Geography of Russia: Difference between revisions
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The republics include a wide variety of peoples, including northern Europeans, [[Tatars]], [[Caucasus]] peoples, and indigenous Siberians. The [[List of federal subjects of Russia by area|largest federal subjects]] are in Siberia. Located in east-central Siberia, the [[Sakha Republic|Sakha Republic (Yakutia)]] is the largest federal subject in the country (and the [[List of the largest country subdivisions by area|largest country subdivision]] in the world), twice the size of Alaska. Second in size is [[Krasnoyarsk Krai]], located southwest of Sakha in Siberia. [[Kaliningrad Oblast]] is the smallest oblast, and it is the only noncontiguous part of Russia. The two [[List of federal subjects of Russia by population|most populous]] federal subjects, [[Moscow Oblast]] (with Moscow) and [[Krasnodar Krai]], are in European Russia. |
The republics include a wide variety of peoples, including northern Europeans, [[Tatars]], [[Caucasus]] peoples, and indigenous Siberians. The [[List of federal subjects of Russia by area|largest federal subjects]] are in Siberia. Located in east-central Siberia, the [[Sakha Republic|Sakha Republic (Yakutia)]] is the largest federal subject in the country (and the [[List of the largest country subdivisions by area|largest country subdivision]] in the world), twice the size of Alaska. Second in size is [[Krasnoyarsk Krai]], located southwest of Sakha in Siberia. [[Kaliningrad Oblast]] is the smallest oblast, and it is the only noncontiguous part of Russia. The two [[List of federal subjects of Russia by population|most populous]] federal subjects, [[Moscow Oblast]] (with Moscow) and [[Krasnodar Krai]], are in European Russia. |
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==Topography and drainage== |
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Geographers traditionally divide the vast territory of Russia into five natural zones: the [[tundra]] zone; the [[taiga]], or forest, zone; the [[steppe]], or plains, zone; the [[desert|arid zone]]; and the [[mountain]] zone. Most of Russia consists of two [[plain]]s (the [[East European Plain]] and the [[West Siberian Plain]]), two [[lowland]]s (the [[North Siberian Lowland|North Siberian]] and the [[Kolyma Lowland|Kolyma]], in far northeastern Siberia), two [[plateau]]s (the [[Central Siberian Plateau]] and the [[Lena Plateau]] to its east), and a series of mountainous areas mainly concentrated in the extreme northeast or extending intermittently along the southern border. |
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===Ecoregions=== |
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[[Image:Pontic Caspian climate.png|thumb|300px|The wider area of the [[Urals]], showing the transition of [[temperate forest]], [[taiga]], [[steppe]] and [[semi-desert]].]] |
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<center> |
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{| |
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|[[Image:Russia vegetation.png|thumb|450px]] |
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{{legend0|#c0c0c0|polar desert}} |
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{{legend0|#9fd6c9|tundra}} |
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{{legend0|#a7bddb|alpine tundra}} |
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{{legend0|#006d64|taiga}} |
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{{legend0|#3c9798|montane forest}} <br/> |
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{{legend0|#a4e05d|temperate broadleaf forest}} |
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{{legend0|#f7ec6f|temperate steppe}} |
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{{legend0|#9b8447|dry steppe}} |
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</center> |
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====East European plain==== |
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The [[East European Plain]] encompasses most of [[European Russia]]. The [[West Siberian Plain]], which is the world's largest, extends east from the [[Ural Mountains|Urals]] to the [[Yenisei River]]. Because the terrain and vegetation are relatively uniform in each of the natural zones, Russia presents an illusion of uniformity. Nevertheless, Russian territory contains all the major vegetation zones of the world except a [[Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests|tropical rain forest]]. |
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====Tundra==== |
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[[Image:800px-Map-Tundra.png|thumb|Map of arctic tundra]] |
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[[Image:Laptev Sea map.png|thumb|right|250px|Map of the Russian Arctic.]] |
