The largest territories of the Russian plain. The largest plains in Russia: names, map, borders, climate and photos

Essay on geography

Russian or East European Plain: description, size and historical details.

2) Hydrography

4) Flora and fauna

III. History of relief formation and climate fluctuations in Eastern Europe.

IV. Used Books.

Dimensions.

A significant part of the European part of Russia is located on one of the largest plains in the world - the East European (Russian), the length of which from west to east, from the borders of the country to the Urals, reaches 1600 km, and from north to south, from the seas of the Arctic Ocean to the Caucasus mountains and the Caspian Sea - 2400 km; the amplitude of recent tectonic movements is low here; the main features of the relief were formed in the late Cenozoic. Most of the territory of the East European Plain lies below 200 m above sea level; the highest point - 343 m - is located on the Valdai Upland. Nevertheless, the nature of the relief of the Russian Plain is quite complex. To the north of the latitude of Moscow, glacial landforms predominate - including moraine ridges, of which the most famous are the Valdai and Smolensk-Moscow Uplands (the latter reaches a height of 314 m); moraine, outwash, lacustrine-glacial lowlands are common. To the south of the latitude of Moscow, the uplands, directed mainly in the meridional direction, alternate with flat areas. There are numerous ravines and gullies on the hills. In the west is the Central Russian Upland (maximum height 293 m), separating the upper reaches of the Dnieper, Oka and Don; here the valleys of small rivers are clearly defined; at the same time, large rivers have wide, shallow floodplains; in some places, a strong influence of eolian processes and the formation of dunes were noted. To the east is the Volga Upland, reaching a height of 329 m and abruptly dropping off to the river. The lower reaches of the Volga are located within the Caspian lowland, some parts of which have a height of 90 m below sea level. To the south, the East European Plain extends up to the spurs of the Greater Caucasus. The vast Kuban and Kuma lowlands are separated by the Stavropol Upland, where heights from 300 to 600 m predominate (in the upper reaches of the Kuma there is also a group of island mountains up to 1401 m high). Human economic activity has greatly changed the relief of the East European Plain

Description.

1) Relief .

Almost the entire length is dominated by a gently sloping plain relief.

The East European Plain almost completely coincides with the East European Platform. This circumstance explains its flat relief, as well as the absence or insignificance of manifestations of such natural phenomena as earthquakes and volcanism. Large uplands and lowlands arose as a result of tectonic movements, including along faults. The height of some hills and plateaus reaches 600-1000 meters.

On the territory of the Russian Plain, platform deposits occur almost horizontally, but their thickness in some places exceeds 20 km. Where the folded foundation protrudes to the surface, elevations and ridges are formed (for example, the Donetsk and Timan ridges). On average, the height of the Russian Plain is about 170 meters above sea level. The lowest areas are on the Caspian coast (its level is about 26 meters below the level of the World Ocean).

2) Hydrography.

Hydrographically, the territory of the East European Plain is divided into two parts. Most of them have a drain into the ocean. The northern rivers (Mezen, Onega, Severnaya, Dvina, Pechora) belong to the Arctic basin, the western and southern ones belong to the Atlantic Ocean basin. The latter include rivers flowing into the Baltic (Neva, Western Dvina, Neman, Vistula, rivers of Sweden and Finland), Black (Dnepr, Southern Bug, Dniester) and Azov (Don) seas. The rivers of the Volga, Ural and some other basins flow into the Caspian Sea, which has lost its connection with the World Ocean.

3) Climate.

Moderate continental climate. It is characterized by moderately cold winters and warm summers with an average July temperature of +12 degrees C (off the coast of the Barents Sea) to +24 degrees C in the southeast (on the Caspian lowland). The average January temperatures vary from -8 degrees C in the west of the territory (along the border with the territory of Belarus) to -16 degrees C in the Cis-Urals. Precipitation falls throughout the year from 800 mm in the west to 400 mm in the southeast. In the temperate continental climate, moisture changes from excessive in the north and northwest to insufficient in the east and southeast. This is reflected in the change of natural zones from the taiga to the steppe.

From north to south, the East European Plain, also known as the Russian Plain, is clad in succession in the Arctic tundra, coniferous forest (taiga), mixed and forests of broadleaf tobacco, field (steppe), and semi-desert (fringing the Caspian Sea), as changes in vegetation reflect changes in climate. Siberia maintains a similar sequence, but is largely taiga. Russia has the largest forest reserves in the world, known as "lungs of Europe", second only to the Amazon Rainforest in the amount of carbon dioxide it absorbs. There are 266 mammal species and 780 bird species in Russia. A total of 415 animal species were included in the Red Reference Book of the Russian Federation as of 1997 and are now protected.

History of relief formation and climate fluctuations in Eastern Europe.

The relief of Eastern Europe, modern plains, lowlands and mountains were formed as a result of complex and long geological development. The most ancient structure of crystalline rocks, representing the geological basis of Eastern Europe, is the Russian platform, in the rigid foundation of which mining and educational processes stopped relatively early.

This, as well as the activity of glaciers, explains the predominance of the flat landscape. In the same place where the platform was in contact with others, there were mobile areas of the earth's crust. Its vertical uplifts and subsidences, together with magmatic processes, led to the formation of folds and active manifestations of volcanism. The end result of this process was the formation of the mountainous regions of Eastern Europe - the Urals, the Caucasus, the Carpathians.

Of great importance in the formation of the most important features of the physical geography of Eastern Europe was the last stage of geological history - the Quaternary period. It is also called an anthropogen (Greek antropos - "man" and genos - "birth"), that is, the time of the appearance and development of man, and the beginning is dated from 1 million to 600 thousand years ago. In the field of geological, natural - this is the period of continental glaciation. It was during the Ice Age that varieties of soils appeared, the movement of glaciers led to the creation of modern relief and the formation of coastlines.

Moraine ridges, boulder clays, sands and other glacial deposits cover the main part of the northern half of the plain. The last significant changes in the natural environment of Eastern Europe date back to the 12th–10th millennium BC. e. This is the time of the so-called Valdai glaciation, the southern border of which ran approximately along the Vilnius-Vitebsk-Valdai-Vologda line. It was after him that the natural and climatic conditions were gradually established, the main character of which has been preserved to our time. The postglacial period, which began 8–10 thousand years ago, is a time of global warming.

It is characterized by a retreat from Europe to the north and the melting of the Scandinavian ice sheet, the rise of the earth's crust freed from the ice load (this process was uneven in time and space), and a slow rise in the level of the World Ocean. The evolution of one of the huge lakes that existed at the edge of the glacier over several millennia led to the emergence of the Baltic Sea, which acquired its modern form about 4.5 thousand years ago. By this time, the warm interval (the so-called "climatic optimum") ended, the average annual air temperature dropped, and humidity, on the contrary, increased and the modern type of climate was formed.

In the historical period (for Eastern Europe, more or less detailed information from written sources is available from the 5th century BC), the most important of the natural conditions - relief and climate - did not undergo global changes. This is especially true for relief. Some local changes in it are associated with ongoing mining and educational processes. The coastal regions of the Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus were subject to certain fluctuations, as a result of which part of the ancient cities located in this region ended up on the seabed. Quite significant changes have taken place and are taking place with the northern shores of the Caspian Sea, which are known as the transgression and regression of the Caspian, but they are more related to climate change. In general, secondary elements of the physical-geographical landscape changed - the outlines and position of coastlines, river flows, sand boundaries, etc.

The climate is subject to some periodic fluctuations, which, however, do not lead to major shifts in physical geography and the distribution of vegetation. So, at the beginning of the Iron Age (the turn of the II-I millennium BC) and later, the climate was in general terms almost the same as now, but cooler and more humid. Forests along the river valleys of the south of the Russian Plain descended to the shores of the Black and Azov Seas. The floodplains of the lower Dnieper were covered with thick forest on both banks of the river. To date, these forests have been destroyed by man, and have not disappeared due to some catastrophic climate change.

In the early Middle Ages (end of the 1st - beginning of the 2nd millennium AD) there is a "small climatic optimum" - a period of significant warming in Western Europe and the North Atlantic. It is no coincidence that this time is considered the "Viking Age": warming made possible in the 9th-11th centuries. long voyages across the North Atlantic and the discovery of Iceland, Greenland and North America. However, since the 14th century cooling begins in Western Europe and the XV-XIX centuries. often defined as the "Little Ice Age" - this is the time of the onset of mountain glaciers, cooling of waters, severe winters. A new period of warming began at the end of the 19th century, and in the 20th century. it has become massive.

