60

The continents6U N I T

What do you remember?

• Which is the largest continent in the world? And the smallest?

• Do you know anything about their relief and climates?

• Can you name at least three countries on each continent (except Antarctica)?

• What different kinds of physical features are there around the world?

E U R O P E

A S I A

A F R I C A

O C E A N I A

A M E R I C A

A N T A R C T I C A

Content objectives

In this unit, you will:

• Learn about the physical features of the continents

• Analyse the relationship between relief and climate

• Learn some techniques to memorizeinformation

• Draw a physical map

• Compare maps and draw conclusions

Key language

Reporting facts; length and area:The highest mountain in the world (8,848 m)…

An area of over 30 million square metres (m2)…

With an area of 44 million km2…

Making comparisons:The River Nile is the longest river.

The deepest depression in Asia…

Making impersonal statements:Large plateaus are found throughout Africa.

Oceania is located to the south-east of Asia.

61

1. Where are these physical features found?

Activities

1. What continents are these physical features in?

Mount Fuji the Mississippi River Ayers Rockglaciers the Great Rift Valley the Andes

2. Investigate.

Find out more about Antarctica: its area, its relief,its climate and its plant and animal life. You can usewebsites such as www.nationalgeographic.com

A. The Andes mountain range in South America is 7,200 km long and 240 km wide. There are many high volcanoes (over 5,000 m).

D. Japan is an Asian country in the Pacific Ocean. It is formedby over three thousand islands. The highest mountain,Mount Fuji, is a volcano.

B. The Mississippi River in North America is 1.6 km wide atits widest point. It has 250 tributaries. A total of 25,900 km in the Mississippi River basin are navigable.

E. The Great Rift Valley is a fracture which started to be formedabout 50 million years ago. It is approximately 6,000 km longand runs from Southwest Asia to Mozambique in East Africa.

C. Ayers Rock, also known as Uluru, is a large sandstonerock in central Australia. It is 340 m high. It is sacred to the Aboriginal people of the region.

F. Antarctica is the continent with the highest averagealtitude: 2,000 m. However, ice covers 98 % of the continentand hides its relief. There are many glaciers.