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{{see|Arctic}} |
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The Russian Arctic stretches for close to 7,000 km west to east, from [[Karelia]] and the [[Kola Peninsula]] to [[Nenetsia]], the [[Gulf of Ob]], the [[Taymyr Peninsula]] and the [[Chukchi Peninsula]] ([[Kolyma]], [[Anadyr River]], [[Cape Dezhnev]]). |
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Russian islands and archipelagos in the [[Arctic Sea]] include [[Novaya Zemlya]], [[Severnaya Zemlya]], and the [[New Siberian Islands]]. |
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About 11% of Russia is [[tundra]]—a treeless, marshy plain. The tundra is Russia's northernmost zone, stretching from the [[Finland|Finnish]] border in the west to the [[Bering Strait]] in the east, then running south along the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] coast to the northern [[Kamchatka Peninsula]]. The zone is known for its herds of wild [[reindeer]], for so-called [[white nights]] (dusk at midnight, dawn shortly thereafter) in summer, and for days of total darkness in winter. The long, harsh winters and lack of sunshine allow only [[moss]]es, [[lichen]]s, and [[Dwarf Willow|dwarf willows]] and shrubs to sprout low above the barren [[permafrost]]. Although several powerful Siberian rivers traverse this zone as they flow northward to the Arctic Ocean, partial and intermittent thawing hamper drainage of the numerous lakes, ponds, and swamps of the tundra. Frost weathering is the most important physical process here, gradually shaping a landscape that was severely modified by [[glaciation]] in the last [[ice age]]. Less than 1% of Russia's population lives in this zone. The fishing and port industries of the northwestern [[Kola Peninsula]] and the huge [[petroleum|oil]] and [[natural gas|gas]] fields of northwestern Siberia are the largest employers in the tundra. With a population of 180,000, the industrial frontier city of [[Norilsk]] is second in population to [[Murmansk]] among Russia's settlements above the Arctic Circle. |
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====Taiga==== |
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{{see|Central Siberian Plateau}} |
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[[Image:Taiga.png|thumb|200px|The taiga is found throughout the high northern [[latitude]]s, between the [[tundra]], and the [[steppe]]s.]] |
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The [[taiga]], which is the world's largest forest region, contains mostly [[pinophyta|coniferous]] [[spruce]], [[fir]], [[pine]], and [[larch]]. This is the largest natural zone of Russia, an area about the size of the United States. In the northeastern portion of this belt, long and severe winters frequently bring the world's coldest temperatures for inhabited areas. The taiga zone extends in a broad band across the middle latitudes, stretching from the Finnish border in the west to the [[Verkhoyansk Range]] in northeastern Siberia and as far south as the southern shores of [[Lake Baikal]]. Isolated sections of taiga also exist along mountain ranges such as the southern part of the Urals and in the [[Amur River]] valley bordering China in the [[Far East]]. About 33% of Russia's population lives in this zone, which, together with a band of [[Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests|mixed forest]] to its south, includes most of the European part of Russia and the ancestral lands of the earliest Slavic settlers. |
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====Mixed and Deciduous forest==== |
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The mixed and [[deciduous forest]] belt is triangular, widest along the western border and narrower towards the [[Ural Mountains]]. The main trees are [[Oak]] and [[Spruce]], but many other growths of vegetation such as [[Ash tree|ash]], [[aspen]], [[birch]], [[hornbeam]], [[maple]], and [[pine]] reside there. Separating the taiga from the wooded steppe is a narrow belt of birch and aspen woodland located east of the Urals as far as the [[Altay]] mountains. Much of the forested zone has been cleared for [[agriculture]], especially in [[European Russia]]. Wildlife is more scarce as a result of this, but the [[roe deer]], [[wolf]], [[fox]], and [[squirrel]] are very common. |
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====Steppe==== |
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{{see|Eurasian Steppe|Pontic-Caspian steppe}} |
