Main article: Plain
flat plains
If a piece of land has a flat surface, then it is said to be a flat plain (Fig. 64). An example of a flat plain is certain sections of the West Siberian Lowland. There are few flat plains on the globe.
Hilly Plains
Lowlands
Hills
Plateau
There are plains whose surface is located at an altitude of more than 500 m from ocean level. Such plains are called plateaus. Thus, the vast plain between the Yenisei and Lena rivers is called the Central Siberian Plateau. There are many plateaus in southern Asia, Africa and Australia. Material from the site http://wikiwhat.ru
Plains by external processes
Pictures (photos, drawings)
Log is high or low
Which of the Russian plains has the flatter surface?
The plain is hilly and flat in Russia
What types of plains are there in appearance?
Plains below 200 m above sea level
Questions for this article:
Left a reply Ser012005
1. PLAINS - the most common type of relief of the earth's surface. On land, plains occupy about 20% of the area, the most extensive of which are confined to platforms and plates. -All plains are characterized by small variations in elevation and slight slopes (slopes reach 5°). Based on absolute height, the following plains are distinguished:
- lowlands - their absolute height is from 0 to 200 m (Amazonian);
- elevations - from 200 to 500 m above ocean level (Central Russian);
- mountainous, or plateaus - over 500 m above ocean level (Central Siberian Plateau);
- plains lying below ocean level are called depressions (Caspian).
2. According to the general nature of the surface of the plain, there are horizontal, convex, concave, flat, and hilly.
and point 3. Based on the origin of the plains, the following types are distinguished:
Marine accumulative (see.
Accumulation). Such is, for example, the West Siberian Lowland with its sedimentary cover of young marine strata;
Continental accumulative. They were formed in the following way: at the foot of the mountains, the products of destruction of rocks carried away by streams of water are deposited.
Such plains have a slight slope to sea level. These most often include regional lowlands;
River accumulative. They are formed due to the deposition and accumulation of loose rocks brought by the river (Amazonian);
Abrasion plains (see Abrasion). They arose as a result of the destruction of coastlines by wave action of the sea.
The largest plains in Russia: names, map, borders, climate and photos
These plains arise the faster the weaker the rocks, the more frequent the waves, the stronger the winds;
Structural plains. They have a very complex origin. In the distant past they were mountainous countries. Over the course of millions of years, the mountains were destroyed by external forces, sometimes to the stage of almost plains (peneplains), then, as a result of tectonic movements, cracks and faults appeared in the earth’s crust, along which magma poured onto the surface; it, like armor, covered the previous unevenness of the relief, while its own surface remained flat or stepped as a result of the outpouring of traps.
These are structural plains.
(taken from the Internet)
Plains, their classification. Division of plains by absolute height. Landforms associated with continental glaciation.
Plain- this is an area of land or seabed that has a slight fluctuation in heights (up to 200 m) and a slight slope (up to 5º).
They are found at different altitudes, including at the bottom of the oceans. A distinctive feature of the plains is a clear, open horizon line, straight or wavy, depending on the surface topography.
Another feature is that the plains are the main territories inhabited by people.
Since the plains occupy a vast territory, almost all natural zones exist on them. For example, the East European Plain includes tundra, taiga, mixed and deciduous forests, steppes and semi-deserts. Most of the Amazonian lowland is occupied by selvas, and on the plains of Australia there are semi-deserts and savannas.
Types of plains
In geography, plains are divided according to several criteria.
According to absolute height, they are distinguished:
low-lying. The height above sea level does not exceed 200m. A striking example is the West Siberian Plain.
Exalted- with a height difference from 200 to 500 m above sea level. For example, the Central Russian Plain.
Nagornye plains whose level is measured at elevations of over 500 m. For example, the Iranian Plateau.
depressions- the highest point is below sea level.
Example - Caspian lowland.
Separately allocate underwater plains, which include the bottom of basins, shelves and abyssal areas.
