West Siberian Plain

High school (ages 12+)
Geography

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/west-siberian-plain

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How big is West Siberian Plain?Approximately 2.6 million square kilometers (1 million square miles)
2. What is the location?Western Siberia, Russia
3. What is the dominant geomorphology?Extremely flat, low-lying continental plain with minimal elevation change
4. Why is the West Siberian Plain so flat?The plain sits on a stable part of the Earth called a craton, so there is almost no mountain building. This keeps the land level for millions of years.
5. Which rivers flow through the West Siberian Plain?The main rivers are the Ob, Yenisei, and Irtysh, and they flow northward very slowly because the land is almost flat.

Craton: A large, stable block of the earth's crust forming the nucleus of a continent.
Topography: The arrangement of the natural and artificial physical features over an area of land.
Permafrost: Ground, including rock and soil, at or below the freezing point of water (0 °C or 32 °F) for at least two consecutive years.
Hydrography: The measurement and description of physical features of oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and other waterways.