1. Geographic location.

2. Geological structure and relief.

3. Climate.

4. Internal waters.

5. Soils, flora and fauna.

6. Natural zones and their anthropogenic changes.

Geographical position

The East European Plain is one of the largest plains in the world. The plain goes to the waters of two oceans and extends from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains and from the Barents and White Seas to the Azov, Black and Caspian. The plain lies on the ancient East European platform, its climate is predominantly temperate continental and natural zonality is clearly expressed on the plain.

Geological structure and relief

The East European Plain has a typical platform relief, which is predetermined by platform tectonics. At its base lie the Russian plate with a Precambrian basement and in the south the northern margin of the Scythian plate with a Paleozoic basement. At the same time, the boundary between the plates in the relief is not expressed. Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks lie on the uneven surface of the Precambrian basement. Their power is not the same and is due to the unevenness of the foundation. These include syneclises (areas of deep basement) - Moscow, Pechersk, Caspian Sea and anticlises (protrusions of the foundation) - Voronezh, Volga-Ural, as well as aulacogenes (deep tectonic ditches, on the site of which syneclises arose) and the Baikal ledge - Timan. In general, the plain consists of uplands with heights of 200-300m and lowlands. The average height of the Russian Plain is 170 m, and the highest, almost 480 m, is on the Bugulma-Belebeev Upland in the Ural part. In the north of the plain there are the Northern Ridges, the Valdai and Smolensk-Moscow stratal uplands, the Timan Ridge (Baikal folding). In the center are the uplands: Central Russian, Volga (layered, stepped), Bugulma-Belebeevskaya, General Syrt and lowlands: Oka-Don and Zavolzhskaya (stratified). In the south lies the accumulative Caspian lowland. Glaciation also influenced the formation of the relief of the plain. There are three glaciations: Okskoe, Dnieper with the Moscow stage, Valdai. Glaciers and fluvioglacial waters have created moraine landforms and outwash plains. In the periglacial (preglacial) zone, cryogenic forms were formed (due to permafrost processes). The southern boundary of the maximum Dnieper glaciation crossed the Central Russian Upland in the Tula region, then descended along the Don valley to the mouth of the Khopra and Medveditsa rivers, crossed the Volga Upland, the Volga near the mouth of the Sura, then the upper reaches of the Vyatka and Kama and the Urals in the region of 60˚N. Iron ore deposits (IMA) are concentrated in the foundation of the platform. The sedimentary cover is associated with reserves of coal (eastern part of the Donbass, Pechersk and Moscow region basins), oil and gas (Ural-Volga and Timan-Pechersk basins), oil shale (north-western and Middle Volga), building materials (wide distribution), bauxites (Kola Peninsula), phosphorites (in a number of areas), salts (Caspian region).

Climate

The climate of the plain is influenced by the geographical position, the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Solar radiation changes dramatically with the seasons. In winter, more than 60% of the radiation is reflected by the snow cover. Throughout the year, the western transport dominates over the Russian Plain. The Atlantic air transforms as it moves east. During the cold period, many cyclones come to the plain from the Atlantic. In winter, they bring not only precipitation, but also warming. Mediterranean cyclones are especially warm when the temperature rises to +5˚ +7˚C. After cyclones from the North Atlantic, cold Arctic air penetrates into their rear, causing sharp cooling to the very south. Anticyclones in winter provide frosty clear weather. During the warm period, cyclones mix to the north; the northwest of the plain is especially susceptible to their influence. Cyclones bring rain and coolness in summer. Hot and dry air is formed in the cores of the spur of the Azores High, which often leads to droughts in the southeast of the plain. January isotherms in the northern half of the Russian Plain run submeridian from -4˚C in the Kaliningrad region to -20˚C in the northeast of the plain. In the southern part, the isotherms deviate to the southeast, amounting to -5˚C in the lower reaches of the Volga. In summer, the isotherms run sublatitudinally: +8˚C in the north, +20˚C along the Voronezh-Cheboksary line, and +24˚C in the south of the Caspian Sea. The distribution of precipitation depends on western transport and cyclonic activity. Especially a lot of them move in the 55˚-60˚N band, this is the most humid part of the Russian Plain (Valdai and Smolensk-Moscow Uplands): the annual precipitation here is from 800 mm in the west to 600 mm in the east. Moreover, on the western slopes of the uplands, precipitation is 100-200 mm more than on the lowlands lying behind them. The maximum precipitation occurs in July (in the south in June). In winter, a snow cover forms. In the northeast of the plain, its height reaches 60-70 cm and it occurs up to 220 days a year (more than 7 months). In the south, the height of the snow cover is 10-20 cm, and the duration of occurrence is up to 2 months. The moisture coefficient varies from 0.3 in the Caspian lowland to 1.4 in the Pechersk lowland. In the north, moisture is excessive, in the strip of the upper reaches of the Dniester, Don and the mouth of the Kama - sufficient and k≈1, in the south, moisture is insufficient. In the north of the plain, the climate is subarctic (the coast of the Arctic Ocean), in the rest of the territory the climate is temperate with varying degrees of continentality. At the same time, continentality increases towards the southeast.

Inland waters

Surface waters are closely related to climate, topography, and geology. The direction of rivers (river flow) is predetermined by orography and geostructures. The runoff from the Russian Plain occurs in the basins of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and in the Caspian basin. The main watershed runs along the Northern Ridges, Valdai, Central Russian and Volga Uplands. The largest is the Volga River (it is the largest in Europe), its length is more than 3530 km, and the basin area is 1360 thousand sq. km. The source lies on the Valdai Upland. After the confluence of the Selizharovka River (from Lake Seliger), the valley expands noticeably. From the mouth of the Oka to Volgograd, the Volga flows with sharply asymmetric slopes. On the Caspian lowland, branches of the Akhtuba separate from the Volga and a wide strip of floodplain is formed. The Volga Delta begins 170 km from the Caspian coast. The main food of the Volga is snow, so the flood is observed from the beginning of April to the end of May. The height of the water rise is 5-10 m. 9 reserves have been created on the territory of the Volga basin. The Don has a length of 1870 km, the basin area is 422 thousand sq. km. Source from a ravine on the Central Russian Upland. It flows into the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov. Food is mixed: 60% snow, more than 30% groundwater and almost 10% rain. Pechora has a length of 1810 km, begins in the Northern Urals and flows into the Barents Sea. The area of ​​the basin is 322 thousand km2. The nature of the current in the upper reaches is mountainous, the channel is rapids. In the middle and low reaches, the river flows through the moraine lowland and forms a wide floodplain, and a sandy delta at the mouth. Food is mixed: up to 55% falls on melted snow water, 25% on rainwater and 20% on groundwater. The Northern Dvina is about 750 km long and is formed from the confluence of the Sukhona, Yuga and Vychegda rivers. It flows into the Dvina Bay. The area of ​​the basin is almost 360 thousand sq. km. The floodplain is wide. At the confluence of the river forms a delta. The food is mixed. Lakes on the Russian Plain differ primarily in the origin of lake basins: 1) moraine lakes are distributed in the north of the plain in areas of glacial accumulation; 2) karst - in the basins of the rivers of the Northern Dvina and the upper Volga; 3) thermokarst - in the extreme northeast, in the permafrost zone; 4) floodplain (oxbow lakes) - in the floodplains of large and medium-sized rivers; 5) estuary lakes - in the Caspian lowland. Groundwater is distributed throughout the Russian Plain. There are three artesian basins of the first order: Central Russian, East Russian and Caspian. Within their limits there are artesian basins of the second order: Moscow, Volga-Kama, Cis-Ural, etc. With depth, the chemical composition of water and water temperature change. Fresh waters occur at depths of no more than 250 m. Mineralization and temperature increase with depth. At a depth of 2-3 km, the water temperature can reach 70˚C.

