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Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan
Border Dispute Becomes Violent
Around 100 lives were lost during the recent fighting in a border dispute between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For three days last week, the two countries exchanged fire across their 600 mile (965 km) border. Border disputes amongst Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, who share the Fergana Valley, recur frequently. The political boundaries have been causing problems in the region since the states’ independence from the Soviet Union in 1992, when the borders were drawn. Besides the borders not accurately reflecting the ethnic and geographical realities of the region, the Central Asian states continue to compete over scarce land and water resources. In the last ten years alone, around 150 conflicts have erupted at the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border. The two countries are currently under a ceasefire enacted last Friday, with encouragement primarily from Russia.
This map depicts the area of conflict around Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan's border. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Anadolu Agency
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Japan
Super Typhoon Nanmadol Hits
Super Typhoon Nanmadol hit Japan’s southernmost island, Kyushu, on Sunday morning, so far killing two people and injuring close to 90. Nine million people have been given evacuation warnings as the country is being struck by one of the worst typhoons it has ever seen. The typhoon has brought gusts of wind of up to 145 mph (234 km/h), and some areas are forecasted to see 16 inches (400 mm) of rain in just 24 hours. The U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) has categorized Nanmadol as a super typhoon, a term applied to storms with sustained wind speeds of 150 mph (240 km/h) or more. Nanmadoi is expected to pass over the main island of Honshu in the next few days.
This map depicts the forecasted path of Super Typhoon Nanmadol, including the island where the typhoon first hit, Kyushu. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Yahoo News
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India
Cheetahs Return After 70 Years
Eight cheetahs arrived in India on Saturday and were released into India’s Kuno National Park in the state of Madya Pradesh. The large cats were acquired from Namibia as part of India’s new reintroduction program while celebrating Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday. Cheetahs have been extinct in the country for over 70 years due to habitat loss and poaching. However, India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change plans to release 50 cheetahs into Indian national parks over the course of the next five years. The reintroduction has proved to be controversial due to fears of cheetahs not having enough prey to keep them fed, as well as these cheetahs being a non-native subspecies purposely brought into the environment.
This map depicts the current range of cheetahs in comparison to their historical ranges. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: The largest mountain range and largest geologicaal feature on Earth is located where?
A: The Atlantic Ocean
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge system is a mostly-underwater mountain range in the Atlantic Ocean and is the largest geological feature on the planet. The extremely long range extends for about 10,000 miles (16,000 km), from the Arctic Ocean all the way to the southern tip of Africa. From the ocean floor, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge reaches almost 2 miles (3 km) in height and about 620 - 930 miles (1,000 - 1,500 km) in width. The ridge was discovered in the 1950s and led to the theory of seafloor spreading and the acceptance of continental drift theory. The ridge separates the North American plate from the Eurasian plate, as well as the South American plate from the African plate. Along the crest of the ridge is a long valley rift about 50 - 75 miles (80 to 120 km) wide, where molten magma from beneath Earth’s crust wells up. Because the continental plates are constantly spreading apart at the rift, the Atlantic Ocean grows east to west at a rate of about 1 inch (2.5 cm) per year. While most of the ridge system is underwater, it does form a set of volcanic islands above water in the Atlantic, including the Azores of Portugal, Jan Mayen of Norway, and Iceland.
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Q: First settled around 60,000 years ago, where in the world will you find an archaeologically rich valley showing a succession of civilizations, including the capital of history's largest contiguous land empire?
Stay tuned for the answer to today's question in tomorrow's DailyGeo.
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