The general forms assumed by the continental surfaces of Asia vary in relation to the orogenesis and geology; for those of detail the climate has a profound impact. In western Asia the Cenozoic reliefs are represented by the Caucasus, which in Elbrus (5642 m) reaches the maximum height of the whole region, and by the peripheral chains of Anatolia and the Iranian plateau. Among them stands out the great system that continues from the Taurus into Zagros and Makrān, joining, in the Armenian highland, to Elburz and further still to Kopet Dağ and Paropámisus. There are folded mountains and also crystalline massifs; Ararat, 5165 m; Damāvand, 5670 m). Large depression basins, covered with sedimentary materials, interpose themselves between the mountainous alignments. The arid or semi-arid climate determines a morphology typical of desert areas, with extensive endorheisms, salt lakes, sandy depressions (Lut and Registan deserts). A more pronounced desert morphology occurs in the Syro-Arabian region, whose structure is essentially tabular. The only great alluvial plain is the Mesopotamian one; elsewhere rocky escarpments and eminences of ancient reliefs dominate sandy depressions, the largest of which is, in the Arabian Peninsula, the Rub’al Khālī. On the peninsula itself, the high western rim forms a region in itself, with its high escarpments dominating the coast of the Red Sea. With the Hindu Kush begins the belt of the great mountain ranges: it introduces a new Asia, the Asia of the highlands, placing itself as a dividing barrier between South Asia and Central Asia. This is formed by the great Aralo-Caspian lowlands, an arid, endorheic region, which has its highest depressions in the Caspian Sea basin, whose water surface is 28 m below sea level. Here too there is a vast sandy desert, the Karakumy, almost entirely devoid of rocky outcrops. This region continues E into East Turkestan, which includes the Tarim Basin and the Zungarian depression which constitutes the natural passage between West Turkestan and the Mongolian highlands. These have a tabular structure, an average altitude of approx. 1000 m above sea level and are interspersed with sandy depressions, such as the one that forms the Gobi desert. Beyond this arid belt the circumsiberian reliefs rise, starting with the Tian Shan (7439 m), continuing with the Alatau (4464 m), with the Altaj (4506 m) and the Saiani and Hangay mountains, considerably lower. They are all reliefs that present mature forms and that gradually soften and lower, proceeding towards the E, in the transbaykalic ranges of the Jablonovyj, Stanovoj, Džugdžur and Kolyma mountains. The easternmost ranges have a meridian trend and reach 3147 m above sea level in the Čerski mountains and 4750 m above sea level in the Ključevskaja Sopka volcano which dominates the Kamčatka mountains. The Siberian Plateau is a region formed by slight undulations smoothed by Pleistocene glaciers and the ancient crystalline substrate appears naked on vast surfaces. The range of reliefs that from the Hindu Kush and the Pamir continues into the Karakoram and the Himalayas presents a succession of massifs which, without great passes, all remain at very high altitudes. Both Pamir and Hindu Kush have peaks over 7000m, while in the Karakoram and the Himalayas there are six peaks that exceed 8000m (Everest, in the Himalayas, is 8848m high, and is the highest mountain high of the Earth;, in Karakoram, 8611 m). The Tibetan plateau, which stretches between the Himalayas and Kunlun Shan, is located at heights between 4000 and 5000 meters above sea level; it is not uniform, but has tabular areas and valleys dominated by ancient chains. These are gradually configuring more markedly towards the SE, where they gradually subside until they are extinguished to the S in the Indochinese floodplains and to the E in the hilly foreland of China. Valleys hundreds of kilometers long, rugged, deep, intercalate these mountainous beams. On the southern side the Himalayas descend towards the Indian plains with steep slopes bordered at the bottom by a hilly belt of recent origin (Siwalik). The Gangetic plain is several hundred kilometers wide and constitutes one of the most characteristic alluvial plains on Earth; not much less extensive, however, is that of the Indus. Further to the S, the Deccan is delimited by mountainous edges to the N (Aravalli mountains, Vindhya mountains) and by the high escarpments of the Ghats on the sides. The interior is tabular where there is volcanic soils, while the rest presents the forms of undulating peneplans that rise, to the S, in the Southern Ghats (2695 m). The reliefs of the Malacca peninsula and the major Indonesian islands also have mild forms, where the mountain ranges are dominated by active volcanic buildings. In Sumatra the Kerinci reaches 3805 m, in Java the Semeru i 3669 m. Even the smallest islands of Sunda, forming a crown that joins the arms of Celebes in an arc, are dominated by volcanoes that often exceed 3000 m above sea level.In Borneo, one of the largest islands on Earth, there are mountains with mature shapes that extensive penepians and alluvial plains dominate. The volcanic landscape reappears in the Philippines, an archipelago made up of small and large islands located on the island alignment of Formosa, the Ryūkyū, the Japanese archipelago and the Kurils. On Japan’s largest island, Honshū, ruggedly shaped chains rise (the Japanese Alps), but elsewhere it is still a volcanic landscape that has its summit in the conical bulk of Fuji (3776 m). The alluvial plains of China and the low reliefs that delimit them have their terminations on the inland seas closed by this great island arc; further to the N the coastal profile is formed by the branches of the reliefs of Manchuriaand Korea and is therefore very articulated.
South East Asia
According to countryaah.com, Southeast Asia is located in south of the Central Asian highlands and east of the Indian Ocean part of Asia. Covers the large peninsula, formerly known as Rear India, which extends between the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Sea and the Malakka Strait in the west and the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand in the east, the so-called mainland or continental Southeast Asia, as well as the Malay Archipelago, the so-called island Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is part of the tropical monsoon Asia. Politically, Southeast Asia includes the states of Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor, the Philippines and Indonesia. The western part of New Guinea (Papua, formerly Irian Jaya) belongs politically to Indonesia, but is mostly assigned to the Melanesian cultural area. The term Southeast Asia goes back to a military name used by the Western Allies for the first time during World War II. In addition, the former colonial powers used separate names for their respective colonial areas (e.g. French: Indochine, Dutch: Nederlandsch Oost-Indië).