Soils, flora and fauna

Soils, like vegetation on the Russian Plain, have a zonal distribution pattern. In the north of the plain there are tundra coarse-humus gley soils, there are peat-gley soils, etc. To the south, podzolic soils lie under the forests. In the northern taiga, they are gley-podzolic, in the middle taiga they are typical podzolic, and in the southern taiga they are soddy-podzolic soils, which are also characteristic of mixed forests. Under deciduous forests and forest-steppe, gray forest soils are formed. In the steppes, the soils are chernozem (podzolized, typical, etc.). On the Caspian lowland, the soils are chestnut and brown desert, there are solonetzes and solonchaks.

The vegetation of the Russian Plain differs from the vegetation cover of other large regions of our country. Broad-leaved forests are common on the Russian Plain, and only here are semi-deserts. In general, the set of vegetation is very diverse from tundra to desert. In the tundra, mosses and lichens predominate; to the south, the number of dwarf birch and willow increases. Spruce with an admixture of birch dominates in the forest-tundra. In the taiga, spruce dominates, to the east with an admixture of fir, and on the poorest soils - pine. Mixed forests include coniferous-broad-leaved species, in broad-leaved forests, where they have been preserved, oak and linden dominate. These same rocks are also characteristic of the forest-steppe. The steppe occupies here the largest area in Russia, where cereals predominate. The semi-desert is represented by grass-wormwood and wormwood-saltwort communities.

In the animal world of the Russian Plain, western and eastern species are found. Forest animals are most widely represented and, to a lesser extent, steppe animals. Western species gravitate towards mixed and broad-leaved forests (marten, black polecat, dormouse, mole, and some others). Oriental species gravitate toward the taiga and forest-tundra (chipmunk, wolverine, Ob lemming, etc.). Rodents (ground squirrels, marmots, voles, etc.) dominate in the steppes and semi-deserts, and the saiga penetrates from the Asian steppes.

natural areas

Natural zones on the East European Plain are especially pronounced. From north to south, they replace each other: tundra, forest-tundra, taiga, mixed and broad-leaved forests, forest-steppe, steppes, semi-deserts and deserts. Tundra occupies the coast of the Barents Sea, covers the entire Kanin Peninsula and further to the east, to the Polar Urals. The European tundra is warmer and wetter than the Asian one, the climate is subarctic with maritime features. The average temperature in January varies from -10˚C near the Kanin Peninsula to -20˚C near the Yugorsky Peninsula. In summer around +5˚C. Precipitation 600-500 mm. The permafrost is thin, there are many swamps. On the coast, typical tundras are common on tundra-gley soils, with a predominance of mosses and lichens, in addition, arctic bluegrass, pike, alpine cornflower, and sedges grow here; from shrubs - wild rosemary, dryad (partridge grass), blueberries, cranberries. To the south, shrubs of dwarf birches and willows appear. The forest tundra extends south of the tundra in a narrow strip of 30-40 km. The forests here are sparse, the height is not more than 5-8 m, spruce dominates with an admixture of birch, sometimes larch. Low places are occupied by swamps, thickets of small willows or birch dwarf birch. There are many crowberries, blueberries, cranberries, blueberries, mosses and various taiga herbs. High-stemmed forests of spruce with an admixture of mountain ash (here it blooms on July 5) and bird cherry (blooms by June 30) penetrate along the river valleys. Of the animals of these zones, reindeer, arctic fox, polar wolf, lemming, hare, ermine, wolverine are typical. There are many birds in summer: eiders, geese, ducks, swans, snow bunting, white-tailed eagle, gyrfalcon, peregrine falcon; many blood-sucking insects. Rivers and lakes are rich in fish: salmon, whitefish, pike, burbot, perch, char, etc.

The taiga extends to the south of the forest-tundra, its southern border runs along the line St. Petersburg - Yaroslavl - Nizhny Novgorod - Kazan. In the west and in the center, the taiga merges with mixed forests, and in the east with forest-steppe. The climate of the European taiga is temperate continental. Precipitation on the plains is about 600 mm, on the hills up to 800 mm. Humidification is excessive. The growing season lasts from 2 months in the north to almost 4 months in the south of the zone. The depth of soil freezing is from 120 cm in the north to 30-60 cm in the south. The soils are podzolic, in the north there are peat-gley zones. There are many rivers, lakes, swamps in the taiga. The European taiga is characterized by dark coniferous taiga of European and Siberian spruce. To the east, fir is added, closer to the Urals, cedar and larch. Pine forests form on swamps and sands. On clearings and burnt areas - birch and aspen, along the river valleys alder, willow. Of the animals, elk, reindeer, brown bear, wolverine, wolf, lynx, fox, white hare, squirrel, mink, otter, chipmunk are characteristic. There are many birds: capercaillie, hazel grouse, owls, ptarmigan, snipe, woodcocks, lapwings, geese, ducks, etc. in swamps and reservoirs. Woodpeckers are widespread, especially three-toed and black, bullfinch, waxwing, smur, kuksha, tits, crossbills, kinglets and others. From reptiles and amphibians - vipers, lizards, newts, toads. In summer there are many blood-sucking insects. Mixed, and to the south broad-leaved forests are located in the western part of the plain between the taiga and the forest-steppe. The climate is temperate continental, but, unlike the taiga, it is milder and warmer. Winters are noticeably shorter and summers are longer. The soils are soddy-podzolic and gray forest. Many rivers begin here: the Volga, the Dnieper, the Western Dvina, and others. There are many lakes, there are swamps and meadows. The boundary between the forests is weakly expressed. With advancement to the east and north, the role of spruce and even fir in mixed forests increases, while the role of broad-leaved species decreases. There is linden and oak. To the southwest, maple, elm, ash appear, and conifers disappear. Pine forests are found only on poor soils. In these forests, undergrowth is well developed (hazel, honeysuckle, euonymus, etc.) and grass cover of goutweed, hoof, chickweed, some grasses, and where conifers grow, there are oxalis, maynik, ferns, mosses, etc. In connection with the economic development of these forests, the animal world has sharply decreased. There are elk, wild boar, red deer and roe deer have become very rare, bison only in reserves. The bear and lynx have practically disappeared. The fox, squirrel, dormice, forest polecat, beaver, badger, hedgehog, moles are still common; preserved marten, mink, forest cat, muskrat; muskrat, raccoon dog, American mink are acclimatized. From reptiles and amphibians - snake, viper, lizards, frogs, toads. Many birds, both sedentary and migratory. Woodpeckers, tits, nuthatch, blackbirds, jays, owls are characteristic, finches, warblers, flycatchers, warblers, buntings, waterfowl arrive in the summer. Black grouse, partridges, golden eagles, white-tailed eagles, etc. have become rare. Compared to the taiga, the number of invertebrates in the soil increases significantly. The forest-steppe zone extends south from the forests and reaches the line Voronezh - Saratov - Samara. The climate is temperate continental with an increase in the degree of continentality to the east, which affects the more depleted floristic composition in the east of the zone. Winter temperatures range from -5˚C in the west to -15˚C in the east. In the same direction, the annual amount of precipitation decreases. Summer is very warm everywhere +20˚+22˚C. The moisture coefficient in the forest-steppe is about 1. Sometimes, especially in recent years, droughts occur in summer. The relief of the zone is characterized by erosional dissection, which creates a certain diversity of the soil cover. Most typical gray forest soils on loess-like loams. Leached chernozems are developed along the river terraces. The further south, the more leached and podzolized chernozems, and gray forest soils disappear. Little natural vegetation has been preserved. Forests here are found only in small islands, mainly oak forests, where you can find maple, elm, ash. Pine forests have been preserved on poor soils. Meadow forbs have been preserved only on lands that are not convenient for plowing. The animal world consists of forest and steppe fauna, but recently, due to human economic activity, the steppe fauna began to predominate. The steppe zone extends from the southern border of the forest-steppe to the Kumo-Manych depression and the Caspian lowland in the south. The climate is temperate continental, but with a significant degree of continentality. Summer is hot, average temperatures are +22˚+23˚C. Winter temperatures vary from -4˚C in the Azov steppes to -15˚C in the Trans-Volga steppes. Annual rainfall decreases from 500 mm in the west to 400 mm in the east. The moisture coefficient is less than 1, droughts and hot winds are frequent in summer. The northern steppes are less warm, but more humid than the southern ones. Therefore, the northern steppes are forb-feather grass on chernozem soils. The southern steppes are dry on chestnut soils. They are characterized by salinity. In the floodplains of large rivers (the Don and others), floodplain forests of poplar, willow, alder, oak, elm, and others grow. Among animals, rodents predominate: ground squirrels, shrews, hamsters, field mice, and others. Of the predators - ferrets, foxes, weasels. Birds include larks, steppe eagles, harriers, corncrakes, falcons, bustards, etc. There are snakes and lizards. Most of the northern steppes are now plowed up. The semi-desert and desert zone within Russia is located in the southwestern part of the Caspian lowland. This zone adjoins the coast of the Caspian Sea and merges with the deserts of Kazakhstan. The climate is continental temperate. Rainfall is about 300 mm. Winter temperatures are negative -5˚-10˚C. The snow cover is thin, but lies up to 60 days. Soils freeze up to 80 cm. Summer is hot and long, average temperatures are +23˚+25˚C. The Volga flows through the territory of the zone, forming a vast delta. There are many lakes, but almost all of them are salty. The soils are light chestnut, sometimes brown desert. The humus content does not exceed 1%. Solonchaks and salt licks are widespread. The vegetation cover is dominated by white and black wormwood, fescue, thin-legged, xerophytic feather grasses; to the south, the number of saltworts increases, a tamarisk shrub appears; tulips, buttercups, rhubarb bloom in spring. In the floodplain of the Volga, there are willow, white poplar, sedge, oak, aspen, etc. The animal world is represented mainly by rodents: jerboas, ground squirrels, gerbils, many reptiles - snakes and lizards. Of the predators, the steppe polecat, the corsac fox, and the weasel are typical. There are many birds in the Volga Delta, especially during the migration seasons. All natural zones of the Russian Plain have experienced anthropogenic impacts. Particularly heavily modified by man are the zones of forest-steppes and steppes, as well as mixed and broad-leaved forests.

