East European Plain - main characteristics. Relief and geological structure of the East European Plain

From the east, the plain is bordered by mountains.

Large tectonic structures lie at the base of the plain - the Russian and Scythian plates. In most of the territory, their basement is deeply submerged under thick strata of sedimentary 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. Within the limits is the Dnieper Upland. The Baltic Shield corresponds to relatively elevated plains and, as well as low mountains. The raised foundation of the Voronezh anticlise serves as the core. The same rise in the basement is located at the base of the highlands of the High Trans-Volga region. A special case represents the Volga Upland, where the foundation lies at great depths. Here, during the entire Mesozoic and Paleogene, there was a subsidence, the accumulation of thick strata of sedimentary rocks. 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 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 are laid - the Dnieper, Don,.

Such high-water, but relatively short rivers carry their water to the north, such as the Onega, to the west - the Neva and Neman.

The upper reaches and channels of many rivers are often located close to each other, which, in flat conditions, contributes to their connection by channels. These are the channels. Moscow, Volgo-, Volgo-Don, White Sea-Baltic. Thanks to the canals, ships from Moscow can sail along rivers, lakes and into the Black, Baltic and 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 have turned into a cascade, used both for generating electricity and for shipping, irrigating land, and water supplying cities.

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

The flatness of the territory, an abundance of minerals, a relatively mild climate, sufficient rainfall, a variety of natural resources favorable for various industries - 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 Volga, Dnieper, Don, Dniester, Western Dvina, Kama - regulated and transformed into a cascade of reservoirs. In vast areas, forests have been cut down and 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 large parts The East European Plain is the most developed and changed by human activity.

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 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 thick layers of sedimentary rocks of 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. Connected to the foundation of the platform iron ore Kursk magnetic anomaly. 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 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 air masses formed 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, dry steppes are located in the south of the East European Plain, and in the extreme southeast, in Caspian lowland, - 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 to Kaliningrad region down to -18°C in the Urals. As a result, winter isotherms in most of the plain (except for the extreme south) extend 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. Alternate invasion of Atlantic and Arctic air masses causes instability weather phenomena and dissimilarity of seasons of 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 more clearly than on other plains of 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 particular territory.

The flatness of the territory, the abundance of minerals, the relatively mild climate, sufficient rainfall, the diversity of natural landscapes favorable for various branches of 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 activity.

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 connected 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 this not in large numbers 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 intense 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 are springs 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 highest central part, 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 largest number 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 vertical zonality along the slopes of the mountains. The highest peaks of the central part Caucasian ridge filled with 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 Caucasus mountains both on the northern and southern slopes, due to a decrease in precipitation, forests cover 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 to 800-1000 m. The highest peak of the Urals is Mount Narodnaya (1894 m). In the middle part, the height of the ridges does not exceed 400-500 m. Railways pass through the low passes of this part of the Urals, along which trains move between the European and Asian parts of Russia.

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. Middle Ural- the lowest part of the entire Urals: heights of about 500 m dominate. However, individual peaks here rise up to 800 m. 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 limestones, gypsums, and clays 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.

Ural - climate divide between the temperate continental climate of the East European Plain and the continental climate 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 penetrate the Urals, brought by cyclones from Atlantic Ocean. 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. The economic importance of the Ural and Cis-Urals rivers is great and varied, 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 east slope Southern Urals- 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. southern part the plains rise 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 extensive 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 to 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. Gives rich booty commercial hunting(skins of polar fox) and fishing. 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. In the western Cis-Ural part of the zone, pine forests. 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, in the vast expanses of the 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.

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 at the fields of the Volga-Uralsky ( 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 field).

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. Water and upland meadows are valuable hayfields and pastures for large cattle, steppes, semi-deserts and deserts - pastures for sheep, tundra and forest-tundra - pastures for deer.

Spruce and pine taiga forests have large reserves of industrial timber. Commercial value have fur-bearing animals of the north-eastern regions of the taiga and upland game.

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 deciduous 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 economic activity man 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 the vegetation cover by vehicles, as well as during 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 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 wildlife. 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

The East European Platform is located on the Russian or East European Plain, the foundation of which extends to the northern borders. In the east, the platform reaches the western slope of the Ural Mountains, and in the south and southwest it is limited by the mountains of the Caucasus, Crimea, and the Carpathian mountains of the Alpine orogeny. The main geostructures of the platform are syneclises– deep foundation areas, anteclises- areas of shallow foundation, aulacogens- deep tectonic ditches.

Separate parts of the platform sank in the Lower Paleozoic, as a result of which the Baltic and Ukrainian shields, the Voronezh ledge, and the Oka-Volga anteclise became isolated. The Baltic and Moscow syneclises separated the platform uplifts. Also large elements platforms are the Saratov-Ryazan syneclise and the Kama-Pechora syneclise. The East European Platform has a Precambrian crystalline basement, and in the south, the northern edge of the Scythian Plate has a Paleozoic folded basement. On the Precambrian basement of the platform there are strata of Precambrian and Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks with slightly disturbed occurrence.

One of the most ancient and complex internal structures of the East European Platform is Moscow syneclise, Central Russian and Moscow aulacogenes, which are filled with Riphean strata. AT Quaternary uneven uplifts occurred here, which in the relief was indicated by large hills.

Pechora syneclise passes in the northeast of the platform between the Timan Ridge and the Urals. Its block foundation in the east descends to a depth of $5$-$6$ thousand m. The Syneclise is filled with thick strata of Paleozoic rocks overlain by Meso-Cenozoic deposits.

