Physical Geography of Austrialia, Oceania and Antarctica

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Physical Geography of Austrialia, Oceania and
Antarctica
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Landforms of Oceania

• Estimate more than 20,000 island not including
  Philippines and Indonesia.
• New Zealand
• Australia
• Micronesia
• Melanseia
• Polynesia

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Oceania

• Oceania is made up of 23 countries, spread over
  20,000 islands.
• It covers over 3.3 million square miles, but only
  has 0.5 percent of the worlds population!
• There is great diversity everything from desert
  wilderness to tropical islands to active
  volcanos.
• The area is divided into 3 main groups-
  Micronesia, Melanesia Polynesia.
• Australia is the largest island. Other major
  islands include New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and
  Fiji.

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The Land Down Under
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AUSTRALIA

• Sixth largest country (about the size of the US)
• Smallest flattest continent
• 2/3 classified as outback (hot arid land)
• Majority of population lives near the coast
• Settled by European colonial powers such as Great
  Britain France

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Climate

• Australia has a temperate climate, which means
  there are many sunny days with mild temperatures.
• Australia is located below the equator, so its
  seasons are opposite of ours. Summer is from
  December to March and winter is from June to
  August.
• The coastal areas get plenty of rain, while the
  interior stays dry.
• The outback is warm during the day, but chilly at
  night.

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Natural Resources

• Many natural resources, such as uranium, natural
  gas zinc, can be found along the coastline.
• One of Australias largest natural resources is
  coal, which is used for energy. They produce
  enough to provide electricity for the island and
  sell the rest.
• Australia also has huge deposits of iron ore,
  (used to make steel) and gold (used to make coins
  and jewelry).
• There are huge ranches in the Outback where sheep
  are raised to produce wool.

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Geographic Features

• Coral Sea
• Located on the northeast coast of Australia
• Covers more than 280,00 square miles
• Location of a major WW 2 battle
• Home to many types of marine life

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Geographic Features

• Great Barrier Reef
• It is the largest coral reef system in the world
• It is more than 1200 miles long (longer than the
  Great Wall of China!
• It is located in the Coral Sea on the northeast
  coast

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Geographic Features

• Ayers Rock
• Also called Mount Uluru
• Most famous natural landmark
• Located in central Australia
• 1142 feet high
• Sacred site of the Aborigines

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Geographic Features

• Great Victoria Desert
• Largest desert in Australia
• Named for Queen Victoria of England by Ernest
  Giles, the first European to cross it

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The Outback

• Much of Australia is covered by the Australian
  Outback.
• It is a dry region that covers most of
  Australias interior.
• Temperatures in the Outback can be very hot.
• There is very little rain.
• Most of the soil is not good for farming.
• Harsh conditions and the lack of fertile farmland
  mean that very few people live in the Outback.

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Population

• Most Australians live in cities along Australias
  southeast coast.
• This is largely because of the mild, temperate
  climate the region offers.
• Due to rich mineral deposits, portions of
  northwest Australia are home to mining
  communities.
• Miners rely on these natural resources for
  income.
• The interior of the continent is dominated by the
  Outback.

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Oceanias Many Islands

• High Islands
• created by Volcanoes
• Low Islands (Atolls)
• created by coral reefs

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New Zealand

• Two large islands make up New Zealand, The North
  and South Islands.
• Earliest inhabitants are known as the Maoris
• Many beaches, volcanoes, hillsides are throughout
  the islands
• Climate is a marine west coast climate which is
  very similar to Washington State

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New Zealand

• Two Islands
• North Island
• Hilly mountains
• Volcanic plateau
• Fertile farmland
• Forests
• rivers
• South Island
• Southern Alps
• 360 glaciers
• Forests
• rivers

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Antarctica

• Mountains
• Transantarctic Mountains
• East Antarctic Plateau
• Technically a desert

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Antarctica

• Ice Cap covers almost 98 percent of land
• Some areas have ice 2 miles thick
• Country contains volcanoes, mountains and
  plateaus.
• Antarctica is a dry and windy landform where
  temperatures plunge to -129 degrees F.
• Contains mosses, krill (shrimp-like), lichens

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Nothing but the facts.

• The average thickness of the ice sheet that
  covers 98 of Antarctica is 2,200 meters (7,200
  feet).
• The continent overlies the south pole and covers
  13,824,000 square kilometers (5,400,000 square
  miles). It is the fifth largest landmass on the
  globe.
• Early Greek geographers hypothesized the
  existence of Antarctica well before anyone
  actually saw the continent. They believed that a
  landmass must exist at the bottom of the world to
  balance the land in the Northern Hemisphere.
  They called the mythological land "Antarctica,"
  meaning "opposite the Arctic."
• No one set foot on the continent until John
  Davis went ashore on the Antarctic Peninsula in
  1820.

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Neutral Antarctica

• Antarctica is the largest supply of fresh water
  in the world.
• Many geologists believe there is a wealth of
  mineral resources below the ice.
• In 1991, 26 nations agreed not to mine Antarctica
  for 50 years.

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Human-Environment Interaction

• Navigating the Pacific
• Pacific Islanders relied on the stars as a guide
  but they made charts out of sticks and shells
• Voyaging canoes were developed with double hulls
  to allow the boats to carry a heavy load and
  remain stable in the open water.
• For use in lagoons, the Pacific Islanders
  developed outrigger canoes to help balance the
  canoe.

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Invasion of Rabbits

• In 1859, Thomas Austin released 24 rabbits in
  Australia because he wanted to be able to hunt
  rabbits as it was an English Tradition.
• As a result, the rabbit population grew
  exponentially . One pair of rabbit alone
  produced 184 descendants in one year. There were
  no natural predators in Australia to control the
  population. By 1900 there were over 1 billion
  rabbits in Australia

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Control Measures

• The rabbits began to destroy crops and wiped out
  native plants. Other native animals became
  endangered as their food sources were depleted
• In order to control the rabbits, they brought in
  foxes but the introduced foxes threatened the
  natural wildlife as well as domestic animals.

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Rabbit Rebound

• The government acted by infecting the rabbits
  with a contagious disease that proved fatal to
  90 of the rabbit population but over time, the
  surviving rabbits developed an immunity to the
  disease and their population quickly rebounded.

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Nuclear Testing

• In the 1940s the United States conducted nuclear
  testing in the Marshall Islands.
• The Bikini Atoll was the designated test site.
• The U.S. removed 167 inhabitants and conducted
  over 60 nuclear tests.

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Long Term Effects

• The testing vaporized several small islands and
  contaminated the entire area with high levels of
  radiation.
• In the 1960s, the U.S. government declared the
  Bikini Atoll safe for human habitation however,
  after the people moved back, many became ill or
  died.
• In 1978, doctors discovered dangerous levels of
  radiation ins the islanders bodies and they were
  again removed from the islands

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The End