9

62

2. What are Africa’s relief and climate like?

0º20º 20º 40º

20º

20º

40º20º 60º

20º

M e d i t e r r a n e a nSeaStrait of Gibraltar

Cape Espartel

Jbel Toubkal4,165

AT L A S

M O U N T A I N S

SA

H A R A D E S E R T

Tropic of Cancer

CAPE VERDEISLANDS

RiverSeneg

al

Cape Bon

Gulf ofGabes

Gulf ofSidra

L I B Y A N

D E S E R T

T I B E S T IA H A G G A R

Tahat3,003

MO U N T A I N S M O U N T A I N SEmi Koussi

3,415

River

Nig

er

NigerBasin

ChadBasin

LakeChad P la teau

Dar fu r

Riv

erV

olta

CapeVerde

LakeVolta

Gulf ofGuineaCape Palmas

ATLANTIC

OCEAN BiokoIsland

São ToméIsland

CapeLopez

M O U N T A I N S

Cameroon4,070

C A M E R O O N

River

Chari

Riv

er Ubangi

Riv

erCon

go

River CongoCongoBasin

NileDelta

SuezCanal

NILE

RIV

ER

Re

dS

ea

A S I A

Ras Dashan4.620

Gulf of AdenSocotraIsland

N U B I A N

D E S E R T

E T H I O P I A N CapeGuardafui

SOMALIAPENINSULA

INDIAN

OCEAN

H I G H L A N D S

Blu

eN

ile

River

Whit

eNile

Riv

er

LakeTurkana

Equator 0º

SEYCHELLESISLANDS

Mount Kenya5,199

AlbertLake

GREA

TRIF

TVA

LLEY

Rwenzori 5,119

Mo

un

tain

s

Karisimbi4,507

Kilimanjaro5,895

Pemba IslandZanzibar Island

LakeVictoria

LakeTanganyica

Riv

er

Kasai COMORO

ISLANDSCape Amber

GREA

TR

IFTV

ALLEY

Lake Malawi(Nyasa)SOUTH AFRICAN

River ZambeziVictoriaFalls

River

Okavango

Moz

ambi

que

Cha

nnel Maromokotro

2,876

Madagascar

Tropic of Capricorn

CapeSainte Marie

Ri

ver

Limpopo

DRAKENSBER

GM

OU

NT

AIN

S

ThabanaNtlenyana

3,482

PLATEAU

KALAHARI

DESERT

NA

MI B

DE

SE

RT

Ponta daMarca

Orange RiverGreatKaroo

Cape ofGood Hope

Mauritius

Mit

um

ba

Kilometres

0 557 1,114SCALE

0

200

500

1,000

2,000

metresALTITUDE

Depression

7,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

0

6,000

Nile

Longest rivers(in km)

5,000Congo Niger

Zambezi

OrangeOkavango

JbelToubkal

4,000

6,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

0

5,000

Kilimanjaro

Mount Kenya

Rwenzori

Ras Dashan

Mount Karisimbi

Highest mountains(in m)

The landscape of Africa

Africa is the third largest continent. It has an area of over 30 million square metres (m2).

• What two bodies of water separate Africa from Europe and Asia?

• Which ocean is on Africa’s west coast?

• Which ocean is on its east coast?

• Which is the longest river in Africa? How long is it?

• What is the name of the highest mountain in Africa? How high is it? Where is it?

Physical map of Africa

Longest rivers and highest mountains

63

Tropic of Cancer

Tropic of Capricorn

Equator

Prim

e M

erid

ian

Equatorial

HOT CLIMATES

Humid tropical

Dry tropical

Desert

OceanicMediterranean

and similar

Mountain

TEMPERATE CLIMATES

COLD CLIMATES

Rivers and lakes

Many African rivers are long with large flows.Some rivers, such as the Congo and the Zaire, arenavigable for long distances. The River Congo hasthe largest flow in Africa and the second largest inthe world. The River Nile is the longest river in the world.

Africa has some very large lakes. The largest is Lake Victoria. The region of African Great Lakes (Victoria, Tanganyika,Turkana) is in the Great Rift Valley.

Relief

Large plateaus are found throughout Africa. Africa’s average altitude is high (750 m).

• Several deserts, such as the Sahara andKalahari, are found on these plateaus.

• Several mountain ranges are also found on theplateaus. The east of the continent is thehighest part. The volcano Mount Kilimanjaro,the highest mountain in Africa, is located herenear the Great Rift Valley.

• Some depressions, such as the Congo andNiger basins, are found between the centralplateaus.

There are not many islands off the coast of Africa. The largest is Madagascar.

Activities

1. Study the map opposite and the text above. Answer these questions.

a. What is Africa’s relief like?b. Which is the highest part of the continent?c. Which is the largest island?

Where is it?

2. Study the climate map and answer thesequestions.

a. What type of climate – hot, temperate or cold –predominates in Africa?

b. What type of climate is found near the Tropic of Cancer? What is the landscape like in this part of Africa?

c. What climates are found near the Tropic ofCapricorn? What is the landscape like here?

3. Draw a line across Africa from north to south.

a. Describe the changes to the climate next to the line.

b. Look at the map on page 62 again. Describe the physical features next to the same line.

Did you know?

The Sahara is the biggest desert in the world. It covers 9,000,000 km2. Eight thousand yearsago it was a fertile area. However, it is nowvery dry, and temperatures reach 54 °C. In afew areas, fruits, dates and corn are grown.

Africanclimates

64

3. What are Asia’s relief and climate like?Asia is the largest continent, with an area of 44 million km2. Its averagealtitude is 950 m. Only the average altitude of Antarctica is greater.