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The [[steppe]] has long been depicted as the typical Russian landscape. It is a broad band of treeless, grassy plains, interrupted by mountain ranges, extending from [[Hungary]] across [[Ukraine]], southern Russia, and [[Kazakhstan]] before ending in [[Manchuria]]. Most of the Soviet Union's steppe zone was located in the Ukrainian and Kazakh republics; the much smaller Russian steppe is located mainly between those nations, extending southward between the [[Black Sea|Black]] and [[Caspian Sea]]s before blending into the increasingly desiccated territory of the [[Kalmykia|Republic of Kalmykia]]. In a country of extremes, the steppe zone provides the most favorable conditions for human settlement and agriculture because of its moderate temperatures and normally adequate levels of sunshine and moisture. Even here, however, agricultural yields are sometimes adversely affected by unpredictable levels of [[precipitation (meteorology)|precipitation]] and occasional catastrophic [[drought]]s. |
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===Topography=== |
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Russia's mountain ranges are located principally along its continental divide (the Ural Mountains), along the southwestern border (the [[Caucasus]]), along the border with [[Mongolia]] (the eastern and western [[Sayan Mountains]] and the western extremity of the [[Altay Mountains]]), and in eastern Siberia (a complex system of ranges in the northeastern corner of the country and forming the spine of the [[Kamchatka Peninsula]], and lesser mountains extending along the [[Sea of Okhotsk]] and the [[Sea of Japan]]). Russia has nine major mountain ranges. In general, the eastern half of the country is much more mountainous than the western half, the interior of which is dominated by low plains. The traditional dividing line between the east and the west is the [[Yenisei River]] valley. In delineating the western edge of the [[Central Siberian Plateau]] from the West Siberian Plain, the Yenisey runs from near the Mongolian border northward into the Arctic Ocean west of the [[Taymyr Peninsula]]. |
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====Ural Mountains==== |
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The [[Ural Mountains]] are the most famous of the country's mountain ranges because they form the natural boundary between [[Europe]] and [[Asia]]; the range extends about 2,100 kilometers from the [[Arctic Ocean]] to the northern border of [[Kazakhstan]]. In terms of elevation, however, the Urals are far from impressive. They do not serve as a formidable natural barrier. Several low passes provide major transportation routes through the Urals eastward from Europe. The highest peak, [[Mount Narodnaya]], is only 1,894 meters. Yet, while they are not imposing to the eye, the Urals do contain valuable deposits of minerals. |
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====West Siberian plain==== |
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To the east of the Urals is the [[West Siberian Plain]], which covers more than 2.5 million square kilometers, stretching about 1,900 kilometers from west to east and about 2,400 kilometers from north to south. With more than half its territory below 500 meters in elevation, the plain contains some of the world's largest [[swamp]]s and [[floodplain]]s. Most of the plain's population lives in the drier section south of 55° north [[latitude]]. |
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====Central Siberian plateau==== |
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The region directly east of the [[West Siberian Plain]] is the [[Central Siberian Plateau]], which extends eastward from the [[Yenisei River]] valley to the [[Lena River]] valley. The region is divided into several [[plateaus]], with elevations ranging between 320 and 740 meters; the highest elevation is about 1,800 meters, in the northern [[Putoran Mountains]]. The plain is bounded on the south by the [[Baikal Mountains]] system and on the north by the North Siberian Lowland, an extension of the West Siberian Plain extending into the Taymyr Peninsula on the Arctic Ocean. |
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====Sayan and Stanovoy Mountains==== |
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In the mountain system west of [[Lake Baikal]] in south-central Siberia, the highest elevations are 3,300 meters in the Western [[Sayan Mountains|Sayan]], 3,200 meters in the Eastern Sayan, and 4,500 meters at [[Belukha Mountain]] in the [[Altay Mountains]]. The Eastern Sayan reach nearly to the southern shore of [[Lake Baikal]]; at the lake, there is an elevation difference of more than 4,500 meters between the nearest mountain, 2,840 meters high, and the deepest part of the lake, which is 1,700 meters below sea level. The mountain systems east of Lake Baikal are lower, forming a complex of minor ranges and valleys that reaches from the lake to the Pacific coast. The maximum height of the [[Stanovoy Range]], which runs west to east from northern Lake Baikal to the Sea of Okhotsk, is 2,550 meters. To the south of that range is southeastern Siberia, whose mountains reach 800 meters. Across the [[Strait of Tartary]] from that region is [[Sakhalin|Sakhalin Island]], where the highest elevation is about 1,700 meters. |
