What platform is the East European Plain located on. The East European Plain is one of the largest plains in the world.

the East European Plain occupies an area of ​​about 4 million km 2, which is approximately 26% of the territory of Russia. In the north, east and south, its borders run along natural boundaries, in the west - along the state border. In the north, the plain is washed by the Barents and White Seas, in the south - by the Caspian, Black and Azov, in the west - by the Baltic Sea. The Ural Mountains border the plain from the east.

Large tectonic structures lie at the base of the plain - the Russian platform and the Scythian plate. In most of the territory, their foundation is deeply submerged under powerful strata of sedimentary rocks. different ages lying horizontally. Therefore, flat relief prevails on the platforms. In a number of places the foundation of the platform is raised. There are large hills in these areas. The Dnieper Upland is located within the Ukrainian shield. The relatively elevated plains of Karelia and the Kola Peninsula, as well as the low mountains of the Khibiny, correspond to the Baltic Shield. The uplifted foundation of the Voronezh anticlise serves as the core of the Central Russian Upland. The same rise in the basement is located at the base of the highlands of the High Trans-Volga region. A special case is the Volga Upland, where the foundation lies at great depths. Here, during the entire Mesozoic and Paleogene, the earth's crust sagged and thick strata of sedimentary rocks accumulated. Then, during the Neogene and Quaternary time, this area of ​​the earth's crust was uplifted, which led to the formation of the Volga Upland.

A number of large hills were formed as a result of repeated Quaternary glaciations, the accumulation of glacial material - moraine loams and sands. Such are the Valdai, Smolensk-Moscow, Klinsko-Dmitrovskaya, Northern Ridges hills.

Between the large hills are lowlands, in which the valleys of large rivers - the Dnieper, Don, Volga - were laid.

On the outskirts of the East European Plain, where the foundation of the platform is lowered very deeply, there are large lowlands - the Caspian, Black Sea, Pechora, etc. Sea advances have repeatedly occurred in these territories, including recently - in the Quaternary, therefore they are blocked by heavy marine sediments and have a flat topography. The average height of the Russian Plain is about 170 m, some elevations reach 300-400 m or more.

On the territory of the East European Plain there are rich deposits of various minerals. Iron ores of the Kursk magnetic anomaly are connected with the foundation of the platform. The Kola Peninsula is especially rich in minerals, where there are significant reserves of iron, copper, nickel, aluminum ores, huge reserves of apatite. The sedimentary cover of the platform is associated with such minerals as oil shale, mined in the strata of the Ordovician and Silurian ages in the Baltic. Carbon deposits are associated with brown coal deposits of the Moscow region, Permian - bituminous coals of the Pechora basin, oil and gas of the Urals and the Volga region, salt and gypsum of the Cis-Urals. Phosphorites, chalk and manganese are mined in the sedimentary layers of the Mesozoic.

The East European Plain is located in temperate latitudes. It is open to the north and west and as a result is exposed to the air masses that form over the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Atlantic air masses bring a significant amount of precipitation to the East European Plain, so forests grow in most of its territory. The amount of precipitation decreases from 600-900 mm per year in the west to 300-200 mm in the south and southeast. As a result, in the south of the East European Plain there are dry steppes, and in the extreme southeast, in the Caspian lowland, there are semi-deserts and deserts.

Atlantic air masses throughout the year have a moderating effect on the climate. In winter, they bring warming up to thaws. Therefore, in the western regions of the plains it is much warmer than in the eastern. Average January temperatures drop from -4°C in the Kaliningrad region to -18°C in the Cis-Urals. As a result, winter isotherms in most of the plain (except for the extreme south) stretch almost meridionally, from north-northwest to south-southeast.

Arctic air in winter spreads over the entire territory of the East European Plain up to the extreme south. It brings with it dryness and coldness. In summer, the invasion of the Arctic air is accompanied by cold snaps and droughts. The alternating invasion of the Atlantic and Arctic air masses causes the instability of weather phenomena and the dissimilarity of the seasons different years. Summer temperatures naturally increase from north to south: average temperatures in the north are +8...+10°С, in the south +24...+26°С, and the isotherms stretch almost in the latitudinal direction. In general, the climate in most of the East European Plain is temperate continental.

Unlike other large parts of Russia, the largest rivers of the East European Plain flow south. These are the Dnieper, Dniester, Southern Bug, Don, Volga, Kama, Vyatka, Ural. This allows their water to be used to irrigate the arid lands of the south. Large irrigation systems have been created in the North Caucasus, which use the water of the Volga, Don and local rivers. Extensive irrigation systems have been created on the lower Don, they also exist in the Volga region.

To the north, such high-water, but relatively short rivers as the Pechora, Northern Dvina, Onega carry their water, to the west - the Western Dvina, Neva and Neman.

The upper reaches and channels of many rivers are often located close to each other, which, in conditions of flat terrain, contributes to their connection by channels. These are the channels. Moscow, Volga-Baltic, Volga-Don, White Sea-Baltic. Thanks to canals, ships from Moscow can sail along rivers, lakes and reservoirs to the Caspian, Azov, Black, Baltic and White Seas. Therefore, Moscow is called the port of five seas.

In winter, all the rivers of the East European Plain freeze. In the spring, when the snow melts, floods occur in most parts. Numerous reservoirs and hydroelectric power stations have been built on the rivers to retain and use spring water. The Volga and Dnieper turned into a cascade of reservoirs used both for electricity generation and for navigation, land irrigation, water supply to cities and industrial centers.

A characteristic feature of the East European Plain is a clear manifestation of latitudinal zonality. It is expressed more fully and clearly than on other plains. the globe. It is no coincidence that the law of zoning, formulated by the famous Russian scientist Dokuchaev, was primarily based on his study of this very territory.

The flatness of the territory, the abundance of minerals, a relatively mild climate, sufficient rainfall, a variety of natural landscapes favorable for various industries Agriculture, - all this contributed to the intensive economic development of the East European Plain. In economic terms, this is the most important part of Russia. It is home to more than 50% of the country's population and hosts two-thirds of the total number of cities and workers' settlements. On the territory of the plain there is the most dense network of highways and railways. Most of the largest rivers - the Volga, Dnieper, Don, Dniester, Zapadnaya Dvina, Kama - are regulated and transformed into a cascade of reservoirs. Large areas of forests have been cut down and forest landscapes have turned into a combination of forests and fields. Many forests are now secondary forests, where coniferous and broad-leaved species have been replaced by small-leaved species - birch, aspen. On the territory of the East European Plain there is half of the entire arable land of the country, about 40% of hayfields, 12% of pastures. Of all the large parts of the East European Plain, the most developed and changed by human activities.

North Caucasus

The North Caucasus occupies a vast space between the Black, Azov and Caspian Seas. In the north of this large part of Russia, the Kuma-Manych depression stretches, and in the south there is a state border. The North Caucasus consists of Ciscaucasia and the northern slope of the Greater Caucasus Mountains.

In Ciscaucasia there are vast lowlands, which are divided Stavropol Upland. By origin and natural features, they are associated with the Caucasus Mountains. The Kuban, Terek, Kuma, and other rivers carry a large amount of loose material from the mountains, which is deposited on the plains. As a result, rivers flow in their own sediment above the surrounding plains. Therefore, despite the aridity of the climate in Ciscaucasia, in the lower reaches of the rivers there are vast swampy areas - floodplains. Due to the fact that the riverbeds are elevated, the most favorable opportunities for the development of irrigated agriculture are opening up. In the Kuban valley there are vast flooded fields where a lot of rice is grown.

The climate of Ciscaucasia is arid. Annual rainfall in the west is 550 mm, in the east - about 200 mm. With such a small amount of moisture, productive agriculture is possible only with the use of irrigation. Therefore, a number of irrigation systems have been created that use the waters of the Volga, Don, Kuban, Kuma, Manych and other rivers.

Stavropol Upland located in the axial part of Ciscaucasia. As a result of intensive tectonic uplifts of the earth's crust, it turned out to be uplifted to a height of 800 m. A large amount of precipitation falls on the relatively high slopes of the elevation - about 800 mm per year.

Chernozems dominate in the western part of Ciscaucasia. In the past, feather grass-forb steppes grew here, now almost completely plowed and occupied by crops of wheat, sugar beet and sunflower. To the east of the Stavropol Upland, where it is much drier, there are dry steppes on chestnut soils and semi-deserts. They are mainly used for pastures for numerous flocks of sheep.

To the south of the Stavropol Upland, along the faults of the earth's crust, laccolith mountains rose above the plains. The largest of them are Beshtau and Mashuk. At their foot there are sources of healing mineral waters - Narzan and Essentuki and a number of others. They are used in numerous sanatoriums and resorts in Pyatigorsk, Zheleznovodsk, Essentuki, Kislovodsk, etc.

In tectonic piedmont troughs, oil and gas reserves were formed. The oilfields are located near the city of Grozny. Gas is produced in the Stavropol Territory.

Main Watershed, or Greater Caucasian, ridge stretches from the northwest to the southeast, rising up to 5000 m in huge anticlinal folds. Its central part is the highest, where solid crystalline rocks are broken by numerous tectonic cracks. In past geological epochs, lava erupted along cracks and volcanoes formed. The largest of them are Elbrus (5642 m) and Kazbek (5033 m). The snow-covered peak of Elbrus is the highest peak of the Caucasus. In the high mountains of the Greater Caucasus, there is a lot of snow and numerous glaciers (Table VIII.9). Rivers originate from them, carrying swift waters to the plains (Kuban, Terek, Kuma, etc.). The rivers of the Caucasus have large reserves of hydropower resources.

