Apparently that didn't catch on for map making and labeling so it is all Oceania now? Last year when my dd was in the local National Geographic Bee, the participants were told that the continent is Australia, and Oceania would be considered an incorrect answer.
The continent is Australia, but in Britain, the region, not the continent, is named in the continent lists. Funny, huh? I learned Oceania in school in the early s. We were told that it was the continent name for Australia and New Zealand and that Australia was the name of the country. I have been confused ever since whenever I heard people refer to Australia as the continent and I was surprised by your post.
I always heard that Australia, New Zealand, and the Polynesian islands were all part of the continent of "Oceania". I was thinking of this the other day when I read the post about high school kids not knowing the oceans and continents. They delineate a Southern Ocean because the southern part of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans all behave consistently and have a similar current and other attributes it makes sense to them to refer to it as the Southern Ocean instead of always saying "in the southern Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans Terri, Australia has recognised the Southern Ocean for a while, but apparently it has only recently been recognised by the rest of the world so don't worry if you didn't know the term - you didn't forget anything crucial!
Don't know where I read that, sorry! Or perhaps, I read it somewhere and thought "oh that's interesting, a non-Aus source referring to Southern Ocean. Hmm, I'm a bit vague today! In school, back in the dark ages, we were taught that Australia was both the smallest continent and the largest island.
New Zealand and the other countries weren't part of that definition. I didn't hear the term "Oceania" until I was in my 20s and it was a term used by some Europeans for the whole region - much in the same way that Singapore is part of Asia.
I think it is a bit like how Pluto? Ideas change and so do definitions. Makes it hard! I just watched the other night. It used to drive me nuts when my dh would remark that Australia was a country, an island and a continent.
My response was that Australia couldn't possibly be a continent because New Zealand and a myriad of little islands are part of the continent but certainly not part of this country. I switch between Oceania and Australasia when teaching my kids but I point blank refuse to call the whole continent Australia. A continent is just a large land mass and Australia is a continent surrounded by ocean New Zealand is not part of the Australian continent, surely.
I mean, you go deep enough under the ocean and we are all connected :. Australia is Australia. The general area all around and to the north of Australia is covered in many small and large islandes, and together they are called Oceania- the term Australasia used to be used but I dont know how official it way But we in Australia do not think of ourselves as "Oceania" very much, although technically, it is politically correct nowadays to do so. We are just Australians, the same as French think of themselves as French, even though they are part of Europe.
Thanks for posting these questions! I remember the first time I came across these terms homeschooling my kids, and wondering what else I had missed in the 25 years I'd been out of school.
I'm happy to have some clarification so that the next time it turns up, I'll be more prepared! I've lived in New Zealand most of my life and now live in Australia. I think we were taught Australasia as the region but I don't really know to be honest. It wasn't big on our radar. We were NZ and the big place next door was Australia. I still wouldn't have a clue what to call the region if asked.
On the other hand I've heard of the Southern Ocean for many years. My DS is mad keen on sailing and can tell you all about exactly what delineates the Southern Ocean. I'm still clueless. All I know is that when the wind blows a stinking Southerly and feels like it's full of icechips I learned in geography at school that Australia is the largest Island, and the smallest continent. Indonesia etc, is part of Asia.
And it is the south pacific ocean. I was taught that the United Kingdom was part of Europe because it was on the same continental shelf.
Indeed, I recently learned that much of the North sea was inhabited during the last ice age, when sea levels were lower. Are Australia and New Zealand on the same continental shelf, with just shallow seas between, or is it deep ocean? This map suggests that you have deep ocean there. First time that I heard that term was Oceania has always been our friend, Oceania is our enemy no wait Oceania also includes three island regions: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia including the U. Oceania can be divided into three island groups: continental island s, high island s, and low island s.
The islands in each group are formed in different ways and are made up of different materials. Continental islands have a variety of physical features, while high and low islands are fairly uniform in their physical geography.
Continental Islands Continental islands were once attached to continents before sea level changes and tectonic activity isolated them. Australia, Zealandia, and New Guinea are continental islands. These three regions share some physical features. These highlands are fold mountain s, created as tectonic plates pressed together and pushed land upward. New Zealand and Papua New Guinea also have volcanic features as a result of tectonic activity. Although they share some landscape features, each of these regions has distinct physical features that resulted from different environmental processes.
