Geography

Central Asia is located between East Asia and Europe. Central Asia has highlands, deserts, and steppes which are vast level treeless plains covered with grassland vegetation. Most of Central Asia has dry climate with a band of semiarid land that surrounds the arid region that covers most of the interior of South Africa.

//__ Atlai Mountains __//

The Atlai Mountains are located in southern Siberia. It extends in a southeast-northwest direction from the Gobi Desert to the West Siberian Plain, through parts of China, Mongolia, Russia, and Kazakhstan. It forms the major mountain range in the western Siberia region. The Atlai Mountains provide sources for its greatest rivers - the Ob and the Irtysh. It is notable for mining and hydroelectrical potential. Vegetation Zones vary in Central Asia from steppe, forest-steppe, mixed forest, subalpine vegetation to alpine vegetation. These mountains are an important habitat for endangered animal species.

//__Hindu Kush Mountains__ //

 The Hindu Kush mountain range runs from north-western Pakistan to central Afghanistan. The mountain was called “the slayer of the Indians” because of the great number of animals and people who died while traveling through the mountains. The whole range stretches about 966 kilometers laterally, while the north-south measurement is about 240 kilometers. Several rivers run through the mountain system, including the Helmand, Hari, and Kabul river systems. The mountain area is a very barren land with a few trees and shrubs. Most of the animals that live in this region are goats and sheep, with a few bears. The few roads that wind through the mountains are almost all in very bad condition. These roads, however, are the key to Afghanistan. They are major routes through which commercial trade and supplies are transported. The roads also paid a key roles during the U.S invasion of Afghanistan back in 2001. The mountains are now one of the U.S’s operation bases.

Citations http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/266291/Hindu-Kush https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.htp

** __//Aral Sea://__ **

The Aral Sea, which is located between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, was a saline lake that was a center of a large, flat desert basin. The Aral Sea is always changing because of the environment. It used to be the fourth largest lake in 1960 about the size of Southern California which is about 26,250 square miles. It used to be about two hundred times larger than the Salton Sea. The Aral Sea has decreased in volume by seventy five percent and its sea level has fallen by more than 16 meters. A long time ago the Aral Sea used to be completely dried up. It was so much more larger in then it is now in 1960. This is all because of how humans treat the environment. The natural cycle of changing the environment is a lot slower and human cycle is speeding up the process.

Citations: http://visearth.ucsd.edu/VisE_Int/aralsea/index.html