Message on geography on the topic of the Far East. The state of the mineral resource base

Plan:

1 Far East countries
2 Discovery history
3 Physical and geographical characteristics
- 3.1 Geographical position
- 3.2 Relief
- 3.3 Climate
- 3.4 Soils
- 3.5 Hydrology
- 3.6 Flora and fauna
4 Minerals
5 Gallery

Introduction

Far East on the world map

Far East(Chinese 遠東, Kor. 극동, Japanese 極東, Thai. ตะวันออกไกล , viet. Viễn Đông, Indon. Timur Jauh Far East) is a region that includes Northeast, East and Southeast Asia. An integral part of the geopolitical concept of "Asia-Pacific region".

1. Countries of the Far East

Amurskaya Oblast
Republic of Yakutia
Khabarovsk region
Jewish Autonomous Region
Primorsky Krai
Magadan Region
Kamchatka Krai
Chukotka Autonomous Okrug
Sakhalin region

2. History of discovery

For a long time in Western Europe, no one knew anything about the Far East. Even the ancient Greeks believed that beyond India there is nothing but uninhabited deserts inhabited by monsters and wild animals. However, gradually more plausible information about distant eastern countries began to penetrate the West. From there they began to bring airy fabrics, for which Persian satraps and Roman patricians were ready to pay huge sums of money. Rumors about the distant Land of Silk soon spread very widely, but the truth about this mysterious land, even after the stories of Islamic merchants and the first Christian missionaries, for the most part was still hidden under a veil of secrecy. And only at the beginning of the 16th century, the Far East, especially South China, began to penetrate “barbarians who come from unknown, unheard of, inconceivably distant lands lying beyond several seas, where the sun sets, then, in order to disturb the peace and tranquility in business affairs." These were the Portuguese who first set foot on Chinese soil in 1514, disembarking from their ships on the island of Linjin, at the mouth of the river on which stood the great city of Canton. In 1557 they received permission to use the Macau peninsula, south of Canton, as their trading base. She was assigned the role of the middle core of the trade axis, which began in Goa, in India, and reached the Japanese port in Nagasaki, where the Portuguese had their inn. After these events, the Europeans began a massive penetration into the Far East.

3. Physical and geographical characteristics

3.1. Geographical position

Geographical position. The Far East occupies almost one sixth of Russia. It consists of six administrative units: Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, Amur, Kamchatka, Magadan and Sakhalin Regions. For almost 4,500 km, from Chukotka to Primorsky Krai, the Far East stretches along the coast of the Pacific Ocean and its seas. The northern regions of the Far East lie beyond the Arctic Circle, and the southern regions lie at the latitude of the Mediterranean. Therefore, the Far East is a land of contrasts. The territory of the Far East consists of the mainland (Kolyma, Koryak, Chukotka highlands, Sikhote-Alin, Dzhugdzhur, Primorsky Krai, Zeya-Bureya plain, etc.), peninsular (Kamchatka, Chukotka) and island (Sakhalin, Kuril, Commander islands, etc.).

3.2. Relief

The relief of the Far East is mostly mountainous. This is the area of earthquakes and tsunamis, that is, the seismic zone. In the south, medium-altitude and low mountains prevail (Sikhote-Alin, Dzhugdzhur), high mountains (volcanoes) stand out on the Kamchatka Peninsula (Klyuchevskaya Sopka - 4750 m), there are territories with a flat relief (Central Kamchatka Plain - intermountain depression), there is also Kolyma Highlands, Anadyr Plateau.

3.3. Climate

The climate of the Far East is distinguished by a special contrast - from sharply continental (the whole of Yakutia, the Kolyma regions of the Magadan region) to monsoonal (southeast), which is due to the vast extent of the territory from north to south (almost 4500 km.) And from west to east (to 2500-3000 km.). This is determined by the interaction of continental and sea air masses of temperate latitudes. In the northern part, the climate is exceptionally harsh. Winter with little snow, lasts up to 9 months. The southern part has a monsoonal climate with cold winters and wet summers.

The most significant differences between the Far East and Siberia are associated with the predominance of a monsoon climate in the south and a monsoon-like and maritime climate in the north, which is the result of the interaction between the Pacific Ocean and the land of North Asia. The influence of the marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean, especially the cold Sea of Okhotsk, is also noticeable. The complex, predominantly mountainous terrain has a great influence on the climate.

In winter, currents of cold air rush to the southeast from the powerful Asian High. In the northeast, along the outskirts of the Aleutian Low, the cold continental air of Eastern Siberia interacts with warm sea air. As a result, cyclones often occur, which are associated with a large amount of precipitation. There is a lot of snow in Kamchatka, blizzards are not uncommon. On the eastern coast of the peninsula, the height of the snow cover can sometimes reach 6 m. Snowfalls are also significant on Sakhalin.

