North-East Asia

The north-eastern protuberance of the Asian continent extends from Baikal Lake to the Bering Straits. Much of this landmass falls in eastern Siberia and the remainder is in north China. Fronting the Pacific coast are two peninsulas, Kamchatka and Korea, enclosing the islands of Japan. The tectonic structure of mountain ranges revolves around Precambrian exposures in Manchuria. The surrounding Palaeozoic/Mesozoic folded areas have an east-west strike in China and a north-west strike in Russia. The Siberian section north of Baikal Lake is mostly of flat sedimentary rocks. Lava plateaus are exposed around Kamchatka, while the island chain further south with extinct volcanoes is an active seismic zone. The mountain ranges are less imposing than those of Central Asia and have comparatively low relief. Therefore, the highest peaks in the region are not in the continental section but on the island chain of Taiwan (3,997m) and Japan (3,776m). The mountains of the North-East are described in the following four groups: Eastern Russia, North and East China,the Korean Peninsula, and the Japanese Archipelago (Figures 5 and 6 and Annex D).

Figure 5: North-East Asia (A)

Figure 6: North-East Asia (B)