Bering Strait

KolymaMountains

A R C T I C O C E A N

S I B E R I A

E U R O P E River

Irtysh

River

Ob

UR

AL

MO

UN

TA

I NS

Narodnaya1,895

Yenisey

River

KaraSea

VerkhoyanskM

ountains

StanovoyMountains

Sik

ho

te-A

lin

Amur River

Lena River

BeringSea

Seaof Okhotsk

Seaof

Japan

KAMCHATKAPENINSULA

Philippine

Sea

SouthChina Sea

PACIFIC

OCEAN

Black Sea

Red

Sea

MediterraneanSea

Euphrates

RiverTig

risR

iver

ARABIANPENINSULA

ANATOLIANPENINSULA

Za

gro

sM

ou

nta

ins

Hindu KushZard Kuh4,547

CAU

CASU

S

Iranian Plateau

Pamir

Mountains

ARABIAN

DESERT

Gulf of Oman

PersianGulf

A r a b i a n

S e a

Casp

ian

Sea

AralSea

River GangesIndus

River

Syr

Dary

a

River

Am

uDarya

RiverW

este

rnG

ha

ts

HI M A L A Y A S

Nanda Devi7,816

K28,611

Tien Shan Mountains

I N D I A N O C E A N

Everest8,848

Jengish Chokusu7,439

Kunlun

Mountains

AltayMountains GOBI DESERT

Tropic of C

ancer

Equator

Kor

eaS

trai

t

Luzon Strait

Strait of Malacca

Yang

tze

River

Xi Jiang River

MekongRiver

B

rahmaputra River

Riv

er

Huang

He

KOREANPENINSULA

MALAYPENINSULA

INDOCHINESEPENINSULA

INDIANPENINSULA

LakeBaikal

LakeBalkhash

East China Sea

YellowSea

PLATEAU

ChinesePlain

TIBETAN

DeccanPlateau

Gulfof

Thailand

Bayof

Bengal

Equator

DeadSea Ismoil Somoni

7,495

Kanchenjunga8,598

Mount Fuji3,776

CASPIANDEPRESSION

MindanaoIsland

Java Island

Sumatra Island

BorneoIsland

SulawesiIsland

Timor Island

MOLUCCA ISLANDSSri LankaIsland

MALDIVEISLANDS

Sakhalin Island

KU

RIL

ISLA

ND

S

Hokkaido Island

Honshu Island

Shikoku Island

Kyushu Island

Taiwan Island

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

LuzonIsland

CapeLopatka

HainanIsland

Cape Comorin

JAPANESEARCHIPELAGO

I N D O N E S I A

Mo

un

tain

s

Mountains

140º 160º 80º80º 100º 120º60º40º20º 180º0º80º60

º

180º

160º

40º

140º

20º

0º

100º 120º80º40º 60º

0º

20º

40º

20º

0 665

Kilometres

SCALE

1,330

0

1,000

2,000

4,000

6,000

metresALTITUDE

Depression

Physical map of Asia

Activities

1. Study the map and complete this paragraph.

Nearly all of Asia is in the hemisphere.There are three oceans on the coast of Asia: the Ocean to the north, the Ocean to the east and the Ocean to the south. Asia is separated from Europe by the

Mountains, the Sea and

the Mountains, the Black Sea and theMediterranean Sea. Some people believe thatEurope is not a continent but a peninsula of Asia.

2. Study the physical map of Asia.

List three physical features of Asia under each heading.

Islands Peninsulas Gulfs Seas Plateaus

Relief

The highest mountains and plateaus, together with the deepest depression, are all in Asia.

• Mountains. The Himalayas are the highest mountain rangein the world. Mount Everest is the highest mountain in theworld (8,848 m). The islands in the south and east of Asia are formed by the peaks of submerged mountain ranges.

• Plateaus and plains. There are plateaus throughout Asia.Tibet, in the centre of Asia, is the highest plateau in theworld. Siberia, in the north, is a very large area of plains and high plateaus.

• Depressions. Three inland seas are found in the maindepressions: the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea and the Dead Sea.

There are many islands off the coasts of Asia, especially in EastAsia, where the archipelagos of Japan, Philippines andIndonesia are located.

Rivers and lakes

Asian rivers are generally long. Their flows increase whensnow melts or when it rains during the summer monsoons.Some of the rivers on the Arctic side of the continent freeze in winter.

Asia has some important lakes. Lake Baikal is the deepest lakein the world (1,637 m). The Caspian Sea is the largest lake.