In summer, air currents rush from the Pacific Ocean. Maritime air masses interact with continental air masses, as a result of which monsoon rains occur throughout the Far East in summer. The monsoon climate of the Far East covers the Amur Region and Primorsky Territory. As a result, the largest Far Eastern river, the Amur, and its tributaries flood not in the spring, but in the summer, which usually leads to catastrophic floods. Devastating typhoons often sweep over coastal areas, coming from the southern seas.

3.4. Soils

1) Soils of the arctic and subarctic belts

arctic desert
Tundra
Sod-coarse humus
Permafrost-taiga
pale permafrost

2) Soils of the temperate zone

Podzolic, podzolic and neopodzolic taiga
Volcanic (on the Kamchatka Peninsula)
Brown forest broadleaf wet ocean forests
Chernozem Prairie
Chernozems of steppes and salmon-steppes
Chestnut dry steppes
Brown and grey-brown xerophytic forests and shrub steppes

3) Soils of the subtropical, subequatorial and equatorial belts

Alluvial river valleys, marches and mangroves
Serozems of semi-deserts
Yellow and red soils of moist forests
Mountain-meadow and mountain meadow-steppe
Red-yellow farralithic permanently wet evergreen forests
Red ferralitic seasonally wet forests and tall grass savannahs

3.5. Hydrology

There are many rivers in the Far East, short, mountainous, which overflow their banks.

Major rivers:

Kolyma
Huanghe
Yangtze (Changjiang)
Mekong

The lakes are located on the lowlands and in areas of volcanism.

Major lakes:

Khanka

3.6. Flora and fauna

The International Red Book contains the following animal species:

Far Eastern leopard
white-naped crane
Amur tiger

In addition, the Red Book of Russia contains the following endangered species of animals:

Far Eastern stork
Fish owl
Baer Dive
Siberian musk deer

Insects: Amur Snake Scoop, Puffy-winged Juno Scoop, Maak's Sailboat, Sericin Montela, Yankovsky's Ground Beetle, Ornithopters, Eupatorus, Chalcosoma.

In the Far East, the Komarov Lotus grows - a tertiary relic that lives in the Amur and Ginseng river basins, which lives wild in the mixed forests of the Primorsky Territory and in certain regions of China and North Korea.

4. Minerals

The Far East is rich in many minerals.

Types of minerals: gold, tin, mercury, copper, nickel, polymetallic, iron, manganese, tungsten ores, hard and brown coal, phosphorites, apatites, graphite, oil, natural gas.

The natural resources of the Russian Far East are now virtually untouched. Due to the small population of the region (less than 7 million people), the vast territory, which exceeds the territory of foreign Europe in area, most of which is difficult to access, active economic activity, both in the past and at present, is not possible.

At the same time, the situation is often different in other parts of the Far East. For example, China has almost exhausted its timber reserves, while Japan, experiencing a shortage of fossil resources, is forced to import them from abroad.

Amur, Kamchatka, Magadan, Sakhalin regions, Primorsky Territory, Khabarovsk Territory, Jewish Autonomous Region, Chukotka and Koryak Autonomous Okrugs, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

Economic and geographical position

The Far East is the extreme eastern part of Russia, overlooking the shores of the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Here Russia has sea borders with the USA and Japan. In addition to the mainland, the Far Eastern economic region includes the islands: Novosibirsk, Wrangel, Sakhalin, Kuril and Commander. The southern mainland adjacent to the Sea of Japan is called Primorye. In economic terms, the region is less developed than other parts of Russia due to its remoteness from the central and most populated regions. Long distances complicate the development of economic ties with the Center and increase the cost of products during their delivery. The construction of BAM somewhat improved the situation.

The Far East has favorable opportunities for the development of economic ties with the countries of the Pacific basin. Primorsky Krai and the Sakhalin Region have been declared a “free enterprise zone”.

Natural conditions and resources

The central part of Yakutia is occupied by a plain, turning into a vast strip of lowlands along the coast of the seas of the Arctic Ocean. The rest of the territory of the Far East is predominantly mountainous, dominated by mountains of medium height (ridges: Stanovoy, Chersky, Verkhoyansky). Together with the basins of the marginal seas, the relief of the eastern part of the region is included in the system of young folded formations. This is the only territory of active volcanism in Russia that is distinguished by high seismicity. There are more than 20 active volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands. Klyuchevskaya Sopka is the highest point of the Far East (4760 m) and one of the greatest active volcanoes.

