Asia, the world’s largest and most diverse continent.

It occupies the eastern four-fifths of the

giant Eurasian landmass. Asia is more a geographic term than a homogeneous continent, and the
use of the term to describe such a vast area always carries the potential of obscuring the
enormous diversity among the regions it encompasses. Asia has both the highest and the lowest
points on the surface of Earth, has the longest coastline of any continent, is subject overall to the
world’s widest climatic extremes, and, consequently, produces the most varied forms of
vegetation and animal life on Earth. In addition, the peoples of Asia have established the
broadest variety of human adaptation found on any of the continents.

Asia.

The name Asia is ancient, and its origin has been variously explained. The Greeks used it to
designate the lands situated to the east of their homeland. It is believed that the name may be
derived from the Assyrian word asu, meaning “east.” Another possible explanation is that it was
originally a local name given to the plains of Ephesus, which ancient Greeks and Romans
extended to refer first to Anatolia (contemporary Asia Minor, which is the western extreme of
mainland Asia), and then to the known world east of the Mediterranean Sea. When Western
explorers reached South and East Asia in early modern times, they extended that label to the
whole of the immense landmass.
Asia is bounded by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Indian Ocean
to the south, the Red Sea (as well as the inland seas of the Atlantic Ocean—the Mediterranean
and the Black) to the southwest, and Europe to the west. Asia is separated from North America
to the northeast by the Bering Strait and from Australia to the southeast by the seas and straits
connecting the Indian and Pacific oceans. The Isthmus of Suez unites Asia with Africa, and it is
generally agreed that the Suez Canal forms the border between them. Two narrow straits, the
Bosporus and the Dardanelles, separate Anatolia from the Balkan Peninsula.

Çanakkale, Turkey, on the southern coast of the Dardanelles.

© William J. Bowe

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The land boundary between Asia and Europe is a historical and cultural construct that has been
defined variously; only as a matter of agreement is it tied to a specific borderline. The most
convenient geographic boundary—one that has been adopted by most geographers—is a line that
runs south from the Arctic Ocean along the Ural Mountains and then turns southwest along the
Emba River to the northern shore of the Caspian Sea; west of the Caspian, the boundary follows
the Kuma-Manych Depression to the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait of the Black Sea. Thus,
the isthmus between the Black and Caspian seas, which culminates in the Caucasus mountain
range to the south, is part of Asia.

Sea of Azov.

Sergey Sorokin

The total area of Asia, including Asian Russia (with the Caucasian isthmus) but excluding the
island of New Guinea, amounts to some 17,226,200 square miles (44,614,000 square km),
roughly one-third of the land surface of Earth. The islands—including Taiwan, those of Japan
and Indonesia, Sakhalin and other islands of Asian Russia, Sri Lanka, Cyprus, and numerous
smaller islands—together constitute 1,240,000 square miles (3,210,000 square km), about 7
percent of the total. (Although New Guinea is mentioned occasionally in this article, it generally
is not considered a part of Asia.) The farthest terminal points of the Asian mainland are Cape
Chelyuskin in north-central Siberia, Russia (77°43′ N), to the north; the tip of the Malay
Peninsula, Cape Piai, or Bulus (1°16′ N), to the south; Cape Baba in Turkey (26°4′ E) to the
west; and Cape Dezhnev (Dezhnyov), or East Cape (169°40′ W), in northeastern Siberia,
overlooking the Bering Strait, to the east.

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Asia has the highest average elevation of the continents and contains the greatest relative relief.
The tallest peak in the world, Mount Everest, which reaches an elevation of 29,035 feet (8,850
metres; see Researcher’s Note: Height of Mount Everest); the lowest place on Earth’s land
surface, the Dead Sea, measured in the mid-2010s at about 1,410 feet (430 metres) below sea
level; and the world’s deepest continental trough, occupied by Lake Baikal, which is 5,315 feet
(1,620 metres) deep and whose bottom lies 3,822 feet (1,165 metres) below sea level, are all
located in Asia. Those physiographic extremes and the overall predominance of mountain belts
and plateaus are the result of the collision of tectonic plates. In geologic terms, Asia comprises
several very ancient continental platforms and other blocks of land that merged over the eons.
Most of those units had coalesced as a continental landmass by about 160 million years ago,
when the core of the Indian subcontinent broke off from Africa and began drifting northeastward
to collide with the southern flank of Asia about 50 million to 40 million years ago. The
northeastward movement of the subcontinent continues at about 2.4 inches (6 cm) per year. The
impact and pressure continue to raise the Plateau of Tibet and the Himalayas.