By origin, plains are :
Accumulative (sea, river and continental) - formed as a result of the influence of rivers, ebbs and flows. Their surface is covered with alluvial sediments, and in the sea - with marine, river and glacial sediments. Of the sea, we can cite the West Siberian Lowland as an example, and of the river, the Amazon. Among continental plains, marginal lowlands that have a slight slope towards the sea are classified as accumulative plains.
Abrasion- are formed as a result of the impact of surf on land.
In areas where strong winds prevail, rough seas are frequent, and the coastline is formed of weak rocks, this type of plain is more often formed.
Structural- the most complex in origin.
In place of such plains, mountains once rose. As a result of volcanic activity and earthquakes, the mountains were destroyed. The magma flowing from cracks and splits bound the surface of the land like armor, hiding all the unevenness of the relief.
Ozernye- formed on the site of dry lakes.
Such plains are usually small in area and are often bordered by coastal ramparts and ledges. An example of a lake plain is Jalanash and Kegen in Kazakhstan.
3. Based on the type of relief, plains are distinguished:
flat or horizontal– Great Chinese and West Siberian Plains.
wavy- are formed under the influence of water and water-glacial flows.
For example, the Central Russian Upland
hilly- the relief contains individual hills, hills, and ravines. Example - East European Plain.
stepped- are formed under the influence of the internal forces of the Earth.
Example - Central Siberian Plateau
concave- These include the plains of intermountain depressions. For example, the Tsaidam Basin.
Also distinguished ridged and ridged plains. But in nature it is most often found mixed type. For example, the Pribelsky ridge-undulating plain in Bashkortostan.
The land surface was repeatedly subjected to continental glaciation.
During the era of maximum glaciation, glaciers covered more than 30% of the land area.
The main centers of glaciation in Eurasia were on the Scandinavian Peninsula, Novaya Zemlya, the Urals and Taimyr. In North America, the centers of glaciation were the Cordillera, Labrador, and the area west of Hudson Bay (Keewatin Center).
In the relief of the plains the traces of the last glaciation (which ended 10 thousand years ago) are most clearly expressed: Valdaisky- on the Russian Plain, Wurmsky- in the Alps, Wisconsin- in North America.
The moving glacier changed the topography of the underlying surface. The degree of its impact was different and depended on the rocks that made up the surface, on its topography, and on the thickness of the glacier.
The glacier smoothed out the surface, composed of soft rocks, destroying sharp protrusions. He destroyed fissured rocks, breaking off and carrying away pieces of them. Freezing into the moving glacier from below, these pieces contributed to the destruction of the surface.
Encountering hills composed of hard rocks along the way, the glacier polished (sometimes to a mirror shine) the slope facing its movement.
Frozen pieces of hard rock left scars, scratches, and created complex glacial shading. The direction of glacier scars can be used to judge the direction of glacier movement. On the opposite slope, the glacier broke out pieces of rock, destroying the slope. As a result, the hills acquired a characteristic streamlined shape "mutton foreheads". Their length varies from several meters to several hundred meters, the height reaches 50 m. Clusters of “ram’s foreheads” form a relief of curly rocks, well expressed, for example, in Karelia, on the Kola Peninsula, in the Caucasus, on the Taimyr Peninsula, and also in Canada and Scotland.
At the edge of the melting glacier it was deposited moraine.
If the end of the glacier, due to melting, was delayed at a certain boundary, and the glacier continued to supply sediments, ridges and numerous hills arose terminal moraines. Moraine ridges on the plain often formed near protrusions of subglacial bedrock relief.
Ridges of terminal moraines reach a length of hundreds of kilometers at a height of up to 70 m. When advancing, the glacier moves in front of itself the terminal moraine and loose sediments deposited by it, creating pressure moraine- wide asymmetrical ridges (steep slope facing the glacier).
Many scientists believe that most terminal moraine ridges were created by glacier pressure.
When a glacier body melts, the moraine contained in it is projected onto the underlying surface, greatly softening its unevenness and creating a relief main moraine. This relief, which is a flat or hilly plain with swamps and lakes, is characteristic of areas of ancient continental glaciation.
