Soils of natural zones of Australia. Mainland Australia: natural areas and their brief description

The black continent stands out in world geography in that the natural zones of Africa on the map are located almost correctly and symmetrically. This is due to the flat landscapes found almost everywhere on the mainland, as well as the uniform position relative to the equator. Latitudinal zoning also depends on the amount of precipitation, which is uneven under local conditions.

However, in mountainous areas, such a harmonious distribution is violated, the zones change with height. There are few such territories on the continent. The vegetation cover is different in each zone, and this depends on the properties of the soil and climatic conditions.

In the equator, located in the center of Africa, there are equatorial forests(variable or constantly wet), the next natural zones extending to the north and south from the central site are savannas, they are replaced by semi-deserts and deserts, but narrow strips of hard-leaved shrubs and forests (evergreen) frame the mainland.

Map of natural areas of Africa

All natural areas of Africa on the map are arranged in this order on the African mainland (from north to south):

Central equatorial characterized by numerous precipitation, there are also rich water resources - the Congo River, the Guinean coast. In addition, the constant heat was reflected in the formation of local vegetation.

Local soils have two shades - red and yellow, they are ferralite, as the table says natural areas Africa, because due to chemical processes on the surface of the rocks, they have become enriched in aluminum and iron. Such soil is not fertile, because all substances found in it quickly decompose, and then are washed out or absorbed by the flora.

The plants living here do an excellent job with the existing conditions:

• constant warmth;
• high humidity;
• numerous precipitation.

To do this, they have:

• tough and dense leaves;
• supporting roots;
• several tiers.

The number of flora representatives is enormous, many trees differ valuable timber they also have good-tasting edible fruits.

Not less species and living beings:

• pigs;
• deer;
• okapi;
• gorillas;
• insects;
• invertebrates;
• microorganisms.

The next in the table of natural areas of Africa are variable wet forests, then comes the turn of the largest in area savannah, they are almost 40% of the entire continent.

This zone is clearly different from the previous ones at first glance.

The amount of vegetation is related to rainfall and varies by region and season. When the rains are active, the grasses reach enormous heights; in places of drought, savannahs are covered with dead stands, bushes, there are rare trees(acacia most often).

Almost certainly we can say that it largely depends on this zone, because in the savannas there is a huge amount of national parks as it is home to a unique array of wild animals that attract travelers from everywhere.

Meet here:

• giraffes;
• zebras;
• rhinos;
• elephants;
• hippos.

Predators are of particular interest to visitors:

• lions;
• hyenas;
• cheetahs;
• crocodiles.

The rich world of fauna also includes many birds:

• ostriches;
• flamingo;
• storks;
• marabou;
• ibises.

In areas semi-desert Savannahs are overgrown with thorny vegetation - grasses and shrubs, there are tree-like plants, milkweed.

Large territories are also allocated for deserts, especially in the northern sub-region, where there is the majestic Sahara. These lands are by no means lifeless, here, although rarely, they are found:

Animals are also adapted:

• turtles;
• lizards;
• snakes;
• beetles;
• scorpions.

In different deserts throughout the continent, there are certain representatives of flora and fauna, which depends on climatic and other conditions, each of them is unusual and multifaceted.

The most extreme natural zones of Africa on the map are characterized by the presence hard-leaved vegetation, they are in the very south or north, respectively. There are fertile brown soils here, which were formed under the following natural conditions of the Mediterranean climate:

• hot summer, dry;
• warm winter, wet.

Natural areas of Africa, table

The main differences that characterize African natural areas:

• climate;
• soil;
• vegetation;
• animal world.

All these parameters are interrelated, because as a result of the established climate, certain soils are formed, on which only a few plants grow. Vegetation becomes the basis of food and habitat for representatives of the fauna. Based on the combination of all these indicators, the image of a particular zone is formed.

The table below of the natural zones of Africa gives a clear picture of all parts of the continent.

Forests occupy the largest area along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea (from 7 ° N to 12 ° S) and in hot and constantly humid (from 4 ° N to 5 ° S). On the northern and southern outskirts, they turn into mixed (deciduous-evergreen) and deciduous forests, losing their foliage in the dry season (3-4 months). Tropical rain forests (mainly palm) grow on the east coast of Africa and in the east.

Savannah flank the woodlands of Equatorial Africa and stretch across the East and South beyond the southern tropic. Depending on the duration of the rainy season and the annual amount of precipitation, they are distinguished by tall grasses, typical (dry) and desertified.

