soviet union physical geography temps, precip., vegetation, land use natural regions effects on...
Post on 21-Dec-2015
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Soviet Union Physical Geography
•Temps, Precip., Vegetation, Land Use•Natural regions•Effects on human settlement
Why Russia is cold
•Northern location(Moscow N of Edmonton)
•Moderating oceans far away (“continentality”)
•Low relief open to Arctic cold winds
•Ranges block warm air
Precipitation
•Mainly from Atlantic, favors west
•Rains in mid-Summer
•Lack of snow cover
•Interior drought-vulnerable
85% of Sovietpopulation lived on
25% of land
Nonagricultural land
Agricultural land
Population onnonagricultural lands
Population onagricultural lands
Agricultural landsmore densely populated
( >10 persons km2 )
POPULATION
LAND
Mixed forest zone
•West of Urals
•Grey-brown soils ideal for agriculture
•Slavic, Baltic states (including Russian heartland)
Steppe/Forest-steppe
•Grasslands or mixed (former nomad regions)
•Rich black earth good for farming
•Drought-vulnerable
•Ukraine/S. Russia bands, SW Siberia, N. Kazakstan
Semi-arid/Desert
•S. Kazakstan, rest of Central Asia
•Alkaline poor soils
•Fertile river valleys, oases, mountain flanks
•Slavs extracted resources
Mediterranean type
•Semi-arid but arable
•Parts of Caucasus, Crimea
•Drought-vulnerable
•Can grow some subtropical crops
(Georgian wines, etc.)
Taiga/Boreal forest
•North Russia/Siberia
•Acidic podzol soils poor for farming
•Conifers
•Half of Former USSR (all in Russia)
Minerals
•Exhausted in earlier-conquered western regions
•Plentiful in Interior, Siberia, Central Asia
•Opposite of agriculture
Ranges•Carpathians•Dinaric Alps (Ex-Yugoslavia)
•Transylvanian Alps
West
Rivers•Volga•Don•Dniester•Dnieper•Danube•Elbe•Vistula
Seas•Baltic•Black•Adriatic (Ex-Yugoslavia)
Seas
•White Japan•Barents Bering•Kara Okhotsk•E. Siberian Laptev
East/North
Ranges
Rivers•Ob’-Irtysh•Yenisei-Angara•Lena-Aldan•Amur-Ussuri•Kolyma•Lake Baikal
•Kolyma•Aldan•Syan•Altai•Yablonovy
National Parks and Zapovednik (Reserves)From Russian Conservation News
www.russianconservation.org
Tour of “Wild Russia” Bioregions