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because the Himalayan mountains block rain Water Bodies
clouds from reaching this region.
Some of the most magnifi cent water bodies
can be found in Asia. A few of them have
been briefl y discussed below.
Caspian Sea
Th e Caspian Sea, located in western Asia on
the eastern edges of Europe, is the largest lake
Gobi Desert on the planet. Oil and natural gas production
platforms are constructed almost all along
Taklamakan Desert
the edges of the sea. Although fresh water
Taklamakan Desert is China’s largest desert fl ows into the sea via the Volga River and
extending over 3,37,000 square kilometres. Ural River in the north, the sea remains salty.
Composed primarily of shift ing crescent Th e measured surface area is 3,71,000 square
sand dunes, the Taklamakan Desert is one of kilometres.
the largest sandy deserts in the world.
Lake Baikal
Thar Desert
Lake Baikal is located in south-eastern
Covering 2,00,000 square kilometres in India Russia, directly to the north of Mongolia. It is
and Pakistan, the Th ar Desert is Asia’s only not only recognised as the oldest (still existing)
subtropical desert. Primarily occupying the freshwater lake on the planet, but also as the
Indian state of Rajasthan, the Th ar Desert deepest continental body of water at 5,315
receives up to 20 inches of rain per year, feet. Lake Baikal is about 626 kilometres
primarily during the monsoon period from in length.
July to September. Most crops are grown
during this rainy season. Aral Sea
Th e Aral Sea is located in the countries of
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan just to the east
of the Caspian Sea. Unfortunately, the Aral
Sea is disappearing and is currently found
almost totally polluted by fertiliser runoff and
weapon testing residue that were left by the
former Soviet Union’s scientifi c experiments
Sand dunes in the Thar Desert as well as by careless industrial projects.
Let’s Recall
• Asia is the world’s largest continent, both in terms of land area and in population.
• Asia extends from 10°S to 80°N latitude and from 25°E to 170°W longitude. Its north–south
distance is 8,560 kilometres and it stretches for about 9,600 kilometres from east to west.
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