NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES

ASSIGNMENT OF GEOGRAPHY

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TOPIC:

World/Eurasian Steppe/Eurasian Grassland

SUBMITTED TO: MAJOR KHALIL AHMED

SUBMITTED BY: KAINNAT NAEEM

INTRODUCTION
Eurasian Steppe:
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 The Eurasian Steppe is the largest temperate grassland in the world. It is the vast
grassland that stretches 8000km (5000miles) from Hungary to China. It reaches almost one-fifth of
the way around the Earth. The Eurasian Steppe has historically been one of the most important
routes for Travel and Trade. The flat expanse provides an ideal route between Asia and Europe.
Caravans of horses, donkeys and camels have travelled the Eurasian Steppe for thousands of years.
The famous trade route on the Eurasian Steppe is the “SILK ROAD” connecting China, India and
Europe. The Silk Road was established around 200BCE and many Silk Road trade routes are still in
use today. The Eurasian Steppe is so well-known and this area is sometimes referred just as ‘The
Steppe’.

The Steppe:
The Steppe is a vast strip of land stretching from Ukraine to Mongolia. The term
“STEPPE” denotes grassland, a low-precipitation region with enough rain for grass but not enough
for trees. A steppe is a dry, grassy plain. Steppes occur in temperate climates which lie between the
tropics and polar regions. Temperate regions have distinct seasonal temperature changes with cold
winters and warm summers. Steppe are semi-arid meaning that they receive 10-20 inches rain
every year. These interruptions divide the region into the Western Steppe (lies mainly in Ukraine,
Russia and Kazakhstan) and Eastern Steppe (lies chiefly in Mongolia and China). The eastern steppe
is drier and colder than the western Steppe.

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 WORLD STEPPE

EASTERN AND WESTERN STEPPE

WESTERN STEPPE
The Western Steppe begins near the mouth of the Danube and extends northeast to
Kazan and southeast to the southern tip of the Ural Mountains. Its northern edge was a broad band of
forest steppe which has now been obliterated conversion of the whole area to the agricultural land. In
the southeast, the Black Sea-Caspian Steppe extends between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea to the
Caucasus Mountains. In the west, the Great Hungarian Plain is an island of steppe separated from the
main steppe by the mountains of Transylvania. On the north shore of the Black Sea, the Crimean

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Peninsula has some interior steppe and ports on the south coast which link the steppe to the
civilizations of the Mediterranean Basin.

(Western Steppe with emphasizing the Deserts)

EASTERN STEPPE
 Xinjiang is the northwestern province of China. The Tien Shan Mountains divide it into
Dzungaria in the north and the Tarim Basin to the south. Dzungaria is bounded by the
Tarbagatai Mountains on the West and the Mongolian is bounded by the Altai Mountains on
the East. Dzungaria is a central desert which has good grassland around the edges.
To the north, Dzungaria has mountains and the Siberian Forest.
To the south and west of Dzungaria, separated from it by the Tian Shan mountains. Tian Shan
mountains is an area about twice the size of Dzungaria, the oval of Tarim Basin. The Tarim basin is
too dry and it formed an island of near civilization in the center of steppe.
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 The Mongol Steppe includes both Mongolia and the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia.
These two are separated by dry area which is GOBI DESERT. South of the Mongol Steppe is
Tibetan Plateau. The northern edge of the Plateau is the Hexi Corridor. It connects China with
Tarim Basin. The Hexi Corridor was the main route of the Silk Road.

 Manchuria Steppe is the northeast projection of China. Before 1859, Manchuria also
included as Outer Manchuria to the north and east which is now a part of Russia. In
Manchuria, the steppe grades off into forest and mountains without reaching the Pacific. The

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 central area of forest-steppe was inhibited by pastoral and agricultural peoples while to the
north and east, it was a thin population of hunting tribes of the Siberian type.

(Manchuria steppe in North East China)

TYPES OF STEPPES
1)Subtropical Steppe 2) Shrub-Steppe
3) Alpine Steppes 4) Temperate Steppe
1) SUBTROPICAL STEPPE:
It is a similar association of plants that can be found in the driest areas with Mediterranean-
like climate, it usually has a short-wet period. Steppe means semi dry region that receives low rainfall.
Subtropical region is between 25 to 40 degree north and south of Equator.

In Europe, some Mediterranean areas have a steppe-like vegetation such as Central Sicily in Italy.
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In Asia, a sub-tropical steppe can be found in semi-arid lands that fringe the Thar, Choli stan and Thal
Desert.