The largest rivers are Lena and Amur with tributaries, Kolyma, Indigirka, Yana. The Amur and its tributaries have rich water resources.

The northern parts of the territory of the vast Far Eastern region (7.3 million km 2) are located in the Arctic zone, and in the southern coastal part, in Kamchatka and Sakhalin (where the influence of the Pacific Ocean is noticeable), the climate is temperate monsoon.

The climate in most of the territory is sharply continental, severe. Windless, clear, frosty weather (Siberian anticyclone) is typical in winter. Summer is hot and dry, but short. In Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon (Yakutia), the lowest air temperature in the northern hemisphere (-72 degrees) was observed.

The Far East is rich in forests. Most of the forest grows in the mountains, so its harvesting is difficult. There are many fur-bearing animals in the taiga - this is one of the riches of the region. Along the middle reaches of the Amur, there are forest-steppes with fertile meadow soils.

The Far East is very rich in minerals. Deposits of coal (Lena, South-Yakutsk basins), oil (Sakhalin), gas (Yakutia), iron ore (Aldan basin), non-ferrous and rare metal ores, gold, diamonds (Mirny, Yakutia) were discovered.

Population

Population - 9.2 million people; average density 1.3 boats 1 km 2; the minimum - in the Koryak and Chukotka Autonomous Okrugs - 0.1-0.2. The area was settled slowly, which was explained by its remoteness, lack of roads, and harsh natural conditions. The Far East still lacks labor resources. The southern regions of Primorye and the territory along the railways are more densely populated. The northern part of the region is especially sparsely populated. The urban population is growing rapidly. The district is one of the most "urban" in Russia - the share of citizens is 76%. Rural residents are settled in pockets, mostly along river valleys. The population of the Far East is multinational. Most are Russians.

In this area, there are about a dozen indigenous peoples of the North. They belong to the northern branch of the Mongoloid race. Chukchi, Koryaks, Itelmens, Eskimos, Aleuts are peoples who speak languages of the Paleo-Asiatic group. The peoples of the Tungus-Manchurian language group (Nanai, Ulchi, Nivkh, Udege) live in the Amur basin and on Sakhalin Island. In Yakutia, the indigenous population is the Yakuts (they belong to the peoples of the Turkic language group); other peoples also live there - Evenks, Evens, Yukaghirs. All the indigenous peoples that inhabited the Far East from time immemorial were mainly engaged in hunting, fishing, and in the north, in the tundra, reindeer breeding.

It occupies the easternmost part of Russia, including the Novosibirsk, Kuril, and Sakhalin islands. This is the largest region of Russia, the area is 6.2 million km2.

Composition: 10 subjects of the federation - Amur, Kamchatka, Magadan, Sakhalin regions, Primorsky, Khabarovsk Territories, the Republic of Yakutia (Sakha), the European Autonomous Region, Chukotka and Koryak Autonomous Regions.

EGP is unique. The Far East is very remote from the main economic regions of the country, communication with them is difficult due to poor transport security. On the other hand, the region has a wide outlet to and , a sea border with and , a land border with and , that is, an advantageous foreign trade position, being a link between Russia and the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

The population is multinational, small, the average density is slightly more than 1 person/km2. As in other eastern regions, the population is concentrated in the favorable southern part along. The level is 76%, one of the highest in Russia.

The national composition of the population is very diverse, but Russians predominate everywhere. Their share reaches 88%, about 7% are. Koreans also live here. In recent years, there has been a significant influx of Chinese. Indigenous peoples are represented (380 thousand people), live in the north, and Evens, occupy the northeast, in the Aleuts, in Kamchatka - and Itelmens, in the Amur basin and to the east of it - Nanai, Ulchi, Orochi, terms, Udege, Nivkhs. The number of each nation does not exceed 10 thousand people. (Evenks - 24 thousand people). Difficult living conditions determined the predominance of the urban population over the rural population, on average in the region - 76%.

Branches of specialization:

Mining. There are more than 70 types of minerals in the region, including 90% of Russia's tungsten, 80% of tin, 98% of diamonds, 70% of gold, as well as polymetallic ores. There are rich deposits of oil and gas. Higher quality coal is mined from the South Yakutsk and Lena basins.
developed in Primorye and Khabarovsk Territory. Combines for the smelting of tin, lead, zinc are located in Dalnegorsk, Khrustalninsk.
The timber and pulp and paper industry is concentrated in the south of the region, there are rich resources, including valuable broad-leaved trees (Blagoveshchensk, Lesozavodsk, Khabarovsk).
Fish industry. More than 60% of fish and seafood products (salmon fish, crabs, shrimp, squid, etc.) fall on the Far Eastern seas. Centers: Sakhalin, Primorye, Kamchatka.
The hydro potential of the rivers - Lena, Zeya, Bureya, Ussuri - is huge. A large role in the economy of the region belongs to the ports - Nakhodka, Vanino, etc.