The mountains of the Greater Caucasus are located on the border of the temperate and subtropical zones. They serve as a barrier to the movement of cold air masses to the south. Under the cover of high mountains, the subtropics in this region have moved far to the north (the regions of Anapa and Sochi). The southwestern part of the mountains receives the most precipitation (from 2600 to 4000 mm). Throughout the year, over the Black Sea, cyclones move from west to east. When moist air masses rise along the slopes of the mountains, moisture condenses and precipitation occurs. So, in the vicinity of Sochi there is a large amount of precipitation - up to 2500 mm per year. On the southeastern slope of the mountains, the picture is reversed. The air masses flowing down from the mountains heat up and dry up, so there are arid territories in this area.

Changes in the amount of precipitation and air temperature are directly reflected in the nature of the soil and vegetation cover, in the features of the vertical zonality along the slopes of the mountains. The highest peaks of the central part of the Caucasus Range are occupied by snow and glaciers.

Below are lush alpine and subalpine meadows with thickets of Caucasian rhododendron. These meadows are used as excellent summer pastures. Between the heights of 2000 and 1300 m, spruce-fir forests grow, which are replaced from top to bottom by broad-leaved - oak forests. In the lower parts of the southwestern slopes, evergreen shrubs and lianas are frequent. In the eastern part of the Caucasus Mountains, both on the northern and southern slopes, due to a decrease in precipitation, forests occupy much smaller areas. They are replaced by thickets of thorny bushes - shilyak.

The bowels of the Greater Caucasus are rich in minerals. At the eastern foot of the mountains on the Absheron Peninsula there are oil and gas fields.

Ural

Ural stretched in the meridional direction for 2000 km from north to south - from the Arctic islands of Novaya Zemlya to the sun-scorched deserts of the Turan Plain. A conditional geographical border between Europe and Asia is drawn along the Cis-Urals. The Ural Mountains are located in the inland boundary zone of the earth's crust between the ancient Russian platform and the young West Siberian plate. buried in the foundations Ural mountains folds of the earth's crust were formed during the Hercynian orogeny. Mountain building was accompanied by intensive processes of volcanism and metamorphism of rocks, therefore, numerous minerals were formed in the depths of the Urals - ores of iron, polymetals, aluminum, gold, platinum. Then for a long time - in the Mesozoic and Paleogene - there were processes of destruction and alignment of the Hercynian mountains. Gradually, the mountains fell and turned into a hilly hill. In the Neogene-Quaternary time, the ancient folded structures lying at its base split into blocks that rose to different heights. Thus, the former folded mountains turned into folded-blocky ones. There was a rejuvenation of the ancient destroyed mountains. Nevertheless, the modern ranges of the Urals are predominantly low. In the north and south they rise up to 800-1000 m. high peak Ural - Mount Narodnaya (1894 m). In the middle part, the height of the ridges does not exceed 400-500 m. railways, along which trains move between the European and Asian parts of Russia.

The uneven uplift of blocks of the earth's crust led to differences in the height of mountain ranges, their external forms. According to the features of the relief, the Urals is divided into several parts. The Polar Urals are stretched by four ridges, gradually rising from the Pai-Khoi hills to 1500 m. The ridges of the Subpolar Urals have many sharp peaks. The Northern Urals consists of two elongated parallel ridges that rise up to 800-1000 m. The western of these two ridges has flat tops. The eastern slope of the Urals abruptly breaks off towards the West Siberian lowland. The Middle Urals is the lowest part of the entire Urals: heights of about 500 m dominate. However, individual peaks rise up to 800 m here too. The Southern Urals is the widest, with predominance of foothill plateaus. Mountain tops are often flat.

The distribution of minerals in the Urals is determined by the peculiarities of its geological structure. In the west, in the Cis-Ural trough, sedimentary strata of limestone, gypsum, and clay accumulated, which are associated with significant deposits of oil, potassium salts, and coal. In the central part of the Urals, metamorphic rocks of the inner folds of the mountains appeared on the surface - gneisses, quartzites and shales, broken by tectonic faults. Igneous rocks intruded along the faults led to the formation of ore minerals. Among them, the most important role belongs to the ores of iron, polymetals, and aluminum. During the years of the first five-year plans, a large iron ore plant and the city of Magnitogorsk were built on the basis of iron ore deposits. The eastern slope of the Urals is composed of various geological rocks - sedimentary, metamorphic and volcanic, and therefore the minerals are very diverse. These are ores of iron, non-ferrous metals, aluminum, deposits of gold and silver, precious and semi-precious stones, asbestos.

The Urals is a climate divide between the temperate continental climate of the East European Plain and the continental climate of Western Siberia. Despite their relatively low height, the Ural Mountains have an impact on the climate of our country. Throughout the year, moist air masses, brought by cyclones from the Atlantic Ocean, penetrate the Urals. When air rises along the western slope, the amount of precipitation increases. The lowering of air along the eastern slope is accompanied by its drying. Therefore, 1.5-2 times less precipitation falls on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains than on the western ones. The western and eastern slopes differ both in temperature and in the nature of the weather. Average January temperatures vary from -22° in the north to -16°C in the south. On the western slope, winters are relatively mild and snowy. Little snow falls on the eastern slope, and frosts can reach -45°C. Summer in the north is cool and rainy, warm in most of the Urals, and hot and dry in the south.

Many rivers originate in the Urals. The largest among them flow to the west. These are Pechora, Kama, Belaya, Ufa. The Ishim flows to the east, the Urals to the south. On the meridional sections, the rivers flow calmly along wide valleys in the basins between the ridges. On latitudinal segments, they swiftly rush across the ridges along tectonic faults along narrow rocky gorges with many rapids. The alternation of narrow gorges and wide sections of valleys gives the rivers an amazing variety and beauty, favors the construction of reservoirs. In the Urals, the need for water is very high, which is needed in large quantities for numerous industrial enterprises and cities. However, many rivers are heavily polluted by wastewater from industrial enterprises and cities and need to be cleaned up. Great and varied economic importance the rivers of the Urals and the Urals, although their role in shipping and energy is not so great. Hydropower reserves of the Ural rivers are below the national average. The average annual capacity of the middle rivers of the Urals is about 3.5 million kW. The Kama basin is richest in hydropower. A number of large hydroelectric power plants have been built here. Among them are Kamskaya and Votkinskaya HPPs. The largest reservoir of the Kamskaya HPP stretches for 220 km. A hydroelectric power station of significant capacity was built on the river. Ufa. Despite the abundance of Ural rivers, only a few of them are suitable for navigation. This is primarily Kama, Belaya, Ufa. In the Trans-Urals, ships sail along the Tobol, Tavda, and in the high waters along Sosva, Lozva and Tura. For shallow-draft vessels, the Urals are also navigable below the city of Orenburg.

To improve water supply, ponds and reservoirs have long been built on the rivers of the Urals. These are Verkhne-Isetsky and city ponds in Yekaterinburg, Nizhne-Tagilsky and others. Reservoirs have also been created: Volchikhinsky on Chusovaya, Magnitogorsky and Iriklinsky in the Urals.

For industrial, agricultural purposes, recreation and tourism, numerous lakes are used, of which there are more than 6 thousand lakes.

The Ural crosses several natural zones. Along its peaks and upper parts of the slopes, they are shifted to the south. Mountain tundras are common in the Polar Urals. To the south, on the western slopes, under conditions of high moisture, dark coniferous spruce-fir forests dominate, along the eastern slopes - pine and cedar forests. In the Southern Urals on the western slope there are coniferous-broad-leaved forests, to the south they are replaced by linden and oak forest-steppe. On the eastern slope of the Southern Urals there is a birch-aspen forest-steppe. In the extreme south of the Urals and in the low mountains of Mugodzhary, there are dry steppes and semi-deserts.

Western Siberia

Western Siberia- the largest plain in the world. It extends from the Kara Sea to the northern slopes of the Kazakh uplands for 2.5 thousand km. In the northern part, the plain stretches from the Urals to the Yenisei for 1,000 km, and in the southern part, for almost 2,000 km. The entire plain lies on the West Siberian Plate with a deeply dipped Paleozoic folded basement. It is covered by sedimentary strata of the Mesozoic, Paleogene and Quaternary age of enormous thickness, reaching 6 thousand m. They are represented by clays, sandstones, sands and shales. Quaternary strata consist of marine, river and glacial deposits: loams, sands and clays. During the revival of the Ural and Altai mountains, loose sedimentary strata of the West Siberian Plate were slightly deformed. Folds appeared in them, which led to the formation of underground domes. In such domes, composed of sands, covered with impenetrable dense clays, oil and gas accumulated. The largest deposits are in the Surgut region, gas fields are in the Urengoy region and on the Yamal Peninsula. In the south of the plain, where the folded basement is elevated, there are deposits of iron ore. The largest of them is Sokolovsko-Sarbaiskoye.

A powerful horizontally occurring stratum of sedimentary rocks determines the flatness of the modern relief. The northern and central parts of Western Siberia are lowlands, located at an altitude of up to 100 m above sea level. The southern part of the plain rises a little higher. In general, Western Siberia has the shape of a huge bowl, slightly rising to the south, west and east and tilted to the north. The northern most lowered part of the plain is separated from the rest by a narrow, latitudinally elongated upland. Siberian Ridges.

Rivers flow slowly across the gently sloping plain. They are shallowly incised and form extensive meanders and channels with an unstable channel. During the spring floods, they overflow widely.

The flat surface of the northern half of the territory, poor drainage associated with shallow incision of rivers, excessive moisture, an abundance of groundwater coming from the elevated margins of the plain - all this led to the formation of vast marshes. Western Siberia is the most swampy plain in the world. The swampiness is 38%.

