Russia Map (Eurasia)

Europe/Western Russia Population Density Map

Satellite Image of Europe and Russia

K/H only

Siberia Reading and Questions K/HSiberia is the Asian (eastern) part of Russia; it is a region in northern Asia, extending from the Ural Mountains to the Russian Far East, bordered north by the Arctic Ocean and on the south by the countries of Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China.

Siberia makes up roughly 75% of the total area of Russia. Much of it is swampland not suited to agriculture; other large areas (the taiga) are forested. The northern most parts comprise of extremely cold tundra (large treeless area with frozen ground). While not well suited for agriculture, Siberia has important mineral resources.

Siberia is one of the last great raw-material locations on Earth. Energy resources are especially abundant. About 80 percent of Russian coal reserves are in Siberia, though the majority of them are in remote areas and mostly untapped. The bulk of coal output comes from more southerly fields along the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

Originally Siberia was crossed by means of the interlocking river networks. Communications expanded with the completion in 1916 of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, which stretches across the entire region from Chelyabinsk in the west to Vladivostok on the Pacific coast. Compared with the railroads, which haul the great bulk of Siberian freight, roads are underdeveloped. Few are paved and none entirely spans the region from the Urals to the coast. Roads are used for short-haul journeys and carry only a small percentage of the total freight. The same is true of the rivers, which are navigable for only about 6,000 miles and for four months or less a year because of weather. When frozen, the rivers double as winter “ice roads.”

1. What percent of Russia’s coal reserves are located in Siberia?2. Siberia has a lot of natural resources, why is it difficult to get the raw materials?3. Where is the bulk of coal output coming from, and why?4. What human modification has helped get raw materials from Siberia to industrial centers in Russia?5. Write a test question, using information from the reading?