Europe and Russia

Europe and Russia occupy part of a huge landmass called Eurasia.

Europe + Asia=Eurasia

Europe is the world’s second smallest continent.

Oceans and seas border Europe to the north, south and west. Asia borders Europe on the east.

Atlantic OceanNorth

Sea Baltic Sea

Mediterranean Sea

Black Sea

Asia

Russia is the world’s largest country. It spreads across two continents. Western Russia lies in Europe. Eastern Russia is in Asia. The Ural Mountains divides Europeand Asia.

Western RussiaEastern Russia

Ural M

ount

ains

Europe looks like a giant peninsula. What is a peninsula? Who can name a peninsula in Europe?

Iberian Peninsula

Balkan Peninsula

Scandinav

ia

Italy

Northern European Plains from east to west is 2,500 miles.The Alps Mountains is a major barrier between central andSouthern Europe.The Pyrenees range separates France and Spain.The Apennines runs through Italy.

The Danube River located in Europe forms a part of the borders of ten countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and the Ukraine.

Danube River

Russia lies on broad plains. The Northern European Plains are in the west. South of the Northern Plains are the Caucasus Mountains. The Ural Mountains are to the east separating west Russia from east Russia. Siberia spreads the full width of Asia. Siberia has two plains :The Western Siberian Plains and the Central Siberian Plains.

Russia has thousands of lakes. The largest, is Lake Baikal, which is the oldest and deepest lakein the world. It holds 1/5th of the Earth’s fresh water. At the eastern edge of Russia, the Kamchatka Peninsula reaches out to the Pacific Ocean. More than 100 volcanoes rise from thisland. No roads or railroads connect this peninsula to Siberia. Everything must arrive by airplaneor boat.

Two major factors shape the climate of Europe. Latitude and relative location.

What is latitude and how can it affect Europe’s climate? What is relative location and how can it affect climate?

Long hot summersShort mild winters

Cold

Russia is known for its long harsh winters. The Arctic Ocean on the northern border is frozen most of the year having a very cold influence on most of Russia creating a tundra and subarctic climate. In fact, winter tempertures can drop as low as -90°F. Much of western Russia is influenced by Europe’s climate, humid continental and semiarid.

VERY COLD!!

Hot summers cool winters

Europe and Russia have a mix of vegetation zones. Forests are most common.

The largest forest on Earth, the Russian taiga, stretches across most of Eurasain landmass. It is about 1/5 of the Earth’s total forest area.

Three types of forests are found here---deciduous, coniferous, and mixed forest.

The Russian tundra is treeless. The ground is always frozen under the surface, trees cannot send their roots into the soil.

Far to the south lie the steppes, or grassy plains. This is the temperate grasslands which is too dry to grow trees.

Taiga forest

Taiga forest