🔆 Colorado Plateau

📍 Location:
• USA

📍 Significance:
✅ Known for the Grand Canyon: A world-famous landmark.
✅ Highly dissected by the Colorado River: Creating the iconic Grand Canyon and other geological formations.

🔆 Columbia Plateau

📍 Location:
✅ Volcanic Plateau: Known for its volcanic origin.
✅ Snake River Valley is here: A significant geographical feature.
✅ In USA: Located in the United States.

🔆 Important Trenches

📍 Mariana Trench
• Location: Western Pacific (Near Guam)
• Plates Involved: Pacific Plate subducting under Philippine Plate. Includes the Challenger Deep (10,971m)

📍 Tonga Trench
• Location: South Pacific (Near Tonga)
• Plates Involved: Pacific Plate subducting under Indo-Australian Plate

📍 Kuril-Kamchatka Trench
• Location: Northwest Pacific (Near Russia, Japan)
• Plates Involved: Pacific Plate subducting under Eurasian Plate

📍 Peru-Chile Trench (Atacama Trench)
• Location: Eastern Pacific (Off South America)
• Plates Involved: Nazca Plate subducting under South American Plate

📍 Philippine Trench
• Location: West Pacific (Near Philippines)
• Plates Involved: Philippine Plate subducting under Eurasian Plate

🔆 Oceans (Pacific & Atlantic Oceans)

📍 Japan Trench
• Location: Northwest Pacific (Off Japan)
• Plates Involved: Pacific Plate subducting under Eurasian Plate

📍 Kermadec Trench
• Location: South Pacific (Near New Zealand)
• Plates Involved: Pacific Plate subducting under Indo-Australian Plate

📍 Aleutian Trench
• Location: North Pacific (Near Alaska)
• Plates Involved: Pacific Plate subducting under North American Plate

📍 Middle America Trench
• Location: Eastern Pacific (Off Central America)
• Plates Involved: Cocos Plate subducting under North American & Caribbean Plates

🔆 Grasslands of South America

📍 Pampas
✅ Located in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil
✅ Temperate Grassland
✅ Fertile plains known for extensive agriculture (wheat, corn, soybeans) and cattle ranching; home to the gaucho culture

📍 Llanos
✅ Located in Venezuela, Colombia
✅ Tropical Grassland
✅ Seasonally flooded grasslands; rich in biodiversity; major source of cattle grazing and oil reserves

📍 Campos
✅ Located in Southern Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay
✅ Subtropical Grassland
✅ Includes regions like Campos Gerais; used for livestock grazing and agriculture

📍 Gran Chaco
✅ Located in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil
✅ Woodland Savanna
✅ A semi-arid region with grasslands interspersed with thorny shrubs; rich in wildlife and a critical ecological zone

🔆 ARCTIC CIRCLE

📍 Water Bodies

✅ Chukchi Sea: Connected to the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean via the Bering Strait at its southernmost end.

✅ East Siberian Sea: One of the least studied water bodies in the area, experiencing an extremely harsh climate.

✅ Laptev Sea: Surrounded on three sides by land.

✅ Kara Sea: Located north of Siberia, between the Barents Sea and the Laptev Sea.

✅ Barents Sea: Off the northern coasts of Russia and Norway; relatively shallower than other parts of the Arctic Ocean.
▪️ The sea is important for the exploration of hydrocarbon resources.
▪️ It is a productive fishing area.
▪️ The Pechora Sea and the White Sea are parts of the Barents Sea.

✅ Wandel Sea: Stretches from Greenland’s northeast to Svalbard.

📍 Note:
HIMADRI – India’s research laboratory in Svalbard, Norway; near the North Pole.