The inland position of Western Siberia determined the continentality of its climate, especially in the south of the plain. The average January temperature varies from -25°С in the north to -18°С in the south. Middle July - from +2°С on the coast of the Kara Sea to +22°С in the extreme south. In the second half of winter, an area of ​​increased pressure spreads to Western Siberia. At this time windless sunny frosty weather sets in. Little snow falls (with the exception of the northeast), but since there are practically no thaws in Western Siberia, it accumulates and a stable snow cover forms. In the south of the plain, its thickness is 30 cm, in the northeast, in front of the Putorana mountains, it is 80 cm. In summer, arctic air rushes onto the heated surface of the plain, which meets with heated southern air currents. As a result of their interaction, cyclones arise and precipitation falls.

In Western Siberia, latitudinal zonality is clearly expressed. The extreme north on the Yamal, Tazovsky and Gydansky peninsulas is occupied by the tundra zone. The forest-tundra descends to the south almost to the Siberian Ridges. It presents larch and birch crooked forests. In the south of the forest-tundra, pine and cedar appear in larch forests. Forests extend far to the north along the rivers, as the river valleys are drier due to better drainage, and heat comes from the south with river water. In the tundra and forest-tundra zone there are pastures where many thousands of herds of reindeer graze. Commercial hunting (fox skins) and fishing provide rich prey. Gas is being produced.

Sixty percent of the territory of Western Siberia occupied by forested area. Swamps dominate in the interfluve areas. Taiga forests grow mainly on the slopes of river valleys and narrow sandy elevations in the interfluves - manes. Pine forests predominate in the western Cis-Ural part of the zone. In the northern and middle parts of the plain, spruce-cedar and larch forests dominate, in the southern - taiga of spruce, cedar, fir, birch. In the taiga they hunt sable, squirrel, marten, muskrat and mink. To the south, the taiga gives way to birch-aspen forests, which turn into forest-steppe. It consists of grassy steppes with numerous birch-aspen groves in depressions (choppings). The extreme south of Western Siberia is occupied by the steppe zone, where chernozems and dark chestnut soils have formed in an arid climate. They are almost completely open. Fields of spring wheat are located on vast tracts of former virgin lands. The plowing of the steppes led to the emergence of dust storms. Currently on vast expanses south of Western Siberia, special methods of non-moldboard tillage are used, in which the stubble of grain crops is preserved. It contributes to the accumulation of snow, protects the soil from blowing. There are many salt lakes in the steppes, where soda and table salt are mined.

Poland
Bulgaria Bulgaria
Romania Romania

East European Plain (Russian Plain)- a plain in Eastern Europe, an integral part of the European Plain. It extends from the coast of the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains, from the Barents and White Seas to the Black, Azov and Caspian. In the northwest it is bounded by the Scandinavian mountains, in the southwest by the Sudetenland and other mountains central Europe, in the southeast - the Caucasus, and in the west, the river Vistula serves as the conditional boundary of the plain. Is one of largest plains the globe. The total length of the plain from north to south is more than 2.7 thousand kilometers, and from west to east - 2.5 thousand kilometers. The area is over 4 million square meters. km. . Because the most of plains located within Russia also known as Russian plain.

On the territory of the plain, in addition to Russia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria are completely or partially located.

Relief and geological structure

The East European Plain consists of uplands with altitudes of 200-300 m above sea level and lowlands along which large rivers flow. The average height of the plain is 170 m, and the highest - 479 m - on the Bugulma-Belebeevskaya Upland in the Cis-Urals.

According to the features of orographic features within the East European Plain, three bands are clearly distinguished: central, northern and southern. A strip of alternating large uplands and lowlands passes through the central part of the plain: Central Russian, Volga, Bugulmin

To the north of this strip, low plains predominate, on the surface of which smaller hills are scattered in garlands and singly. From west to east-northeast, the Smolensk-Moscow, Valdai Uplands and Northern Uvals stretch here, replacing each other. The watersheds between the Arctic, Atlantic and internal drainless Aral-Caspian basins mainly pass along them. From Severnye Uvaly the territory goes down to the White and Barents Seas
The southern part of the East European Plain is occupied by lowlands (Caspian, Black Sea, etc.), separated by low elevations (Ergeni, Stavropol Upland).

Almost all large uplands and lowlands are plains of tectonic origin.

At the base of the East European Plain lie Russian stove with Precambrian crystalline basement, in the south the northern edge Scythian plate with Paleozoic folded basement. The boundary between the plates in the relief is not expressed. On the uneven surface The Precambrian basement of the Russian plate is formed by strata of Precambrian (Vendian, in some places Riphean) and Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks. Their thickness is not the same (from 1500-2000 to 100-150 m) and is due to the unevenness of the basement relief, which determines the main geostructures of the plate. These include syneclises - areas of deep foundation (Moscow, Pechora, Caspian, Glazov), anteclises - areas of shallow foundation (Voronezh, Volga-Ural), aulacogens - deep tectonic ditches (Kresttsovsky, Soligalichsky, Moscow, etc.), ledges Baikal basement - Timan.

Glaciation strongly influenced the formation of the relief of the East European Plain. This effect was most pronounced in the northern part of the plain. As a result of the passage of the glacier through this territory, many lakes arose (Chudskoye, Pskovskoye, Beloe and others). In the southern, southeastern and eastern parts, which were subjected to glaciation in an earlier period, their consequences are smoothed out by erosion processes.

Climate

The climate of the East European Plain is influenced by the features of its relief, geographical position in temperate and high latitudes, as well as neighboring territories (Western Europe and North Asia), the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, a significant length from west to east and from north to south. The total solar radiation per year in the north of the plain, in the Pechora basin, reaches 2700 mJ / m2 (65 kcal / cm2), and in the south, in the Caspian lowland, 4800-5050 mJ / m2 (115-120 kcal / cm2).

The smoothed relief of the plain contributes to the free transfer of air masses. The East European Plain is characterized by western transport of air masses. In summer, the Atlantic air brings coolness and precipitation, while in winter it brings warmth and precipitation. When moving east, it transforms: in summer it becomes warmer and drier in the surface layer, and colder in winter, but also loses moisture. During the cold season, 8 to 12 cyclones come from different parts of the Atlantic to the East European Plain. When they move to the east or northeast, there is a sharp change in air masses, contributing to either warming or cooling. With the arrival of southwestern cyclones, the warm air of subtropical latitudes invades the south of the plain. Then in January the air temperature can rise to 5°-7°C. The general continentality of the climate increases from the west and northwest to the south and southeast.

In summer, almost everywhere on the plain, the most important factor in the distribution of temperature is solar radiation, therefore, isotherms, unlike winter, are located mainly in accordance with geographic latitude. On the far north the plains, the average July temperature rises to 8°C. The average July isotherm of 20°C goes through Voronezh to Cheboksary, approximately coinciding with the border between forest and forest-steppe, and the isotherm of 24°C crosses the Caspian lowland.

In the north of the East European Plain, more precipitation falls than can be evaporated under given temperature conditions. In the south of the northern climatic region, the moisture balance approaches neutral (atmospheric precipitation is equal to the evaporation rate).

Relief has an important influence on the amount of precipitation: on the western slopes of the uplands, precipitation is 150-200 mm more than on the eastern slopes and the lowlands shaded by them. In summer, on the uplands of the southern half of the Russian Plain, the frequency of rainy weather types almost doubles, while the frequency of dry weather types decreases at the same time. In the southern part of the plain, the maximum precipitation occurs in June, and in the middle lane - in July.

In the south of the plain, the annual and monthly totals of precipitation fluctuate sharply, wet years alternate with dry ones. In Buguruslan (Orenburg region), for example, according to observations over 38 years, the average annual precipitation is 349 mm, the maximum annual precipitation is 556 mm, and the minimum is 144 mm. Droughts are a frequent occurrence for the south and southeast of the East European Plain. Drought can be spring, summer or autumn. About one year out of three is dry.

In winter, a snow cover forms. In the north-east of the plain, its height reaches 60-70 cm, and the duration of occurrence is up to 220 days a year. In the south, the height of the snow cover decreases to 10-20 cm, and the duration of occurrence is up to 60 days.

Hydrography

The East European Plain has a developed lake-river network, the density and regime of which change following climatic conditions from north to south. In the same direction, the degree of swampiness of the territory, as well as the depth of occurrence and the quality of groundwater, change.

Rivers

Most of the rivers of the East European Plain have two main directions - northern and southern. The rivers of the northern slope flow to the Barents, White and Baltic Seas, the rivers of the southern slope head to the Black, Azov and Caspian Seas.

The main watershed between the rivers of the sowing and southern slopes is stretched from the west-southwest to the east-northeast. It passes through the swamps of Polesie, the Lithuanian-Belarusian and Valdai Uplands, Northern Uvals. The most important watershed junction lies on the Valdai Upland. The sources of the Zapadnaya Dvina, the Dnieper and the Volga lie in close proximity here.

All rivers of the East European Plain belong to the same climatic type - predominantly snow-fed with spring floods. Despite belonging to the same climatic type, the rivers of the northern slope differ significantly in their regime from the rivers of the southern slope. The former are located in an area of ​​positive moisture balance, in which precipitation prevails over evaporation.

With an annual precipitation of 400-600 mm in the north of the East European Plain in the tundra zone, the actual evaporation from the earth's surface is 100 mm or less; in the middle lane, where the evaporation ridge passes, 500 mm in the west and 300 mm in the east. As a result, the share of river flow here is from 150 to 350 mm per year, or from 5 to 15 l / s per square kilometer of area. The crest of the runoff passes through the hinterland of Karelia (the northern coast of Lake Onega), the middle reaches of the Northern Dvina and the upper reaches of the Pechora.