In the area of the main moraine you can see drumlins- oblong hills, elongated in the direction of glacier movement.
The slope facing the moving glacier is steep. The length of drumlins ranges from 400 to 1000 m, width - from 150 to 200 m, height - from 10 to 40 m. On the territory of Russia, drumlins exist in Estonia, on the Kola Peninsula, in Karelia and in some other places. They are also found in Ireland and North America.
The flow of water that occurs as the glacier melts washes away and carries away mineral particles, depositing them where the flow rate slows down.
When meltwater deposits accumulate, thick layers of loose sediment, differing from moraine in the sorting of the material.
Landforms created by meltwater flows as a result of erosion, and as a result of sediment accumulation, are very diverse.
Ancient drainage valleys melted glacial waters - wide (from 3 to 25 km) hollows stretching along the edge of the glacier and crossing pre-glacial river valleys and their watersheds.
Deposits from glacial waters filled these depressions. Modern rivers partially use them and often flow in disproportionately wide valleys.
Kama- rounded or oblong hills with flat tops and gentle slopes, externally resembling moraine hills. Their height is 6-12 m (rarely up to 30 m). The depressions between the hills are occupied by swamps and lakes.
Kames are located near the glacier boundary, on its inner side, and usually form groups, creating a characteristic kame relief.
Kamas, unlike moraine hills, are composed of roughly sorted material. The diverse composition of these sediments and the thin clays found especially among them suggest that they accumulated in small lakes that arose on the surface of the glacier.
Ozy- ridges resembling railway embankments. The length of the eskers is measured in tens of kilometers (30-40 km), the width is in tens (less often hundreds) of meters, the height is very different: from 5 to 60 m. The slopes are usually symmetrical and steep (up to 40°).
The eskers extend regardless of the modern terrain, often crossing river valleys, lakes, and watersheds.
Sometimes they branch, forming systems of ridges that can be divided into separate hills. The eskers are composed of diagonally layered and, less commonly, horizontally layered deposits: sand, gravel, and pebbles.
The origin of eskers can be explained by the accumulation of sediments carried by meltwater flows in their channels, as well as in cracks inside the glacier. When the glacier melted, these deposits were projected onto the surface.
Zandra- spaces adjacent to terminal moraines, covered with deposition of meltwater (washed out moraine). At the end of the valley glaciers, the outwash is insignificant in area, composed of medium-sized rubble and poorly rounded pebbles.
At the edge of the ice cover on the plain, they occupy large spaces, forming a wide strip of outwash plains. Outwash plains are composed of extensive flat alluvial fans of subglacial flows, merging and partially overlapping each other.
Landforms created by the wind often appear on the surface of outwash plains.
An example of outwash plains can be the strip of “woodland” on the Russian Plain (Pripyatskaya, Meshcherskaya).
In areas that have experienced glaciation, there is a certain regularity in the distribution of relief, its zoning In the central part of the glaciation region (Baltic Shield, Canadian Shield), where the glacier arose earlier, persisted longer, had the greatest thickness and speed of movement, an erosive glacial relief was formed.
The glacier carried away pre-glacial loose sediments and had a destructive effect on bedrock (crystalline) rocks, the degree of which depended on the nature of the rocks and the pre-glacial relief.
The cover of a thin moraine, which lay on the surface during the retreat of the glacier, did not obscure the features of its relief, but only softened them. The accumulation of moraine in deep depressions reaches 150-200 m, while in neighboring areas with bedrock ledges there is no moraine.
In the peripheral part of the glaciation area, the glacier existed for a shorter time, had less power and slower movement. The latter is explained by a decrease in pressure with distance from the glacier's feeding center and its overload with debris.
In this part, the glacier was mainly unloaded from debris and created accumulative relief forms. Beyond the boundary of the glacier, directly adjacent to it, there is a zone whose relief features are associated with the erosion and accumulative activity of melted glacial waters.
