Why does earth have continents

This region is home to wild animals such as lions, giraffes, elephants, hyenas, cheetahs, and wildebeests. The central and southern areas of Africa are dominated by rainforests. Much of Africa is a high plateau surrounded by narrow strips of coastal lowlands. Hilly uplands and mountains rise in some areas of the interior. Glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania sit just kilometers from the tropical jungles below.

Even though Kilimanjaro is not far from the Equator, snow covers its summit all year long. The rift valley actually starts in southwestern Asia. The Great Rift Valley is a site of major tectonic activity, where the continent of Africa is splitting into two. Geologists have already named the two parts of the African Plate. The area of central-eastern Africa is important to scientists who study evolution and the earliest origins of humanity.

This area is thought to be the place where hominids began to evolve. The entire continent of Africa sits on the African Plate. Asia Asia, the largest continent, stretches from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the western Pacific Ocean.

There are more than 40 countries in Asia. Some are among the most-populated countries in the world, including China, India, and Indonesia. The continent of Asia includes many islands, some of them countries.

The plateaus in Central Asia are largely unsuitable for farming and are thinly populated. The continent has a wide range of climate regions, from polar in the Siberian Arctic to tropical in equatorial Indonesia. Southeast Asia, on the other hand, depends on the annual monsoons, which bring rain and make agriculture possible. Asia is the most mountainous of all the continents. More than 50 of the highest peaks in the world are in Asia.

Mount Everest, which reaches more than 8, meters 29, feet high in the Himalaya range, is the highest point on Earth. These mountains have become major destination spots for adventurous travelers. Plate tectonics continuously push the mountains higher. As the landmass of India pushes northward into the landmass of Eurasia, parts of the Himalayas rise at a rate of about 2.

The land there lies more than meters 1, feet below sea level. Although the Eurasian Plate carries most of Asia, it is not the only one supporting major parts of the large continent.

The Indian Plate supports the Indian peninsula, sometimes called the Indian subcontinent. The Australian Plate carries some islands in Indonesia. Australia In addition to being the smallest continent, Australia is the flattest and the second-driest, after Antarctica. The continent is sometimes called Oceania , to include the thousands of tiny islands of the Central Pacific and South Pacific, most notably Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia including the U.

However, the continent of Australia itself includes only the nation of Australia, the eastern portion of the island of New Guinea the nation of Papua New Guinea and the island nation of New Zealand. Australia covers just less than 8. Its population is about 31 million. It is the most sparsely populated continent, after Antarctica. Rainfall is light on the plateau, and not many people have settled there.

The Great Dividing Range, a long mountain range, rises near the east coast and extends from the northern part of the territory of Queensland through the territories of New South Wales and Victoria. Mainland Australia is known for the Outback , a desert area in the interior. This area is so dry, hot, and barren that few people live there. In addition to the hot plateaus and deserts in mainland Australia, the continent also features lush equatorial rainforests on the island of New Guinea, tropical beaches, and high mountain peaks and glaciers in New Zealand.

Biologists who study animals consider Australia a living laboratory. When the continent began to break away from Antarctica more than 60 million years ago, it carried a cargo of animals with it.

Isolated from life on other continents, the animals developed into creatures unique to Australia, such as the koala, the platypus, and the Tasmanian devil. The reef itself is 1, kilometers 1, miles of living coral communities. Most of Australia sits on the Australian Plate. Antarctica Antarctica is the windiest, driest, and iciest place on Earth. Antarctica is larger than Europe or Australia, but unlike those continents, it has no permanent human population.

People who work there are scientific researchers and support staff, such as pilots and cooks. The climate of Antarctica makes it impossible to support agriculture or a permanent civilization. Temperatures in Antarctica, much lower than Arctic temperatures, plunge lower than degrees Celsius degrees Fahrenheit. Scientific bases and laboratories have been established in Antarctica for studies in fields that include geology , oceanography , and meteorology. Antarctica is also an ideal place for discovering meteorites, or stony objects that have impacted Earth from space.

The dark meteorites, often made of metals like iron , stand out from the white landscape of most of the continent. Antarctica is almost completely covered with ice, sometimes as thick as 3. Like all other continents, Antarctica has volcanic activity. The most active volcano is Mount Erebus, which is less than 1, kilometers miles from the South Pole. Antarctica does not have any countries. However, scientific groups from different countries inhabit the research stations. A multinational treaty negotiated in and reviewed in states that research in Antarctica can only be used for peaceful purposes.

Vostok Station, where the coldest temperature on Earth was recorded, is operated by Russia. All of Antarctica sits on the Antarctic Plate. Microcontinents In addition to the seven major continents, Earth is home to microcontinents, or pieces of land that are not geologically identified with a continent.

Major microcontinents include:. Also called cosmic dust or space dust. Gas molecules are in constant, random motion. Also called the Somali Peninsula. The last ice age peaked about 20, years ago. Also called glacial age. Monsoon usually refers to the winds of the Indian Ocean and South Asia, which often bring heavy rains. Regions are the basic units of geography. Sea level is determined by measurements taken over a year cycle. Also called lithospheric plate. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.

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Search through these resources to discover more about unique landforms and landscapes around the world. Landforms are natural and distinctive features. Explore how they show up in various landscapes. These resources can be used to teach middle schoolers more about the natural world, its distinctive features, and landscapes. These tectonic plates rest upon the convecting mantle, which causes them to move. The movements of these plates can account for noticeable geologic events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and more subtle yet sublime events, like the building of mountains.

Clouds began to develop as water vapour collected in the air … And then it began to pour with rain, causing the early oceans to rise up. About million years ago, long, long after the Earth had formed, all the continents of the time had joined together to form a super-continent called Pangaea.

This super-continent broke up about million years ago to form two giant continents, Gondwana and Laurasia. The Indian sub-continent lay off the east coast of Africa, before it broke off and moved north rapidly. The continents are still on the move, drifting apart at the rate of about an inch each year, typically spreading in mid-ocean.

The movement, and all the bumping and grinding it causes as plates dive under continents, creates earthquakes, fuels volcanoes and builds mountains. As they gradually move over millions of years, the continents as we know them today could crash together again to make yet another supercontinent, scientists say. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter llmysteries.

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