Due to the large runoff, the rivers of the northern slope (Northern Dvina, Pechora, Neva, etc.) are full of water. Occupying 37.5% of the area of ​​the Russian Plain, they provide 58% of its total runoff. The abundance of water in these rivers is combined with a more or less uniform distribution of runoff over the seasons. Although snow nutrition is in the first place for them, causing spring floods, rain and ground types of nutrition also play a significant role.

The rivers of the southern slope of the East European Plain flow in conditions of significant evaporation (500-300 mm in the north and 350-200 mm in the south) and a small amount of precipitation compared to the rivers of the northern slope (600-500 mm in the north and 350-200 mm in the south), which leads to a reduction in runoff from 150-200 mm in the north to 10-25 mm in the south. If we express the flow of rivers of the southern slope in liters per second per square kilometer of area, then in the north it will be only 4-6 liters, and in the southeast less than 0.5 liters. The insignificant size of the runoff determines the low water of the rivers of the southern slope and its extreme unevenness during the year: the maximum runoff falls on a short period of spring flood.

lakes

The lakes are located on the East European Plain extremely unevenly. Most of them are in the well-moistened northwest. The southeastern part of the plain, on the contrary, is almost devoid of lakes. It receives little atmospheric precipitation and, moreover, has a mature erosional relief, devoid of closed basin forms. On the territory of the Russian Plain, four lake regions can be distinguished: the region of glacial-tectonic lakes, the region of moraine lakes, the region of floodplain and suffusion-karst lakes, and the region of estuary lakes.

Region of glacial-tectonic lakes

Glacial-tectonic lakes are common in Karelia, Finland and the Kola Peninsula, forming a real lake country. Only in the territory of Karelia there are almost 44 thousand lakes with an area from 1 hectare to several hundred and thousand square kilometers. The lakes of this area, often large, are scattered along tectonic depressions, deepened and processed by the glacier. Their shores are rocky, composed of ancient crystalline rocks.

Region of moraine lakes Region of floodplain and suffosion-karst lakes

The inner central and southern regions of the East European Plain cover the area of ​​floodplain and suffosion-karst lakes. This area lies outside the boundaries of glaciation, with the exception of the northwest, covered by the Dnieper glacier. Due to the well-pronounced erosion relief, there are few lakes in the region. Only floodplain lakes along river valleys are common; occasionally there are small karst and suffusion lakes.

Area of ​​firth lakes

The area of ​​estuary lakes is located on the territory of two coastal lowlands - the Black Sea and the Caspian. At the same time, estuaries are understood here as lakes of various origins. The estuaries of the Black Sea Lowland are sea bays (in the past, river mouths), fenced off from the sea by sand spits. Limans, or ilmens, of the Caspian Lowland are poorly formed depressions that are filled with water from the rivers flowing into them in spring, and in summer turn into swamps, salt marshes or hayfields.

The groundwater

Groundwater is distributed throughout the East European Plain, forming the East European platform artesian region. The depressions of the foundation serve as reservoirs for the accumulation of waters of artesian basins of various sizes. Within Russia, three artesian basins of the first order are distinguished here: Central Russian, East Russian and Caspian. Within their limits, there are artesian basins of the second order: Moscow, Sursko-Khopyor, Volga-Kama, Cis-Ural, etc. One of the large ones is the Moscow basin, confined to the syneclise of the same name, which contains pressure waters in fractured carbonic limestones.

With depth, the chemical composition and temperature of groundwater change. Fresh waters have a thickness of no more than 250 m, and their mineralization increases with depth - from fresh hydrocarbonate to brackish and salty sulfate and chloride, and below - to chloride, sodium brines and in the deepest parts of the basin - to calcium-sodium. The temperature rises and reaches a maximum of about 70°C at depths of 2 km in the west and 3.5 km in the east.

natural areas

On the East European Plain, there are practically all types of natural zones available on the territory of Russia.

The most common natural areas (from north to south):

• Tundra (northern Kola Peninsula)
• Taiga - Olonets Plain.
• Mixed forests - Central Berezinsky plain, Orsha-Mogilev plain, Meshchera lowland.
• Broad-leaved forests (Mazowiecke-Podlaskie Lowland)
• Forest-steppe - Oka-Don Plain, including the Tambov Plain.
• Steppes and semi-deserts - Black Sea lowland, Ciscaucasian plain (Kuban lowland, Chechen plain) and Caspian lowland.

Natural territorial complex of the plain

The East European Plain is one of the large natural territorial complexes (NTC) of Russia, the features of which are:

• large area: the second largest plain in the world;
• Rich Resources: PTK has rich land resources, for example: minerals, water and plant resources, fertile soil, many cultural and tourism resources;
• historical significance: many important events in the history of Russia took place on the plain, which is undoubtedly an advantage of this zone.

The largest cities of Russia are located on the territory of the plain. This is the center of the beginning and foundation of Russian culture. Great writers drew inspiration from the beautiful and picturesque places of the East European Plain.

The variety of natural complexes of the Russian Plain is great. These are flat coastal lowlands covered with shrub-moss tundra, and hilly-morainic plains with spruce or coniferous-broad-leaved forests, and extensive swampy lowlands, erosion-dissected forest-steppe uplands and floodplains, overgrown with meadows and shrubs. The largest complexes of the plain are the natural zones. The features of the relief and climate of the Russian Plain cause a clear change within its boundaries of natural zones from the northwest to the southeast, from the tundra to the deserts of the temperate zone. The most complete set of natural zones can be traced here in comparison with other large natural regions of our country. The northernmost regions of the Russian Plain are occupied by tundra and forest tundra. The warming effect of the Barents Sea is manifested in the fact that the strip - tundra and forest-tundra on the Russian Plain is narrow. It expands only in the east, where the severity of the climate increases. The climate on the Kola Peninsula is humid, and winters are unusually warm for these latitudes. Plant communities are also peculiar here: shrub tundra with crowberry are replaced to the south by birch forest tundra. More than half of the plain area is occupied by forests. In the west they reach 50°N. sh., and in the east - up to 55 ° N. sh. There are zones of taiga and mixed and broad-leaved forests. Both zones are heavily swamped in the western part, where precipitation is high. Spruce and pine forests are widespread in the taiga of the Russian Plain. The zone of mixed and broad-leaved forests gradually wedges out to the east, where the climate becomes more continental. Most of this zone is occupied by the NTC of moraine plains. Picturesque hills and ridges with mixed coniferous-deciduous forests, which do not form large massifs, with meadows and fields alternate with monotonous sandy, often marshy lowlands. There are many small lakes filled with clear waters and intricately winding rivers. And a huge number of boulders: from large ones, the size of a truck, to very small ones. They are everywhere: on the slopes and tops of hills and hills, in the lowlands, on arable land, in forests, riverbeds. To the south, sandy plains - woodlands, remaining after the retreat of the glacier, appear. Broad-leaved forests do not grow on poor sandy soils. Pine forests dominate here. Large areas of woodlands are swamped. Among the swamps, low-lying herbaceous ones predominate, but there are also upland sphagnum ones. A forest-steppe zone stretches along the edge of the forests from that west to the northeast. Uplands and low plains alternate in the forest-steppe zone. The uplands are dissected by a dense network of deep gullies and ravines and are better moistened than the low plains. Prior to human intervention, they were predominantly covered by oak forests on gray forest soils. Meadow steppes on chernozems occupied smaller areas. The low plains are poorly dissected. There are many small depressions (depressions) on them. In the past, meadow forb steppes on chernozems dominated here. Currently, large areas in the forest-steppe zone are plowed up. This causes increased erosion. The forest-steppe is replaced by the steppe zone. The steppe spreads out as a wide boundless plain, more often completely flat, in places with mounds and small hills. Where areas of steppe virgin lands have been preserved, at the beginning of summer it seems silvery from flowering feather grass and worries like the sea. At present, fields are visible everywhere as far as the eye can see. You can drive tens of kilometers, and the picture will not change. In the extreme southeast, in the Caspian Sea, there are zones of semi-deserts and deserts. The temperate continental climate determined the dominance of spruce forests in the forest-tundra and taiga of the Russian Plain, and oak forests in the forest-steppe zone. The increase in continentality and dryness of the climate was reflected in a more complete set of natural zones in the eastern part of the plain, the shift of their boundaries to the north, and the wedging out of the zone of mixed and broad-leaved forests.

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Notes

Literature

• Lebedinsky V.I. Volcanic crown of the Great Plain. - M .: Nauka, 1973. - 192 p. - (The present and future of the Earth and mankind). - 14,000 copies.
• Koronkevich N. I. Water balance Russian Plain and its anthropogenic changes / USSR Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography. - M .: Nauka, 1990. - 208 p. - (Problems of constructive geography). - 650 copies. - ISBN 5-02-003394-4.
• Vorobyov V. M. Volokovye ways on the Main watershed of the Russian Plain. Tutorial. - Tver: Slavic world, 2007. - 180 p., ill.

Links

• East European Plain // Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M. : Soviet encyclopedia, 1969-1978.