High Islands High islands, also called volcanic islands, are created as volcanic eruptions build up land over time. These eruptions begin under water, when hot magma is cooled and hardened by the ocean.
This part of the Ring of Fire is on the boundary of the Pacific plate and the Australian plate. This is a convergent plate boundary , where the two plates move toward each other. Low Islands Low islands are also called coral islands. They are made of the skeletons and living bodies of small marine animals called coral s. An atoll forms when a coral reef builds up around a volcanic island, then the volcanic island erode s away, leaving a lagoon. Atolls are defined as one island even though they are made up of multiple communities of coral.
The island regions of Micronesia and Polynesia are dominated by low islands. The Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, for example, is composed of 97 islands and islets that surround one of the largest lagoons in the world, with an area of 2, square kilometers square miles. The nation of Kiribati is composed of 32 atolls and one solitary island dispersed over 3. Island Flora and Fauna The evolution of flora and fauna across the islands of Australia and Oceania is unique. Many plants and animals reached the islands from southern Asia during the last glacial period , when sea levels were low enough to allow for travel.
After sea levels rose, species adapted to the environment of each island or community of islands, producing multiple species that evolved from a common ancestor. Due to its isolation from the rest of the world, Australia and Oceania has an incredibly high number of endemic species, or species that are found nowhere else on Earth. Plants traveled between islands by riding wind or ocean current s. Birds carried the seeds of fruits and plants and spread them between islands with their droppings.
Ferns, mosses, and some flowering plants rely on spores or seeds that can remain airborne for long distances. Coconut palms and mangroves, common throughout Australia and Oceania, produce seeds that can float on salty water for weeks at a time.
Important flowering plants native to Australia and Oceania include the jacaranda, hibiscus, pohutukawa, and kowhai. Other indigenous trees include the breadfruit, eucalyptus, and banyan. Birds are very common in Australia and Oceania because they are one of the few animals mobile enough to move from island to island.
There are more than endemic bird species in Australia and Oceania, including many seabirds. Many flightless birds, such as emus, kiwis, cassowaries, wekas, and takahes, are native to Australia, Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand.
The Pacific Islands have more than 25 species of birds of paradise, which exhibit colorful plumage. Lizard species include the goanna, skink, and bearded dragon. Australia and Oceania has more than a hundred different species of fruit bats. The few native land animals in Australia and Oceania are unusual. Australia and Oceania is the only place in the world that is home to monotreme s—mammals that lay eggs.
All monotremes are native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. There are only five living species: the duckbill platypus and four species of echidna. Many of the most familiar animals native to Australia and Oceania are marsupial s, including the koala, kangaroo, and wallaby.
Marsupials are mammals that carry their newborn young in a pouch. Almost 70 percent of the marsupials on Earth are native to Oceania. The rest are native to the Americas. In Australia and Oceania, marsupials did not face threats or competition from large predator s such as lions, tigers, or bears.
In the Americas, marsupials such as possums are much smaller. Marine Flora and Fauna The marine environment is an important and influential physical region in Australia and Oceania. Marine realm s are large ocean regions where animal and plant life are similar because of shared environmental and evolutionary factors.
The Temperate Australasia realm includes the seas surrounding the southern half of Australia and the islands of New Zealand. Its cold, nutrient -rich waters support a diversity of plants and fish that seabirds feed on. These seabirds include different species of albatross, petrel, and shearwater, as well as the Australasian gannet and rockhopper penguin. The Great Barrier Reef is home to 30 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises; six species of sea turtles; species of birds; and more than 1, species of fish.
The New Caledonia Barrier Reef is home to species of sponges, 5, species of mollusks, 5, species of crustaceans, and at least 1, species of fish. The Eastern Indo-Pacific realm surrounds the tropical islands of the central Pacific Ocean, extending from the Marshall Islands through central and southeastern Polynesia.
Like the Central Indo-Pacific realm, this realm is also known for its tropical coral formations. A variety of whale, tortoise, and fish species also inhabit this realm. Australia and Oceania is a continent made up of thousands of islands throughout the South Pacific Ocean. Sea level is determined by measurements taken over a year cycle. Zealandia is almost totally underwater. The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.
The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.
0コメント