🔆SOUTH EAST ASIA

South East Asia is divided into 2 parts:

📍 1. MAINLAND PART – Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia
✅ Capitals in North to South: Hanoi, Nay Payi Taw, Vientiane, Bangkok, Phnom Pehn
✅ Capitals in East to West: Nay Payi Taw, Bangkok, Vientiane, Phnom Pehn, Hanoi

📌 NOTE – LAOS
✅ All countries of mainland except Laos are on the coast
✅ Laos is the only landlocked country and the only one which shares borders with all 4 other mainland Southeast Asian countries

📍 2. MARITIME PART – Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines
✅ Indonesia: Largest archipelago of the world

📌 Note –
✅ Myanmar: Part of both Maritime and Mainland South East Asia
▪ Arakanyoma and Pegu-yoma mountains in Myanmar
✅ ASEAN: All these 10 countries are part of ASEAN
✅ Equator: Passes only through Indonesia

🔆New Caledonia:

✅It is a French overseas territory located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, approximately 1,500 km east of Australia.
✅It comprises the main island of Grande Terre (where the capital, Nouméa, is situated), the four Loyalty Islands (Ouvéa, Lifou, Tiga, and Maré), the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines, and some remote islands.
✅Just over 270,000 people live in New Caledonia (2019 census).
✅Approximately 39 percent are indigenous ('Kanak'). The remainder are Caledonians of European, Polynesian and other (including Vietnamese, Indonesian and Algerian) origins.
✅It is one of the European Union's Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs), but is not part of the European Union, the Euro or Schengen zones.

📍History of Island:
✅New Caledonia, originally inhabited by the Kanaks, came under French control in 1853.
✅Post-WWII, Kanaks gained French citizenship, but 1960s French migration made them a minority, sparking an independence movement.

✅Tensions led to the Matignon Agreements (1988) and Nouméa Accord (1998), promising three independence referendums.
✅The 2018 and 2020 referendums favoured France. ✅Despite COVID-19 concerns, the 2021 referendum also favoured France, angering the Kanaks.

#mapping

🔆 Important Gulfs/Bays

📍 Bay of Biscay
✅ Surrounding Countries: France, Spain
✅ Adjacent Water Body: Atlantic Ocean

📍 Gulf of Bothnia
✅ Surrounding Countries: Sweden, Finland
✅ Adjacent Water Body: Baltic Sea

📍 Gulf of Finland
✅ Surrounding Countries: Finland, Estonia, Russia
✅ Adjacent Water Body: Baltic Sea

📍 Gulf of Lion
✅ Surrounding Country: France
✅ Adjacent Water Body: Mediterranean Sea

✅ Rangipo Desert
• Located in New Zealand
• A high-altitude volcanic desert near Mount Ruapehu
• Known for its volcanic ash and sparse vegetation

✅ Coral Sea
• Contains the Great Barrier Reef
• 🌍 Countries (Mnemonic: VASP)
  ✅ Vanuatu
  ✅ Australia
  ✅ Solomon Islands
  ✅ Papua New Guinea

✅ Canterbury Plains
• Fertile temperate grasslands
• Known for animal husbandry

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🔆 Ninetyeast Ridge

✅ A linear submarine volcanic ridge running north to south near 90° East longitude.
✅ Formed by hotspot volcanic activity beneath the Indian Ocean.
✅ Linked to the Kerguelen hotspot, which is a moving hotspot, influencing the ridge’s formation and path.
✅ Reference: Nature Article on Kerguelen Hotspot Movement

🔆 Georges and Grand Banks

✅ Georges Bank: Located off the coast of New England, USA.
✅ Grand Banks: Situated off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
✅ Among the world’s richest fishing grounds due to the mixing of warm Gulf Stream and cold Labrador Current waters.
✅ Experienced collapse of fisheries in the 1990s, especially cod, due to overfishing.

#geography #fisheries

In snow free areas, the ground reflects 2.2% more sunlight, causing colling effect.

🔆 Key Takeaways: Subtle Vegetation Shifts Made Earth Brighter and Cooler

✅ Satellite data (2001-20) shows snow-free areas reflect 2.2% more sunlight, causing a cooling effect.
✅ Increased brightness mainly due to drying grasses and shrubs replacing darker plants.
✅ These subtle shifts caused 3.9-8.1 times more cooling than land-use changes.
✅ Shrublands and short natural vegetation are the biggest contributors.
✅ Shrinking snow cover accounts for only 14% of the cooling effect.

#ClimateScience #EarthObservation #VegetationChanges
#geography