Steppe

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Steppe of western Kazakhstan in the early spring.jpg

In physical geography, a steppe (Russian степь or step' and pronounced in English as step) is a plain without trees (apart from those near rivers and lakes); it is similar to a prairie, although a prairie is generally considered as being dominated by tall grasses, while short grasses are said to be the normal in the steppe. It may be semi-desert, or covered with grass or shrubs, or both depending on the season. The term is also used to denote the climate encountered in such regions, too dry to support a forest but not so dry as to make it a desert. They are usually found in areas of the world less prone to moisture. The soil is considered too moist to be a desert, but also too dry to support normal forest life. The climate of steppes can be summarized by hot summers and cold winters, averaging 250-500 mm (10-20 inches) of rain every year.

Plant life is usually greater than one foot tall, including the blue grama and buffalo grass, cacti, sagebrush, speargrass, and other small relatives of the sunflower.

Animal life includes but isn't limited to the Corsac Fox, Mongolian Gerbil, Saiga Antelope, Northern Lynx, and the Saker Falcon.

The world's largest zone of steppes is found in central Russia and neighbouring republics of Central Asia. The steppes begin east of the Volga river and extend through desert or semi-desert south of the Ural Mountains and to the north and east of the Caspian Sea. To the east of the Caspian Sea they extend through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to the mountain ranges of Mongolia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. To the north on the eastern side of the Urals is the forested West Siberian Plain which extends nearly to the Arctic Ocean.

Another large steppe area is located in the central United States and western Canada. The High Plains steppe is the westernmost part of the Great Plains region.bg:Степ cs:Step da:Steppe (biotop) de:Steppe el:Στέπα es:Estepa eo:Stepo fr:Steppe io:Stepi it:Steppa ja:ステップ (地形) nl:Steppe no:Steppe pl:Step pt:Estepe ro:Estepa ru:Степь sl:Stepa fi:Aro sv:Stäpp uk:Степ