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Extreme Points of Earth
This is a list of extreme points of Earth, the geographical locations that are farther north or south than, higher or lower in elevation than, or farthest inland or out to sea from, any other locations on the landmasses, continents or countries. For other lists of extreme points on Earth, including places that hold temperature and weather records, see Extremes on Earth, Lists of extreme points, and List of weather records.
  • 5.6K
  • 30 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Southern European People
Southern European people are a pan-ethnic group, or multi-ethnic regional grouping, and the inhabitants of Southern Europe. South or Southern Europeans can usually trace back full or partial heritage to Greece, Italy, Spain , Portugal, as well as nations bordering with, or ethnoculturally related to, the region. As the pan-ethnic group is also culturally defined, rather than exclusively a geographical category, it often includes peoples inhabiting areas that are, at times, considered outside of the region. This can include people with heritage from Southern France, the Mediterranean islands of Corsica (also part of France ), Malta and Cyprus (geographically part of West Asia), Southeastern Europe's Albania and European Turkey. There are also descriptions of Southern Europeans which include ancestry from other nations in Southeast Europe, and countries of the South Slavs, particularly in diasporic identification. As Slavs, they are also often identified as Eastern Europeans. There is a large Southern European diaspora, with significant concentrations in the United Kingdom, North America (Southern European Americans and Canadians), and Southern European Australians in Oceania. Other subgroups of Europeans include Eastern European people and Northwestern European people.
  • 5.5K
  • 29 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Geography of Middle-Earth
The geography of Middle-earth encompasses the physical, political, and moral geography of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, strictly a continent on the planet of Arda but widely taken to mean the physical world, and Eä, all of creation, as well as all of his writings about it. Arda was created as a flat world, incorporating a Western continent, Aman, which became the home of the godlike Valar, as well as Middle-earth. At the end of the First Age, the Western part of Middle-earth, Beleriand, was drowned in the War of Wrath. In the Second Age, a large island, Númenor, was created in the Great Sea, Belegaer, between Aman and Middle-earth; it was destroyed in a cataclysm at the end of the Second Age, in which Arda was remade as a spherical world, and Aman was removed so that Men could not reach it. In The Lord of the Rings, Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age is described as having free peoples, namely Men, Hobbits, Elves, and Dwarves in the West, opposed to peoples under the control of the Dark Lord Sauron in the East. Some commentators have seen this as implying a moral geography of Middle-earth.
  • 5.2K
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Indian Remote Sensing Programme
India's remote sensing program was developed with the idea of applying space technologies for the benefit of human kind and the development of the country. The program involved the development of three principal capabilities. The first was to design, build and launch satellites to a sun synchronous orbit. The second was to establish and operate ground stations for spacecraft control, data transfer along with data processing and archival. The third was to use the data obtained for various applications on the ground.
  • 5.1K
  • 17 Nov 2022
Topic Review
History of Geography
This article explores the history of geography.
  • 5.1K
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Upper Mantle (Earth)
The upper mantle of the Earth begins just beneath the crust about 35 km (22 mi) and ends at the top of the lower mantle at 670 km (420 mi). Temperatures range from approximately 200 °C (392 °F) at the upper boundary with the crust to approximately 900 °C (1,650 °F) at the boundary with the lower mantle. Upper mantle material which has come up onto the surface is made up of about 55% olivine, 35% pyroxene and 5 to 10% of calcium oxide and aluminum oxide minerals such as plagioclase, spinel or garnet, depending upon depth.
  • 5.0K
  • 29 Sep 2022
Topic Review
2020–2021 Taal Volcano Eruptions
Taal Volcano in Batangas, Philippines began to erupt on January 12, 2020, when a phreatomagmatic eruption from its main crater spewed ashes over Calabarzon, Metro Manila, and some parts of Central Luzon and Ilocos Region, resulting in the suspension of school classes, work schedules, and flights in the area. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) subsequently issued an Alert Level 4, indicating "that a hazardous explosive eruption is possible within hours to days." Volcanic activity continued into 2021, when smaller eruptions occurred in July 2021.
  • 4.9K
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Koh-i-Sultan
Koh-i-Sultan is a volcano in Balochistan, Pakistan. It is part of the tectonic belt formed by the collision of India and Asia: specifically, a segment influenced by the subduction of the Arabian plate beneath the Asian plate and forming a volcanic arc which includes the Bazman and Taftan volcanoes in Iran. The volcano consists of three main cones, with heavily eroded craters running west-northwest and surrounded by a number of subsidiary volcanic centres. Its summit is 2,334 metres (7,657 ft) high, and the crater associated with the Miri cone has a smaller crater inside. The volcano is formed by andesite and dacite rocks, with fragmentary rocks prevailing over lava flows. The rocks have typical arc-volcano chemistry and composition, with a progression from andesite to dacite in the eruption products with younger age. Potassium-argon dating has indicated an age range from 5,900,000 to 90,000 years. Subsequent erosion has generated a large debris apron around the base of the volcano and carved rock formations which impressed early explorers; one well-known rock formation is Neza e Sultan. Geothermal activity and the emission of volcanic gases are ongoing, and the volcano has been prospected for the possibility of obtaining geothermal energy. The geothermal activity has resulted in widespread rock alteration and the formation of sulfur deposits, which were mentioned in a 1909 report and later mined. Koh-i-Sultan also has deposits of other minerals.