In the center of the platform there are large anteclises - Voronezh and Volga-Ural. They are separated by the Pachelma aulacogen. To the north, the Voronezh anteclise gently descends into the Moscow syneclise. Deposits of low thickness, represented by Ordovician, Devonian and Carboniferous rocks, cover its basement, and on the steep southern slope of the Carboniferous, Cretaceous and Paleogene rocks. Large uplifts and depressions (arches and aulacogenes) form the Volga-Ural anteclise. The sedimentary cover of the domes has a thickness of at least $800$ m.

Caspian regional syneclise. The crystalline basement of this vast area has a deep subsidence reaching up to $20$ km. The syneclise belongs to the ancient structures and is bounded on all sides by flexures and faults. Its outlines are angular. The Ergeninsky and Volgograd flexures frame it from the west, and in the north - the flexures of the General Syrt. Further subsidence to $ 500 m occurred in the Neogene-Quaternary, accompanied by the accumulation of a thick layer of marine and continental sediments.

On the south part of the East European Plain lies on the Scythian epihercynian plate.

Relief of the East European Plain

The Russian Plain, located on the East European Platform, is formed by highlands, the height of which is $200$-$300$ m above sea level. Its average height is $170$ m, and the maximum height is $479$ m, located in the Ural part on the Bugulma-Belebeevskaya Upland. If we talk about the features of the orographic pattern, then within the plains one can distinguish the central, northern, and southern parts.

central part It is represented by a strip of alternating large uplands and lowlands - the Central Russian, Volga, Bugulma-Belebeevskaya uplands and General Syrt. They are separated by the Oka-Don lowland and the Low Trans-Volga region. Here, in southbound Volga and Don flow.

AT northern part the relief is represented by low plains with scattered small hills. Replacing each other, the Smolensk-Moscow, Valdai Uplands and Northern Ridges stretched in the northeast direction. These are peculiar watersheds between two oceans and an internal drainless basin. Toward the White and Barents Seas from the Northern Uvals, the territory of the plain decreases, as evidenced by the Onega, Northern Dvina, and Pechora rivers flowing to the north.

southern part The plains are occupied by lowlands, but only the Caspian lowland can be named within Russian territory.

Remark 1

The relief of the East European Plain is typical platform, predetermined by its tectonic features, i.e. heterogeneity of the structure, as evidenced by the presence of deep faults, ring structures, aulacogenes, anteclises, syneclises and unequal manifestations of the latest tectonic movements.

The large uplands and lowlands of the East European Plain are of tectonic origin. They were formed as single territories in morphostructural, orographic and genetic terms. Glaciers - Okskoe, Dneprovskoe, Valdaiskoe - had a significant impact on the formation of the relief of the plain. Glaciers participated in the creation of moraine and outwash plains. The moraine relief, washed out by the waters of the Dnieper glacier, has not survived to our time.

Minerals of the East European Plain

The geological history of the ancient platform has influenced the formation of minerals.

The largest deposit discovered on the territory of the plain iron ore– Kursk magnetic anomaly (KMA). The reserves of the deposit are estimated at $31.9 billion tons, which is $57.3% of the country's total ore reserves. The ore occurs mainly on the territory of the Kursk and Belgorod regions. KMA iron ores contain $41.5%, which is higher than the average for Russia. Ore is mined at the Mikhailovsky, Lebedinsky, Stoilensky, Gubkinsky deposits. Small ore reserves are noted in the Tula and Oryol regions. The proximity to the surface of the earth allows open-pit mining, which has a huge impact on the nature of the black earth zone of the Russian Plain, namely, it leads to the destruction of tens of thousands of hectares of black earth soil.

Reserves explored within the Belgorod Region bauxite- Vislovskoye deposit. The content of alumina is estimated at $20$-$70$%.

Chemical raw materials on the Russian Plain it is represented by phosphorites in the Moscow region, potash, rock salts of the Verkhnekamsk basin and the Iletsk deposit of the Orenburg region. Salts of lakes Elton and Baskunchak are also known.

Stocks building materials, represented by chalk, marl, cement, fine-grained sands, are common in Belgorod, Bryansk, Moscow, Tula regions. High-quality cement marls are known in the Saratov region. Glass sands in the Ulyanovsk region, in the Orenburg region - an asbestos deposit. Quartz sands of the Bryansk and Vladimir regions are used for the production of artificial quartz, glass, and crystal glassware. For the work of the porcelain-faience industry, kaolin clays from the Tver and Moscow regions are used.

On the territory of the East European Plain there are deposits hard and brown coals. Their extraction is carried out in the Pechora, Donetsk, Moscow region basins. Brown coals of the Moscow region are used as chemical raw materials and as technological fuel for the ferrous metallurgy of the region.

Within the Volga-Ural and Timan-Pechora oil and gas regions, oil and natural gas. There are also gas condensate fields in the Astrakhan and Orenburg regions.

oil shale known in the Leningrad, in the Pskov region, in the Middle Volga region and in the north of the Caspian lowland.

Significant reserves peat, which is of significant importance in the fuel balance of some regions of the plain. Within the Central Federal District alone, its reserves amount to $5 billion tons. There are deposits of peat in the Kirov and Nizhny Novgorod regions and in the Republic of Mari El.

Deposits discovered in the Arkhangelsk region diamonds.

Remark 2

Compared with other physical and geographical countries of Russia, the East European Plain has long been inhabited and has a high population density, the greatest development, which means that it has undergone significant anthropogenic changes.

The East European Plain occupies about 4 million km 2 in area, 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.

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

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 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 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) extend 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 of different years. Summer temperatures naturally increase from north to south: average temperatures in the north are +8...+10°C, in the south +24...+26°C, and the isotherms stretch almost in the latitudinal direction. In general, the climate in most of the East European Plain is temperate continental.

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.

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.