What Are the Physical Features of Asia?
Asia has a variety of physical features, including mountain ranges, plateaus and deserts. The continent also has fresh and saltwater environments. Steppes are another geographical feature of Asia.
Asia is home to three major mountain ranges: the Himalayas, the Tien Shen mountains and the Ural mountains. The Himalayas is the largest mountain range in Asia, stretching over 236,000 square miles in total and includes Mount Everest, which is the tallest mountain in the world. One of the oldest mountain systems in the world is the Ural mountains, coming in at up to 300 million years old.
Russia has the West Siberian Plain, which measures 1,500 miles by 1,200 miles, making it one of the largest areas of flatland in the world. South of Russia in the Middle East sits one of the largest deserts, the Rub’ al Khali.
Continuing Asia’s list of “world’s largest,” the Tibetan Plateau is the largest plateau recorded. This plateau has a large number of glaciers, making it essential to the global water cycle. Two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, encompass Mesopotamia, a part of Asia that was home to many of the oldest civilizations in the world. The Bay of Bengal is the world’s largest and covers 840,000 square miles.
