Environments and People - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 30

Figure 2-5
Devastation from the 2004 tsunami in Aceh,
Sumatra, Indonesia. ©JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty
Images, Inc.

(Y ellow River), also originate here. The northern perime-
ter of the Tibetan Plateau is bounded by other massive
ranges such as the Kunlun and Karakoram. The 28,250 feet
(8,611 m) peak K2 rises in the Karakoram.
Northward again are the arid basins and mountains
of northwestern China. The Tarim Basin is largest in ex-
panse and the T Turpan (T (Turfan) Basin lowest in elevation.
The Heavenly Mountains—the Tien Shan—stand as one
of this region' s major divides. Although the Tarim and
T Turpan and related basins are not important in terms of
population density , they are of critical importance eco-
nomically and politically .

efforts proceeded, another earthquake hit on March
28, 2005, also of great magnitude. (Refer to Chapter
15 for an update on progress and change in Aceh.)
In studying the December earthquake, scien-
tists revised its scale from magnitude 9 to 9.3.
Although this does not seem to be a large increase,
9.3 represents a 2 1 / 2 increase in scale. The December
earthquake is now the second largest ever recorded
in over 100 years of record keeping. The seafloor
rupture of the earthquake was 750 miles, also the
largest ever recorded, and three times larger than
originally thought.
The Pacific Ring of Fire also includes the
world' s deepest ocean trench: the Mariana T Trench,
which descends 36,198 feet (11,033 m) below sea
level. Another is the Indian Ocean' is Java T Trench at
23,376 feet (7,125 m) below sea level.

EAST AND SOUTHEAST OF THE TIEN SHAN
Eastward is a mosaic of rugged mountains and plateaus,
along with plains and more basins. The Qinling Range,
Loess Plateau, North China Plain, and Sichuan Basin are
only four of many significant elements of China' s physi-
cal landscape. These regions are dominated by the
mighty Huang He and the Chang Jiang or Yangzi. Mil-
lions of people make a livelihood in these and other river
valleys, basins, and plains. Even further east are the
craggy Korean peninsula and Japanese islands.

NORTH OF THE HIMALAYAS
If you were to cross the Himalayas northward you would
be standing at an elevation of approximately 15,000 feet
(4,500 m) at the edge of the stupendous Tibetan Plateau.
Y ou would be gasping for air and gaping in awe at more
than 400,000 square miles (1,036,001 km 2 ) of rugged
basins and ranges. Many of the rock-strewn basins con-
tain permanent lakes. Mountain passes permit relatively
easy access from one basin to another, but many of these
passes are 17,000 feet (5,100 m) and higher. Here is
where South Asia' s four great rivers originate: the Sutlej,
Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra (Tsang Po). China' s
major rivers, the Chang Jiang or Yangzi and the Huang He

SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST
OF THE HIMALAYAS
South of the Himalayas, the North Indian or Indo-
Gangetic Plain sweeps from Pakistan, across India, to
Bangladesh. This subsiding trough of 300,000 square
miles (777,001 km 2 ) is filled with fertile alluvial soils
deposited by the river systems of the Indus, Ganges, and