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====Caucasus mountains==== |
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Truly alpine terrain appears in the southern mountain ranges. Between the Black and Caspian seas, the [[Caucasus Mountains]] rise to impressive heights, forming a boundary between Europe and Asia. One of the peaks, [[Mount Elbrus]], is the highest point in Europe, at 5,642 meters. The geological structure of the Caucasus extends to the northwest as the [[Crimea]]n and [[Carpathian Mountains]] and southeastward into [[Central Asia]] as the [[Tian Shan]] and [[Pamir Mountains|Pamirs]]. The Caucasus Mountains create an imposing natural barrier between Russia and its neighbors to the southwest, [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and [[Azerbaijan]]. |
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====Northeast Siberia and Kamchatka==== |
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Northeastern Siberia, north of the Stanovoy Range, is an extremely mountainous region. The long [[Kamchatka Peninsula]], which juts southward into the Sea of Okhotsk, includes many [[volcano|volcanic peaks]], some of which still are active. The highest is the 4,750-meter [[Klyuchevskaya Sopka]], the highest point in the [[Russian Far East]]. The volcanic chain continues from the southern tip of Kamchatka southward through the [[Kuril Islands]] chain and into [[Japan]]. Kamchatka also is one of Russia's two centers of seismic activity (the other is the Caucasus). In 1995, a major earthquake largely destroyed the oil-processing town of [[Neftegorsk, Sakhalin Oblast|Neftegorsk]]. Also, located in this region is the very large [[Beyenchime-Salaatin crater]] |
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===Drainage=== |
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[[Image:Baikal-S1999276045323.png|thumb|right|300px|A clear view of Lake Baikal captured by [[SeaWiFS]]]] |
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[[Image:W W Chusovaya Kama crossing.png|thumb|right|300px|Crossing of the rivers Chusovaya (tributary) and Kama (main river) near the city of Perm. Ural mountains on the right]] |
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Russia is a water-rich country. The earliest settlements in the country sprang up along the rivers, where most of the urban population continues to live. The [[Volga River|Volga]], Europe's longest river, is by far Russia's most important commercial waterway. Four of the country's thirteen largest cities are located on its banks: [[Nizhny Novgorod]], [[Samara, Russia|Samara]], [[Kazan]], and [[Volgograd]]. The [[Kama River]], which flows west from the southern Urals to join the Volga in the [[Tatarstan|Republic of Tatarstan]], is a second key European water system whose banks are densely populated. |
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Russia has thousands of rivers and inland bodies of water, providing it with one of the world's largest surface-water resources. However, most of Russia's rivers and streams belong to the Arctic drainage basin, which lies mainly in Siberia but also includes part of European Russia. Altogether, 84% of Russia's surface water is located east of the Urals in rivers flowing through sparsely populated territory and into the Arctic and Pacific oceans. In contrast, areas with the highest concentrations of population, and therefore the highest demand for water supplies, tend to have the warmest climates and highest rates of [[evaporation]]. As a result, densely populated areas such as the [[Don River, Russia|Don]] and [[Kuban River]] basins north of the Caucasus have barely adequate (or in some cases inadequate) water resources. |
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Forty of Russia's rivers longer than 1,000 kilometers are east of the Urals, including the three major rivers that drain Siberia as they flow northward to the Arctic Ocean: the [[Irtysh]]-[[Ob River|Ob]] system (totaling 5,380 kilometers), the [[Yenisei River|Yenisei]] (4,000 kilometers), and the [[Lena River|Lena]] (3,630 kilometers). The basins of those river systems cover about eight million square kilometers, discharging nearly 50,000 cubic meters of water per second into the Arctic Ocean. The northward flow of these rivers means that source areas thaw before the areas downstream, creating vast swamps such as the 48,000-square-kilometer [[Vasyugan Swamp]] in the center of the West Siberian Plain. The same is true of other river systems, including the [[Pechora River|Pechora]] and the [[Northern Dvina]] in Europe and the [[Kolyma River|Kolyma]] and the [[Indigirka]] in Siberia. Approximately 10% of Russian territory is classified as swampland. |
