The document summarizes the key physical features of Western Central Europe, including:
1) Mountain ranges like the Alps, Pyrenees, and Vosges shape the landscape, with the Alps containing Mont Blanc as the highest peak.
2) Low-lying plains have been reclaimed from bodies of water through building dikes and creating polders to protect the land.
3) Major rivers flow through the region, emptying into seas like the North Sea which also contains offshore oil and gas resources.
4) The climate is varied, with marine, Mediterranean, and highland climates depending on location.
7. Alps The Alps is the collective name for one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria in the east, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany, through to France in the west. The word Alps means mountains.
14. Pyrenees Stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Mediterranean in the East, a distance of some 250 miles (402.5km), the mountains of the Pyrenees form a natural barrier between Spain and the Iberian Peninsula in the south and France in the north.
18. Polder Polder: An area of low-lying land, especially in the Netherlands, that has been reclaimed from a body of water and is protected by dikes.
19. Notice the pattern? The purple area was swampland ( 沼泽 )… and this is where most of the people live today. So how do you make a swamp dry? What about a swamp that is below sea level?
20. What the Dutch did was use the natural dunes along the coasts – and reinforced ( 加固 ) them. This kept the North Sea ( 北海 ) water out…to deal with the inside water they made what are called polders ( 堤坝 ) . It is so effective, that we still use the process it today – This is a diamond mine ( 钻石矿 ) in Canada.
22. Since 1916, the Netherlands has undergone massive coastal protection since the original protection was not enough, In all the places where the ocean meets the land, the dunes have been reinforced or re-built. That’s 415km of coastal protection! Not quite the Great Wall…but not bad.
23. Where the ocean meets the rivers they built barriers ( 障碍 ) . With over 16,500?km of dikes (2,420 km designated as primary dikes and 14,080?km as secondary dikes) and 300 structures, it has been one of the most extensive engineering projects in the world.
24. The Rotterdam (鹿特丹) Storm Barrier – Each side is as high as the Eiffel Tower!
28. North Sea Oil Field North Sea oil and natural gas were first discovered in the 1960s. The North Sea, however, did not emerge immediately as a key non-OPEC oil producing area until the 1980s and 1990s, when major discoveries began coming online. Oil and natural gas extraction in the North Sea's inhospitable climate - cold and windy - and at great depths requires sophisticated offshore technology.
29. North Sea oil rig While primary oil demand in European Union (EU) countries is projected to increase by 0.4% per year from now to 2030, North Sea output peaked in 1999 and has been on the decline ever since.
30. Europe’s rivers Europe is a well-watered continent with many rivers. Most of the continent's drainage finds its way to the Atlantic Ocean via a number of master river systems, whose watersheds interlock in a most complex manner.
38. What Is Climate Like? Marine West Coast (climate) Mediterranean climate Highland climate
39. The global ocean circulation system transports heat throughout the planet. White sections represent warm surface currents. Purple sections represent deep cold currents . Great ocean conveyor