The plains of our planet
The formation of the relief of this zone was also affected by the cooling effect of the glacier.
As a result of repeated glaciation and the spread of the ice sheet in different glacial epochs, as well as as a result of movements of the edge of the glacier, forms of glacial relief of different origins turned out to be superimposed on each other and greatly changed.
The glacial relief of the surface freed from the glacier was affected by other exogenous factors. The earlier the glaciation, the more, naturally, the processes of erosion and denudation changed the relief. At the southern boundary of maximum glaciation, the morphological features of the glacial relief are absent or very poorly preserved.
Evidence of glaciation are boulders brought by the glacier and locally preserved remains of heavily altered glacial deposits.
The topography of these areas is typically erosive. The river network is well formed, the rivers flow in wide valleys and have a developed longitudinal profile.
To the north of the boundary of the last glaciation, the glacial relief has retained its features and is a disorderly accumulation of hills, ridges, and closed basins, often occupied by shallow lakes. Moraine lakes fill up relatively quickly with sediment, and rivers often drain them. The formation of a river system due to lakes “strung” by the river is typical for areas with glacial topography.
Where the glacier persisted the longest, the glacial topography was changed relatively little. These areas are characterized by a river network that has not yet been fully formed, an undeveloped river profile, and lakes that have not been drained by the rivers.
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Main article: Plain
Plains by structure
Based on their structure, plains are classified into flat and hilly.
flat plains
If a piece of land has a flat surface, then it is said to be a flat plain (Fig. 64). An example of a flat plain is certain sections of the West Siberian Lowland.
There are few flat plains on the globe.
Hilly Plains
Hilly plains (Fig. 65) are more common than flat ones.
What plains are there in Russia?
From the countries of Eastern Europe to the Urals stretches one of the largest hilly plains on the globe - the Eastern European, or Russian. On this plain you can find hills, ravines, and flat areas.
Plains by height above sea level
Based on absolute height, lowlands, hills and plateaus are distinguished.
In order to determine the absolute height of any part of the earth's surface, an altitude scale is placed on physical maps.
The coloring on a physical map shows at what height from sea level various parts of the earth's surface are located.
Lowlands
If the plain is located no higher than 200 m from ocean level, then it should be called lowland (Fig. 66). The surface of some lowlands is below ocean level. For example, the Caspian lowland is located 26-28 m below sea level, and the Amazon lowland is no higher than 200 m above sea level.
To display the height of plains on a physical map, different colors are used: lowlands should be painted green.
Moreover, the lower the absolute height of this territory, the darker the green color. And the dark green color indicates lowlands below ocean level.
Hills
Those plains that are located at an altitude of more than 200 m from ocean level, but not higher than 500 m, are usually called hills.
Thus, the Central Russian Upland is more than 200 m higher than the level of the Baltic Sea.
Elevations on geographic maps are indicated in yellowish tones.
Plateau
There are plains whose surface is located at an altitude of more than 500 m from ocean level.
Such plains are called plateaus. Thus, the vast plain between the Yenisei and Lena rivers is called the Central Siberian Plateau. There are many plateaus in southern Asia, Africa and Australia.
Material from the site http://wikiwhat.ru
Plateaus are indicated on maps by different shades of brown. The higher the plateau, the darker the color.
Plains by external processes
Based on external processes, accumulation and denudation plains are distinguished. Accumulation plains are formed due to the accumulation and deposition of rocks. Denudation plains, on the contrary, due to the destruction of other relief forms, for example, mountains.
Pictures (photos, drawings)
On this page there is material on the following topics:
Flat and hilly plains
What is elevation and examples
The name of the large plains of Russia is flat and hilly
What are the names of the plains?
Flat Plains titles
Questions for this article:
How do plains differ in altitude above sea level?
Material from the site http://WikiWhat.ru
Main article: Plain
Plains by structure
Based on their structure, plains are classified into flat and hilly.
flat plains
If a piece of land has a flat surface, then it is said to be a flat plain (Fig.