An excerpt characterizing the East European Plain

- So, so, - said Bagration, thinking something, and drove past the limbers to the extreme gun.
While he was driving up, a shot rang out from this cannon, deafening him and his retinue, and in the smoke that suddenly surrounded the cannon, artillerymen were visible, grabbing the cannon and, hastily straining, rolling it back to its original place. A broad-shouldered, huge soldier of the 1st with a banner, legs wide apart, jumped back to the wheel. The 2nd, with a trembling hand, put a charge into the muzzle. A small, round-shouldered man, officer Tushin, stumbled on his trunk and ran forward without noticing the general and looking out from under his small hand.
“Add two more lines, that’s exactly what will happen,” he shouted in a thin voice, to which he tried to give a youthfulness that did not suit his figure. - Second! he squeaked. - Crush, Medvedev!
Bagration called out to the officer, and Tushin, with a timid and awkward movement, not at all like the military salute, but like the priests bless, putting three fingers to the visor, approached the general. Although Tushin's guns were assigned to bombard the hollow, he fired fire-brandskugels at the village of Shengraben, which was visible ahead, in front of which large masses of the French advanced.
No one ordered Tushin where and with what to shoot, and he, after consulting with his sergeant major Zakharchenko, for whom he had great respect, decided that it would be good to set fire to the village. "Good!" Bagration said to the report of the officer and began to look around the entire battlefield that opened before him, as if thinking something. On the right side, the French came closest. Below the height on which the Kyiv regiment stood, in the hollow of the river, the erratic rumble of guns was heard, and much to the right, behind the dragoons, the retinue officer pointed out to the prince at the French column that was bypassing our flank. To the left the horizon was limited to a close forest. Prince Bagration ordered two battalions from the center to go for reinforcements to the right. The retinue officer dared to remark to the prince that after the departure of these battalions, the guns would be left without cover. Prince Bagration turned to the retinue officer and looked at him with dull eyes in silence. It seemed to Prince Andrei that the remark of the retinue officer was just and that there really was nothing to say. But at this time an adjutant galloped up from the regimental commander, who was in the hollow, with the news that huge masses of the French were coming down, that the regiment was upset and was retreating to the Kyiv grenadiers. Prince Bagration bowed his head in agreement and approval. He walked at a pace to the right and sent an adjutant to the dragoons with orders to attack the French. But the adjutant sent there arrived half an hour later with the news that the dragoon regimental commander had already retreated beyond the ravine, for strong fire had been directed against him, and he was wasting people in vain and therefore hurried shooters into the forest.
- Good! Bagration said.
While he was driving away from the battery, shots were also heard to the left in the forest, and since it was too far to the left flank to have time to arrive on time himself, Prince Bagration sent Zherkov there to tell the senior general, the same one who represented the regiment to Kutuzov in Braunau, so that he retreats as quickly as possible behind the ravine, because the right flank will probably not be able to hold the enemy for a long time. About Tushin, and the battalion that covered him, was forgotten. Prince Andrei carefully listened to the conversations of Prince Bagration with the chiefs and to the orders he gave, and noticed to his surprise that no orders were given, and that Prince Bagration only tried to pretend that everything that was done out of necessity, chance and the will of private chiefs, that all this was done, if not by his order, but according to his intentions. Thanks to the tact shown by Prince Bagration, Prince Andrei noticed that, despite this randomness of events and their independence from the will of the chief, his presence did an extremely great deal. The commanders, who drove up to Prince Bagration with upset faces, became calm, the soldiers and officers greeted him cheerfully and became livelier in his presence and, apparently, flaunted their courage in front of him.

Prince Bagration, having driven to the highest point of our right flank, began to descend, where erratic shooting was heard and nothing was visible from the powder smoke. The closer they descended to the hollow, the less they could see, but the more sensitive became the proximity of the real battlefield itself. They began to meet the wounded. One with a bloody head, without a hat, was dragged by two soldiers by the arms. He wheezed and spat. The bullet hit, apparently, in the mouth or throat. Another, whom he met, was walking briskly alone, without a gun, groaning loudly and waving his hand in fresh pain, from which blood was pouring, like from a glass, onto his overcoat. His face looked more frightened than hurt. He was wounded a minute ago. Having crossed the road, they began to descend steeply and on the descent they saw several people who were lying; they met a crowd of soldiers, some of whom were not wounded. The soldiers walked uphill, breathing heavily, and, despite the appearance of the general, they talked loudly and waved their hands. Ahead, in the smoke, rows of gray overcoats were already visible, and the officer, seeing Bagration, ran screaming after the soldiers marching in a crowd, demanding that they return. Bagration rode up to the ranks, along which here and there shots quickly clicked, drowning out the conversation and shouts of command. All the air was saturated with gunpowder smoke. The faces of the soldiers were all smoked with gunpowder and animated. Others beat them with ramrods, others sprinkled them on the shelves, took out charges from their bags, and still others fired. But whom they were shooting at, this was not visible from the powder smoke, which was not blown away by the wind. Quite often, pleasant sounds of buzzing and whistling were heard. "What it is? - thought Prince Andrei, driving up to this crowd of soldiers. “It can't be an attack because they don't move; there can't be carre: they don't cost that much."
A thin, weak-looking old man, a regimental commander, with a pleasant smile, with eyelids that more than half closed his senile eyes, giving him a meek appearance, rode up to Prince Bagration and received him as a master dear guest. He reported to Prince Bagration that there was a French cavalry attack against his regiment, but that, although this attack was repulsed, the regiment lost more than half of its people. The regimental commander said that the attack was repulsed, giving this military name to what was happening in his regiment; but he really did not himself know what was happening in those half an hour in the troops entrusted to him, and could not say with certainty whether the attack was repulsed or his regiment was defeated by the attack. At the beginning of the actions, he only knew that cores and grenades began to fly all over his regiment and beat people, that then someone shouted: “cavalry”, and ours began to shoot. And so far they have been shooting not at the cavalry, which disappeared, but at the French foot soldiers, who appeared in the hollow and fired at ours. Prince Bagration bowed his head as a sign that all this was exactly as he wished and assumed. Turning to the adjutant, he ordered him to bring two battalions of the 6th Chasseurs from the mountain, past which they had now passed. Prince Andrei was struck at that moment by the change that had taken place in the face of Prince Bagration. His face expressed that concentrated and happy determination that a person has when he is ready to throw himself into the water on a hot day and takes the last run. There were no sleepy dull eyes, no feigned thoughtful look: round, hard, hawk-like eyes gazed forward enthusiastically and somewhat contemptuously, obviously not stopping at anything, although his former slowness and measuredness remained in his movements.
The regimental commander turned to Prince Bagration, begging him to drive back, as it was too dangerous here. "Have mercy, your Excellency, for God's sake!" he said, looking for confirmation at the retinue officer, who was turning away from him. "Here, if you please, see!" He let them see the bullets, which incessantly squealed, sang and whistled around them. He spoke in such a tone of request and reproach, with which a carpenter says to a master holding an ax: “Our business is familiar, but you will get your hands wet.” He spoke as if he himself could not be killed by these bullets, and his half-closed eyes made his words even more convincing. The staff officer joined in the exhortations of the regimental commander; but Prince Bagration did not answer them and only ordered them to stop firing and line up in such a way as to make room for the two battalions that were approaching. While he was talking, as if by an invisible hand stretched from right to left, from the rising wind, a canopy of smoke that hid the hollow, and the opposite mountain with the French moving along it opened up before them. All eyes were involuntarily fixed on this French column, moving towards us and meandering along the ledges of the terrain. The furry hats of the soldiers were already visible; it was already possible to distinguish officers from privates; one could see how their banner fluttered on the staff.
“They are going well,” said someone in Bagration’s retinue.
The head of the column had already descended into the hollow. The collision must have taken place on this side of the descent...
The remnants of our regiment, which was in action, hastily forming up, retreated to the right; from behind them, dispersing the stragglers, two battalions of the 6th Chasseurs approached harmoniously. They had not yet reached Bagration, and already a heavy, heavy step was heard, beaten in the leg by the whole mass of people. From the left flank, the company commander walked closest to Bagration, a round-faced, stately man with a stupid, happy expression on his face, the same one who ran out of the booth. He apparently did not think of anything at that moment, except that he would pass by the authorities as a fine fellow.
With ruthless self-satisfaction, he walked lightly on muscular legs, as if he were swimming, stretching himself without the slightest effort and differing in this lightness from the heavy step of the soldiers walking along his step. He carried at his foot a thin, narrow sword (a bent skewer that did not look like a weapon) at his foot, and, looking now at his superiors, then back, without losing his step, flexibly turned around with his whole strong camp. It seemed that all the strength of his soul was directed towards getting past the authorities in the best possible way, and, feeling that he was doing this job well, he was happy. “Left ... left ... left ...”, he seemed to say inwardly every step, and according to this tact, with variously strict faces, a wall of soldier figures, weighed down with satchels and guns, moved, as if each of these hundreds of soldiers mentally sentenced every step: “ left ... left ... left ... ". The fat major, puffing and breaking his pace, went around the bush along the road; a lagging soldier, out of breath, with a frightened face for his malfunction, was trotting up to the company; the ball, pressing the air, flew over the head of Prince Bagration and his retinue and in time: “left - left!” hit the column. "Close up!" I heard the flaunting voice of the company commander. The soldiers arced around something in the place where the ball fell; the old cavalier, a flank non-commissioned officer, lagging behind the dead, caught up with his line, jumped up, changed his foot, fell into step and looked around angrily. “Left…left…left…” seemed to be heard from behind the menacing silence and the monotonous sound of feet hitting the ground at the same time.
- Well done guys! - said Prince Bagration.
"For the sake of ... hoo ho ho ho! ..." resounded through the ranks. The gloomy soldier who was walking on the left, shouting, looked round at Bagration with such an expression as if he were saying: "we know ourselves"; the other, without looking back and as if afraid of being entertained, with his mouth open, shouted and passed.
They were ordered to stop and take off their knapsacks.
Bagration rode around the rows that passed by him and dismounted from his horse. He gave the Cossack the reins, took off and handed over the cloak, straightened his legs and straightened his cap on his head. The head of the French column, with officers in front, appeared from under the mountain.
"With God!" Bagration spoke in a firm, audible voice, turned for a moment to the front and, slightly waving his arms, with the awkward step of a cavalryman, as if laboring, went forward across the uneven field. Prince Andrei felt that some irresistible force was drawing him forward, and he experienced great happiness. [Here the attack occurred, about which Thiers says: “Les russes se conduisirent vaillamment, et chose rare a la guerre, on vit deux masses d" infanterie Mariecher resolument l "une contre l" autre sans qu "aucune des deux ceda avant d "etre abordee"; and Napoleon on St. Helena said: "Quelques bataillons russes montrerent de l" intrepidite ". [The Russians behaved valiantly, and a rare thing in war, two masses of infantry marched decisively against one another, and neither of the two gave way until the very collision. Napoleon's words: [Several Russian battalions showed fearlessness.]
The French were already close; already Prince Andrei, walking next to Bagration, clearly distinguished the bandages, red epaulettes, even the faces of the French. (He clearly saw one old French officer, who, with twisted legs in boots, was with difficulty walking uphill.) Prince Bagration did not give a new order and still silently walked in front of the ranks. Suddenly, one shot crackled between the French, another, a third ... and smoke spread through all the upset enemy ranks and the firing crackled. Several of our men fell, including the round-faced officer who walked so cheerfully and diligently. But at the same moment as the first shot rang out, Bagration looked around and shouted: "Hurrah!"
"Hurrah ah ah!" a drawn-out cry resounded along our line, and, overtaking Prince Bagration and each other, in a discordant, but cheerful and lively crowd, ours ran downhill after the upset French.