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A number of other rivers drain Siberia from eastern mountain ranges into the Pacific Ocean. The [[Amur River]] and its main tributary, the [[Ussuri River|Ussuri]], form a long stretch of the winding boundary between Russia and China. The Amur system drains most of southeastern Siberia. Three basins drain European Russia. The [[Dnieper River|Dnieper]], which flows mainly through Belarus and Ukraine, has its headwaters in the hills west of Moscow. The 1,860-kilometer [[Don River, Russia|Don]] originates in the [[Central Russian Upland]] south of Moscow and then flows into the [[Sea of Azov]] and the [[Black Sea]] at [[Rostov-on-Don]]. The [[Volga River|Volga]] is the third and by far the largest of the European systems, rising in the [[Valdai Hills]] west of Moscow and meandering southeastward for 3,510 kilometers before emptying into the [[Caspian Sea]]. Altogether, the Volga system drains about 1.4 million square kilometers. Linked by several canals, European Russia's rivers long have been a vital transportation system; the Volga system still carries two-thirds of Russia's inland water traffic. |
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Russia's inland bodies of water are chiefly a legacy of extensive [[glaciation]]. In European Russia, the largest lakes are [[Lake Ladoga|Ladoga]] and [[Lake Onega|Onega]] northeast of [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Lake Peipus]] on the [[Estonia]]n border, and the [[Rybinsk Reservoir]] north of [[Moscow]]. Smaller man-made reservoirs, 160 to 320 kilometers long, are on the Don, the Kama, and the Volga rivers. Many large reservoirs also have been constructed on the Siberian rivers; the [[Bratsk Reservoir]] northwest of Lake Baikal is one of the world's largest. |
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The most prominent of Russia's bodies of fresh water is [[Lake Baikal]], the world's deepest and most capacious freshwater lake. Lake Baikal alone holds 85% of the freshwater resources of the lakes in Russia and 20% of the world's total. It extends 632 kilometers in length and 59 kilometers across at its widest point. Its maximum depth is 1,713 meters. Numerous smaller lakes dot the northern regions of the European and Siberian plains. The largest of these are lakes [[Belozero]], [[Topozero]], [[Vygozero]], and [[Lake Ilmen|Ilmen]] in the European northwest and [[Lake Chany]] in southwestern Siberia. |
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==Climate== |
==Climate== |
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Revision as of 13:00, 23 October 2008
The Russian Federation stretches across much of the north of the super-continent of Eurasia. Because of its size, Russia displays both monotony and diversity. As with its topography, its climates, vegetation, and soils span vast distances.[1] From north to south the East European Plain is clad sequentially in tundra, coniferous forest (taiga), mixed and broad-leaf forests, grassland (steppe), and semi-desert (fringing the Caspian Sea) as the changes in vegetation reflect the changes in climate. Siberia supports a similar sequence but is taiga. The country contains 40 UNESCO Biosphere reserves.[2]
Global position and boundaries
Located in the northern and middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, most of Russia is much closer to the North Pole than to the equator. Individual country comparisons are of little value in gauging Russia's enormous size (slightly less than twice that of the United States) and diversity. The country's 17.1 million square kilometers include one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Its European portion, which occupies a substantial part of continental Europe, is home to most of Russia's industrial and agricultural activity. It was here, roughly between the Dnieper River and the Ural Mountains, that the Russian Empire took shape.
Russia's girth is impressive by any measure. From west to east, the country stretches from Kaliningrad (the exclave separated by the 1991 secession of Lithuania from the then-Soviet Union) to Ratmanov Island (one of the Diomede Islands) in the Bering Strait. This distance is roughly equivalent to the distance from Edinburgh, Scotland, to Nome, Alaska. From north to south, the country ranges from the northern tip of the Arctic islands of Franz Josef Land to the southern tip of the Republic of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea, spanning about 4,500 kilometers of extremely varied, often inhospitable terrain.
