Europe

Europe lies mainly ont he northern and eastern hemisphere, but a little part of it lies ont he western one as well. Europe ont he east tightly belongs to Asia that is why it is sometimes called the peninsula of Asia. Their common name is Eurasia.

Europe expands from the Arctic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural mountain and River Ural. It is separated from Africa by the Gibraltar strait. Ont he south it is bordered by the Marble Sea, the Black Sea, the Caucasus, and the Caspian Sea.

Its coast is the most indented related to the other continents.

-          Big peninsulas: Scandinavian p., Iberian p., Appennine p., Balkan p.

-          Seas: Baltic Sea (with the Botten and Finnish bays), Northern Sea, Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea

-          Islands à Iceland, British Isles (Atlantic Ocean)

                  à Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, Cyprus (Med. Sea)

At the coasts of the Scandinavian peninsula and on the northwestern side of the British Isles there are several fjords. They were originally formed by rivers but later in the Ice Age they were deepened by glaciers. They are good ports because water is silent and calm in the fjords.

At the coasts of the Baltic Sea the water deposits its alluvium that is why turzások arise in front of the coast. The turzások sometimes enclose bays, these are called lagoons. The sand that is brought to the coast by the sea is accumulated by the wind à it is called dune.

At the coast of the Bretagne peninsula the tall coast is constantly destroyed by the waves and tides. This is called dying tall coast pusztuló magaspart (à ez animal gardenes fordítás:S).

Europe is divided into:

      -    Northern Europe

-          Southern Europe

-          Eastern E.

-          Central E.

According to the similar historical development of certain countries Central Europe is divided into East-Central-Europe and West-Central-Europe. The countries of Southeastern Europe mainly belong to the second one.

Geographical history of Europe: - its ancient core wandered to its present location from the

                                                           southern hemisphere

1.)    oldest area: Baltic Shield

 

                    - formed in the Proterozoic Era

                    - it has been strongly destroyed

    

                   - Its minerals(copper ore, nickel ore, iron ore) can be mined easily

                         - today it is covered by young sediments

                         - its rocks appear ont he surface at the Finnish lake district

2.) Paleozoic Era: Because of the tectonic movements oceans ceased to exist and mountains

                              formed

                Caledonian and Variscian mountain systems formed.

rich in black coal                                                        basis of today’s block mountains

Mountains formed int he Paleozoic, destroyed block mountains:

-          Scandinavian mts.

-          Mountains of the British Isles

-          French, Polish, German block mountains

-          Peripherical mountains (peremhg.-ek) of the Czech basin

-          Ural (it is a continent divider)

3.)    Mesozoic Era:

-          fragmentation of Pangea started and it was separated into Laurasia and Gondwana

-          basin of the Atlantic Ocean formed

-          the folding of the Eurasian mt. System started

-          repeated sea floods à thick sediment layer formed

                                                         covered the ancient shields

                                                         filled in the basins

                                                         steps came into being

-          plains formed by the deposition of rivers

-          rocks: limestone, sandstone, dolomite

-          came into being: mineral oil, natural gas, bauxite, rock salt

4.)/a.) Tertiary period of the Cenozoic Era:

      -    folding of the Eurasian mt. system

                  Pyrenees, Alps, Appennines, Carpathians, Dinarian mts., Balkan mts., Caucasus

-          brown coal, mineral oil, natural gas formed

b.) Quaternary period of the Cenozoic Era:

ICE AGE  à  ice cover reached the northern latitude 50

                 destroyed the surface

                 formed the basins of several lakes

 

                plateaux of the Scandinavian mt.

                Eastern-European plain

                Finnish lake district

                             +

      Accumulated moraine lands (morénavidékek)  à northern part of the E.-European plain

                                                                                 à German plain

                                                                                 à Polish plain

-          due to the cool climate the high mountains close to the ice cover became icy

-          strong, dry windsmade huge standstorms, and the subsided (leülepedett) sand later turned into loes covers. E.g.: southern part of the Eastern-European plain

-          after the Ice Age: - the continent started to raise because it got rid of the weight of the

                                           ice cover à it modified the coast

                                         - today’s plains and the water system formed

       

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