Oceania, New Zealand, Australia, & AntarcticaUnit 8 World Geography

What is the dominant climate for Oceania, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica?

Oceania0 No one knows how many

islands exist in the Pacific Ocean, but some geographers estimate that there are more than 20,000!

0 As a group, the Pacific Islands are called Oceania 0 The Philippines, Indonesia,

and other islands near the mainland are not considered part of Oceania because their people have cultural ties to Asia.

0 New Zealand and Australia are often considered part of Oceania even though Australia in a continent not just an Island.

Oceania 0Made up more than 20,000 islands

03 Categories:0 Melanesia north of Australia; “black islands”0 Micronesia north of Melanesia & south of Japan; “tiny

islands” 0 Polynesia covers the area from Midway Island in the

north to New Zealand in the south; “many islands”

Vanishing Islands0 One reason geographers don’t know the exact number of

islands in Oceania is because it changes over time.0 Erosion causes some islands to vanish, while other forces create

new islands.0 Most islands fall into 1 of 2 categories; high islands and low

islands0 High islands- are created by volcanoes0 Low islands- are made of coral reefs

0 All the islands added together would still be smaller than the area of Alaska!

Resources of Oceania0Oceania is NOT rich in natural resources

0 The low lands have poor soil and most of the islands lack minerals.

0 New Caledonia has nickel, chromium, and iron; New Guinea has copper, gold, and oil; Nauru has phosphate and both Fiji and the Solomon Islands have Gold.

0The general scarcity of resources has made is difficult to develop industry.

New Zealand0 New Zealand has two

main islands; North Island and South Island.

0 Running down the center of the Island is a 300 mile long mountain range called the Southern Alps

0 North Island has hilly ranges and a volcanic plateau, but it is much less mountainous than South Island.

New Zealand Resources0 Fertile farmland

and forests for lumber industry.

0 Has natural harbors that are used for seaports

0 It has few mineral resources.

0 It’s swift flowing rivers have allowed its people to build dams that generate electricity.

0 Also North Island has a volcanic area with underground steam.0 Engineers have found ways to

use the steam to power generators.

Australia: Good Day Mate’!0 Australia is the flattest

and smallest continent on earth.

0 It has a chain of highlands that runs near it’s eastern coast called the Great Dividing Range.0 Few of it’s peaks rise

higher than 5,000 ft

0 Australia has very few rivers.0 The largest is the

Murray River, which flows into the Southern Ocean.

0Mountain range effects Australia’s climate.0It forces moisture-bearing

winds to rise and shed their rain before moving inland.

0This results in the Eastern coast being more populated because the abundance of rain and cooler temperatures.

Australia’s Resources0Australia is rich in minerals. It is the

world’s leading supplier of bauxite, diamonds, opals, lead and coal.

Great Barrier Reef0 Along Australia’s northeast coast lies

one of the wonders of nature.0 The Great Barrier Reef is often called

the world’s largest coral reef, although it is really a 1,250 mile chain of more than 2,500 reefs and islands.

0 Some 400 species of coral are found there.

0 The GBR is threatened by modern land-clearing and livestock grazing methods that cause tons of sediment

to wash into the sea, and by toxic runoff from farmlands treated with pesticides and fertilizers.

0 1/3 of Australia is desert, lying in an oval in the center of the continent.0 This region receives less

than 10 inches of rain and year (why?) and is too dry for agriculture or grazing.

0 Very few people live in the interior.0 Australians call this

unpopulated interior region the outback.

Antarctica

0 Antarctica is the fifth largest continent, generally circular in shape, it is centered on the South Pole.

0 The landscape of Antarctica is hidden by a thick sheet of ice, but under the ice lays a varied landscape.

0 The Transantarctic Mountains divide the continent in two.

Antarctica’s Resources0 Antarctica’s ice sheet is

the largest supply of fresh water in the world.

0 Geologists believe that resources such as coal, minerals, and perhaps even petroleum may lie beneath the ice.

0 In 1991, 26 nations agreed not to mine Antarctica for 50 years.

White Desert0 Antarctica is Earth’s driest

and coldest continent.0 In the winter, inland

temperatures can fall to 70 degrees below zero or colder.

0 Cold air does not hold moisture well, so the air there has only 1/10th the water vapor found in the atmosphere of temperate regions.

0 As a result, Antarctica receives little precipitation and is often called a polar desert, or white desert.