The attack of the 6th Chasseurs ensured the retreat of the right flank. In the center, the action of Tushin's forgotten battery, which managed to set fire to Shengraben, stopped the movement of the French. The French extinguished the fire carried by the wind and gave time to retreat. The retreat of the center through the ravine was carried out hastily and noisily; however, the troops, retreating, were not confused by teams. But the left flank, which was simultaneously attacked and bypassed by the excellent forces of the French under the command of Lann and which consisted of the Azov and Podolsky infantry and Pavlograd hussar regiments, was upset. Bagration sent Zherkov to the general of the left flank with orders to retreat immediately.
Zherkov briskly, without taking his hand off his cap, touched the horse and galloped off. But as soon as he drove away from Bagration, his forces betrayed him. An insurmountable fear came over him, and he could not go where it was dangerous.
Having approached the troops of the left flank, he did not go forward, where there was shooting, but began to look for the general and commanders where they could not be, and therefore did not give orders.
The command of the left flank belonged in seniority to the regimental commander of the very regiment that presented itself under Braunau Kutuzov and in which Dolokhov served as a soldier. The command of the extreme left flank was assigned to the commander of the Pavlograd regiment, where Rostov served, as a result of which there was a misunderstanding. Both commanders were greatly irritated against each other, and at the same time that the right flank had long been going on and the French had already launched an offensive, both commanders were busy with negotiations that aimed to offend each other. The regiments, both cavalry and infantry, were very little prepared for the upcoming business. The people of the regiments, from a soldier to a general, did not expect a battle and calmly engaged in peaceful affairs: feeding the horses in the cavalry, collecting firewood in the infantry.
“He is, however, older than me in rank,” said the German, a hussar colonel, blushing and turning to the adjutant who drove up, “then leave him to do as he wants. I cannot sacrifice my hussars. Trumpeter! Play Retreat!
But things were getting rushed. Cannonade and shooting, merging, thundered from the right and in the center, and the French hoods of Lannes' shooters were already passing the mill dam and lined up on this side in two rifle shots. The infantry colonel with a shuddering gait approached the horse and, mounting it and becoming very straight and tall, rode to the Pavlograd commander. The regimental commanders arrived with courteous bows and hidden malice in their hearts.
“Again, colonel,” said the general, “however, I cannot leave half the people in the forest. I beg you, I beg you,” he repeated, “take position and prepare for the attack.
“And I ask you not to interfere with your own business,” the colonel answered, getting excited. - If you were a cavalryman ...
- I'm not a cavalryman, Colonel, but I'm a Russian general, and if you don't know...
“Very well known, Your Excellency,” the colonel suddenly cried out, touching the horse, and turning red-purple. - Would you like to join the chains, and you will see that this position is worthless. I don't want to destroy my regiment for your pleasure.
“You are forgetting, Colonel. I do not observe my pleasure and I will not allow it to be said.
The general, accepting the colonel's invitation to the tournament of courage, straightening his chest and frowning, rode with him in the direction of the chain, as if all their disagreement was to be decided there, in the chain, under the bullets. They arrived at the chain, several bullets flew over them, and they silently stopped. There was nothing to see in the chain, since even from the place where they had previously stood, it was clear that it was impossible for the cavalry to operate through the bushes and ravines, and that the French were bypassing the left wing. The general and the colonel looked sternly and significantly as the two roosters, preparing for battle, looked at each other, waiting in vain for signs of cowardice. Both passed the test. Since there was nothing to say, and neither one nor the other wanted to give a reason to the other to say that he was the first to get out from under the bullets, they would have stood there for a long time, mutually experiencing courage, if at that time in the forest, almost behind them, the rattle of guns and a muffled, merging cry were heard. The French attacked the soldiers who were in the forest with firewood. The hussars could no longer retreat with the infantry. They were cut off from the retreat to the left by a French line. Now, however inconvenient the terrain was, it was necessary to attack in order to make their way.
The squadron, where Rostov served, who had just managed to get on his horses, was stopped facing the enemy. Again, as on the Ensky bridge, there was no one between the squadron and the enemy, and between them, separating them, lay the same terrible line of uncertainty and fear, as it were, a line separating the living from the dead. All people felt this line, and the question of whether or not they would cross the line and how they would cross the line worried them.
A colonel rode up to the front, angrily answered something to the questions of the officers, and, like a man desperately insisting on his own, gave some kind of order. No one said anything definitive, but rumors of an attack swept through the squadron. There was a command to build, then sabers screeched out of their scabbards. But still no one moved. The troops of the left flank, both the infantry and the hussars, felt that the authorities themselves did not know what to do, and the indecision of the commanders was communicated to the troops.
“Hurry, hurry,” thought Rostov, feeling that at last the time had come to taste the pleasure of the attack, about which he had heard so much from his comrades hussars.
- With God, g "fuck," Denisov's voice sounded, - g "ysyo, magician" sh!
In the front row, the croups of horses swayed. Grachik pulled the reins and set off on his own.
On the right, Rostov saw the first ranks of his hussars, and even further ahead he could see a dark stripe, which he could not see, but considered the enemy. Shots were heard, but in the distance.
- Add lynx! - a command was heard, and Rostov felt how he was giving in backwards, interrupting his Grachik at a gallop.
He guessed his movements ahead, and he became more and more cheerful. He noticed a lone tree ahead. This tree was at first in front, in the middle of that line that seemed so terrible. And so they crossed this line, and not only was there nothing terrible, but it became more and more cheerful and lively. "Oh, how I will cut him," thought Rostov, clutching the hilt of the saber in his hand.
– Oh oh oh ah ah!! - voices boomed. "Well, now whoever gets caught," thought Rostov, pressing Grachik's spurs, and, overtaking the others, let him go all over the quarry. The enemy was already visible ahead. Suddenly, like a wide broom, something lashed the squadron. Rostov raised his saber, preparing to cut, but at that time the soldier Nikitenko, galloping ahead, separated from him, and Rostov felt, as in a dream, that he continued to rush forward with unnatural speed and at the same time remained in place. Behind him, the familiar hussar Bandarchuk galloped up at him and looked angrily. Bandarchuk's horse shied away, and he galloped past.
"What is this? am I not moving? “I fell, I was killed ...” Rostov asked and answered in an instant. He was already alone in the middle of the field. Instead of moving horses and hussar backs, he saw around him motionless earth and stubble. Warm blood was under him. "No, I am wounded and the horse is killed." Rook got up on his front legs, but fell, crushing his rider's leg. Blood was flowing from the horse's head. The horse struggled and could not get up. Rostov wanted to get up and fell too: the cart caught on the saddle. Where were ours, where were the French - he did not know. Nobody was around.
He freed his leg and stood up. “Where, on what side was now that line that so sharply separated the two troops?” he asked himself and could not answer. “Has something bad happened to me? Are there such cases, and what should be done in such cases? he asked himself, getting up; and at that time he felt that something superfluous was hanging on his left numb hand. Her brush was like someone else's. He looked at his hand, searching in vain for blood. “Well, here are the people,” he thought happily, seeing several people running towards him. “They will help me!” Ahead of these people ran one in a strange shako and in a blue overcoat, black, tanned, with a hooked nose. Two more and many more fled behind. One of them said something strange, non-Russian. Between the rear of the same people, in the same shakos, stood one Russian hussar. He was held by the hands; his horse was kept behind him.
“That's right, our prisoner ... Yes. Will they take me too? What kind of people are these? Rostov kept thinking, not believing his eyes. "Are they French?" He looked at the approaching French, and despite the fact that in a second he galloped only to overtake these Frenchmen and cut them down, their proximity now seemed to him so terrible that he could not believe his eyes. "Who are they? Why are they running? Really to me? Are they running towards me? And why? Kill me? Me, whom everyone loves so much? - He remembered the love for him of his mother, family, friends, and the intention of the enemies to kill him seemed impossible. "Or maybe - and kill!" He stood for more than ten seconds, not moving from his place and not understanding his position. The hump-nosed Frenchman in front ran so close that you could already see the expression on his face. And the heated, alien physiognomy of this man, who, with a bayonet in excess, holding his breath, easily ran up to him, frightened Rostov. He grabbed a pistol and, instead of firing it, threw it at the Frenchman and ran towards the bushes with all his might. Not with that feeling of doubt and struggle with which he went to the Ensky bridge, he fled, but with the feeling of a hare running away from dogs. One inseparable feeling of fear for his young, happy life dominated his entire being. Quickly jumping over the fences, with the swiftness with which he ran, playing burners, he flew across the field, occasionally turning his pale, kind, young face, and a chill of horror ran down his back. "No, it's better not to look," he thought, but, running up to the bushes, he looked back again. The French lagged behind, and even at the moment he looked back, the one in front had just changed his trot to a step and, turning around, was shouting something loudly to his rear comrade. Rostov stopped. "Something's wrong," he thought, "it can't be that they want to kill me." Meanwhile, his left hand was so heavy, as if a two-pound weight was hung from it. He couldn't run any further. The Frenchman also stopped and took aim. Rostov closed his eyes and bent down. One, another bullet flew, buzzing, past him. He collected last strength, took left hand to the right and ran to the bushes. There were Russian arrows in the bushes.