Extending for 57,792 kilometers, the Russian border is the world's longest, a source of substantial concern for national security in the post-Soviet era. Along the 20,139-kilometer land frontier, Russia has boundaries with fourteen countries—eight of which did not exist as countries until the early 1990s. These "new neighbors" are Kazakhstan in Asia, and, in Europe, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia (Abhazia, South Osetia), and Azerbaijan. The remaining bordering countries are North Korea, China, Mongolia, Poland, Norway, and Finland. And, at the far northeastern extremity, only eighty-six kilometers of the Bering Strait separate Russia from a fifteenth neighbor—the United States.
Approximately 2/3 of the frontier is bounded by water. Virtually all of the lengthy northern coast is well above the Arctic Circle; except for the port of Murmansk—which receives currents that are somewhat warmer than would be expected at that latitude, due to the effects of the Gulf Stream—that coast is locked in ice much of the year. Thirteen seas and parts of three oceans—the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific—wash Russian shores.
See also Russia-United States maritime boundary.
Administrative and territorial divisions
With a few changes of status, most of the Soviet-era administrative and territorial divisions of the Russian Republic were retained in constituting the Russian Federation. In 2006, there were eighty-eight administrative territorial divisions (called federal subjects): twenty-one republics, seven krais (territories), forty-eight oblasts (provinces), one autonomous oblast, and nine autonomous okrugs. The cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg also have federal status.
The republics include a wide variety of peoples, including northern Europeans, Tatars, Caucasus peoples, and indigenous Siberians. The largest federal subjects are in Siberia. Located in east-central Siberia, the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) is the largest federal subject in the country (and the largest country subdivision in the world), twice the size of Alaska. Second in size is Krasnoyarsk Krai, located southwest of Sakha in Siberia. Kaliningrad Oblast is the smallest oblast, and it is the only noncontiguous part of Russia. The two most populous federal subjects, Moscow Oblast (with Moscow) and Krasnodar Krai, are in European Russia.
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Climate
Russia has a largely continental climate because of its sheer size and compact configuration. Most of its land is more than 400 kilometers from the sea, and the center is 3,840 kilometers from the sea. In addition, Russia's mountain ranges, predominantly to the south and the east, block moderating temperatures from the Indian and Pacific Oceans, but European Russia and northern Siberia lack such topographic protection from the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans.
Because only small parts of Russia are south of 50° north latitude and more than half of the country is north of 60° north latitude, extensive regions experience six months of snow cover over subsoil that is permanently frozen to depths as far as several hundred meters. The average yearly temperature of nearly all of European Russia is below freezing, and the average for most of Siberia is freezing or below. Most of Russia has only two seasons, summer and winter, with very short intervals of moderation between them. Transportation routes, including entire railroad lines, are redirected in winter to traverse rock-solid waterways and lakes. Some areas constitute important exceptions to this description, however: the moderate maritime climate of Kaliningrad Oblast on the Baltic Sea is similar to that of the American Northwest; the Russian Far East, under the influence of the Pacific Ocean, has a monsoonal climate that reverses the direction of wind in summer and winter, sharply differentiating temperatures; and a narrow, subtropical band of territory provides Russia's most popular summer resort area on the Black Sea.
In winter, an intense high-pressure system causes winds to blow from the south and the southwest in all but the Pacific region of the Russian landmass; in summer, a low-pressure system brings winds from the north and the northwest to most of the landmass. Russia is the coldest country of the world (average annual temperature is −5.5°C). That meteorological combination reduces the wintertime temperature difference between north and south. Thus, average January temperatures are −8°C in Saint Petersburg, −27°C in the West Siberian Plain, and −43°C at Yakutsk (in east-central Siberia, at approximately the same latitude as Saint Petersburg), while the winter average on the Mongolian border, whose latitude is some 10° farther south, is barely warmer. Summer temperatures are more affected by latitude, however; the Arctic islands average 4°C, and the southernmost regions average 20°C. Russia's potential for temperature extremes is typified by the national record low of −70°C, recorded at Verkhoyansk in north-central Siberia and the record high of 43°C, recorded at several southern stations(Volgograd).
