Dry Continental regions have various types of climates on account of difference in latitudes. The only common feature everywhere is scanty rainfall. Sparse population is the characteristic of these regions.
These regions are located in the deep interior of the continents and are distant from the oceans. The largest region is located in the middle or Eurasia. Spanish and Turkish plateaus are also the part and parcel of Eurasian region. In North America, Dry continental regions are found in the middle latitudes. In South America this type of region is located in the Ice of the Andes Mountains in Argentina. Africa and Australia have limited areas.
In these regions, the temperatures are not the same everywhere. Contrasts are visible in most of the regions. During summer sunlight is normally available. Because of clear skies heating and cooling both are rapidly done. Precipitation is irregular and undependable. It is mainly in the summer and winters are usually dry.
Grass, scrub and desert xerophytes are the type of vegetation found in these regions. Trees are found at higher elevations. Buffalo and grama grass are found in the Great Plains of North America. Bunch grass is found in the West of Rocky Mountains. Antelopes, wild Asses, horses and wolves are found in North America. Marsupials are common in Australia.
Asian region is old. Since times immemorial nomads of Mongolia utilized it for the grazing. Agricultural activity is the primary activity that feeds the largest populations of Loess lands of China. Gobi Desert almost un-inhabitated does not have any activity of life. In almost all semi-arid regions, agricultural activities are on the increase. Grazing lands in these regions provide the centres of livestock industry. Sheep, camels, horses, cattle and goats etc., have been raised by the collective farms.
Eastern Ukraine is the second important industrial region of the former U.S.S.R. Volgograd situated on the bank of Volga and also known as Stalingrad, is a centre of iron and steel industry, agricultural machinery, food processing and oil refinery etc. Samarkand and Tashkent centres of old civilization are now industrial centres producing cotton and silk etc. North America is not so industrially important as other industrial belts of American continents are, but still manufacturing, in one or other way, is significant. In South Africa Johannesburg is self-sufficient in production of steel, in China urban centres are not big ones but in this region of Soviet Union some cities are well populated. Donetsk has a population of more than 700,000 people. Tashkent is the metropolis of this region. Denver, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Washington are the cities with great importance in North America. In the Southern hemisphere Johannesburg and Pretoria in Africa and Tucumana and Mendoza in Argentina are some of the important cities having some industrial base.
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