64). An example of a flat plain is certain sections of the West Siberian Lowland. There are few flat plains on the globe.
Hilly Plains
Hilly plains (Fig. 65) are more common than flat ones. From the countries of Eastern Europe to the Urals stretches one of the largest hilly plains on the globe - the Eastern European, or Russian. On this plain you can find hills, ravines, and flat areas.
Plains by height above sea level
Based on absolute height, lowlands, hills and plateaus are distinguished.
In order to determine the absolute height of any part of the earth's surface, an altitude scale is placed on physical maps.
The coloring on a physical map shows at what height from sea level various parts of the earth's surface are located.
Lowlands
If the plain is located no higher than 200 m from the ocean level, then it should be called a lowland (Fig.
66). The surface of some lowlands is below ocean level. For example, the Caspian lowland is located 26-28 m below sea level, and the Amazon lowland is no higher than 200 m above sea level.
To display the height of plains on a physical map, different colors are used: lowlands should be painted green. Moreover, the lower the absolute height of this territory, the darker the green color. And the dark green color indicates lowlands below ocean level.
Hills
Those plains that are located at an altitude of more than 200 m from ocean level, but not higher than 500 m, are usually called hills.
Plains: characteristics and types
Thus, the Central Russian Upland is more than 200 m higher than the level of the Baltic Sea.
Elevations on geographic maps are indicated in yellowish tones.
Plateau
There are plains whose surface is located at an altitude of more than 500 m from ocean level. Such plains are called plateaus. Thus, the vast plain between the Yenisei and Lena rivers is called the Central Siberian Plateau.
There are many plateaus in southern Asia, Africa and Australia. Material from the site http://wikiwhat.ru
Plateaus are indicated on maps by different shades of brown. The higher the plateau, the darker the color.
Plains by external processes
Based on external processes, accumulation and denudation plains are distinguished.
Accumulation plains are formed due to the accumulation and deposition of rocks. Denudation plains, on the contrary, due to the destruction of other relief forms, for example, mountains.
Pictures (photos, drawings)
On this page there is material on the following topics:
Names of plains up to more than 500 m
Types of plains by height
Lowland and highland size
They are classified according to height…..
What is the flattest plain in Russia
Questions for this article:
How do plains differ in altitude above sea level?
Material from the site http://WikiWhat.ru
Examples of the use of the word plateau in literature.
On the outskirts of the Alashan desert, at the bend of the Yellow River, Ordos was located, a fertile loess plateau, and nearby there existed, replacing each other, the capitals of medieval China - Chang'an, Luoyang, Xi'an and further into the interior of China - Kaifeng.
The Apurimac River, which originates in the highlands plateau in the Andes off the western coast of South America, it is considered by many geographers to be the source of the Amazon.
It gradually dried up, just as the Caspian Sea will dry out over time, thanks to the high concentration of sunlight over vast areas stretching from the Aral Sea to the Pamir Sea plateau.
When the Brass Baboon crossed plateau, Tranto saw him and sounded a greeting.
At the bottom of the slope he saw that the valley turned into a wide rocky plateau- dry, ominous, from which here and there leafless gazan trees of an ancient appearance protruded, having the usual, bizarrely curved shape.
The relief of the plains is not very diverse. This is explained by the homogeneity of the geological structure of the platform areas of the continental crust and their low mobility. The significant elevation of some platform plains (for example, in Eastern Siberia and North America), which determines the great depth of their erosional dissection, is the result of neotectonic movements.
Platform plains occupy more than half of the total land area. More than 80% of all plains are primarily flat stratal and accumulative. Accumulative plains are low and in total area are significantly inferior to stratal plains - pppa.ru. Denudation - usually elevated, with an uneven surface, the relief of which reflects the unequal resistance of rocks to destruction.
The surface of plains in general can be horizontal, inclined, convex, concave; the general nature of its relief is varied: flat, hilly, wavy, stepped, etc.