The long, cold winter has a profound impact on almost every aspect of life in Russia. It affects where and how long people live and work, what kinds of crops are grown, and where they are grown (no part of the country has a year-round growing season). The length and severity of the winter, together with the sharp fluctuations in the mean summer and winter temperatures, impose special requirements on many branches of the economy. In regions of permafrost, buildings must be constructed on pilings, machinery must be made of specially tempered steel, and transportation systems must be engineered to perform reliably in extremely low and extremely high temperatures. In addition, during extended periods of darkness and cold, there are increased demands for energy, health care, and textiles.
Because Russia has little exposure to ocean influences, most of the country receives low to moderate amounts of precipitation. Highest precipitation falls in the northwest, with amounts decreasing from northwest to southeast across European Russia. The wettest areas are the small, lush subtropical region adjacent to the Caucasus and along the Pacific coast. Along the Baltic coast, average annual precipitation is 600 millimeters, and in Moscow it is 525 millimeters. An average of only twenty millimeters falls along the Russian-Kazakh border, and as little as fifteen millimeters may fall along Siberia's Arctic coastline. Average annual days of snow cover, a critical factor for agriculture, depends on both latitude and altitude. Cover varies from forty to 200 days in European Russia, and from 120 to 250 days in Siberia.
Area and boundaries
Area:
total:
17,075,200 km²
land:
16,995,800 km²
water:
79,400 km²
Area - comparative:
- Australia comparative: slightly more than 2.2 times the size of Australia
- Canada comparative: slightly more than 1.7 times the size of Canada
- United Kingdom comparative: slightly more than 70 times the size of the UK
- United States comparative: slightly more than 1.8 times the size of the U.S.
Land boundaries:
total:
19,917 km
Kaliningrad Oblast is a small part of west Russia with no land connection to the rest of Russia.
border countries:
- Russia excluding Kaliningrad Oblast—Azerbaijan; 284 km; Belarus: 959 km; China: (southeast) 3,605 km, China (south): 40 km; Estonia: 294 km; Finland: 1,313 km; Georgia: 723 km; Kazakhstan: 6,846 km; Latvia: 217 km; Mongolia: 3,441 km; North Korea: 19 km; Norway: 167 km; Ukraine: 1,576 km
- Kaliningrad Oblast—Lithuania: 227 km; Poland: 206 km
Coastline: 37,653 km
Maritime claims:
Russian continental shelf:
200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone:
200 nautical miles (370 km)
territorial sea:
12 nautical miles (22 km)
Elevation extremes:
lowest point:
Caspian Sea: −28 m
highest point:
Mount Elbrus: 5,642 m
See also: Extreme points of Russia
Natural resources and land use
Russia holds the greatest reserves of mineral resources of any country in the world. Though they are abundant, they are in remote areas with extreme climates, making them expensive to mine. The country is the most abundant in mineral fuels. It may hold as much as half of the world's coal reserves and even larger reserves of petroleum. Deposits of coal are scattered throughout the region, but the largest are located in central and eastern Siberia. The most developed fields lie in western Siberia, in the northeastern European region, in the area around Moscow, and in the Urals. The major petroleum deposits are located in western Siberia and in the Volga-Urals. Smaller deposits are found throughout the country. Natural gas, a resource of which Russia holds around forty percent of the world's reserves, can be found along Siberia's Arctic coast, in the North Caucasus, and in northwestern Russia. Major iron-ore deposits are located south of Moscow, near the Ukrainian border in the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly; this area contains vast deposits of iron ore that have caused a deviation in the Earth's magnetic field. There are smaller deposits in other parts of the country. The Ural mountains hold small deposits of manganese. Nickel, tungsten, cobalt, and molybdenum and other iron alloys occur in adequate quantities.
Russia also contains most of the nonferrous metals. Aluminium ores are scarce and are found primarily in the Ural region, northwestern European Russia, and south central Siberia. Copper is more abundant and major reserves are located in the Urals, the Norilsk area near the mouth of the Yenisey in eastern Siberia, and the Kola Peninsula. Another vast deposit located east of Lake Baikal only became exploited when the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) railroad was finished in 1989.