65

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

5,000

9,000

8,000

7,000

6,000

0

EverestK2

Kangchenjunga

Ismoil Somoni

Highest mountains

Nanda Devi

Jengish Chokusu

(in m)

6,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

0

5,000

Yangtze

Longest rivers

(in km)

Ob-Irtysh

Huang HeMekong Amur Lena

Highest mountains in Asia

Longest rivers in Asia

Tropic of Cancer

Arctic Circle

0º Equator

Equatorial

HOT CLIMATES

Humid tropical

Dry tropical

Desert

Continental

Mediterraneanand similar

TEMPERATE CLIMATES

Polar

COLD CLIMATES

Mountain

Activities

1. Study the climate map and answer these questions.

a. Which parts of Asia have cold climates? b. What landscapes do you associate with this type

of climate?c. Where is the equatorial climate mainly located?d. Which climate is similar to that of East China?

2. Investigate.

How did the Dead Sea get its name? Why is it salty?

Asian climates

66

4. What are Oceania’s relief and climate like?

Oceania

Oceania is located to the south-east of Asia, and is almost entirely in the southernhemisphere. With a size of around 9 million km2, it is the smallest continent.

150°140°130°120°

20°

0°

10°

30°

10°

20°

120° 130° 140° 150° 160° 170° 160°180° 170° 150° 140° 130°

20°

10°

180° 170°170°160° 160° 150°

120°

140° 130° 120°

10°

20°

0°

30°

40°

Equator

TimorSea

INDIAN

OCEAN

GREAT SANDY

DESERT

A U S T R A L I A

GREAT VICTORIA

DESERT

GREA

TDIVID

ING

RA

NG

EGreat

Australian Bight TasmanSea

INDIAN OCEAN

A U S T R A L A S I A

CoralSeaG

reat Barrier Reef

Riv

erDa

rling

River Murray

Solomon Sea

M I C R O N E S I A

ME

LA

NE

SI

A

BismarckSea

FijiSea

Tropic of Capricorn

P A C I F I C O C E A N

P O L Y N E S I A

Southe

rnAl

ps

Cook3,764

Wilhelm4,509

Puncak Jaya5,030

Tropic of Cancer

Challenger Deep11,034 m

VANUATU

SOLOMONISLANDS

PALAU

TUVALU

NAURU

FEDERATED STATESOF MICRONESIA

SAMOA

MARSHALL ISLANDS

K I R I B A T I

PAPUANEW

GUINEA

FIJI TONGA

NEWZEALAND

North Island

South IslandTasmaniaIsland

Hawaiian Islands(USA)

Island of Guam

TUAMOTU

0

200

500

1,000

2,000

metresALTITUDE

0 678

Kilometres

SCALE

1,356

Physical map of Oceania

Activity

1. Study the map and find the following:

a. The oceans surrounding Oceaniab. The four largest islandsc. The names of three large groups of

islandsNow read the text on the next page andcheck your answers.

Part of Oceania seen from space

67

The landscape

Oceania is formed by thousands of islands and is inthe Indian and Pacific Oceans.

• There are four large islands: Australia, New Guinea(which is divided between Asia and Oceania) andNew Zealand (formed by North Island and SouthIsland).

• Australia occupies 86% of Oceania and is the largest island on Earth. Many peopleconsider it to be an island-continent.

• There are thousands of small islands in the PacificOcean. Most of them originate from coral orvolcanoes. These islands are grouped into threelarge areas: Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia.

The average altitude of Oceania is low: 340 m.However, there are great differences between islands.

Climate

Most of Oceania is between the Tropics, so it haswarm climates. Climates are temperate in the northand south of the continent.

• New Guinea has an equatorial climate.• Hawaii has a tropical climate.• Inland Australia has a desert climate.

Cyclones and typhoons are common in the tropicalregion.

The islands are isolated. Consequently, they havemany plants which do not grow anywhere else.

The Tuamotu archipelago, in Polynesia

An Australian beach

Activities

1. Study the map on page 66 and complete the texts.

a. In , plains and low plateauspredominate, although there is a long mountainrange called the . It is the only island with two major rivers,the Murray and the .

b. New and New aremountainous. Their rivers are short, and some of them receive water from glaciers.

c. Some islands in the Ocean aremountainous and have active volcanoes (Samoa, Hawaii).

2. Interpret the documents.

Study the map and write the names of islands in each group.

3. Classify the information.

Melanesia

Micronesia

Polynesia

Islands in Oceania

Large islands Small islands

68

5. What are America’s relief and climate like?America is in thewestern hemisphere. It is the second largestcontinent (42 millionkm2). It is the longestcontinent: it stretchesfrom the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Circle.Three oceans surroundit: the Atlantic, thePacific and the Arctic.

