Located in northern Europe, United Kingdom is made up of the islands of Great Britain (consisting of England, Scotland and Wales) and North Ireland (one-sixth of island of Ireland) plus many more small islands. “The total land mass of the UK is approximated to be 254,000 square kilometers.” (Hugh and Vince) Of all the islands England is the largest island with an area of 130,400 square kilometers covering more than half of UK’s total landmass. It has numerous large cities with five of the biggest cities found there. Scotland follows Britain with total area of 78,772 square kilometers made up of numerous islands such as Hebrides and Orkney, accounts for nearly one third of the total land. Wales covers 20,758 square kilometers while North Ireland covers 14,160 square kilometers being the smallest islands. North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea enclose UK at the center and lies northwest of France.
The UK’s physical geography varies from one region to another. “England geography has a lowland terrain; North West has mountain terrain which includes the Cambrian Mountains found in Lake District and Limestone and Pennines hills in Peak District.” (Loeber) Scotland geography is characterized by the Highland Boundary Fault and a geological rock fracture. The geological rock ranges from Helens burgh to Stone haven while the fault line separates the highland to the North and lowland of south and east. Lowland areas are the home to most population and the home to Glasgow the capital city of Scotland. Although the topography of Wales is mountainous, North Wales is more mountainous than south and low lands of central Wales. The highest mountains, Snowdon is found in Snowdian. The geography of north Ireland is mostly hilly and comprise the Mourne Mountains (the highest peak) and Lough Neah which is the largest water body in UK at 388 square kilometers. The general geography of the UK is believed to have been formed climatic change especially glacial and tectonic movement forces both combined.
United Kingdom has a varied and diverse geology. There are broad variety of landscapes in all over the UK. The Gneisses rocks are the oldest rocks in UK and are mostly found in North West Scotland with few traces of the rock in other places. The north west highland and Grampian highland in Scotland are formed by mixture of rocks believed to be remains of folded sedimentary rocks. Central England is made up of volcanic islands. Wales and Lake District are covered with large amount of volcanic lava and ash known as Borrowdale Volcanic seen inform of Helvellyn and Scafell Pike mountains. Other land features found in UK includes: Snowdon in Wales and Scafell Pike in England. Mountains in Scotland are found in the highland and include the Ben Nevis the British Isles highest point. Mountain ranges and hills include; Cheviot hill and Cairngorms in Scotland, Presils hills and Black mountains in Wales while Dartmoor, Exrnoor and Chilterns are found in England.
The longest river in UK is river Severn that flows across Wales and England with approximate length of 354 kilometers. Thames is the second main river in England. River Tay and river Bann are the longest rivers in Scotland and North Ireland respectively; river Tywi is found in Wales. Lake Loch Morar is the deepest lake in UK with a depth of 300 meters. Other lakes in UK include Lake Wastwater the deepest in England, Loch Lomond in Scotland and Lake Vyrnwy and Lough Neagh in Wales and North Ireland. Apart from natural water bodies the UK has got numerous artificial waterways.
Initially much of the UK was covered by forest but with time man has deforested much of it. UK has numerous natural resources. “It has large arable land favorable for agricultural production.” (Webber) It also has large deposits of coal, natural gas and oil reserves. Other natural resources in UK comprise of limestone, rock salt iron ore, gold and silver to mention a few.
Works Cited
Hugh Mathew and Vince Gardiner, Changing geography of United Kingdom, London: P. Taylor & Frances. Inc, 1999.
Loeber, Rolf. The geography and Practice of English Colonization in Ireland from 1534-1609. Athlone: Group for the Study of Irish Historic Settlement, 1991.
Peter Webber, The UK, London: Nelson Thornes, 1998.