilimanjaro: the lower slopes; the tropical mist- and mountain-forest zone between 5,905 and 9,187 ft (1,800 to 2,800 m); the low alpine zone with heath and moorland; the highland desert; and the summit. Fertile volcanic soils and good climatic conditions allow a variety of crops to grow in the Kilimanjaro region. This resulted in manifold and diversified pre- and early-colonial agricultural activities of the Chagga, the native people who inhabit the region. The colonial and postcolonial agriculture focused increasingly on the industrialized production of the cash crops banana and coffee. The consequences subsequently led to a fundamental economical and structural change, extensive clearings and destruction of forest and pasture land, increasing erosion, and high population growth. 

Another factor with major economic and ecological impact for the Kilimanjaro region is mountain tourism. Hans Meyer, a German colonial geographer and rich heir of a huge Leipzig publishing house, first ascended the Kibo crater in 1889 and called it Kaiser-Wilhelm-Spitze (since 1962, Uhuru Peak). Since this first ascent of Kilimanjaro, more and more mountaineers have been attracted by the mountain. 

Each year, almost 20,000 tourists try to ascend the summit. Added to the high number of local guides and porters who are hired to succeed in this endeavor, a yearly total of more than 70,000 people climb up the mountain through ecologically sensitive terrain. Negative side effects of the economic benefits are the inevitable damages to the environment, although since the 1970s the main area of the Kilimanjaro enjoys the status of a national park. Moreover, for reasons of global warming, the impressive ice sheets and glaciers of the mountain (only 10 years ago, glaciers covered most of its summit) have been receding rapidly. More than 80 percent of the icecap that crowned the mountain when it was first thoroughly surveyed in 1912 is now gone. If recession continues at the present rate, it is projected that the glaciers of the Kilimanjaro, the last glaciers of Africa, are in serious threat of vanishing in the next 15 years.

Khartoum

KHARTOUM IS THE capital city and administrative region of the Republic of the SUDAN, located at the confluence of the Blue and White NILE rivers. Khartoum is the second-largest city in North Africa, with an estimated population of 2.5 million in the city proper, and up to 7 million in the Greater Khartoum district, which includes Khartoum General, Khartoum North, and Omdurman, each city linked by bridges. Khartoum has a thriving market in cotton products, woven textiles, and knitwear and is a railroad hub that facilitates the transportation of a number of goods, including glass, tile, foodstuffs, gum, and oil. Khartoum has an international airport and two major universities.

Khartoum was officially founded in 1821 as an Egyptian army camp and the base of operations for the Ottoman conquest of the Sudan. Muhammad Ali, the Turkish pasha of Egypt, conquered the portion of the Sudan originally controlled by the Funj Empire in order to take advantage of the region’s vast human and economic resources and made Khartoum a depot for the Arab slave trade in Africa as well as a major mercantile center. Khartoum remained under Egyptian military occupation until 1881, when Muhammad Ahmad, the self-proclaimed Mahdi (divinely guided seeker of justice) of the Sudanese people, staged a rebellion that resulted in the city’s liberation.

Ahmad and his followers, the Madhists, took advantage of Egypt’s instability in the wake of the British conquest of Northeast Africa but were themselves soon involved in it directly as a British company under General Charles Gordon, who arrived to take the city in 1884. He arrived at Khartoum on February 18, with orders to evacuate a small force of Egyptian soldiers trapped there, but decided to mount an offensive against the Madhist rebels instead, believing that he had the resources to defend the city. Gordon’s tactical error led to a 10-month siege on his company that eventually resulted in his death on January 26, 1885, after the Madhists broke his defenses, destroying much of the city in the process. Khartoum was eventually retaken by the British under Field Marshal Herbert Kitchener in 1898, which marked the advent of joint British and Egyptian colonial rule that lasted until Sudan gained its independence in 1956.

The greater Khartoum area has experienced its troubles internally and with the world postindependence. It is houses one of the largest refugee populations in the world, largely the result of civil wars in the region. Oil interests have done little to help the city’s growing problems, especially escalating poverty resulting from overpopulation and lack of resources. Slums are a major problem in Khartoum. In 1998, a pharmaceutical company in Khartoum was bombed by the UNITED STATES, as it was believed to have been a chemical weapons factory for terrorist groups. Khartoum has been regarded as a center for potential terrorist activity, though no direct evidence has been found directly linking the city’s government with any terrorist organization.