The North Caucasus, far eastern Russia, and the western edge of the Kuznetsk Basin in southern Siberia contain an abundance of lead and zinc ores. These are commonly found along with copper, gold, silver, and a large amount of other rare metals. The country has one of the largest gold reserves in the world; mostly in Siberia and the Urals. Mercury deposits can be found in the central and southern Urals and in south central Siberia.
Raw materials are abundant as well, including potassium and magnesium salt deposits in the Kama River region of the western Urals. Russia also contains one of the world's largest deposits of apatite found in the central Kola Peninsula. Rock salt is located in the southwestern Urals and the southwest of Lake Baikal. Surface deposits of salt are found in salt lakes along the lower Volga Valley. Sulfur can be found in the Urals and the middle Volga Valley.
Eight percent of the land is used for arable farming, four percent—for permanent pastures, forty-six percent of the land is forests and woodland, and forty-two percent is used for other purposes.
Environmental concerns
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Natural hazards
Permafrost over much of Siberia is a major impediment to development; volcanic activity in the Kuril Islands and volcanoes and earthquakes on the Kamchatka peninsula are other natural hazards.
Environment — current issues
Air pollution from heavy industry, emissions of coal-fired electric plants, and transportation in major cities; industrial, municipal, and agricultural pollution of inland waterways and sea coasts; deforestation; soil erosion; soil contamination from improper application of agricultural chemicals; scattered areas of sometimes intense radioactive contamination; ground water contamination from toxic waste; considerable biodiversity addressed by the country's Biodiversity Action Plan.
Environment — international agreements
- party to
- Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling
- signed, but not ratified
- Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography — note
Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of area but unfavorably located in relation to major sea lanes of the world. Despite its size, much of the country lacks proper soils and climates for agriculture, being either too cold or too dry.
While Russia possesses vast mineral and energy wealth, this does not come without some price both to Russia and to the greater globe.[3] Particularly, oil and gas extraction exacts a heavy cost to the health of the land and people.[3] Drilling waste water, mud, and sludges are accumulated, annual volumes have been estimated at 1.7 million tons of chemical reagents contaminating 25 million cubic meters of topsoil.[3] Considerable geomechanical disturbances, contamination of soils and water, and multiple increases of contaminated waste water ejected into suface water streams, is a serious problem offsetting Russia's profits from the industry.[3] It has been estimated that between 1991-1999 the volume of contaminated waste waters from the Russian oil industry amounted to 200 million cubic meters.[3] Complete utilization of co-extracted gas in oil extraction does not exceed 80% in Russia, it has been variously estimated that annually 5-17 billion cubic meters of un-utilized gas extracted alongside oil is burnt in "gas torches," with 400,000 tons or more hazardous substances released into the atmosphere from this each year, creating the double impact of wasted resource and negative environmental effect.[4][3] 560 million tons of methane is estimated to leak annually into the atmosphere from oil and gas extraction, not counting accidental outbursts and pipe breakage.[3] Other valuable industries also have their costs, such as the coal industry's release of vast quantities of hazardous, toxic, and radioactive materials.[3] Also the Russian gold industry, with Russia being the only nation for at least a century with high extraction of gold from placer deposits, and having 4000+ large deposits, inevitably creates problems for the river systems.[3] The associated pollution from using mass explosions in mining also can be a problem.[3] Overall, the extensive mineral wealth and riches, brings with it both great benefit to the Russian economy & people, and the greater globe and all people, yet also several difficult problems to be dealt with.[3]
References
- ^ "Russia::Climate and vegetation". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
- ^ The World Network of Biosphere Reserves - UNESCO. "Russian Federation". Retrieved 2007-12-26.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Krivtsov, A.I., 2006, Geoenvironmental Problems of Mineral Resources Development, in Geology and Ecosystems, Zekster (Ru), Marker (UK), Ridgeway (UK), Rogachevskaya (Ru), & Vartanyan (Ru), 2006 Springer Inc.,
- ^ Waste discharges during the offshore oil and gas development
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