A large South Yakutsk TPK is being created (ore, apatite, coal, timber, non-ferrous metallurgy, energy). At present, only the most valuable products - non-ferrous metals and seafood - are supplied to the European part from the Far East, the rest is exported to Japan and other countries.

Various, cold and warm, representatives of the northern and southern flora and fauna coexist nearby. All this determines the great diversity of natural conditions.

The entire Far East is determined by the interaction of continental and sea air masses of latitudes. In winter, currents of cold air rush to the southeast from the powerful Asian High. Therefore, the winter in the Far East is very severe and dry. In the northeast, along the edge of the Aleutian Low, cold continental air interacts with relatively warm sea air. As a result, often occur, which are associated with a large amount of precipitation. A lot of snow falls in Kamchatka, it is not uncommon. On the eastern coast of the peninsula, the height in some places can reach 3 m. Snowfalls are also significant on Sakhalin.

In summer, air currents rush from the Pacific Ocean. Maritime air masses interact with continental air masses, as a result of which monsoon rains occur throughout the Far East in summer. As a result, the largest Far East and its tributaries overflow not in spring, but in summer, which usually leads to catastrophic. Destructive ones often sweep over coastal areas, coming from the southern seas.

The interaction of continental and marine air masses, northern and southern currents, complex relief, which combines mountains and lowlands, closed basins - all this together leads to a diversity of the vegetation cover of the Far East, to the presence of northern and southern species in its composition. In the northern lowlands are located, into which larch forests enter along the rivers from the south. Most of Kamchatka is occupied by sparse forests of stone birch and larch, and thickets of dwarf pine with alder and lichens grow on the slopes of the mountains. Northern Sakhalin is characterized by sparse larch forests, and southern Sakhalin is characterized by impenetrable thickets of bamboo and spruce-fir. On the Kuril, in and where the summer is warm and humid, coniferous-broad-leaved forests of rich species composition grow. They consist of Korean cedar, spruce, fir, linden, hornbeam, Manchurian walnut, pear and many other species. Dense thickets of trees are intertwined with vines, grapes and lemongrass. There are many medicinal herbs in the forests, including ginseng.

Northern and southern species of animals are found in the Amur and Primorye regions. Here live such Siberian species as reindeer, elk, sable, squirrel, and such southern species as the Amur tiger, spotted deer, black deer, raccoon dog. The Kuril Islands are characterized by seals, fur seals and sea otters.

It is difficult in most of the Far East. But in the south, with fertile and brown forests, wheat, rice, soybeans, potatoes and vegetables are grown.

The Far East of Russia geographically includes the easternmost part of the country, which includes the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, the Amur, Magadan, Sakhalin and Kamchatka regions, the Koryak Autonomous Okrug, the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

The Far East is a mountainous country. Three-quarters of its territory is occupied by mountains, highlands and plateaus. Only intermountain depressions and coasts of the seas and river valleys remain on the share of the plains.

In the southern part of the Far East region, mountains stretch in wide strips along the sea coasts. In the very south, two mountainous countries, Khingan-Bureya and Sikhote-Alin, are elongated in a meridional direction. It is also located along the Sea of Okhotsk and the Dzhugdzhur Range. To the north, in a latitudinal direction, a chain of ridges Yankan-Tukuringra-Dzhagdy stretched, and even to the north - a stanovoi ridge. The ridges of the Khingan-Bureinsky massif, Stanovoy and Dzhugdzhur are characterized by steep rocky slopes and treeless galtz peaks. The highest point (2639 m) is located in the Badzhal Range. Between these mountainous countries and ridges are the Middle Amur, Evoron-Chukchachir-Tugur, Zeya-Bureya and Amur-Zeya plains. Sikhote-Alin has a completely different relief. It is not a single range, but consists of numerous intertwining mountain ranges and individual hills that form a mountainous country. Its mountains are also medium-altitude (the highest point is Mount Tardoki-Yani - 2077 m, located in the north, in the Khabarovsk Territory), but is distinguished by gentle slopes, rounded peaks and rare weathering remnants. The Sikhote-Alin is asymmetric - its main watershed is displaced to the east, therefore it has a steep eastern slope that breaks off to the sea with almost sheer cliffs and a more gentle western slope facing the Ussuri and Amur. Accordingly, the rivers flowing from the wider western slope have a greater length and a complex structure. The rivers of the steep eastern slope have short and straight valleys.