Infantry regiments, caught unawares in the forest, ran out of the forest, and companies, mingling with other companies, left in disorderly crowds. One soldier, in fright, uttered a terrible and meaningless word in the war: “cut off!”, And the word, along with a feeling of fear, was communicated to the whole mass.
- Bypassed! Cut off! Gone! shouted the voices of the fugitives.
The regimental commander, at the very moment he heard the shooting and shouting from behind, realized that something terrible had happened to his regiment, and the thought that he, an exemplary, who had served for many years, an innocent officer, could be guilty before his superiors in an oversight or indiscipline, so struck him that at that very moment, forgetting both the recalcitrant cavalryman colonel and his general importance, and most importantly - completely forgetting about danger and a sense of self-preservation, he, grabbing the pommel of the saddle and spurring his horse, galloped to the regiment under a hail of bullets that sprinkled, but happily passed him by. He wanted one thing: to find out what was the matter, and to help and correct the mistake at all costs, if it was on his part, and not be guilty of him, having served for twenty-two years, an exemplary officer who was not noticed in anything.

The value of the natural resources of the Russian Plain is determined, first of all, by their richness and diversity, as well as by their location in the most densely populated part of Russia. Mineral resources are represented by iron ores of the Kursk magnetic anomaly. The main ore is magnetite. Reserves of black and brown coals are concentrated in the Pechora, Donetsk and Moscow region basins.

Oil and gas are produced in the fields of the Volga-Ural (Samara region, Tatarstan, Udmurtia, Bashkortostan) and Timan-Pechora oil and gas regions. Gas condensate fields of the Astrakhan Region are being exploited.

Oil shale deposits have been discovered in the Pskov and Leningrad regions, in the Middle Volga region (Samara) and in the northern part of the Caspian syneclise (Obshchesyrtskoye deposit).

Large deposits of potassium, magnesium salts, halite, borate were discovered in the Caspian lowland. Development is carried out on the largest salt lakes - Elton and Baskunchak.

Industrial accumulations of phosphorites are found in the Moscow region (Egoryevskoye), the Middle Volga region (Kineshmskoye, Volskoye, etc.), on the Common Syrt.

Sedimentary iron ores (brown iron ore, siderites, oolitic nodules), aluminum ores represented by bauxite deposits (Tikhvin, Timan), titanium placers (Timan).

Diamond deposits have been explored in the Arkhangelsk region.

The Russian Plain has a significant hydropower potential - the rivers are used as transport routes for shipping and timber rafting.

Agro-climatic resources make it possible to grow many valuable grain, technical, vegetable and fodder crops. The main areas of chernozems, the most fertile soils, are located on the Russian Plain.

Feed resources are also significant. Flooded and upland meadows are valuable hayfields and pastures for cattle, steppes, semi-deserts and deserts are pastures for sheep, tundra and forest tundra are pastures for deer.

Spruce and pine taiga forests have large reserves of industrial timber. Fur-bearing animals of the north-eastern regions of the taiga and upland game are of commercial importance.

The Russian Plain is the most developed by man - it has been inhabited for a long time and has a high population density. That is why nature here has undergone the most significant changes. Anthropogenic influence affected, first of all, the zones of forest-steppes, steppes, mixed and broad-leaved forests. Even the taiga and tundra of the Russian Plain were involved in the sphere of economic activity earlier than similar zones of Siberia.

Changes affected all components of nature without exception. Animals have been hunted since ancient times - the tarpan (wild horse) has been completely exterminated. The saiga is no longer found in the steppe zone, where it used to be a common animal. Bison, beaver, desman were on the verge of extinction. The range of wolverine, roe deer, elk, wild boar, and bear has significantly decreased.

Centuries-old human economic activity has radically changed the vegetation cover of the plain. There is practically no typical steppe vegetation left. The virgin steppes are plowed up and occupied by agricultural crops. The territories previously occupied by forests have also been plowed up. Forests were cut down not only for the sake of expanding arable land - fuel and construction timber were harvested. During the plowing of land, significant changes in soils occurred. Today, cultivated soils, transformed by plowing, are common in most of the Russian Plain.

Another reason for the change in vegetation is overgrazing. This leads to the replacement of valuable fodder plants with poorly eaten and weedy ones. Anthropogenic impact also affects the mechanical damage to vegetation by vehicles, as well as in the extraction of minerals. An important role is played by man in the formation of artificial morphosculptures. Such landforms are mounds up to 10 m high - the burial places of our ancestors. Akin to mounds and modern cone-shaped landforms up to 40-50 m high. They are very numerous in the areas of coal mining (Donbass, Vorkuta, Moscow basin). These are waste heaps, dumps of waste rock. As a result of underground workings, voids are also formed, causing the occurrence of failure funnels, subsidence and landslides.

In the Middle Volga region, Moscow region, dips and craters are formed above the places of underground limestone mining. Such funnels are very similar to natural karst landforms. In areas of open mining of minerals (iron ores, oil shale, peat, building materials), large areas are occupied by quarries, pits and waste rock dumps. The relief of cities has been radically changed.

The hydrographic network has been greatly changed - a system of shipping channels linked together the basins of all the seas washing the shores of the East European Plain. Moscow has become a port of five seas. The Volga-Baltic and North-Dvinsk water systems, the White Sea-Baltic and Volga-Don shipping canals, the Canal named after V.I. Moscow.

The construction of hydroelectric power stations on large and small rivers, accompanied by the creation of reservoirs, also made a sad contribution to changing the nature of the Russian plain. The beginning of the construction of the cascade of hydroelectric power stations was given by the Volkhov station. Reservoirs were also built on the Volga and Kama. The largest reservoirs are Kuibyshev, Rybinsk, Volgograd, Tsimlyansk, Kama, Saratov.

Bell tower. The city of Kalyazin after the creation of the reservoir

The creation of reservoirs made it possible to solve a whole range of problems: flow regulation, use of hydropower resources, improvement of transport conditions, industrial and domestic water supply, irrigation and watering of lands. However, during the construction of reservoirs, not only fertile lands were flooded, but also historically significant places. The creation of reservoirs is associated with the resettlement of hundreds and thousands of people, the reconstruction of roads, pipelines, power lines and communications, with the removal of industrial enterprises. In the coastal strip, the groundwater level often begins to rise, causing flooding of lands, buildings and structures. Hundreds of hectares of land are moved by alongshore currents. Changes in the coastal strip are undergoing soils, vegetation and animal world. Microclimatic conditions are changing. The established conditions for the existence and reproduction of fish are violated, which have to adapt to new hydrological, thermal, and hydrobiological conditions. The construction of hydroelectric power stations especially affected migratory fish, that is, those that live and feed in the seas and oceans, and spawn in rivers, rising tens, hundreds, and sometimes thousands of kilometers. Dams being built on their way block the way for fish to spawn, deprive them of the opportunity to reproduce offspring.

Natural resources of the Russian Plain and problems of their use

Essay on geography

Pupil 8 "B" class

Most of the European territory of Russia, as well as some neighboring countries, is located on the continental part of the earth's crust, which is called the East European Platform. The landform here is predominantly flat, although there are exceptions, which we will discuss below. This platform is one of the oldest geological formations on earth. Let's take a closer look at what the relief of the East European Platform is, what minerals lie in it, and also how the process of its formation took place.

Territorial location

First of all, let's find out exactly where this geological formation is located.

The East European ancient platform, or, as it is also called, the Russian platform, is located on the territory of the geographic regions of Eastern and Northern Europe. It occupies most of the European part of Russia, as well as the territories of the following neighboring states: Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Moldova, Finland, Sweden, partly Poland, Romania, Kazakhstan and Norway.

In the northwest, the East European ancient platform extends to the formations of the Caledonian folding in Norway, in the east it is limited by the Ural Mountains, in the north by the Arctic Ocean, and in the south by the Black and Caspian Seas, as well as the foothills of the Carpathians, Crimea and the Caucasus (Scythian plate).

The total area of ​​the platform is about 5500 thousand square meters. km.

History of formation

The tectonic landforms of the East European Platform are among the oldest geological formations in the world. This is due to the fact that the platform arose in Precambrian times.

Before the formation of a single world territory, the Russian platform was a separate continent - the Baltic. After the collapse of Pangea, the platform became part of Laurasia, and after the separation of the latter, it became part of Eurasia, where it is still located.

Throughout this time, the formation was covered with sedimentary rocks, which thus formed the relief of the East European Platform.