Tall grass savannas occupy a space where the annual precipitation is 800-1200 mm, and the dry season lasts 3-4 months, they have a dense cover of tall grasses (elephant grass up to 5 m), groves and massifs of mixed or deciduous forests on watersheds, gallery ground humidification in the valleys.

In typical savannas (precipitation 500-800 mm, dry season 6 months), a continuous cereal cover no higher than 1 m (species of bearded vulture, temeda, etc.), palm trees (fanny, hyphaena), baobabs, - milkweed. Most of the wet and typical savannas are of secondary origin.

Deserted savannas (precipitation 300-500 mm, dry season 8-10 months) have a thin grass cover, thickets of thorny bushes (mainly acacia) are widespread in them.

Deserts occupy the largest area in northern Africa, home to the largest in the world. Its vegetation is sclerophilous (with hard leaves, well-developed mechanical tissue, is distinguished by drought resistance), extremely sparse; in the northern Sahara it is cereal-shrub, in the southern - shrub; concentrated mainly along the channels of the Oued and on the sands. The most important plant in the oases is the date palm. In South Africa, the Namib and Karoo deserts are mainly succulent (the genera mesembriantemum, aloe, and milkweed are characteristic). There are many acacias in the Karoo. On the subtropical outskirts, the African deserts turn into cereal-shrub; in the north they are typical for feather grass alpha, in the south - numerous bulbous and tuberous.

In southeast Africa, mixed deciduous-coniferous forests are widespread, on the windward slopes of the Atlas - evergreen stiff-leaved forests(mainly cork oak).

As a result of the primitive slash-and-burn system of farming, deforestation and cattle grazing, which has been operating for centuries, the natural vegetation cover is severely disturbed. Most of the African savannas arose on the site of cleared forests, open woodlands and shrubs, representing a natural transition from moist evergreen forests to.

However, plant resources large and varied. The evergreen forests of Central Africa grow up to 40 tree species with valuable wood (black, red, etc.); high-quality edible oil is obtained from the fruit of the oil palm, and caffeine and other alkaloids are obtained from the seeds of the cola tree. Africa is the birthplace of the forested coffee tree in Central Africa. The homeland of many cereals (including drought-resistant wheat) is the Ethiopian Highlands. African sorghum, millet, arose, castor oil plant, sesame have entered the culture of many. In the oases of the Sahara, about 1/2 of the world's date palm harvest is obtained. In the Atlas, the most important plant resources are Atlas cedar, cork oak, olive tree (plantations in the east), alpha fibrous cereal. In Africa, acclimatized and grown cotton, sisal, peanuts, cassava, cocoa tree, rubber hevea.

In Africa, about 1/5 of the land suitable for arable is used, the area of ​​which can be expanded subject to proper agricultural practices, since the widespread primitive slash-and-burn farming system leads to a rapid depletion of fertility, and so on. The greatest fertility is possessed by black tropical soils, which give good yields of cotton and grain, and soil on rocks. Red-yellow soils containing up to 10% humus, and red soils with 2-3% humus require regular application of nitrogenous, potassium, phosphate fertilizers. Brown soils contain 4-7% humus, but their use is hampered by their predominant distribution in the mountains and by the need for dry summers.

The distribution of natural zones in Africa is also almost symmetrical about the equator and depends mainly on the uneven distribution of precipitation.

Wet Evergreen Equatorial Forests occupy the Congo Basin and the coast of the Gulf of Guinea north of the equator. These forests are distinguished by a huge species diversity (more than 1000 plant species), height (up to 50 m) and multi-tiered (tree crowns fill almost the entire space). Animals are also divided into tiers. In the loose soil and forest litter hordes of microfauna representatives, various invertebrates, as well as shrews, lizards and snakes swarm. The ground layer is inhabited by small ungulates, forest pigs, forest elephants, and gorillas. The crowns of trees were chosen not only by birds, but also by monkeys, colobus, chimpanzees and even rodents and insects, often reaching very large sizes... There, a leopard rests on large branches and lies in wait for prey. Ants, termites and amphibians are widespread in almost all tiers, near water bodies - pygmy hippos, okapi (relatives of giraffes). Geochemical processes with the participation of microorganisms and soil fauna accompanied by the formation of iron and aluminum oxides. Rocks acquire a special structure and color, the so-called weathering crusts are formed, on which red-yellow ferralite soils are formed (ferrum - iron, aluminum - aluminum). Many of the plants equatorial forests used on the farm and introduced into the culture: banana, coffee tree, oil palm, etc.

