Name: ______Date: ______Period: _____ Geography of Asia: Read and Respond The Indian Ocean Indian Ocean, an ocean lying south of Asia, west of Australia, north of Antarctica, and east of Africa. One-fourth of the world's people live in countries touching this ocean. The area of the Indian Ocean is 28,350,500 square miles (73,427,000 km2). It covers one- seventh of the earth's surface but is slightly smaller than the Atlantic Ocean and is less than half as large as the Pacific. Its greatest depth, 25,344 feet (7,725 m), is in Java Trench. The average depth is about 12,800 feet (3,900 m). Madagascar is the largest island. Bass Strait, between Tasmania and southern Australia, and passages through the East Indies are important routes to the Pacific Ocean on the east. The Atlantic lies west of Africa. To the north, the Indian subcontinent divides the ocean into the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. The Persian Gulf and the Red Sea are arms of the Arabian Sea. The Suez Canal (at the head of the Red Sea) leads to the Mediterranean Sea. Scylax of Caryanda, a Greek geographer of the sixth century b.c., was probably the first European to sail the Indian Ocean. In 1498 Vasco da Gama of Portugal crossed it to reach India. Its northern portion became a shipping lane between Europe and the Far East after the Suez Canal opened in 1869. The first systematic survey of this little-studied ocean was made by the International Indian Ocean Expedition of 1959–65. The Sea of Japan Japan, Sea of, or East Sea, an arm of the Pacific Ocean. It lies between the islands of Japan and the Asiatic mainland (Korea and eastern Siberia). In the south, it is connected with the East China Sea by the Korea Strait. In the north, the Tsugaru Strait connects it with the Pacific, and La Pérouse (or Soya) Strait and the Tatar Strait connect it with the Sea of Okhotsk. The Sea of Japan has an area of about 390,000 square miles (1,010,000km2). The China Sea China Sea is the name of two seas of the Pacific Ocean along the east coast of Asia: South China Sea and East China Sea. China Sea, the name given to part of the North Pacific Ocean, off the east coast of Asia. It consists of the East and South China seas, which are joined by the Taiwan Strait. The East China Sea, including the Yellow Sea, has an area of about 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 km2). It is bounded by China on the west; Korea on the northeast; the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands, all in Japan, on the east; and Taiwan on the south. The East China Sea is generally shallow; only near the Ryukyu Islands do depths exceed 600 feet (180 m). The South China Sea is bounded by the Chinese mainland on the north, Taiwan on the northeast, the Philippines on the east, the island of Borneo on the south, and the mainland of Southeast Asia on the west. It has an area of nearly 900,000 square miles (2,300,000 km2) and a maximum depth of more than 17,000 feet (5,200m). The Yellow Sea Yellow Sea, a shallow arm of the Pacific Ocean between China and Korea. It covers roughly 180,000 square miles (470,000 km2) and reaches a maximum depth of about 300 feet (90 m). Bo Gulf and Korea Bay are major extensions to the north. The Yellow Sea merges with the East China Sea on the south. The Huang He, or Yellow River, brings enormous amounts of yellow silt into the sea—hence the name of the sea. Ports include Lüda and Qingdao in China and Inchon in South Korea. The Gobi Desert Gobi, a desert in central Asia. It lies in southern Mongolia and the northern Inner Mongolia region of China. Gobimeans ―great desert‖ in Mongolian. The Gobi is about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) long from east to west and 500 miles (800 km) wide. Surrounded by mountains, it lies on a plateau 3,000 to 5,000 feet (910 to 1,520 m) above sea level. The Great Wall of China, built in the third century B.C., runs along its southern border. The Gobi's sand dunes are mainly in the east. The desert becomes more fertile toward the west. Winter temperatures drop to –40° F. (–40° C.), while rock surfaces may heat to 150° F. (66° C.) in summer. The Gobi receives less than eight inches (200 mm) of rain a year. Nomads pasture sheep, cattle, horses, and camels on the scanty grass. Marco Polo described his trip to the Gobi in the 13th century. Roy Chapman Andrews and other 20th-century explorers discovered dinosaur eggs and relics of primitive man here. Automobiles travel the ancient caravan routes. Oil has been produced in the eastern Gobi since 1955. The Taklimakan Desert Taklimakan Desert, a large arid area in Xinjiang province, China. It is some 500 miles (800 km) long and 250 miles (400 km) wide and lies between the Tarim River on the north and two mountain ranges, the Kunlun Shan and the Altun Shan, on the south. The Taklimakan is extremely dry; all the mountain rivers that enter the desert end in it. For the most part, the Taklimakan is a sandy to rocky wasteland. Oases along its edges were important stops on caravan routes in ancient times. 1. Where is the Indian Ocean? ______2. How much of the world population touches the Indian Ocean? ______3. What island does the Sea of Japan lie in between? ______4. What two seas of the Pacific Ocean make up the China Sea? ______5. What area does the East China Sea take up (square miles)? ______6. What countries are in the South China Sea? ______7. What river brings silt into the Yellow Sea? ______8. How did the Yellow Sea get its name? ______9. What ports are on the Yellow Sea? ______10. What does Gobimeans mean? ______11. What country does the Gobi Desert lie in? ______12. What runs along the Southern Border of the Gobi Desert? ______13. What are similarities and differences between the Taklimakan Desert and the Gobi Desert?