The Russian Plain is one of the largest plains in the world in terms of area. Among all the plains of our Motherland, only it goes to two oceans. Russia is located in the central and eastern parts of the plain. It stretches from the coast of the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains, from the Barents and White Seas to the Azov and Caspian.

The Russian plain consists of uplands with heights 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 Ural part. The maximum mark of the Timan Ridge is somewhat less (471 m).
To the north of this strip, low plains predominate. Large rivers flow through this territory - Onega, Northern Dvina, Pechora with numerous high-water tributaries. The southern part of the Russian Plain is occupied by lowlands, of which only the Caspian is located on the territory of Russia.

The Russian Plain almost completely coincides with the East European Platform. This circumstance explains its flat relief, as well as the absence or insignificance of manifestations of such natural phenomena as earthquakes and volcanism. Large uplands and lowlands arose as a result of tectonic movements, including along faults. The height of some hills and plateaus reaches 600-1000 meters.

On the territory of the Russian Plain, platform deposits occur almost horizontally, but their thickness in some places exceeds 20 km. Where the folded foundation protrudes to the surface, elevations and ridges are formed (for example, the Donetsk and Timan ridges). On average, the height of the Russian Plain is about 170 meters above sea level. The lowest areas are on the Caspian coast (its level is about 26 meters below the level of the World Ocean).

The formation of the relief of the Russian Plain is determined by belonging to the plate of the Russian Platform and is characterized by a calm regime and a low amplitude of the latest tectonic movements. Erosion-denudation processes, Pleistocene ice sheets and marine transgressions created the main features of the relief in the late Cenozoic. The Russian Plain is subdivided into three provinces.

The North Russian province is distinguished by the ubiquitous distribution of glacial and water-glacial landforms formed by the ice sheets of the Moscow and Valdai times. Stratified lowlands predominate with remnant stratal-mono-clinal and ridge elevations, with relief forms oriented in the northwestern and northeastern directions, underlined by the pattern of the hydro-network.

The Central Russian province is characterized by a regular combination of erosion-denudation stratal and monoclinal-stratal uplands and lowlands oriented in the meridional and sublatitudinal directions. Part of its vast territory was covered by the Dnieper and Moscow glaciers. Low-lying areas served as areas of accumulation of water- and lacustrine-glacial deposits, and the relief of woodland was formed on them, sometimes with significant eolian processing, with dune formations. Gullies and ravines are widely developed on elevated areas and sides of valleys. Relics of the Neogene denudation-accumulative relief have been preserved under the cover of loose deposits of the Quaternary age. Leveled surfaces are preserved on the stratal uplands, and in the east and southeast of the province - marine deposits of the ancient transgressions of the Caspian.

The South Russian province includes the Stavropol stratified-monocline flat-topped upland (up to 830 m), a group of island mountains (Neogene subextrusive bodies, the city of Beshtau - 1401 m, etc.) in the upper reaches of the Kuma, the deltaic plains of the Terek and Sulak rivers of the Caspian lowland, a terraced alluvial plain in the lower reaches of the river Kuban. The relief of the Russian Plain has been significantly changed as a result of human activities.

Report: External processes that shape the relief and

Lesson topic: External processes that form the relief and

associated natural phenomena

Lesson objectives: to form knowledge about the change in landforms as a result of erosion,

weathering and other external relief-forming processes, their role

in shaping the appearance of the surface of our country.

Let the students down

to the conclusion about the constant change, the development of the relief under the influence of

only internal and external processes, but also human activities.

1. Repetition of the studied material.

What causes the Earth's surface to change?

2. What processes are called endogenous?

2. What parts of the country experienced the most intense uplifts in the Neogene-Quaternary?

3. Do they coincide with earthquake distribution areas?

Name the main active volcanoes in the country.

5. In what parts of the Krasnodar Territory are internal processes most often manifested?

2. Learning new material.

The activity of any external factor consists of the process of destruction and demolition of rocks (denudation) and the deposition of materials in depressions (accumulation).

This is preceded by weathering. There are two main types of exposure: physical and chemical, as a result of which loose deposits are formed that are convenient for moving by water, ice, wind, etc.

As the teacher explains the new material, the table is filled

^ External processes

main types

Distribution areas

The activity of the ancient glacier

^ Trogs, sheep foreheads, curly rocks.

Moraine hills and ridges.

Introductory glacial plains

Karelia, Kola Peninsula

Valdai rise, Smolensk-Moscow rise

^ Meshcherskaya nizm.

Activity of flowing waters

Erosion forms: ravines, beams, river valleys

Central Russian, Volga and others

almost everywhere

Eastern Transcaucasia, Baikal region, Wed.

^ Wind work

Eolian forms: dunes,

deserts and semi-deserts of the Caspian lowlands.

southern coast of the Baltic Sea

^ Groundwater

Karst (caves, mines, funnels, etc.)

Caucasus, Central Russian erection, etc.

Tidal bore

abrasive

coasts of seas and lakes

^ Processes caused by the activity of gravity

landslides and scree

They predominate in the mountains, often on the steep slopes of river valleys and ravines.

Middle course of the Volga river, Black Sea coast

^ Human activity

land plowing, f.i. mining, construction, deforestation

in places of human habitation and extraction of natural resources.

Examples of certain types of external processes - pp. 44-45 Ermoshkin "Geography Lessons"

FIXING THE NEW MATERIAL

1. Name the main types of exogenous processes.

2. Which of them are the most developed in the Krasnodar Territory?

3. What anti-erosion measures do you know?

4. HOME TASK: prepare for a general lesson on the topic “Geological structure,

relief and minerals of Russia» pp. 19-44.

Relief of the East European (Russian) Plain

The East European (Russian) Plain is one of the largest plains in the world in terms of area. Among all the plains of our Motherland, only it goes to two oceans. Russia is located in the central and eastern parts of the plain. It stretches from the coast of the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains, from the Barents and White Seas to the Azov and Caspian.

The East European Plain has the highest rural population density, large cities and many small towns and urban-type settlements, and a variety of natural resources.

The plain has long been mastered by man.

The substantiation of its definition as a physical-geographical country are the following features: 1) an elevated stratal plain was formed on the plate of the ancient East European platform; 2) Atlantic-continental, predominantly temperate and insufficiently humid climate, formed largely under the influence of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans; 3) natural zones are clearly expressed, the structure of which was greatly influenced by the flat relief and neighboring territories - Central Europe, North and Central Asia.

This led to the interpenetration of European and Asian species of plants and animals, as well as to a deviation from the latitudinal position of natural zones in the east to the north.

