ANSWERS: 1
  • 1) North America: "North America's coastline is at least 400 000 km long and is marked by a diversity of ecosystems, including estuaries, bays, inlets, barrier islands, fjords, tidal flats, lagoons, salt marshes, mangrove swamps, coral reefs, deltas and dunes." Source: http://www.unep.org/Geo2000/english/0100.htm 2) Asia and the Pacific: "With more coastline than any other region in the world (some Pacific islands consist of nothing more than a coastal zone), the region's rich marine resources have for long been central to its development. " http://www.unep.org/Geo2000/english/0068.htm 3) "Asia's coastline--some 39,000 miles (62,800 km) in length--is, variously, high and mountainous, low and alluvial, terraced as a result of the land being uplifted, or "drowned" where the land has subsided." Source: http://www.tuvy.com/Countries.htm 4) Here a "List of countries by length of coastline": "However, measurements of the length of a coastline behave like a fractal, being different at different scale intervals (distance between points on the coastline at which measurements are taken). The smaller the scale interval (meaning the more detailed the measurement), the longer the coastline will be. This 'magnifying' effect is greater for convoluted coastlines than for relatively smooth ones. For example, as seen on satellite image websites, the length of Canada's very convoluted coastline at a scale interval of 500 km is only about 20,000 km, less than a tenth of the value given in the table. On the other hand, Australia's coastline at 500 km intervals is about 12,500 km, around half the value in the table. Since the scales at which the CIA World Factbook figures were measured is not stated, they cannot be relied upon except as a guide." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_length_of_coastline This article would bring about: - 222,000 km coastline for Nord America (Canada, USA, Mexico) - 194,600 km coastline for Asia (only the lands with the biggest coastlines: Indonesia, Russia, Phillippines, Japan, PR China, India) So maybe it could be about the same if one consider also the other Asian countries. And of course, it would depend where the limits of the continents are set. Further information about continents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent 5) here an interesting article showing how the length of the coastline depends on the length of the used ruler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Long_Is_the_Coast_of_Britain%3F_Statistical_Self-Similarity_and_Fractional_Dimension

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