Mount Everest (left centre) in the Himalayas, seen from the Plateau of Tibet.

© QiangBa DanZhen/Fotolia
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Asia’s coastline—some 39,000 miles (62,800 km) in length—is, variously, high and
mountainous, low and alluvial, terraced as a result of the land’s having been uplifted, or
“drowned” where the land has subsided. The specific features of the coastline in some areas—
especially in the east and southeast—are the result of active volcanism; thermal abrasion of
permafrost (caused by a combination of the action of breaking waves and thawing), as in
northeastern Siberia; and coral growth, as in the areas to the south and southeast. Accreting
sandy beaches also occur in many areas, such as along the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of
Thailand.
 

Island resort in the Gulf of Thailand off the coast of southern Thailand.

© thawizard/Fotolia

The mountain systems of Central Asia not only have provided the continent’s great rivers with
water from their melting snows but also have formed a forbidding natural barrier that has
influenced the movement of peoples in the area. Migration across those barriers has been
possible only through mountain passes. A historical movement of population from the arid zones
of Central Asia has followed the mountain passes into the Indian subcontinent. More recent
migrations have originated in China, with destinations throughout Southeast Asia. The Korean
and Japanese peoples and, to a lesser extent, the Chinese have remained ethnically more
homogeneous than the populations of other Asian countries.
 

High pass through the Himalayas, Tibet Autonomous Region, China, part of the historic
caravan trail …

© Holger Mette/Shutterstock.com

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Asia’s population is unevenly distributed, mainly because of climatic factors. There is a

concentration of population in western Asia as well as great concentrations in the Indian
subcontinent and the eastern half of China. There are also appreciable concentrations in the
Pacific borderlands and on the islands, but vast areas of Central and North Asia—whose
forbidding climates limit agricultural productivity—have remained sparsely populated.
Nonetheless, Asia, the most populous of the continents, contains some three-fifths of the world’s
people.

Asia is the birthplace of all the world’s major religions—Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism,
Islam, and Judaism—and of many minor ones. Of those, only Christianity developed primarily
outside of Asia; it exerts little influence on the continent, though many Asian countries have
Christian minorities. Buddhism has had a greater impact outside its birthplace in India and is
prevalent in various forms in China, South Korea, Japan, the Southeast Asian countries, and Sri
Lanka. Islam has spread out of Arabia eastward to South and Southeast Asia. Hinduism has been
mostly confined to the Indian subcontinent.

Taktshang (“Tiger’s Nest”) Monastery, near Paro, Bhutan.

© nyiragongo/Fotolia

Geologic history
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Asia is not only Earth’s largest continent but also its youngest and structurally most-complicated
one. Although Asia’s evolution began almost four billion years ago, more than half of the
continent remains seismically active, and new continental material is currently being produced in
the island arc systems that surround it to the east and southeast. In such places, new land is
continuously emerging and is added to the bulk of the continent by episodic collisions of the
island arcs with the mainland. Asia also contains the greatest mountain mass on Earth’s surface:
the Plateau of Tibet and the bordering mountains of the Himalayas, Karakoram Range, Hindu
Kush, Pamirs, Kunlun Mountains, and Tien Shan. By virtue of its enormous size and relative
youth, Asia contains many of the morphological extremes of Earth’s land surface—such as its
highest and lowest points, longest coastline, and largest area of continental shelf. Asia’s immense
mountain ranges, varied coastline, and vast continental plains and basins have had a profound
effect on the course of human history. The fact that Asia produces vast quantities of fossil fuels
—petroleum, natural gas, and coal—in addition to being a significant contributor to the global
production of many minerals (e.g., about three-fifths of the world’s tin) heavily underlines the
importance of its geology for the welfare of the world’s population.