Relief and geological structure

The East European Uplifted Plain consists of uplands with heights 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 Ural part. The maximum mark of the Timan Ridge is somewhat less (471 m).

According to the features of the orographic pattern 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: the Central Russian, Volga, Bugulma-Belebeevskaya uplands and the Common Syrt are separated by the Oka-Don lowland and the Low Trans-Volga region, along which the Don and Volga rivers flow, carrying their waters to the south.

To the north of this strip, low plains predominate, on the surface of which smaller hills are scattered here and there in garlands and singly.

From the west to the east-northeast, the Smolensk-Moscow, Valdai uplands and Northern Uvaly stretch, replacing each other. The watersheds between the Arctic, Atlantic and internal (endorheic Aral-Caspian) basins mainly pass through them. From Severnye Uvaly the territory goes down to the White and Barents Seas. This part of the Russian Plain A.A.

Borzov called the northern slope. Large rivers flow along it - Onega, Northern Dvina, Pechora with numerous high-water tributaries.

The southern part of the East European Plain is occupied by lowlands, of which only the Caspian is located on the territory of Russia.

Figure 1 - Geological profiles across the Russian Plain

The East European Plain has a typical platform relief, which is predetermined by the tectonic features of the platform: the heterogeneity of its structure (the presence of deep faults, ring structures, aulacogens, anteclises, syneclises, and other smaller structures) with unequal manifestations of recent tectonic movements.

Almost all large uplands and lowlands are plains of tectonic origin, while a significant part is inherited from the structure of the crystalline basement.

In the process of a long and complex path of development, they were formed as unified in the morphostructural, orographic and genetic terms of the territory.

At the base of the East European Plain lie the Russian plate with a Precambrian crystalline basement and in the south the northern edge of the Scythian plate with a Paleozoic folded basement.

The boundary between the plates in the relief is not expressed. On the uneven surface of the Precambrian basement of the Russian Plate, there are strata of Precambrian (Vendian, in some places Riphean) and Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks with slightly disturbed occurrence. Their thickness is not the same and is due to the unevenness of the basement topography (Fig. 1), which determines the main geostructures of the plate. These include syneclises - areas of deep occurrence of the foundation (Moscow, Pechora, Caspian, Glazov), anteclises - areas of shallow occurrence of the foundation (Voronezh, Volga-Ural), aulacogens - deep tectonic ditches, on the site of which syneclises subsequently arose (Kresttsovsky, Soligalichsky, Moskovsky and others), ledges of the Baikal basement - Timan.

The Moscow syneclise is one of the oldest and most complex internal structures of the Russian plate with a deep crystalline basement.

It is based on the Central Russian and Moscow aulacogenes filled with thick Riphean strata, above which the sedimentary cover of the Vendian and Phanerozoic (from Cambrian to Cretaceous) occurs. In the Neogene-Quaternary time, it experienced uneven uplifts and is expressed in the relief by rather large uplands - Valdai, Smolensk-Moscow and lowlands - Upper Volga, North Dvinskaya.

The Pechora syneclise is located wedge-shaped in the northeast of the Russian Plate, between the Timan Ridge and the Urals.

Its uneven block foundation is lowered to various depths - up to 5000-6000 m in the east. The syneclise is filled with a thick layer of Paleozoic rocks overlain by Meso-Cenozoic deposits. In its northeastern part is the Usinsky (Bolshezemelsky) vault.

In the center of the Russian Plate there are two large anteclises - Voronezh and Volga-Urals, separated by the Pachelma aulacogen. The Voronezh anteclise slopes gently to the north into the Moscow syneclise.

The surface of its basement is covered with thin deposits of the Ordovician, Devonian and Carboniferous. Rocks of the Carboniferous, Cretaceous and Paleogene occur on the southern steep slope.

The Volga-Ural anteclise consists of large uplifts (arches) and depressions (aulacogens), on the slopes of which flexures are located.

The thickness of the sedimentary cover here is at least 800 m within the highest arches (Tokmovsky).

The Caspian marginal syneclise is a vast area of ​​deep (up to 18-20 km) subsidence of the crystalline basement and belongs to the structures of ancient origin, almost on all sides of the syneclise is limited by flexures and faults and has an angular outline.

From the west it is framed by the Ergeninskaya and Volgograd flexures, from the north by the flexures of the General Syrt. In places they are complicated by young faults.

In the Neogene-Quaternary, further subsidence (up to 500 m) and accumulation of a thick layer of marine and continental deposits took place. These processes are combined with fluctuations in the level of the Caspian Sea.

The southern part of the East European Plain is located on the Scythian epi-Hercynian plate, lying between the southern edge of the Russian plate and the Alpine folded structures of the Caucasus.

The tectonic movements of the Urals and the Caucasus led to some disturbance of the sedimentary deposits of the plates.

This is expressed in the form of dome-shaped uplifts, significant along the shafts (Oksko-Tsniksky, Zhigulevsky, Vyatsky, etc.), individual flexural bends of layers, salt domes, which are clearly visible in the modern relief. Ancient and young deep faults, as well as ring structures, determined the block structure of the plates, the direction of river valleys, and the activity of neotectonic movements. The predominant direction of the faults is northwestern.

A brief description of the tectonics of the East European Plain and a comparison of the tectonic map with the hypsometric and neotectonic ones allows us to conclude that the modern relief, which has undergone a long and complex history, is in most cases inherited and dependent on the nature of the ancient structure and manifestations of neotectonic movements.

Neotectonic movements on the East European Plain manifested themselves with different intensity and direction: in most of the territory they are expressed by weak and moderate uplifts, low mobility, and the Caspian and Pechora lowlands experience weak subsidence.

The development of the morphostructure of the north-west of the plain is associated with the movements of the marginal part of the Baltic Shield and the Moscow syneclise; therefore, monoclinal (sloping) layered plains are developed here, expressed in orography in the form of uplands (Valdai, Smolensk-Moscow, Belorusskaya, Northern Uvaly, etc.), and layered plains occupying a lower position (Upper Volga, Meshcherskaya).

The central part of the Russian Plain was affected by intense uplifts of the Voronezh and Volga-Ural anteclises, as well as subsidence of neighboring aulacogenes and troughs.

These processes contributed to the formation of layer-tier, stepped uplands (Central Russian and Volga) and layered Oka-Don plain. The eastern part developed in connection with the movements of the Urals and the edge of the Russian Plate, therefore, a mosaic of morphostructures is observed here. In the north and south, accumulative lowlands of the marginal syneclises of the plate (Pechora and Caspian) are developed. Interspersed between them are layered-stage uplands (Bugulma-Belebeevskaya, General Syrt), monoclinal-stratified uplands (Verkhnekamskaya) and the intra-platform folded Timan Ridge.

In the Quaternary, the cooling of the climate in the northern hemisphere contributed to the spread of ice sheets.

Glaciers had a significant impact on the formation of relief, Quaternary deposits, permafrost, as well as on the change in natural zones - their position, floristic composition, fauna and migration of plants and animals within the East European Plain.

Three glaciations are distinguished on the East European Plain: the Okskoe, the Dnieper with the Moscow stage, and the Valdai.

Glaciers and fluvioglacial waters created two types of plains - moraine and outwash. In a wide periglacial (preglacial) zone, permafrost processes dominated for a long time.

The relief was especially intensively affected by snowfields during the period of reduction of glaciation.

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Make a description of the relief and minerals of the Russian Plain according to the following plan: 1.

Make a description of the relief and minerals of the Russian Plain according to the following plan:
1. Where is the territory
2.

What tectonic structure is confined to
3. How old are the rocks that make up the territory and how they lie
4. How it affected the relief
5. How altitudes change across the territory
6. Where are and what are the minimum and maximum heights
7. What determines the current altitude position of the territory
8. What external processes were involved in the formation of the relief
9. What forms are created by each process and where are they located, why
10.

What minerals and why are they common on the plain, how are they located

1. Geographic location.

2. Geological structure and relief.

3. Climate.

4. Internal waters.

5. Soils, flora and fauna.

6. Natural zones and their anthropogenic changes.

Geographical position

The East European Plain is one of the largest plains in the world. The plain goes to the waters of two oceans and extends from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains and from the Barents and White Seas to the Azov, Black and Caspian.

The plain lies on the ancient East European platform, its climate is predominantly temperate continental and natural zonality is clearly expressed on the plain.

