Soviet Union Physical Geography
•Temps, Precip., Vegetation, Land Use
•Natural regions
•Effects on human settlement
Temperatures
High summer-winter contrast
Russia
Russia
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
Why Russia is cold
Precipitation
•Mainly from Atlantic,
favors west
•Rains in mid-Summer
•Lack of snow cover
•Interior droughtvulnerable
Russia
Russia
In east-west bands, affecting settlement
Oil
Russia
Russia
Russia
Less productive to east
Russia
Land Use
Russia
85% of Soviet
population lived on
25% of land
POPULATION
Population on
nonagricultural lands
Population on
agricultural lands
Agricultural lands
more densely populated
( >10 persons km2 )
LAND
Nonagricultural land
Agricultural land
“Triangle” of settlement
in agricultural zones
Ethnic Russian expansion
Trans-Siberian railroads
in eastern Russia
Omsk
Russia
Mixed forest zone
•West of Urals
•Grey-brown soils ideal
for agriculture
•Slavic, Baltic states
(including Russian heartland)
Russia
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
Russia
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)
Tundra (treeless) zone
•Permafrost
(frozen subsoil)
•Indigenous herders
•Slavs extract resources
Russia
Russia
Minerals
•Exhausted in earlier-conquered western regions
•Plentiful in Interior, Siberia, Central Asia
•Opposite of agriculture
Coal, Metals
Oil
Rivers
South
Lakes
•Ural
•Amu
•Syr
Ranges
•Caspian Sea
•Aral Sea
•Lake Balqash
•Caucasus
•Tien Shan
•Pamirs
West
Ranges
•Carpathians
•Dinaric Alps
(Ex-Yugoslavia)
•Transylvanian Alps
Rivers
•Volga
•Don
•Dniester
•Dnieper
•Danube
•Elbe
•Vistula
Seas
•Baltic
•Black
•Adriatic
(Ex-Yugoslavia)
Rivers
East/North
•Ob’-Irtysh
•Yenisei-Angara
•Lena-Aldan
•Amur-Ussuri
•Kolyma
•Lake Baikal
Ranges
•Kolyma
•Aldan
•Syan
•Altai
•Yablonovy
Seas
•White
Japan
•Barents
Bering
•Kara
Okhotsk
•E. Siberian Laptev
Tour of “Wild Russia” Bioregions
National Parks and Zapovednik (Reserves)
From Russian Conservation News
www.russianconservation.org
Arctic
Kola/Karelia
Eastern
European
Forest
Eastern
European
Steppe/
Forest-steppe
Ural
Mountains
Caucasus
Mountains
Western Siberian
Forest
Western
Siberian
Steppe/
Forest-steppe
Central
Siberia
AltaiSayansky
Lake
Baikal
Zabaikal
(Transbaikal)
YanoKolymsky
Amur RiverSakhalin Island
Kamchatka
PeninsulaOkhotsk Sea