Northern side of Kangrinboqê Peak (Mount Kailas), in the Kailas Range, Trans-Himalayas, Tibet …
 Ondřej Žváček

General considerations
Tectonic framework
The morphology of Asia masks an extremely complex geologic history that predates the active
deformations largely responsible for the existing landforms. Tectonic units (regions that once
formed or now form part of a single tectonic plate and whose structures derive from the
formation and motion of that plate) that are defined on the basis of active structures in Asia are
not identical to those defined on the basis of its fossil (i.e., now inactive) structures. It is
therefore convenient to discuss the tectonic framework of Asia in terms of two separate maps,
one showing its paleotectonic (i.e., older tectonic) units and the other displaying its neotectonic
(new and presently active) units.

Mount Belukha, Altai Mountains, southwestern Siberia, Russia.

© Maxim Toporskiy/Fotolia

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According to the theory of plate tectonics, forces within Earth propel sections of its crust on
various courses, with the result that continents are formed and oceans are opened and closed.
Oceans commonly open by rifting—by tearing a continent asunder—and close along subduction
zones, which are inclined planes along which ocean floors sink beneath an adjacent tectonic plate
and are assimilated into Earth’s mantle. Ocean closure culminates in continental collision and
may involve the accretion of vast tectonic collages, including small continental fragments, island
arcs, large deposits of sediment, and occasional fragments of ocean-floor material. In defining
the units to draw Asia’s paleotectonic map, it is useful to outline such accreted objects and the
lines, or sutures, along which they are joined.

Continuing convergence following collision may further disrupt an already assembled tectonic
collage along new, secondary lines, especially by faulting. Postcollisional disruption also may
reactivate some of the old tectonic lines (sutures). Those secondary structures dominate and
define the neotectonic units of Asia. It should be mentioned, however, that most former
continental collisions also have led to the generation of secondary structures that add to the
structural diversity of the continent.

The paleotectonic units of Asia are divided into two first-order classes: continental nuclei and
orogenic (mountain-building) zones. The continental nuclei consist of platforms that stabilized
mostly in Precambrian time (between roughly 4 billion and 541 million years ago) and have been
covered largely by little-disturbed sedimentary rocks; included in that designation are the
Angaran (or East Siberian), Indian, and Arabian platforms. There are also several smaller
platforms that were deformed to a greater extent than the larger units and are called
paraplatforms; those include the North China (or Sino-Korean) and Yangtze paraplatforms, the
Kontum block (in Southeast Asia), and the North Tarim fragment (also called Serindia; in
western China). The orogenic zones consist of large tectonic collages that were accreted around
the continental nuclei. Recognized zones are the Altaids, the Tethysides (further subdivided into
the Cimmerides and the Alpides), and the circum-Pacific belt. The Alpides and circum-Pacific
belt are currently undergoing tectonic deformation—i.e., they are continuing to evolve—and so
are the locations of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

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The Precambrian continental nuclei were formed by essentially the same plate tectonic processes
that constructed the later orogenic zones, but it is best to treat them separately for three reasons.
First, the nuclei occupy only about one-fourth of the area of Asia, and less than one-third of that
area (i.e., less than 10 percent of Asia’s total) consists of exposed Precambrian rocks that enable
geologists to study their development. Second, Precambrian rocks are extremely poor in fossils,
which makes global or even regional correlations difficult. Finally, during most of Phanerozoic
time (i.e., about the past 541 million years), the nuclei have remained stable and have acted as
hosts around which the tectonic collages have accumulated in the Phanerozoic orogenic zones.

