| Physical regions |
| A physical region describes a large area which
has some overriding physical characteristic - for example it is low-lying
or forms a basin. Other physical regions include plains, plateaux, and
canyons and can therefore encompass a wide variety of different terrain.
Physical regions may be given a distinct character by a geological process at work, like the badlands of South Dakota, its pinnacles and gullies sculpted by the water supplied by violent thunderstorms. The semiarid badlands lack vegetation to bind the soil and protect the weak sedimentary rocks from torrential downpours.
Other physical regions are created by geological process on a much larger scale. The Deccan, for instance, is the southern, triangular-shaped peninsula of India; it is a high tableland with an average elevation of 600 m. It slopes gently eastward, but is bounded to both the east and west by hills - the Western and Eastern Ghats. Physical regions very often have climatic characteristics which also set them apart from their surroundings. The Deccan is no exception; the plateau is far more arid than the surrounding coastal strip.
The term physical region is also a useful way of describing large desolate regions like Dronning Maud Land in Antarctica or the Ar Rub' Al Khali (The Empty Quarter) of the Arabian Peninsula. |
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