In Australia, “Subtropical Steppe” can be found in a belt surrounding the most severe deserts of the
continents.

In North American, this environment has typical transition areas between zones with true deserts such as
Reno and Nevada.

SUBTROPICAL STEPPE

2) SHRUB- STEPPE:
Shrub-Steppe is a type of low rainfall natural grassland. Shrub-steppe have sufficient
moisture to support a cover of perennial grasses a feature which distinguish them from deserts.
The shrub-steppes of North America occur in the western United states and western Canada. They
extend from south-central Columbia down into Eastern California and Eastern Oregon.

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 Important plants are Bunch-grass which have historically provided forage for livestock as well
as wildlife but are quickly being replaced by non-native annual species like Cheatgrass-Bromus
tectorum. There is also suite of animals that call the shrub-steppe including Saga Grouse, Western
rattlesnake.

                           
  SHRUB-STEPPE

3) ALPINE STEPPE:
The Alpine-steppe is a high altitude natural alpine grassland, which is a part of the Montane
grasslands and shrublands biome. Alpine-steppes are unique ecosystems found throughout the world, especially
in Asia, where they make up 38.9% of the total Tibetan plateau grassland's area. Alpine grasslands, like the
Alpine-steppe, are characterized by their intense radiation, with direct solar radiation periods averaging 2916
hours annually. The average temperature in this ecosystem is very low. For example, they may experience
temperatures around −10 °C in winter and 10 °C in summer. Winters also tend to be long and cold, and summers
are mild and short. The annual rates of precipitation in Alpine-steppes are very low, with mean ranges falling
anywhere between 280 and 300 mm.

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 ALPINE STEPPE

4) TEMPERATE STEPPE:
“Temperate Steppe" found in continental areas of the world, they can be further subdivided as
in the Rocky Mountains Steppes. Temperate steppes are areas with a semiarid continental climatic regime in
which despite maximum summer rainfall, evaporation usually exceeds precipitation. Winters are cold and dry,
summers warm. Typical steppe vegetation consists of numerous species of short grasses that usually grow in
sparely distributed bunches. Scattered shrubs and low trees sometimes grow in the steppe; all gradations of
cover are present, from semi desert to woodland. Because ground cover is generally sparse, much soil is exposed.
Many species of grasses and other herbs occur.
An example of Semi Desert cover is the sagebrush vegetation of the middle and southern Rocky
Mountain region and the Colorado Plateau. The soil of the semi desert shrub is Arid Soils with little content,
pedogenic and clay horizon and accumulation of various salts.

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 BIOME
DEFINITION:
A biome is a region that boasts similar plant and animal life forms. Tropical Rain
Forest, Grassland and Desert are called Biomes. Desert and grassland are the example of biomes.
Savannas and Steppes are the two examples of Earth’s many biomes.

STEPPES:
 A steppe is a particular type of grassland. Steppes are found on nearly every continent, with
the exceptions of Australia and Antarctica. They are drier and colder than other grasslands.
 Steppes lack humidity because they are far from the ocean and near mountains. Mountains
act as barriers, keeping moisture out.

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  Few people live in the steppes as the soil quality is poor while there are numerous grasses,
few other plants live there. Steppes are often an intermediate area between forests and
deserts.

SAVANNAS (Tropical Grassland):

 Sometimes, savannas called “tropical grasslands”. They generally lie between a tropical
rainforest and a desert. They are warmer than steppes.
 They get roughly the same amount of rain as a steppe, but most of it falls during the summer.
Savannas get an average of between 15 and 25 inches of rain during this season.
 Like steppes, this balance is important because they can become either forests or deserts if
the rain pattern shifts. Because they receive so much water, savannas support a few trees,
but not enough to obscure the sky from beneath the way a nearby rainforest might.
 The plants and animals that do live here are highly specialized. They must withstand the long
season of drought that follows the savanna’s wet season.
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GRASSLAND:
 Grassland are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses. Grassland are open
spaces in which variety of grasses grow with only a few trees scattered near rivers and
streams.
 There are two main types of Grassland, which are as follows:
(a) Temperate grassland is called Prairies.
(b)Tropical grassland is called Savanna.

 Nearly one-fourth of the Earth’s land is grassland. Grasslands have less than one tree per
acre.
 It has been described by New South Wales’s Country Areas Program as “seas of grass.”
Grasslands generally get between 10 and 30 inches of rain per year.

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  This is important because more rain than this would turn grasslands into forest. Conversely,
grassland receiving less rain than this would become a desert.

  Grass Land is ¼ of the World Land

THANK YOU
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