Geological structure and relief

The East European Plain has a typical platform relief, which is predetermined by platform tectonics.

At its base lie the Russian plate with a Precambrian basement and in the south the northern margin of the Scythian plate with a Paleozoic basement. At the same time, the boundary between the plates in the relief is not expressed. Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks lie on the uneven surface of the Precambrian basement. Their power is not the same and is due to the unevenness of the foundation. These include syneclises (areas of deep basement) - Moscow, Pechersk, Caspian Sea and anticlises (protrusions of the foundation) - Voronezh, Volga-Ural, as well as aulacogenes (deep tectonic ditches, on the site of which syneclises arose) and the Baikal ledge - Timan.

In general, the plain consists of uplands with heights of 200-300m and lowlands. The average height of the Russian Plain is 170 m, and the highest, almost 480 m, is on the Bugulma-Belebeev Upland in the Ural part. In the north of the plain there are the Northern Ridges, the Valdai and Smolensk-Moscow stratal uplands, the Timan Ridge (Baikal folding).

In the center are the uplands: Central Russian, Volga (layered, stepped), Bugulma-Belebeevskaya, General Syrt and lowlands: Oka-Don and Zavolzhskaya (stratified).

In the south lies the accumulative Caspian lowland. Glaciation also influenced the formation of the relief of the plain. There are three glaciations: Okskoe, Dnieper with the Moscow stage, Valdai. Glaciers and fluvioglacial waters have created moraine landforms and outwash plains.

In the periglacial (preglacial) zone, cryogenic forms were formed (due to permafrost processes). The southern boundary of the maximum Dnieper glaciation crossed the Central Russian Upland in the Tula region, then descended along the Don valley to the mouth of the Khopra and Medveditsa rivers, crossed the Volga Upland, the Volga near the mouth of the Sura, then the upper reaches of the Vyatka and Kama and the Urals in the region of 60˚N. Iron ore deposits (IMA) are concentrated in the foundation of the platform. The sedimentary cover is associated with reserves of coal (eastern part of the Donbass, Pechersk and Moscow region basins), oil and gas (Ural-Volga and Timan-Pechersk basins), oil shale (north-western and Middle Volga), building materials (wide distribution), bauxites (Kola Peninsula), phosphorites (in a number of areas), salts (Caspian region).

Climate

The climate of the plain is influenced by the geographical position, the Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

Solar radiation changes dramatically with the seasons. In winter, more than 60% of the radiation is reflected by the snow cover. Throughout the year, the western transport dominates over the Russian Plain. The Atlantic air transforms as it moves east. During the cold period, many cyclones come to the plain from the Atlantic. In winter, they bring not only precipitation, but also warming. Mediterranean cyclones are especially warm when the temperature rises to +5˚ +7˚C. After cyclones from the North Atlantic, cold Arctic air penetrates into their rear, causing sharp cooling to the very south.

Anticyclones in winter provide frosty clear weather. During the warm period, cyclones mix to the north; the northwest of the plain is especially susceptible to their influence. Cyclones bring rain and coolness in summer.

Hot and dry air is formed in the cores of the spur of the Azores High, which often leads to droughts in the southeast of the plain. January isotherms in the northern half of the Russian Plain run submeridian from -4˚C in the Kaliningrad region to -20˚C in the northeast of the plain. In the southern part, the isotherms deviate to the southeast, amounting to -5˚C in the lower reaches of the Volga.

In summer, the isotherms run sublatitudinally: +8˚C in the north, +20˚C along the Voronezh-Cheboksary line, and +24˚C in the south of the Caspian Sea. The distribution of precipitation depends on western transport and cyclonic activity. Especially a lot of them move in the 55˚-60˚N band, this is the most humid part of the Russian Plain (Valdai and Smolensk-Moscow Uplands): the annual precipitation here is from 800 mm in the west to 600 mm in the east.

Moreover, on the western slopes of the uplands, precipitation is 100-200 mm more than on the lowlands lying behind them. The maximum precipitation occurs in July (in the south in June).

In winter, a snow cover forms. In the northeast of the plain, its height reaches 60-70 cm and it occurs up to 220 days a year (more than 7 months). In the south, the height of the snow cover is 10-20 cm, and the duration of occurrence is up to 2 months. The moisture coefficient varies from 0.3 in the Caspian lowland to 1.4 in the Pechersk lowland. In the north, moisture is excessive, in the strip of the upper reaches of the Dniester, Don and the mouth of the Kama - sufficient and k≈1, in the south, moisture is insufficient.

In the north of the plain, the climate is subarctic (the coast of the Arctic Ocean), in the rest of the territory the climate is temperate with varying degrees of continentality. At the same time, continentality increases towards the southeast.

Inland waters

Surface waters are closely related to climate, topography, and geology. The direction of rivers (river flow) is predetermined by orography and geostructures. The runoff from the Russian Plain occurs in the basins of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans and in the Caspian basin.

The main watershed runs along the Northern Ridges, Valdai, Central Russian and Volga Uplands. The largest is the Volga River (it is the largest in Europe), its length is more than 3530 km, and the basin area is 1360 thousand sq. km. The source lies on the Valdai Upland.

After the confluence of the Selizharovka River (from Lake Seliger), the valley expands noticeably. From the mouth of the Oka to Volgograd, the Volga flows with sharply asymmetric slopes.

On the Caspian lowland, branches of the Akhtuba separate from the Volga and a wide strip of floodplain is formed. The Volga Delta begins 170 km from the Caspian coast. The main food of the Volga is snow, so the flood is observed from the beginning of April to the end of May. The height of the water rise is 5-10 m. 9 reserves have been created on the territory of the Volga basin. The Don has a length of 1870 km, the basin area is 422 thousand sq. km.

Source from a ravine on the Central Russian Upland. It flows into the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov. Food is mixed: 60% snow, more than 30% groundwater and almost 10% rain. Pechora has a length of 1810 km, begins in the Northern Urals and flows into the Barents Sea. The area of ​​the basin is 322 thousand km2. The nature of the current in the upper reaches is mountainous, the channel is rapids. In the middle and low reaches, the river flows through the moraine lowland and forms a wide floodplain, and a sandy delta at the mouth.

Food is mixed: up to 55% falls on melted snow water, 25% on rainwater and 20% on groundwater. The Northern Dvina is about 750 km long and is formed from the confluence of the Sukhona, Yuga and Vychegda rivers. It flows into the Dvina Bay. The area of ​​the basin is almost 360 thousand sq. km. The floodplain is wide. At the confluence of the river forms a delta. The food is mixed. Lakes on the Russian Plain differ primarily in the origin of lake basins: 1) moraine lakes are distributed in the north of the plain in areas of glacial accumulation; 2) karst - in the basins of the rivers of the Northern Dvina and the upper Volga; 3) thermokarst - in the extreme northeast, in the permafrost zone; 4) floodplain (oxbow lakes) - in the floodplains of large and medium-sized rivers; 5) estuary lakes - in the Caspian lowland.

Groundwater is distributed throughout the Russian Plain. There are three artesian basins of the first order: Central Russian, East Russian and Caspian. Within their limits there are artesian basins of the second order: Moscow, Volga-Kama, Cis-Ural, etc. With depth, the chemical composition of water and water temperature change.

Fresh waters occur at depths of no more than 250 m. Mineralization and temperature increase with depth. At a depth of 2-3 km, the water temperature can reach 70˚C.

Soils, flora and fauna

Soils, like vegetation on the Russian Plain, have a zonal distribution pattern. In the north of the plain there are tundra coarse-humus gley soils, there are peat-gley soils, etc.

To the south, podzolic soils lie under the forests. In the northern taiga, they are gley-podzolic, in the middle taiga they are typical podzolic, and in the southern taiga they are soddy-podzolic soils, which are also characteristic of mixed forests. Under deciduous forests and forest-steppe, gray forest soils are formed. In the steppes, the soils are chernozem (podzolized, typical, etc.). On the Caspian lowland, the soils are chestnut and brown desert, there are solonetzes and solonchaks.

The vegetation of the Russian Plain differs from the vegetation cover of other large regions of our country.

Broad-leaved forests are common on the Russian Plain, and only here are semi-deserts. In general, the set of vegetation is very diverse from tundra to desert. In the tundra, mosses and lichens predominate; to the south, the number of dwarf birch and willow increases.