Platform Composition

As with all ancient platforms, the East European one is based on a crystalline foundation. Over the course of millions of years, a layer of sedimentary rocks was created on top of it. However, in some places the foundation comes to the surface, forming crystalline shields.

There are two such shields in the indicated territory (in the south - the Ukrainian Shield, in the north-west - the Baltic Shield), which is shown on the tectonic map of the platform.

the East European Plain

What surface does the East European platform have? The landform here is predominantly hilly and flat. It is characterized by an alternation of low elevations (200-300 m) and lowlands. At the same time, the average plain, which is called the East European, is 170 m.

The East European (or Russian) Plain is the largest flat-type feature in Europe and one of the largest in the world. Its area occupies most of the territory of the Russian platform and is about 4,000 thousand square meters. km. It extends from the Baltic Sea and Finland inclusive in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east for 2500 km, and from the seas of the Arctic Ocean in the north (Barents and White) to the Black, Caspian and Azov seas in the south for 2700 km. At the same time, it is part of an even larger object, which is commonly called the Great European Plain, stretching from the Atlantic coast and the Pyrenees in France to the Ural Mountains. As mentioned above, the average height of the Russian Plain is 170 meters, but its highest point reaches 479 meters above sea level. It is located in Russian Federation on the Bugulma-Belebeevskaya Upland, which is in the foothills of the Ural Mountains.

In addition, on the territory of the Ukrainian Shield, which is also located on the Russian Plain, there are uplifts, which are a form of outcropping of crystalline rocks of the base of the platform. These include, for example, the Azov Upland, the highest point of which (Belmak-Mogila) is 324 meters above sea level.

The basis of the Russian Plain is the East European platform, which is very ancient. This is the reason for the flat character of the area.

Other relief objects

But the Russian Plain is not the only geographical feature that contains the East European Platform. The landform here also takes on other forms. This is especially true at the boundaries of the platform.

For example, in the extreme northwest of the platform on the territory of Norway, Sweden and Finland, there is the Baltic Crystalline Shield. Here, in the south of Sweden, the Central Swedish Lowland is located. Its length from north to south and from west to east is 200 km and 500 km, respectively. The height above sea level here does not exceed 200 m.

But in the north of Sweden and Finland, the Norland plateau is located. Its maximum height is 800 meters above sea level.

A small section of Norway, which includes the East European platform, is also characterized by a hill. The relief here acquires a mountainous character. Yes, this is not surprising, since the hill gradually in the west turns into real mountains, called Scandinavian. But these mountains are already derivatives that are not directly related to the platform described in this review, which is shown on the tectonic map.

Rivers

Now let's take a look at the main reservoirs that are located on the territory of the platform we are studying. After all, they are also relief-forming factors.

The largest river of the East European Platform and Europe as a whole is the Volga. Its length is 3530 km, and the basin area is 1.36 million square meters. km. This river flows from north to south, while on the surrounding lands forming the corresponding floodplain landforms of Russia. The Volga flows into the Caspian Sea.

Another major river of the Russian platform is the Dnieper. Its length is 2287 km. It, like the Volga, flows from north to south, but, unlike its longer sister, it does not flow into the Caspian Sea, but into the Black Sea. The river flows through the territory of three states at once: Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. At the same time, about half of its length falls on Ukraine.

Other large and well-known rivers of the Russian platform include the Don (1870 km), the Dniester (1352 km), the Southern Bug (806 km), the Neva (74 km), the Seversky Donets (1053 km), the tributaries of the Volga Oka (1499 km) and Kamu (2030 km).

In addition, in the southwestern part of the platform, the Danube River flows into the Black Sea. The length of this great river is 2960 km, but almost completely it flows beyond the boundaries of the platform we are studying, and only the mouth of the Danube is located on its territory.

lakes

There are on the territory of the Russian platform and the lake. The largest of them are located on This is Europe's largest freshwater lake Ladoga (area 17.9 thousand sq. Km) and Lake Onega(9.7 thousand sq. km).

In addition, the Caspian Sea is located in the south of the Russian platform, which, in fact, is a salt lake. This is the largest body of water in the world that does not have access to the oceans. Its area is 371.0 thousand square meters. km.

Minerals

Now let's study the minerals of the East European Platform. The bowels of this territory are very rich in gifts. So, in the east of Ukraine and south-west of Russia there is one of the largest in the world coal basins- Donbass.

The Krivoy Rog iron ore and Nikopol manganese basins are also located on the territory of Ukraine. These deposits are associated with the outcrop of the Ukrainian Shield. Even larger reserves of iron are located on the territory of the Kursk magnetic anomaly in Russia. True, the shield did not come out there, but it got very close to the surface.

In the region of the Caspian basin, as well as in Tatarstan, there are quite large deposits of oil. They are also found on the territory of the southern oil and gas region in Ukraine.

Apatite mining on an industrial scale has been established on the territory of the Kola Peninsula.

Actually, these are the main minerals of the East European platform.

Soils of the Russian platform

Are the soils of the East European Platform fertile? Yes, this region has some of the most fertile soils in the world. Especially valuable types of soils are located in the south and in the center of Ukraine, as well as in the black earth region of Russia. They are called blacks. These are the most fertile soils in the world.

The fertility of forest soils, in particular gray ones, which are located north of the chernozems, is much lower.

General characteristics of the platform

The forms are quite varied. Among them, a special place is occupied by the plains. Just the East European platform forms the largest flat complex in Europe. Only on its periphery can one find relatively high uplands. This is due to the antiquity of this platform, on which mountain-forming processes have not been going on for a long time, and weathering has smoothed out the hills that existed here millions of years ago.

Nature endowed the region with huge reserves of minerals. Of particular note are the deposits hard coal and iron ore, in terms of which the Russian platform is one of the world leaders. There are also reserves of oil and some other minerals.

This is the general description of the East European Platform, its relief, minerals stored in the bowels, as well as geographical features this locality. Of course, this is a fertile land that provides its inhabitants with all the necessary resources, which, if used correctly, will be the key to prosperity.

The article contains information that gives a complete picture of the East European Plain, its topography and minerals. Indicates the states that are located in this territory. Allows you to accurately determine the geographical position of the plain and indicates the factors that influenced the climatic features.

The East European Plain

The East European Plain is one of the largest territorial units on the planet. Its area exceeds 4 million km. sq.

On a flat plane, in whole or in part, there are such states as:

• Russian Federation;
• Finland;
• Estonia;
• Latvia;
• Lithuania;
• Republic of Belarus;
• Poland;
• Germany;
• Ukraine;
• Moldova;
• Kazakhstan.

Rice. 1. East European Plain on the map.

The type of geological structure of the platform was formed under the influence of shields and folded belts.

It occupies the second position in the ranking of magnitudes after the Amazonian plain. The plain is localized in the eastern part of Europe. Due to the fact that its main part is localized within the borders of Russia, the East European Plain is also called Russian. The Russian plain is washed by the waters of the seas:

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• White;
• Barents;
• Black;
• Azov;
• Caspian.

The geographical position of the East European Plain is such that its length in the direction from north to south is more than 2.5 thousand kilometers, and from west to east - 1 thousand kilometers.

The geographical position of the plain determines the influence of the seas of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans on the specifics of its nature. There is a full range of natural areas - from tundra to deserts.

The features of the geological structure of the East European Platform are determined by the age of the rocks that make up the territory, among which the ancient Karelian folded crystalline basement is distinguished. Its age is over 1600 million years.

The minimum height of the territory is located on the coast of the Caspian Sea and is 26 m below sea level.

The predominant relief in this area is a gently sloping plain landscape.

Zoning of soils and flora is provincial in nature and is distributed in the direction from west to east.

Most of the population of Russia and the bulk of large enterprises are concentrated on the flat territory. settlements. Interesting: It was here many centuries ago that the Russian state arose, which became the largest country in the world in terms of its territory.

On the East European Plain, there are almost all types of natural zones that are typical for Russia.

Rice. 2. natural areas East European Plain on the map.

Minerals of the East European Plain

There is a significant accumulation of Russian minerals here.

Natural resources that lie in the bowels of the East European Plain:

• iron ore;
• coal;
• Uranus;
• non-ferrous metal ores;
• oil;

Monuments of nature - a protected area in which there are unique objects of animate or inanimate nature.

The main monuments of the East European Plain: Lake Seliger, Kivach Waterfall, Kizhi Museum-Reserve.

Rice. 3. Kizhi Museum-Reserve on the map.

A large part of the territory is reserved for agricultural land. Russian regions on the territory of the plain are actively using its potential and exploiting water and land resources to the maximum. However, this is not always good. The territory is highly urbanized and significantly altered by man.

The level of pollution of the mass of rivers and lakes has reached a critical level. This is especially noticeable in the center and south of the plain.

Security measures are caused by uncontrolled human activities, which are today the main source of environmental problems.

The plain almost absolutely corresponds to the boundaries of the East European Platform.

This explains the flat shape of the relief. Small hill-like formations within the East European Plain arose as a result of faults and other processes of a tectonic nature. This suggests that the plain has a tectonic structure.

Glaciation contributed to the formation of the flat relief.

The water arteries of the plain are fed with snow, which occurs during the spring flood. Abundant northern rivers flow into the White, Barents, Baltic Seas, and occupy 37.5% of the entire area of ​​the plain. The runoff of inland waters is due to the seasonal nature of the distribution, which occurs relatively evenly. In the summer season, the rivers do not undergo sharp shallowing.

What have we learned?

We found out what is the total area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe territory of the East European Plain. We learned in which areas the greatest water pollution as a result of human activities was noted. We learned what natural monuments are located on the territory of the plain. Get an idea of ​​the zonality of soils.

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