  • 4.7K
  • 04 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Iranian Plateau
The Iranian Plateau or the Persian Plateau is a geological feature in Central Asia, South Asia, and Western Asia. It is the part of the Eurasian Plate wedged between the Arabian and Indian plates, situated between the Zagros Mountains to the west, the Caspian Sea and the Kopet Dag to the north, the Armenian Highlands and the Caucasus Mountains in the northwest, the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf to the south and the Indo-Gangetic Plain to the east in Indian subcontinent. As a historical region, it includes Parthia, Media, Persis, the heartlands of Iran and some of the previous territories of Greater Iran. The Zagros Mountains form the plateau's western boundary, and its eastern slopes may be included in the term. The Encyclopædia Britannica excludes "lowland Khuzestan" explicitly and characterizes Elam as spanning "the region from the Mesopotamian Plain to the Iranian Plateau". From the Caspian in the northwest to Balochistan in the south-east, the Iranian Plateau extends for close to 2,000 km. It encompasses the greater part of Iran, all of Afghanistan, and Pakistan west of the Indus River containing some 3,700,000 square kilometres (1,400,000 sq mi). In spite of being called a "plateau", it is far from flat but contains several mountain ranges, the highest peak being Damavand in the Alborz at 5610 m, and the Dasht-e Lut east of Kerman in Central Iran falling below 300 m.
  • 4.7K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Mosasaurus
Mosasaurus (/ˌmoʊzəˈsɔːrəs/; "lizard of the Meuse River") is the type genus (defining example) of the mosasaurs, an extinct group of aquatic squamate reptiles. It lived from about 82 to 66 million years ago during the Campanian and Maastrichtian stages of the Late Cretaceous. The earliest fossils of Mosasaurus known to science were found as skulls in a chalk quarry near the Dutch city of Maastricht in the late 18th century, which were initially thought to have been the bones of crocodiles or whales. One skull discovered around 1780, and which was seized by France during the French Revolutionary Wars for its scientific value, was famously nicknamed the "great animal of Maastricht". In 1808, naturalist Georges Cuvier concluded that it belonged to a giant marine lizard with similarities to monitor lizards but otherwise unlike any known living animal. This concept was revolutionary at the time and helped support the then-developing ideas of extinction. Cuvier did not designate a scientific name for the new animal, and this was done by William Daniel Conybeare in 1822 when he named it Mosasaurus in reference to its origin in fossil deposits near the Meuse River. The exact affinities of Mosasaurus as a squamate remain controversial, and scientists continue to debate whether its closest living relatives are monitor lizards or snakes. Traditional interpretations have estimated the maximum length of the largest species, M. hoffmannii, to be up to 17.1 meters (56 ft), making it one of the largest mosasaurs, although some scientists consider this an overestimation with recent estimates suggesting a length closer to 13 meters (43 ft). The skull of Mosasaurus was equipped with robust jaws capable of swinging back and forth and strong muscles capable of powerful bites using dozens of large teeth adapted for cutting prey. Its four limbs were shaped into robust paddles to steer the animal underwater. Its tail was long and ended in a downward bend and a paddle-like fluke. Mosasaurus was a predator possessing excellent vision to compensate for its poor sense of smell, and a high metabolic rate suggesting it was endothermic ("warm-blooded"), an adaptation only found in mosasaurs among squamates. There is considerable morphological variability across the currently-recognized species in Mosasaurus—from the robustly-built M. hoffmannii to the slender and serpentine M. lemonnieri—but an unclear diagnosis (description of distinguishing features) of the type species M. hoffmannii led to a historically problematic classification. As a result, more than fifty different species have been attributed to the genus in the past. A redescription of the type specimen in 2017 helped resolve the taxonomy issue and confirmed at least five species to be within the genus. Another five species still nominally classified within Mosasaurus are planned to be reassessed in a future study. Fossil evidence suggests Mosasaurus inhabited much of the Atlantic Ocean and the seaways adjacent to it. Mosasaurus fossils have been found in places as diverse as North and South America, Europe, Africa, Western Asia, and Antarctica. This distribution encompassed a wide range of oceanic climates including tropical, subtropical, temperate, and subpolar climates. Mosasaurus was a common large predator in these oceans and was positioned at the top of the food chain. Paleontologists believe its diet would have included virtually any animal; it likely preyed on bony fish, sharks, cephalopods, birds, and other marine reptiles including sea turtles and other mosasaurs. It likely preferred to hunt in open water near the surface. From an ecological standpoint, Mosasaurus probably had a profound impact on the structuring of marine ecosystems; its arrival in some locations such as the Western Interior Seaway in North America coincides with a complete turnover of faunal assemblages and diversity. Mosasaurus faced competition with other large predatory mosasaurs such as Prognathodon and Tylosaurus—which were known to feed on similar prey—though they were able to coexist in the same ecosystems through niche partitioning. There were still conflicts among them, as an instance of Tylosaurus attacking a Mosasaurus has been documented. Several fossils document deliberate attacks on Mosasaurus individuals by members of the same species. Infighting likely took place in the form of snout grappling, similarly seen in modern crocodiles today.
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  • 01 Dec 2022
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