Spruce with an admixture of birch dominates in the forest-tundra. In the taiga, spruce dominates, to the east with an admixture of fir, and on the poorest soils - pine. Mixed forests include coniferous-broad-leaved species, in broad-leaved forests, where they have been preserved, oak and linden dominate.

These same rocks are also characteristic of the forest-steppe. The steppe occupies here the largest area in Russia, where cereals predominate. The semi-desert is represented by grass-wormwood and wormwood-saltwort communities.

In the animal world of the Russian Plain, western and eastern species are found. Forest animals are most widely represented and, to a lesser extent, steppe animals. Western species gravitate towards mixed and broad-leaved forests (marten, black polecat, dormouse, mole, and some others).

Oriental species gravitate toward the taiga and forest-tundra (chipmunk, wolverine, Ob lemming, etc.). Rodents (ground squirrels, marmots, voles, etc.) dominate in the steppes and semi-deserts, and the saiga penetrates from the Asian steppes.

natural areas

Natural zones on the East European Plain are especially pronounced.

From north to south, they replace each other: tundra, forest-tundra, taiga, mixed and broad-leaved forests, forest-steppe, steppes, semi-deserts and deserts. Tundra occupies the coast of the Barents Sea, covers the entire Kanin Peninsula and further to the east, to the Polar Urals.

The European tundra is warmer and wetter than the Asian one, the climate is subarctic with maritime features. The average temperature in January varies from -10˚C near the Kanin Peninsula to -20˚C near the Yugorsky Peninsula. In summer around +5˚C. Precipitation 600-500 mm. The permafrost is thin, there are many swamps. On the coast, typical tundras are common on tundra-gley soils, with a predominance of mosses and lichens, in addition, arctic bluegrass, pike, alpine cornflower, and sedges grow here; from shrubs - wild rosemary, dryad (partridge grass), blueberries, cranberries.

To the south, shrubs of dwarf birches and willows appear. The forest tundra extends south of the tundra in a narrow strip of 30-40 km. The forests here are sparse, the height is not more than 5-8 m, spruce dominates with an admixture of birch, sometimes larch. Low places are occupied by swamps, thickets of small willows or birch dwarf birch. There are many crowberries, blueberries, cranberries, blueberries, mosses and various taiga herbs.

High-stemmed forests of spruce with an admixture of mountain ash (here it blooms on July 5) and bird cherry (blooms by June 30) penetrate along the river valleys. Of the animals of these zones, reindeer, arctic fox, polar wolf, lemming, hare, ermine, wolverine are typical.

There are many birds in summer: eiders, geese, ducks, swans, snow bunting, white-tailed eagle, gyrfalcon, peregrine falcon; many blood-sucking insects. Rivers and lakes are rich in fish: salmon, whitefish, pike, burbot, perch, char, etc.

The taiga extends to the south of the forest-tundra, its southern border runs along the line St. Petersburg - Yaroslavl - Nizhny Novgorod - Kazan.

In the west and in the center, the taiga merges with mixed forests, and in the east with forest-steppe. The climate of the European taiga is temperate continental. Precipitation on the plains is about 600 mm, on the hills up to 800 mm. Humidification is excessive. The growing season lasts from 2 months in the north to almost 4 months in the south of the zone.

The depth of soil freezing is from 120 cm in the north to 30-60 cm in the south. The soils are podzolic, in the north there are peat-gley zones. There are many rivers, lakes, swamps in the taiga. The European taiga is characterized by dark coniferous taiga of European and Siberian spruce.

To the east, fir is added, closer to the Urals, cedar and larch. Pine forests form on swamps and sands.

On clearings and burnt areas - birch and aspen, along the river valleys alder, willow. Of the animals, elk, reindeer, brown bear, wolverine, wolf, lynx, fox, white hare, squirrel, mink, otter, chipmunk are characteristic. There are many birds: capercaillie, hazel grouse, owls, ptarmigan, snipe, woodcocks, lapwings, geese, ducks, etc. in swamps and reservoirs. Woodpeckers are widespread, especially three-toed and black, bullfinch, waxwing, smur, kuksha, tits, crossbills, kinglets and others. From reptiles and amphibians - vipers, lizards, newts, toads.

In summer there are many blood-sucking insects. Mixed, and to the south broad-leaved forests are located in the western part of the plain between the taiga and the forest-steppe. The climate is temperate continental, but, unlike the taiga, it is milder and warmer. Winters are noticeably shorter and summers are longer. The soils are soddy-podzolic and gray forest. Many rivers begin here: the Volga, the Dnieper, the Western Dvina, etc.

There are many lakes, swamps and meadows. The boundary between the forests is weakly expressed. With advancement to the east and north, the role of spruce and even fir in mixed forests increases, while the role of broad-leaved species decreases. There is linden and oak. To the southwest, maple, elm, ash appear, and conifers disappear.

Pine forests are found only on poor soils. In these forests, undergrowth is well developed (hazel, honeysuckle, euonymus, etc.) and grass cover of goutweed, hoof, chickweed, some grasses, and where conifers grow, there are oxalis, maynik, ferns, mosses, etc.

In connection with the economic development of these forests, the animal world has sharply decreased. There are elk, wild boar, red deer and roe deer have become very rare, bison only in reserves. The bear and lynx have practically disappeared. The fox, squirrel, dormice, forest polecat, beaver, badger, hedgehog, moles are still common; preserved marten, mink, forest cat, muskrat; muskrat, raccoon dog, American mink are acclimatized.

From reptiles and amphibians - snake, viper, lizards, frogs, toads. Many birds, both sedentary and migratory. Woodpeckers, tits, nuthatch, blackbirds, jays, owls are characteristic, finches, warblers, flycatchers, warblers, buntings, waterfowl arrive in the summer. Black grouse, partridges, golden eagles, white-tailed eagles, etc. have become rare. Compared to the taiga, the number of invertebrates in the soil increases significantly. The forest-steppe zone extends south from the forests and reaches the line Voronezh - Saratov - Samara.

The climate is temperate continental with an increase in the degree of continentality to the east, which affects the more depleted floristic composition in the east of the zone. Winter temperatures range from -5˚C in the west to -15˚C in the east. In the same direction, the annual amount of precipitation decreases.

Summer is very warm everywhere +20˚+22˚C. The moisture coefficient in the forest-steppe is about 1. Sometimes, especially in recent years, droughts occur in summer. The relief of the zone is characterized by erosional dissection, which creates a certain diversity of the soil cover.

Most typical gray forest soils on loess-like loams. Leached chernozems are developed along the river terraces. The further south, the more leached and podzolized chernozems, and gray forest soils disappear.

Little natural vegetation has been preserved. Forests here are found only in small islands, mainly oak forests, where you can find maple, elm, ash. Pine forests have been preserved on poor soils. Meadow forbs have been preserved only on lands that are not convenient for plowing.

The animal world consists of forest and steppe fauna, but recently, due to human economic activity, the steppe fauna began to predominate.

The steppe zone extends from the southern border of the forest-steppe to the Kumo-Manych depression and the Caspian lowland in the south. The climate is temperate continental, but with a significant degree of continentality. Summer is hot, average temperatures are +22˚+23˚C. Winter temperatures vary from -4˚C in the Azov steppes to -15˚C in the Trans-Volga steppes. Annual rainfall decreases from 500 mm in the west to 400 mm in the east. The moisture coefficient is less than 1, droughts and hot winds are frequent in summer.

The northern steppes are less warm, but more humid than the southern ones. Therefore, the northern steppes are forb-feather grass on chernozem soils.

The southern steppes are dry on chestnut soils. They are characterized by salinity. In the floodplains of large rivers (the Don and others), floodplain forests of poplar, willow, alder, oak, elm, and others grow. Among animals, rodents predominate: ground squirrels, shrews, hamsters, field mice, and others.

Of the predators - ferrets, foxes, weasels. Birds include larks, steppe eagles, harriers, corncrakes, falcons, bustards, etc. There are snakes and lizards. Most of the northern steppes are now plowed up. The semi-desert and desert zone within Russia is located in the southwestern part of the Caspian lowland. This zone adjoins the coast of the Caspian Sea and merges with the deserts of Kazakhstan. The climate is continental temperate. Rainfall is about 300 mm. Winter temperatures are negative -5˚-10˚C. The snow cover is thin, but lies up to 60 days.