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The paleotectonic evolution of Asia terminated some 40 to 50 million years ago as a result of the
collision of the Indian subcontinent with Eurasia. Asia’s subsequent neotectonic development
has largely disrupted the continent’s preexisting fabric. The first-order neotectonic units of Asia
are Stable Asia, the Arabian and Indian cratons, the Alpide plate boundary zone (along which the
Arabian and Indian platforms have collided with the Eurasian continental plate), and the island
arcs and marginal basins.
Chronological summary
The oldest rocks in Asia are found in the continental nuclei. Rocks more than 3 billion years old
are in the Precambrian outcrops of the Angaran and Indian platforms and in the North China
paraplatform. They consist of primitive island-arc magmatic and sparse sedimentary rocks
sandwiched between younger basaltic and ultrabasic rocks, exposed along what are called
greenstone belts. The basement of the Angaran platform was largely formed by about 1.5 billion
years ago. The final consolidation of the Indian platform, however, lasted until about 600 million
years ago and included various mountain-building episodes with peaks of activity between 2.4
and 2.3 billion years ago, at about 2 billion years ago, between 1.7 and 1.6 billion years ago, and
between 1.1 billion and 600 million years ago. In the Arabian platform the formation of the
present basement commenced by arc and microcontinent accretion some 900 million years ago
and ended about 600 million years ago, although some of the accreted microcontinents had
basements more than 2.5 billion years old and may be detached fragments of Africa.

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In the North China paraplatform, Chinese geologists have identified a period of intense island-
arc magmatism (a process by which molten rock, often formed by the melting of subducted
oceanic crust, rises and solidifies to form igneous rock) between 3.5 and 3 billion years ago.
Those arcs then coalesced into protonuclei by collisions until the end of the Archean Eon (2.5
billion years ago). Final consolidation of the North China paraplatform occurred approximately
1.7 billion years ago. The Yangtze paraplatform is younger, the oldest identified orogenic event
being 2.5 billion years old. Its final consolidation took place some 800 million years ago. The
Kontum block is poorly known. It contains Precambrian metamorphic rocks with minimum ages
of about 2.3 billion years, although the oldest well-dated widespread thermal event falls into the
middle Cambrian Period (about 500 million years ago) and indicates the time of its final
consolidation. The North Tarim fragment is really a thin sliver caught up in younger orogenic
belts. Its Precambrian history is not entirely dissimilar to that of the Yangtze paraplatform,
although not all major breaks in their sedimentary and structural evolution or the details in their
sedimentary successions correlate. The Tarim fragment was also stabilized some 800 million
years ago.

While other Asian continental nuclei were completing their consolidation, orogenic deformation
recommenced along the present southeast and southwest margins of the Angaran platform. That
renewed activity marked the beginning of a protracted period of subduction, the development of
vast sedimentary piles scraped off sinking segments of ocean floor in subduction zones and
accumulated in the form of subduction-accretion wedges at the leading edge of overriding plates,
and subduction-related magmatism and numerous collisions in what today is known as Altaid
Asia (named for the Altai Mountains). Orogenic deformation in the Altaids was essentially
continuous from the late Proterozoic Eon (about 850 million years ago) into the early part of the
Mesozoic Era (about 220 million years ago), in some regions—such as Mongolia and Siberia—
lasting even to the end of the Jurassic Period (about 145 million years ago).

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The construction of the Altaid collage was coeval with the late Paleozoic assembly of the Pangea
(or Pangaea) supercontinent (between about 320 and 250 million years ago). The Altaids lay to
the north of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean (also called Paleo-Tethys Sea), a giant triangular eastward-
opening embayment of Pangea. A strip of continental material was torn away from the southern
margin of the Paleo-Tethys and migrated northward, rotating around the western apex of the
Tethyan triangle much like the action of a windshield wiper. That continental strip, called the
Cimmerian continent, was joined during its northward journey by a collage of continental
material that had gathered around the Yangtze paraplatform and the Kontum block, and, between
about 210 and 180 million years ago, all of that material collided with Altaid Asia to create the
Cimmeride orogenic belt.

While the Cimmerian continent was drifting northward, a new ocean, the Neo-Tethys, was
opening behind it and north of the Gondwanaland supercontinent. The new ocean began closing
some 155 million years ago, shortly after the beginning of the major disintegration of
Gondwanaland. Two fragments of Gondwanaland, India and Arabia, collided with the rest of
Asia during the Eocene (i.e., about 56 to 34 million years ago) and the Miocene (about 23 to 5.3
million years ago) epochs, respectively. The orogenic belts that arose from the destruction of the
Neo-Tethys and the resultant continental collisions are called the Alpides and form the present
Alpine-Himalayan mountain ranges. Both the Cimmerides and the Alpides resulted from the
elimination of the Tethyan oceans, and collectively they are called the Tethysides.