Kenya

KENYA, WHICH LIES astride the equator on the eastern coast of Africa, is bordered in the north by SUDAN and ETHIOPIA, in the east by SOMALIA, on the southeast by the INDIAN OCEAN, on the southwest by TANZANIA and to the west by Lake Victoria and UGANDA. The country is notable for its’ geographical variety. While most people immediately think of African wildlife and great expanses of GRASSLAND, the land is made up of several distinctive geographical regions.

The first is a narrow, low-lying, fertile coastal strip along the shores of the Indian Ocean that is fringed with coral reefs and islands. A series of low hills separates the coastal region from the vast bush-covered plains of the eastern plateau forelands, which sprawl between the central highlands to the west and the coastal strip on the east and slope gently toward the sea.

In the southwestern corner of the country is the Lake Victoria basin, which extends eastward from the lake to the central rift highlands, in which about 85percent of the population and the majority of economic enterprise are concentrated. The central rift highlands run from north to south down the western half of Kenya and are split by the famous Rift Valley into two sections, the Mau Escarpment on the west and the Aberdare Range and accompanying highlands on the east. The Mau Escarpment in the west rises above 9,000 ft (2,740 m) and stretches for more than 200 mi (320 km) northward from the Tanzanian border to the westcentral border with Uganda.

The Aberdare Range to the east, which forms the eastern border of the Rift Valley, rises to nearly 10,000 ft (3,050 m). In the high plateau area, known as the Kenya Highlands, lie Mt. Kenya 17,058 ft (5,200 m), Mt. Elgon 14,176 ft (4,322m), and the Aberdare Range rising to over 13,000 ft (3,963 m). The plateau is bisected from north to south by the Rift Valley. The Great Africa Rift Valleys runs from North to South through the whole of Kenya. The Kenyan Rift Valley is a section of a 3,700 mi (6,000 km) rift system that stretches from the Dead Sea in the MIDDLE EAST, south through the RED SEA, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, MALAWI, and into MOZAMBIQUE. The whole area contains several lakes, extinct volcanoes, and numerous small game parks. The scenery in the Rift Valley is breathtaking, particularly at the viewing points just north of Limuru and Naivasha or from the top of the Mau escarpment. In the south, the valley narrows and deepens with walled escarpments rising 2,000 to 3,050 ft (610 to 930 m) above the valley floor, while in the west, the plateau descends to the plains that border Lake Victoria.

A network of small, seasonal rivers and streams drains most of the Kenyan landscape. Kenya’s most important river, the Tana, rises in the central highlands and drains some 16,300 square mi (42,200 square km), roughly 7 percent of the country’s total land area, before flowing into the Indian Ocean. Northern Kenya receives little rainfall, but regions in the southern part of the country are plentifully watered. Kenya has two rainy seasons: the long rains from late March to May and the short rains from October to December. Evergreen forests can be found in the highlands along with wide expanses of bamboo grass. East and west of the highlands, the vegetation gives way to low trees that are casually scattered throughout a predominantly grassy landscape. Semidesert conditions exist below 3,000 ft (915 m) in the north, with thick expanses of thornbush interspersed with massive baobabs trees. In the coastal belt, dense, high bush alternates with limited areas of forest.

Kenya is noted for its wildlife, safaris, and much of our image of Africa. Game and national parks, such as the Masai Mara National Reserve and the Ambosili National Park, are filled with lions, leopards, wild dogs, elephants, buffaloes, rhinoceroses, zebras, antelopes, gazelles, hippopotamuses, and crocodiles. Equally famous, but not a part of Kenya, are the Serengeti National Park and Mt. KILIMANJARO, both of which lie just across the border in Tanzania. Only about 4 percent of the land is arable and nearly all of this is cropped, mainly with corn and other grains.

Kenya became an independent country in 1963. Jomo Kenyatta, a member of the Kenya African Nation Union (KANU), became the country’s first president on December 12, 1964. Kenya soon became a one-party state, after the voluntarily dissolving of the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU). After Kenyatta’s death in 1978, Vice President Daniel arap Moi became the interim president. Under Moi’s presidency, political oppression continued with the outlawing of political activities. Thus, many aspiring politicians and political parties went underground for many years. Sensing an opportune time because of resentment of the government in the 1990s, many of the underground parties emerged to challenge KANU.

Finally in 2002, a coalition of opposition parties ended the 24-year presidency of arap Moi. Mwai Kibaki became the country’s third president. In 1998, terrorists bombed the American Embassy in Nairobi. Many people, particularly Kenyans, were killed in the horrific violence. The incident further damaged the Kenyan struggling tourism industry. A major challenge to Kenya’s stability is population growth. With so many people being added to the total population, there will be severe pressure on land, and subsequent intensity in the rural-urban migration phenomenon.