Soils freeze up to 80 cm. Summer is hot and long, average temperatures are +23˚+25˚C. The Volga flows through the territory of the zone, forming a vast delta. There are many lakes, but almost all of them are salty. The soils are light chestnut, sometimes brown desert. The humus content does not exceed 1%. Solonchaks and salt licks are widespread. The vegetation cover is dominated by white and black wormwood, fescue, thin-legged, xerophytic feather grasses; to the south, the number of saltworts increases, a tamarisk shrub appears; tulips, buttercups, rhubarb bloom in spring.

In the floodplain of the Volga, there are willow, white poplar, sedge, oak, aspen, etc. The animal world is represented mainly by rodents: jerboas, ground squirrels, gerbils, many reptiles - snakes and lizards. Of the predators, the steppe polecat, the corsac fox, and the weasel are typical. There are many birds in the Volga Delta, especially during the migration seasons. All natural zones of the Russian Plain have experienced anthropogenic impacts. Particularly heavily modified by man are the zones of forest-steppes and steppes, as well as mixed and broad-leaved forests.

Relief, history of development

Geostructurally, the East European Plain basically corresponds to the East European Platform. At its base lie heavily dislocated crystalline rocks protruding to the day surface within the Baltic and Ukrainian shields. In the rest of the much larger part of the platform, crystalline rocks are hidden under a layer of gently sloping sedimentary rocks that make up the Russian Plate. The southern part of the East European Plain (from the Sea of ​​Azov to the Caspian Sea) corresponds to the Scythian Plate, where rocks of a strongly deformed Hercynian basement lie under the cover of platform sedimentary formations.

The East European Plain is divided into two unequal parts: the socle-denudation plain on the Baltic crystalline shield and the Russian Plain proper with layered erosion-denudation and accumulative relief on the Russian and Scythian plates. Socle-denudation lowlands and uplands on the Baltic Shield with a height of up to 300-600 m (Manselkya, Suomenselkya, West Karelian, etc.) include areas of massive hills and plateaus with heights of more than 1000 m (massif up to 1190 m). The relief of the shield arose as a result of long-term continental denudation and preparation of structural forms composed of relatively strong rocks. Recent tectonic movements had a direct impact on the relief, especially faults that bound massifs and depressions, river valleys and the basins of numerous lakes. During the Anthropogenic time, the territory of the Baltic Shield served as the center of glaciation, so fresh forms of glacial relief are widespread here.

Within the limits of the Russian Plain proper, a thick cover of platform deposits lies almost horizontally, composing accumulative and stratal-denudation lowlands and uplands, mainly corresponding to depressions and elevations of the folded base. In places, the folded basement protrudes to the surface, forming socle-denudation uplands and ridges (the Dnieper and Azov uplands, the Timan and Donetsk ridges).

The average height of the Russian Plain is about 170 m. The lowest heights are on the coast of the Caspian Sea, the level of which is 27.6 m lower. The heights rise up to 300-350 m above sea level (Podolsk Upland, up to 471 m). The relative excess of watersheds over valleys averages 20-60 m.

The Russian Plain is subdivided into three morphological zones. In the northern part, stratal-denudation lowlands and uplands of pre-anthropogenic age are widespread with landforms of glacial and water-glacial origin superimposed on them. Glacial-accumulative forms are most pronounced in the northwest, in the area of ​​the last (Valdai) glaciation, where hilly ridges and uplands stretch: Baltic, Valdai, Vepsovskaya, Belozerskaya, Konoshsko-Nyandoma. This is the region of the Lake District with its characteristic abundance of lakes (, Kubenskoye, Vozhe, etc.).

To the south, southeast, and east, there is an area that was only subjected to more ancient glaciations, where the original glacial-accumulative relief was reworked by erosion-denudation processes. Moraine-erosion uplands and ridges (Belarusian, Smolensk-Moscow, Borisoglebskaya, Danilevskaya, Galichsko-Chukhloma, Onego-Dvinskaya, Dvinsko-Mezenskaya, Northern Uvaly) alternate with extensive moraine, outwash, lacustrine-glacial and alluvial lowland plains (Upper Volga, Dvinsko - Mezenskaya, Pechorskaya, etc.).

To the south there is a zone of erosion-denudation layer-monoclinal uplands and accumulative lowlands, elongated mainly in the meridional and submeridional directions and caused by the alternation of waves of recent uplifts and relative subsidence. In the direction from the southwest to the northeast, elevations are traced: Bessarabian, Volyn, Podolsk, Pridneprovsk, Azov, Ergeni, upland, Poduralskoe plateau. Uplands alternate with outwash and alluvial-terraced lowland plains: Pripyat, Dnieper, Gorky Trans-Volga, Meshcherskaya, Oka-Don, Ulyanovsk and Saratov Trans-Volga.

In the extreme south and southeast of the East European Plain, a strip of coastal lowlands extends, which experienced tectonic subsidence and partial subsidence under sea level in the Neogene and Anthropogene. The original flat plain relief of marine accumulation here has been reworked to varying degrees by the processes of water erosion and loess accumulation (Black Sea lowland), alluvial-proluvial accumulation (Azov-Kuban lowland), fluvial and eolian processes ().

Hydrography

Hydrographically, the territory of the East European Plain is divided into two parts. Most of them have a drain into the ocean. The northern rivers ( , ) belong to the basin , the western and southern rivers belong to the basin . The latter include rivers flowing into the Baltic (, rivers and), Black (,) and Azov () seas. The rivers of the basins, and some others, flow into, which have lost contact with.

Climate

Most of the East European Plain belongs to the region of the temperate zone, where there is a gradual transition from maritime to continental climate. Western winds prevail. The influence of the air masses of the Atlantic Ocean weakens from the northwest to the southeast, in connection with which there is excessive moisture in the north and northwest, sufficient moisture in the central zone, and insufficient moisture in the southeast. The extreme north of the East European Plain belongs to the subarctic zone with a predominance of temperate types of air masses in summer and arctic types of air masses in winter, with significant seasonal fluctuations in air temperature, with the development of permafrost rocks and soils. In the extreme southeast of the plain, the climate is continental, arid, with large seasonal fluctuations in air temperature.

natural areas

The East European Plain is characterized by a distinct natural zonality. Subarctic moss-lichen tundra dominates in a narrow strip of the coast of the Barents Sea. To the south are the temperate zones. The most significant strip of forests, stretching from and to. Along the line - it is divided into dark coniferous taiga and mixed (coniferous-broad-leaved) forests, turning into broad-leaved forests in the extreme south-west of the plain. To the south, from the Carpathians to the Urals, a forest-steppe zone stretches, beyond which a steppe zone extends to the Black and Azov Seas and to the Caucasus. The vast territory of the Caspian lowland and the Sub-Ural plateau is occupied by semi-deserts and deserts.

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 of central Europe, in the southeast by the Caucasus, and in the west the river Vistula serves as the conditional boundary of the plain. It is one of the largest plains in the world. 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. . Since most of the plain is located within Russia is 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 of the Precambrian basement of the Russian plate, there are strata of Precambrian (Vendian, in 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 topography, 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), aulacogenes - 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. In the extreme north of the plain, 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. Four lake regions can be distinguished on the territory of the Russian Plain: 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 vast 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 natural zones from northwest to southeast, from tundra to 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 continental climate increases. 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. Along the outskirts of the forests, a forest-steppe zone stretches 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 the 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 of the 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 approaching, 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, 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 rattle 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 heavy 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 to his surprise he noticed 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 covered his senile eyes, giving him a meek air, rode up to Prince Bagration and received him as the host of a 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 looked ahead 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 speaking, as if with an invisible hand stretched from right to left, from the rising wind, the 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 a step, flexibly turned 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 stern 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, our people ran in a discordant, but cheerful and lively crowd 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 the other a reason 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 Ensk 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 gathered the last of his strength, took his left hand into his 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 rebellious cavalry colonel and his general importance, and most importantly - completely forgetting about the danger and sense of self-preservation, he, grabbing the pommel of the saddle and spurring the 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 at all costs the mistake, if it was on his part, and not to be guilty of him, having served for twenty-two years as an exemplary officer, not noticed in anything.