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Most of the island arcs fringing Asia to the east came into being by subduction of the Pacific
Ocean floor and the opening of marginal basins behind those arcs during the Cenozoic Era (the
past 66 million years). That activity continues today and is the major source of tectonism
(seismic and volcanic activity often resulting in uplift) in South and Southeast Asia. In the south
and in the southwest, India and Arabia are continuing their northward march, moving at an
average of about 2.4 and 1.6 inches (6 and 4 cm), respectively, per year. Those movements have
caused the massive distortion of the southern two-thirds of Asia and produced the nearly
continuous chain of mountain ranges between Turkey and Myanmar (Burma) that in places
widen into high plateaus in Turkey, Iran, and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Within
and north of those plateaus, geologically young mountains such as the Caucasus and the Tien
Shan, large strike-slip faults such as the North Anatolian and the Altun (Altyn Tagh), and rift
valley basins such as Lake Baikal—all of which are associated with seismic activity—bear
witness to the widespread effects of the convergence of Arabia and India with Stable Asia, in
which no notable active tectonism is seen.

The plains and lowlands

Low plains occupy the rest of the Asian mainland, particularly the vast West Siberian and Turan
plains of the interior. The remaining lowlands are distributed either in the maritime regions—
such as the North Siberian and Yana-Indigirka lowlands and the North China Plain—or in the
piedmont depressions of Mesopotamia, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, and mainland Southeast Asia.
Those plains have monotonously level surfaces with wide valleys, through which the great Asian
rivers and their tributaries flow. The topography of the plains in densely populated regions has
been greatly modified through the construction of canals, dams, and levees. To the south of the
zone of piedmont depressions lie extensive tablelands and plateaus, including the Deccan plateau
in India and the Syrian-Arabian Plateau in the west. In addition, there are the intermontane
basins of Kashgaria, Junggar, Qaidam (Tsaidam), and Fergana and the plateaus of central Siberia
and the Gobi, all of which lie at elevations of 2,600 to 4,900 feet (800 to 1,500 metres). Most of
their surfaces are smooth or gently rolling, with isolated hillocks. The plateaus inside the Tibet
Autonomous Region of China, the Tien Shan, and the Pamirs lie at elevations of some 12,000
feet (3,700 metres) or more.

A stand of birch trees and conifers in the taiga of the West Siberian Plain, near Nizhnevartovsk,
…

N. Gyngazov/© TRIP

The islands
A large proportion of the islands of Asia are mountainous. The highlands of Sri Lanka rise to
8,281 feet (2,524 metres); Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia reaches 13,455 feet (4,101 metres);
Mount Fuji on the Japanese island of Honshu has an elevation of 12,388 feet (3,776 metres); and
numerous volcanoes on Sumatra, Java, and Mindanao reach 10,000 feet (3,000 metres). Among
the active volcanoes associated with the Ring of Fire are Krakatoa on Rakata Island in Indonesia,
Mount Pinatubo on Luzon in the Philippines, and Mount Aso on Kyushu in Japan.
 

Mount Pinatubo erupting in 1991, western Luzon, Philippines.

T. J. Casadevall/U.S. Geological Survey

Geologic and climatic influences

The contemporary relief of Asia was molded primarily under the influences of (1) ancient
processes of planation (leveling), (2) larger vertical movements of the surface during the
Cenozoic Era, and (3) severe erosive dissection of the edges of the uplifted highlands with the
accompanying accumulation of alluvium in low-lying troughs, which were either settling
downward or being uplifted more slowly than the adjoining heights.