0

200

500

1,000

1,500

metresALTITUDE

0 1,532

Kilometres

SCALE

3,064Strait of

Magellan Cape Horn

Cape SãoRoque

CapeSão TomeIguazu

Falls

São

Franci

sco

River

Para

na R

iver

6,959Aconcagua

Huascaran6,768

Chimborazo6,310

6,520Sajama

6,880Ojos delSalado

6,682NevadoIllimani

Uru

guay

Rive

r

Riv

er

PA

TA

GO

NIA

AT

AC

AM

AD

ES

ER

T

Gulfof Arica

FALKLANDISLANDS

TIERRA DEL FUEGO

Para

guay

River Plate

A

NDES

MO

UN

TA

IN

S

PAMPAS

LakeTiticaca Bolivian

Alt iplano

MATO GROSSOPLATEAU

Amazon Plains

Amazon River

Equator

Cape Orange

M

arañon River

Mariñas Point

Tropic of Capricorn

PACIF IC

OCEAN

Pico de Orizaba5.700

Popocatepetl5,452 Sierra Madre del Sur

COLUMBUS ARCHIPELAGO(Galapagos Islands)Equator

YUCATANPENINSULA

Cuba

PanamaCanal

GuianaHighlands

PuertoRico

Jamaica

Caribbean Sea

Trinidad and Tobago IslandsGrenada Island

Antigua and Barbuda IslandsLESSER ANTILLES

Gulfof Mexico BAHAMAS

ISLANDS

FLORIDAPENINSULA

Mag

dale

na

Riv

er

Ori

noco

RiverLakeMaracaibo

Tropic of Cancer

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

Hispaniola

RioGrand

e

Sie

rraM

ad

re

Californ

iaG

ulf

of

Cape Hatteras

Niagara falls

Appal

achi

an

Mou

ntain

s

Ohio

Saint Lawre

nce

Rive

r

River

LakeMichigan

GREATLAKES

LakeSuperior Lake

Huron

LakeWinnipeg

Newfoundland

Cape Farewell

LABRADORPENINSULA

LabradorSea

DavisStrait

Mis

siss

ippiR

iver

Misso

uri R

iver

CapeSan Lucas

CapeMendocino

VancouverIsland

Whitney4,418

Colo

rado River

COLORADODESERT

HudsonBay

BaffinBay

BaffinIsland

Greenland

Great BearLake

Great SlaveLake

BeaufortSea

ARCTICOCEAN

Mack

enzi e

Riv

er

G r e a t

P l a i n s

Arct

icCi

rcle

RO

CK

YM

OU

NT

AI

NS

AlaskaPeninsula

BeringSea

Bering Strait

6,194McKinley

Gulf ofAlaska

Yukon

Ri v e rR a n g eA l a s k a

Tro pic of Cancer

MartiniqueDominica

Guadaloupe

GREATERANTILLES

160º

140º

120º

20º

60º

140º

160º

40º

20º

0º

0º

0º

20º

20º

40º

40º80º 60º100º

20º

40º

60º

0º

40º

40º

60º100º 80º

20º

Activity

1. Write the mountainranges, plains andplateaus of theAmerican continent.

Mountain ranges

Plains

Plateaus

7,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

0

5,000

Aconcagua

Ojos del Salado

Huascaran

Nevadodel Illimani

McKinley

Chimborazo

Highest mountains

6,000

(metres)

7,000

3.000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

0

5,000

Amazon

Longest rivers(km)

Mississippi-Missouri

Parana

Yukon

SãoFrancisco

6,000

Mackenzie

Physical mapof America

69

Relief

America has a high average altitude. The main physicalfeatures are mountain ranges, plains and plateaus.

• Mountain ranges. The youngest, highest mountainsrun down the Pacific coast. The Rocky Mountainsare the highest mountain range in North America.The Andes are the highest in South America. Older, lower mountains, such as the Appalachians,are found in the East.

• Plains. The Great Plains of North America are closeto the mountain ranges and rivers, such as theMississippi. The Amazon River runs through thelargest plain in South America.

• Plateaus. The highest plateau is the Altiplano of Bolivia.

The Antilles archipelago is found in the Caribbean Sea in Central America.

