| Geography and Climate |
Mongolia is a landlocked country, located in Northern Asia, between China and Russia.
Area comparatively slightly smaller than Alaska. Total land boundary is 8,114 km, border countries are China 4,673 km, Russia 3,441 km.
Climate is continental (large daily and seasonal temperature ranges); desert. Terrain consists of vast semidesert and desert plains; mountains in west and southwest; Gobi Desert in southeast. Elevation extreme has the lowest point in Hoh Nuur 518 m and highest point in Tavan Bogd Uul 4,374 m. Natural resources are oil, coal, copper, molybdenum, tungsten, phosphates, tin, nickel, zinc, wolfram, fluorspar, gold. Land use: arable land: 1%, permanent crops: 0%,
permanent pastures: 80%, forests and woodland: 9%, other: 10% (1993 est.). Irrigated land: 800 sq km (1993 est.). Natural hazards are dust storms can occur in the spring; grassland fires.
Environment—current issues: limited natural fresh water resources; policies of the former communist regime promoting rapid urbanization and industrial growth have raised concerns about their negative effects on the environment; the burning of soft coal and the concentration of factories in Ulaanbaatar have severely polluted the air; deforestation, overgrazing, the converting of virgin land to agricultural production have increased soil erosion from wind and rain; desertification.
Geography—note: landlocked; strategic location between China and Russia.
Ref. Anonymous, 1999 |