Southeast Asia - Geography - Lecture Notes, Study notes of Geology

Download Southeast Asia - Geography - Lecture Notes and more Study notes Geology in PDF only on Docsity! 1 -Southeast Asia can be divided into two regions; Mainland Southeast Asia and Island Southeast Asia. -Mainland Southeast Asia is a broad peninsula that extends south from southern China. It consists of Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. This region is dominated by the Buddhist faith. -Island Southeast Asia consists of the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and many islands to the south and east of the mainland. The region is dominated by the nation of Indonesia but also includes the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and East Timor. This region is dominated by the Muslim faith. -Physical Geography: -The mainland consists of highland areas and lowland river valleys with fertile alluvial floodplains. -The highlands in western Burma are an extension of the Tibetan highlands and some peaks there reach over 5,000 meters in height. The highlands are most rugged in the north along the Chinese boarder. Mountain ranges extend to the south in western Burma, along the Burma/Thailand boarder, and along the Laos/Vietnam boarder. -In the highlands the forests are much better preserved than in the lowland p partially because the populations are lower in these rugged regions. -The highlands are also where the so-called tribal cultures of Southeast Asia live, these group are sometimes also called the hill people. Many of these cultures have been in conflict with the government of their respected nations in some cases since these nations gained their independence. -The river valleys are the agricultural and population centers in Mainland Southeast Asia. Most of these rivers start in the Tibetan highlands and then flow south. The Mekong is the longest; it forms the boarder between Laos and Thailand before flowing through Cambodia and into Vietnam where its large delta is located. The Irrawaddy flows through the heartland of Burma and also has a large delta. The Red River in northern Vietnam and the Chao Phraya in central Thailand are also major population centers. -The large low lying fertile deltas of the Irrawaddy, Chao Phraya, and Mekong are all very important regions for intensive rice cultivation. Thailand and Vietnam are the world’s two largest exporters of rice. -The central part of Mainland Southeast Asia in Thailand consists of the Khorat Plateau, which is a dry region noted for its infertile soils. -Mainland Southeast Asia is greatly affected by the monsoon winds. There is a hot rainy season from May though October as the winds blow in from the warm seas. From November through April the winds blow out from Central Asia and it is a hot dry season, although it does rain the highlands of Vietnam during this period. -The coastal monsoon regions receive over a hundred inches of rain a year, while the inland tropical savanna regions receive about half as much of this. Docsity.com 2 -Island Southeast Asia consists of the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and many islands. There are four very large islands that dominate the region, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Sulawesi. Indonesia also includes the western half of the large island of New Guinea. There are also two large islands in the Philippines: Luzon in the north and Mindanao in the south. -There are many other small islands throughout this region as well; the Lesser Sunda Islands are east of Java and the Malukus are east of Sulawesi. -Most of the islands of Southeast Asia are very mountainous due to the large number of volcanoes in the region. This region is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire and is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world. Indonesia has at least 130 active volcanoes, more than any other nation. -The eruption of Krakatau on a small island in the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java is 1833 is considered to be the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history. The blast was felt and heard over 3,000 miles away and killed almost 40,000 people: mostly in tsunamis. Today this volcanoe is growing about five inches a week. -In 1991 Mount Pinatubo on Luzon in the Philippines had a major eruption that put so much ash in the air the global average temperature dropped by 0.9 F. This eruption was accurately predicted so hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from the surrounding areas, this evacuation is considered a modern triumph of volcano as it likely saved tens of thousands of lives. Still over 800 people died, most from roves collapsing under the weight of ash. The area around Pinatubo, epically the agricultural land, was greatly damaged for years by the ash and each year during the rainy season mud/ash slides destroyed some villages. -Just this past October the most active volcano in Indonesia, Mount Merapi on Java, started to go through a major eruption. Before the eruption the Indonesian government declared an emergency and evacuated almost 200,000 people from the area within 20 kilometers of the volcano. At least 353 people were killed during this eruption so far. The eruption subsided in November. -Mount Bulusan on the Filipino island of Luzon is also has had several minor eruptions in the past year. This February it erupted a large plume of ash and the Filipino Government has evacuated thousands of locals and set up a 4 km driving ban around the crater. -Island Southeast Asia is also prone to earthquakes, which cause even more devastating tsunamis. An undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in 2004 caused an incredibly devastating tsunami that killed over 230,000 people in Southeast Asia and South Asia as well. Some areas in Indonesia are still recovering from this event. (Elephant story) -In the aftermath some locals made the best of a bad situation by utilizing teak wood from boats destroyed by the tsunami. They used this wood to make handmade furniture, which is being bought for high prices in the U.S. and Docsity.com