Rivers and lakes

America has some very long rivers with large flows.Both the Mississippi in North America and the Amazonin South America are very long. The Amazon is theriver with the largest flow in the world.

There are many lakes, especially in North America.The Great Lakes are a group of big lakes betweenCanada and the United States. Lake Titicaca in SouthAmerica is the highest lake in the world.

Climate and vegetation

America stretches from pole to pole, so it has all the different climates and landscapes. Cold andtemperate climates predominate in North America.Tropical climates predominate in Central America. Hot and temperate climates predominate in SouthAmerica. However, in all three regions, mountainousareas have cold climates.

Equator 0º

Tropic of Capricorn

Tropic of Cancer

Arctic

Circ

le

A T L A N T I C

O C E A N

P A C I F I C

O C E A N

Mediterraneanand similar

Equatorial

HOT CLIMATES

Humid tropical

Dry tropical

Desert

Oceanic

Continental

TEMPERATE CLIMATES

Mountain

Polar

COLD CLIMATES

American climates

Bison on the plains of North America

Activity

1. Study the map and answer the questions.

a. Are there any islands in the Pacific Ocean?b. Where in America are there cold climates?c. What parts of America have temperate climates?

d. Are there deserts in America? Where?e. What is the climate like in most of Canada?f. Are there any areas in America with

a Mediterranean type of climate?

70

Activities1. Memorizing information

Here are some tricks to help you memorizeinformation. Use the ones that work best for you. If you have other tricks, share them with yourteacher and your classmates.• Look carefully at maps to create an image of the

continents in your mind.• Memorize the boundaries of territories by making

a diagram like this one.

• Associate names with something you alreadyknow. For example, learn the capitals of Europeby thinking of football teams, such as Arsenal and Chelsea in London.

1• Use initials to make words. For example,

the Great Lakes are HOMES (Huron, Ontario,Michigan, Erie, Superior).

• Study names systematically. For example, learn the names of mountains with mountainranges, such as Mount Everest in the Himalayas.

• Remember names in a particular order, such as mountains by height, rivers by length and lakes from north to south.

• Invent a trip through all the places you have tolearn. For example, I’m going on a trip to Asia.First, I’m going to…

• If you find something very difficult to remember, write it on a piece of paper. Keep it in your room, and look at it every day.

But don’t forget: the best way to remembersomething is to understand it properly!

N

W E

S

←⎯⎯⎯→

←⎯

→

Now try this!

a. What continent are we referring to?• It looks like two triangles joined by a line.• It looks like an upside-down triangle.

b. Remember the boundaries of the continents.• Make a diagram which shows the boundaries of Oceania,

America, Asia and Africa.• Make a card with the boundaries of Antarctica.

c. Look for the following information. Organize it systematically.

d. Invention.

• Plan a trip along African rivers. • Invent a story to remember the relief and rivers of America.

e. Describe the distribution of the climates of America. Relate them to their latitude.

AustraliaNew Zealand and

New Guinea

Relief

Rivers

Climates

71

2. Completing blank maps

Completing maps will help you to remember the names of places and their location.

a. Make a physical map of Asia.• Trace a blank map of Asia.• Decide the places you need to

include in relation to relief and water. Look at the texts and the maps in this unit again. For example, you should include the Himalayas, Mount Everest, the Ural Mountains, the Caucasus Mountains, the Tibetan plateau, the seas and oceans surrounding the continent, the most important rivers and the main archipelagos, gulfs and peninsulas.

• Write the key.• Colour the map and write the names

in the correct place.

b. Compare maps in an atlas.

Consult an atlas to compare the physical map of America with its political map.• It is easier to compare maps if they

have the same scale. If this is not the case, make an enlarged or reduced photocopy of the political map until it is at the same scale as the physical map.

• Place a piece of tracing paper over the political map of America. Draw the outlines of the countries and write their names.

• Place the political map you have made on tracing paper on top of the physical map.

c. Now answer the questions.

• Which countries do the Andes go through?

• Which countries do the Rocky Mountains go through?• Which countries does the Amazon River go through? • Which countries are on the equator?• What country is next to Greenland?• Which American countries are not on a coast?• Which countries are on the Gulf of Mexico?

Web task 6: Natural wonders.