Types of plains
Plains are spaces that are mostly large in area and in which elevation fluctuations are very small. Geologically, the plains correspond to platforms. Plains lying at a low altitude above sea level (up to 200 m absolute height) are usually called lowlands, while those located high up are called flat hills or plateaus. Examples of plateaus include Ustyurt, the Colorado Plateau in North America, etc.
Plains are a purely morphographic concept, and from a genetic point of view they can be very diverse. So, the following genetic types of plains are distinguished:
Primary plains, or plains of marine accumulation - the most extensive in area, are formed as a result of marine accumulation during temporary flooding of platform areas by transgressions of shallow epicontinental seas with their subsequent transformation into land with oscillatory movement of a positive sign - pppa.ru. They represent a seabed exposed from under the water, covered with sedimentary marine deposits, usually already covered with a cloak of eluvium or some other continental formations - glacial, fluvial, aeolian, which often determine the secondary micro- and mesorelief of these plains. Examples of marine accumulation plains include the plains of the European part of the former USSR, the West Siberian Plain, and the Caspian Lowland.
Alluvial plains are formed as a result of the accumulative activity of rivers and are composed of layered river sediments on the surface. The thickness of the latter in some cases can reach a very significant thickness - several tens and even hundreds of meters (the lower reaches of the Ganga River, the Po River valley, the Hungarian Lowland), in others it forms only a thin covering over eroded bedrock. The first occurs in river deltas and in areas of tectonic subsidence, covering parts of river basins, the second - in normal floodplains of mature river valleys. Alluvial plains include the Kura-Araks, Upper Rhine and other plains.
Fluvioglacial plains. The transfer, sorting and redeposition of solid clastic material over large areas can also be produced by meltwater from glaciers flowing from under their ends or edges. These waters usually do not have the character of regular permanent watercourses near their outlet, often changing their water content and direction of flow - pppa.ru. They are overloaded with washed-up fragmentary moraine material, sort it by size, transport it and deposit it, widely distributing it as they wander in front of the glacier front. Examples include the Munich and other plains at the northern foot of the Alps, the Kuban, Kabardian, and Chechen plains at the northern foot of the Greater Caucasus.
Lake Plains They represent the flat bottoms of former lakes, dried up either due to the descent of rivers flowing from them, or due to the disappearance of the dam, or due to the filling of their baths with sediment. Along their margins, such lacustrine plains are often contoured by ancient coastlines, expressed in the form of low abrasion ledges, coastal levees, coastal dune ridges or lacustrine terraces, indicating the standing of the former lake level. In most cases, plains of lacustrine origin are of insignificant size and are much smaller in size than the first three types. An example of one of the most extensive lacustrine plains is the plain of the Quaternary periglacial Lake Agassiz in North America. Lake plains also include the Turaigyr-kobo, Jalanash and Kegen plains in Kazakhstan.
Residual or marginal plains. These names mean spaces that initially had a high absolute height and a sharply defined relief, perhaps once even representing a mountainous country, which acquired a flat character only as a result of long-term exposure to exogenous factors of destruction and demolition - pppa.ru. These plains are therefore in the final stage of the descending development of a mountainous country, assuming a continued state of relative tectonic rest, which seems to rarely occur. As an example of a marginal plain, already somewhat modified by subsequent processes, one can cite the sloping plain stretching along the eastern base of the Appalachian Mountains of North America, gently sloping to the east.
Volcanic upland plateaus. They occur in cases where huge masses of predominantly basic lava flow to the surface through cracks in the earth’s crust. Spreading due to its great mobility over vast spaces, lava fills and buries all the unevenness of the primary relief and forms lava plateaus of enormous area. Examples include the Columbia basalt plateau of North America, the trap plateau of the northwestern Deccan, and some parts of the Transcaucasian Plateau.
Differences in plains by heightCompared to mountainous areas, plains, which are usually located on platform areas of the earth's crust, are surprisingly stable. But their history is much older and sometimes more complex than that of the mountainous regions. The plains vary in their height above sea level.