The interior portions of the uplifted highlands and the plateaus and tablelands of peninsular
India, Arabia, Syria, and eastern Siberia—all of which are relatively low-lying but composed of
resistant rock—largely have preserved their ancient peneplaned (i.e., leveled) surfaces.
Particularly spectacular uplifting occurred in Central Asia, where the amplitude of uplift of the
mountain ranges of Tibet and of the Pamirs and the Himalayas has exceeded 13,000 feet (4,000
metres). The eastern margin of the highlands, meanwhile, underwent subsidences of up to 2,300
feet (700 metres). Uplifting as a result of fractures at great depths, of which the Kopet-Dag and
ranges surrounding the Fergana Valley provide typical examples, and of folding over a large
radius, examples of which may be seen in the Tien Shan and Gissar and Alay ranges, played a
significant role.
 

Western Sayan Mountains, Siberia, Russia.

© Sergey Toronto/Fotolia

Erosional dissection transformed many ancient plateaus into mountainous regions. Majestic
gorges were carved into the highlands of the western Pamirs and southeastern Tibet; the
Himalayas, the Kunlun and Sayan mountains, the Stanovoy and Chersky ranges, and the
marginal ranges of the West Asian highlands were deeply cut by the rivers, which created deep
superimposed gorges and canyons.

Vast areas of Middle, Central, and East Asia, particularly in the Huang He (Yellow River) basin,
are covered with loess (a loamy unstratified deposit formed by wind or by glacial meltwater
deposition); the thickness of the deposits on the Loess Plateau of China sometimes exceeds 1,000
feet (300 metres). There are broad expanses of badlands, eolian (wind-produced) relief, and karst
topography (limestone terrain associated with vertical and underground drainage). Karst terrain
is characteristic of the Kopet-Dag, the eastern Pamirs, the Tien Shan, the Gissar and Alay ranges,
the Ustyurt Plateau, the western Taurus Mountains, and the Levant. Tropical karst (limestone
landscape) in South China is renowned for its picturesque residual hills.
 

Loess Plateau, Shanxi province, China.

Till Niermann

The mantle of glaciation from the Pleistocene Epoch (i.e., about 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago)
embraced northwestern Asia only to latitude 60° N. East of the Khatanga River, which flows
from Siberia into the Arctic Ocean, only isolated glaciation of the mantle debris and of the
mountains occurred, because of the extremely dry climate that existed in northeastern Asia even
at that time. The high mountain regions experienced primarily mountain glaciation. There are
traces of several periods during which the glaciers advanced—periods separated by warmer
interglacial epochs. Glaciation continues in many of the mountainous areas and on the Severnaya
Zemlya archipelago. The Karakoram Range, the Pamirs, the Tien Shan, the Himalayas, and the
eastern Hindu Kush are noted for the immensity of their contemporary glaciers. Most of the
glaciers are retreating. The elevation of the permanent snow line is relatively high, averaging
between 14,800 and 16,400 feet (4,500 and 5,000 metres) and reaching 21,000 feet (6,400
metres) in central Tibet.
 

Peaks of the Pamirs rising above a portion of the Silk Road (foreground), Uygur Autonomous
Region …

© Nniud/Fotolia

An enormous area of permafrost—some 4.25 million square miles (11 million square km)—
covers northern Asia and extends to lower latitudes there than anywhere else in the world. Little
snowfall occurs, because of the aridity, and deep freezing of the soil takes place. The depth of the
permafrost in continental northern and eastern Siberia exceeds 1,000 to 1,300 feet (300 to 400
metres).

Volcanism has added broad lava plateaus and chains of young volcanic cones to the relief of
Asia. Ancient lavas and intrusions of magma, exposed by later erosion, cover the terraced
plateaus of peninsular India and central Siberia. Extensive zones of young volcanic relief and
contemporary volcanism, however, are confined to the unstable arcs of the East Asian islands,
together with the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Philippines, and the Sunda Islands. The highest
active volcano in Asia, Klyuchevskaya, rises to 15,584 feet (4,750 metres) on Kamchatka.

Geologically recent volcanism is also characteristic of the West Asian highlands, the Caucasus,
Mongolia, the Manchurian-Korean mountains, and the Syrian-Arabian Plateau. In historical
times eruptions also occurred in the interior of the continent in the Xiao Hinggan Range and the
Anyuy highlands.