The changing role of the Far East in Russia in the 1990s.

In the former USSR, the Far Eastern economic region had its own distinct face. The branches of specialization that determined its place in the system of the all-Union distribution of labor were the fishing and timber industries, the extraction of non-ferrous metals, and also maritime transport.

However, in the 1990s, during the political and economic crisis, the role and place of the Far East region in Russia changed. The collapse of the USSR had a twofold effect on the development of the Russian Far East and its regions. On the one hand, there was a break in many economic ties with the western regions, both in terms of resources and the sweat of finished products.

The area is 6215.9 thousand sq. km.

Population 7 million 252 thousand people (1999)

The Far East region includes:

Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)

Primorsky Krai

Khabarovsk region

Amur region

Kamchatka Krai

Magadan region

Sakhalin region

Jewish auth. region

Chukchi aut. county

The Far East occupies almost 1/3 of the country's territory. It borders in the south with China and the DPRK, in the east - with the East Siberian region. It is washed in the east by the seas of the Pacific Ocean - the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea, in the north - by the seas of the Arctic Ocean - the Chukchi, East Siberian, Laptev Seas. The region includes the largest island of the country - Sakhalin and other islands.

Far East residents can't imagine any other home on earth. They are in love with the attractive beauty of these places. They settled in the taiga and in the snow-covered tundra, in the mountains and in the open sea. For all the elements, for evil, they master the natural resources of the eastern outskirts of Russia, keeping in mind the names of the pioneers.

Development of the Russian Far East in recent years.

According to official statistics, in the region the price of a fixed set of consumer goods and services is one third higher than the average Russian level, and the cost of living is almost 40%. Social inequality in the region is as high as in Russia as a whole. Thus, 15% of the population of the Far East have 3.3 times more savings in the banking system than all other residents. Their income from property is 5.3 times higher, and their expenses for the purchase of foreign currency are 8.5 times higher.

Climate The climate of the Far East is distinguished by a special contrast - from sharply continental (the whole of Yakutia, the Kolyma regions of the Magadan region) to monsoonal (southeast), which is due to the vast extent of the territory from north to south (almost 3900 km.) And from west to east (to 2500-3000 km.).

Mineral resources

The Far East has the largest reserves of mineral resources, in terms of the volume of reserves of which the region occupies a leading position in Russia. Far Eastern reserves of antimony, boron, tin account for about 95% of all reserves of these resources in Russia, fluorspar and mercury - up to 60%, tungsten - 24% and about 10% of the total Russian reserves of iron ore, lead, native sulfur, apatite. The world's largest diamond-bearing province is located in the north-west of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia): the Mir, Aikhal, and Udachnoye diamond deposits account for over 80% of Russia's diamond reserves. The Far East region is one of the most important gold-bearing regions of Russia. Ore and placer gold deposits are concentrated in the Republic of Sakha, Magadan, Amur regions, Khabarovsk Territory and Kamchatka.

forest resources

The forest resources of the Far East are large and varied. Forests here account for over 35% of the total Russian resources. The most common forests are larch forests, which contain the bulk of timber reserves (more than 60%). Spruce-fir forests account for more than 5% of the area of all forests and 12% of the timber reserves of the Far East. The most valuable are cedar-broad-leaved forests (with the highest concentration of wood), which make up about 3 million hectares. They cover 1% of the territory of the Far East.

Of the forest resources of non-timber origin, it is worth noting the unique species of medicinal plants (ginseng, eleutherococcus, Manchurian aralia and others, in total - more than a thousand species), as well as hundreds of species of food plants, mushrooms, etc.

Animal world

Marine animals are of industrial importance: fish, mollusks, sea animals, etc. The most unique species of land animals are the Ussuri tiger, brown and Himalayan bears, East Siberian leopard, etc. About 40 species of fur-bearing animals live in the Far East. The most famous animal species of the Far East include squirrel, otter, ermine, hare, raccoon dog, weasel, fox, American mink, muskrat, arctic fox, sable, red deer, wild boar, musk deer, roe deer, elk, reindeer, bighorn sheep, and many others. Up to 100 species (often the rarest) birds nest here.

reserves

The total area of reserves in the Far East is 37.16 thousand km, or 1.19% of the region's territory. This is significantly higher than the same indicator for Russia as a whole. The reserves are distributed unevenly by administrative divisions: in the Magadan region - 2, Kamchatka - 1, Sakhalin - 1, Amur - 2, Khabarovsk Territory - 2, Primorsky Territory - 5.