Geography

Russian borders length accounts for 61031,29 km (1,5 length of equator), the total area of the Russian maritime space accounts for 9 million sq.km.

 

The furthest Western point of Russia finds itself near Kaliningrad (38 38' EL), the furthest Eastern point is on the Ratmanov island (169 02' WL), on the mainland - Dezhniova cape (160 40' WL). The furthest Northern point is the Fligeli cape on the Rudolf island whithin the Franz Josef Land archipelago (81 50' NL), on the mainland - Cheluskin cape (77 43' NL). The furthest Southern point is on the border with Azerbaijan, on the ridge of the Main Caucasus Chain (41 10' NL).

Russia is mainly located in the midlatitudes, however the the Northern part of the country is located in the inclement northern latitudes, and a little part of the Black Sea shore - in the subtropics.

Russia is washes by the seas of the three oceans - The Arctic in the North, The Pacific in the East, The Atlantic in the West. Russia is the second to none country as to the number of seas washing its shores - 13, includling the Caspian sea-lake.

 

The European and Asian parts of Russia are separated by the Ural Mountains range. Russia's landscape is mostly flat, mountains can be found in the East and South. It is the northern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains in the South - (the highest peak is Elbrus - 5642 m), and the Khibini Mountains in the South-West. To the East of the Ural mountains the vast West Siberaian Plain lies. It is edged with the Altai Mountains in the East (the highest peak is the Belukha mountain - 4506 m). Between the Yenisei and the Lena rivers the vast Middle-Siberian plateau lies. It is formed with the very old rocks and bordered by the ranges of the West and East Sayan Mountains. There are as well numerous ranges and plateaus of the East-Asian mountain system between the Lena river and the Pacific ocean. The mountains of Kmchatka (the Kluchevskaya volcano - 4750 m) and the Kuriles (with some active volcanos) are located along the Pacific coast of the Far East.

 

There are more than 2,5 million rivers in Russia. They belong to the basins of three oceans, as well as to the closed basin on the Caspian sea. About 2/3 of the Russian area belongs to the Arctic Ocean basin, to which such major rivers as the Ob (and its confluent - the Irtysh river), Yenisei (its confluents are the Angara, the Lower Tunguska and the Stony Tunguska) and the Lena (its confluetns are the Vilyui and Aldan) flow into. About 4/5 of the rest of the Russian territory belong to the Pacific ocean basin. The biggest river flowing into this ocean are Amur and Anadir. About 5 % of the Russian area belong to the Atlantic ocean basin. The rivers of this basin are featrued with the plain flow character. The longest river along them is the Don. The greatest river of the closed Caspian basin is the Volga River. The largest basins of the Russian rivers are those of the Lena (2,400 thousand sq.km.) and the Yenisei (2,580 thousand sq.km.).

 

The most part of the plain Russian rivers are featured with spring tide, rainfall floods are possible in summer and in winter. The rivers with spring tide, relating to the melting of glaciers, rainfalls and the late melting of snow in mountains, are typical for the mountains of the Baikal region, Transbaikalia, Kamchatka, high-mountain parts of the Caucasus, Altai and the North-East Siberia. Summer floods are typical for the rivers of the Far East as well. The climate there is a monsoon one and the Amur River and its confluents usually flood during the summer rains.

 

Almost all kind of the minerals can be found on the territory of the Russian Fedeatoin. There are diverse sedimentary minerals within the cover of the ancient platform of the East-European plain. Limestones, glass-making and mortar sand, chalk, gypsum and other mineral resources are extracted on the Middle-Russian and Volga uplands. The developing of the iron ore is held on the crystal base of ancient platforms. There are large deposits of them in the area of the Kursk magnetic anomaly, where the high quality ore is produced in open pits. Diverse ores relate to the Baltic shield on the Kola Peninsula. It is a deposit of the iron and copper-nickel ores. Also some deposits of non-metal minerals can be found here - these are apatite-nephelinic ores. One of the important iron ore regions of Russia is still the Ural mountain, although its deposits are considerably exhausted. Siberia and the Far East have quite rich deposits of iron ores as well.

 

There are major deposits of coal in the Western Siberia.The Kuznetsky coal deposit, located at the Altai, is the most used basin in Russia by now.

Oil deposits of the Northern Caucasus are closely related to the oil basins of the Northern part of the Caspian region in Kazakhstan as well as with those at Apsheron in Azerbaijan. In 1940 they started developing oil and gas deposits in the Volga region and the Western part of the Ural region, and than those in Timano-Pechorsk oil and gas region in the North-East of the European part of Russia. The largest gas deposits of Russia are located in the North of the Western Siberia (the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area), the oil ones being located in the middle part of the West-Siberian region (the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area). Oil and gas are transported from here to other Russian regions, neighboring and other European stated by pipe lines.

Some new deposits have been discovered during the recent years. Natural gas deposit on the shelf of the Barent sea, gas-condensate field - on the shelf of the Kara Sea, oil field - on the shelf of Pechora bay.

Due to granite intrusions of Aldansk shield, some gold deposits can be found in the basins of such rivers as Vitim, Aldan, Yenisei, Kolyma, as well as those of iron ores, mica, asbestos and some rare metals.   There is a diamond developing industry in Yakutia. Tin ores can be found on the Yanekoe plateau, around Pevek, Omsukchana, in the Far East. Complex ores are presented very well.

The most part of the Russian area is covered with forests. They stretch continuously from the Western borders to the Pacific Ocean shore. The most part of timber resources is gathered in Siberian and Far East forests, but these are forests of the European part of Russia that are being developed the most intensively, in particular in the basins of the Northern Dvina, Pechora, Kama.

The land resources of Russia are amazing - they account for 1/8 of the total land on the planet. However the fruitful agricultural area accounts for only 13% of the total area. The most part of the Russian plough-lands are concentrated in the Northern regions of European Russia, as well as in the South of the Ural region and Siberia.   Hay lands are concentrated in the Northern part of European Russia, and first of all on the flood plains. The considerable part of plough-lands and hay lands are located in so called non-black earth zone, covering the European part of Russia Northwards from the forest-steppe area. The main pasture territories are mostly located in the South-East part of the Russian plain, at the foothills of the Caucasus and other mountains, as well as at the Southern parts of the West-Siberian plain. Some deer pastures are quite common in Sibearia and Far East - in the tundra zone.