From the south and north, the zone of humid equatorial forests is bordered by zone of variable moist deciduous forests, and then - a zone of light forests and savannas, which is associated with the appearance of a dry period, which lengthens with distance from the equator.

About 40% of Africa's territory is occupied savannah where among tall grasses small groups or single specimens of umbrella-shaped trees (baobabs, umbrella acacias, mimosas, palms), sometimes bushes grow. Their leaves are usually small, hard, pubescent, the trunks are covered with thick bark. The baobab is the savannah tree of life and one of the most famous trees in the world. Usually these "green fat men" are not very tall, however, there are individual specimens reaching a hundred meters in height and several tens of meters in a circle. Moreover, there is a report that an absolutely gigantic baobab, 189 m high and 43.4 m in diameter, was discovered in the African savannas - and this is already an absolute world record among trees. The ways in which these trees are used are striking. Fruits, seeds, young shoots and leaves are eaten. Soap and oil are made from the ashes of burnt fruits, and glue is made from pollen. But the trunks of these giants find the most original application. So, for example, it is known that in the hollow of one baobab they equipped a shelter with a door and a window, in the hollow of another - a bus station with a waiting room, and in the third - a bathhouse.

In dry savannah trees grow euphorbia and aloe with fleshy thorny leaves. In the rainy season, the savannah is an ocean of greenery; in the dry season, it turns yellow, brown, sometimes black from fires. The red ferralite or red-brown soils of the savannah are more fertile than the soils of humid equatorial forests, since humus accumulates during the dry period.

The African savannah is a country of large herbivores. These are giraffes, elephants, antelopes, zebras, buffaloes, rhinos. There are many predators: lions, leopards, cheetahs, jackals and hyenas that eat carrion are found. Numerous birds nest on the banks of rivers and lakes, hippos and crocodiles live.

To preserve the nature of savannahs, well-known National parks Kivu, Virunga in Zaire, Boats in Rwanda, Serengeti in Tanzania. They are actively visited by tourists from all over the world, bringing in huge income. They carry out a lot of scientific work.

Large areas north and south of the savannah cover zones of tropical semi-deserts and deserts... There are only irregular episodic rains here, in some areas every few years. The zone is characterized by extremely dry air, large daily temperature amplitudes, dusty and sandstorms... The surface of the deserts is covered with stony placers or sands, salt marshes in the place of dried salt lakes, or clay where there used to be seas.

The vegetation here is very sparse and specific. The leaves are either replaced by thorns, or are very small, the roots spread both in breadth and far into the soil. Some plants can live on saline soils, others have a short development cycle (live only after rains). In search of scarce food and water, desert animals can travel long distances (ungulates, for example, antelopes) or go without water for a long time (some reptiles, camels), some of them are nocturnal. The soils are poor in organic matter, but rich in mineral salts. With irrigation, on the one hand, this allows the cultivation of many crops, but on the other hand, it creates the problem of secondary salinization of soils and groundwater. As a result, agricultural land turns into barren salt marshes.

In the far north and south of the mainland there is zone of subtropical rigid-leaved evergreen forests and shrubs with brown soils.

On the rises of the relief, it appears altitudinal zonality... The highest peaks of the mainland (Kilimanjaro, Kenya), even in tropical and near-equatorial latitudes, are covered with eternal snow and glaciers.

Natural area	Climate type	Climate features			Vegetation	The soil	Animal world
		Tjan.	TJuly	The amount of precipitation
Stiff-leaved evergreen forests and shrubs	Mediterranean west coasts				Stone oak, wild olive, jujube	Brown	Leopards, antelopes, zebras.
Semi-deserts and deserts	Tropical dry west coasts				Xerophytes, saltwort, milkweed, thickets of thorny bushes, juzgun	Desert sandy and stony	Scorpions, beetles, locusts, hedgehogs, snakes, jerboas
Deserted savannas and woodlands					Euphorbia, aloe, paspalidium, sporobolus, baobab	Red-brown	Giraffes, buffaloes, gazelles, antelopes, rhinos, zebras
	Subequatorial continental				Baobabs, cereals, palms, oil palms	Red ferralite
Variable wet forests	Subequatorial continental				Ficus, pandanus, hymenocardia	Red ferralite	Leopard, deer, secretary bird
Constantly wet	Equatorial continental				Ficuses, palm, ceiba, bananas, coffee	Red-yellow ferralite	Gorillas, chimpanzees, termites, parrots, okapi, elephant.