Lowlands
Lowlands, or low plains, do not reach heights of 200 m, and sometimes even lie below sea level in the interior regions of continents, such as the Caspian Lowland (-28 m). Extended low-lying plains stretch along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean in the United States, along the Baltic and North Sea coasts in Europe. A common occurrence in such places is waterlogging and flooding.
Coastal plains are sometimes located in places where the earth's crust sags and experiences subsidence, for example, the Padan lowland, which lies in the valley of the Po River. Venice is located in this area, a famous city with canal streets that suffers from floods every year. The low-lying lands of the Netherlands - polders - were reclaimed from the sea. Life has forced the local population to adapt to the constant threat of flooding.
Lowlands occupy valleys and river deltas. Some of the most extensive such lowlands are the Amazon in South America (the valley of the Amazon rivers and its tributaries) and the West Siberian in Asia (between the valleys of the Ob and Yenisei rivers).
The fertile lands of the Mesopotamian lowland (the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Western Asia) are the birthplace of one of the most ancient civilizations.
Hills
The hills occupy heights of about 200-500 m above sea level. These are the Great American Plains, the Central Siberian Plateau, the Brazilian Plateau, and the deserts of Australia. Hills are a combination of flatter and hillier areas. Sometimes there are “islands” on them - low single mountains, remnants of former mountain ranges.
Plateau
Plateaus have all the features of plains, but are raised to heights sometimes comparable to the heights of mountains. As a rule, deep steep-sided canyons divide the plateaus into separate areas. They were first leveled by denudation, then uplifted by neotectonic movements, such as the Altiplano in the Andes, the Ustyurt Plateau in Kazakhstan, and the Colorado Plateau in North America.
Deserts are often located on plains in dry tropical zones: the Sahara in Africa, the deserts of Central Asia, the high-mountain Gobi Desert, and the vast deserts of Australia.
A plain is a type of relief that is a flat, vast space. More than two-thirds of Russia's territory is occupied by plains. They are characterized by a slight slope and slight fluctuations in terrain heights. A similar relief is found on the bottom of sea waters. The territory of the plains can be occupied by any: deserts, steppes, mixed forests, etc.
Map of the largest plains in Russia
Most of the country is located on a relatively flat type of terrain. Favorable ones allowed a person to engage in cattle breeding, build large settlements and roads. It is easiest to carry out construction activities on the plains. They contain many minerals and others, including, and.
Below are maps, characteristics and photos of landscapes of the largest plains in Russia.
the East European Plain
East European Plain on the map of Russia
The area of the East European Plain is approximately 4 million km². The natural northern border is the White and Barents Seas; in the south, the lands are washed by the Azov and Caspian Seas. The Vistula River is considered the western border, and the Ural Mountains - the eastern.
At the base of the plain lies the Russian platform and the Scythian plate; the foundation is covered by sedimentary rocks. Where the base is raised, hills have formed: the Dnieper, Central Russian, and Volga. In places where the foundation is deeply sunk, lowlands occur: Pechora, Black Sea, Caspian.
The territory is located at moderate latitude. Atlantic air masses penetrate the plain, bringing with them precipitation. The western part is warmer than the east. The minimum temperature in January is -14˚C. In summer, the air from the Arctic gives coolness. The largest rivers flow south. Short rivers, Onega, Northern Dvina, Pechora, are directed to the north. The Neman, Neva and Western Dvina carry water in a westerly direction. In winter they all freeze. In spring, floods begin.
Half of the country's population lives on the East European Plain. Almost all forest areas are secondary forest, there are a lot of fields and arable lands. There are many mineral deposits in the area.
West Siberian Plain
West Siberian Plain on the map of Russia
The area of the plain is about 2.6 million km². The western border is the Ural Mountains, in the east the plain ends with the Central Siberian Plateau. The Kara Sea washes the northern part. The Kazakh small sandpiper is considered the southern border.
The West Siberian plate lies at its base, and sedimentary rocks lie on the surface. The southern part is higher than the northern and central. The maximum height is 300 m. The edges of the plain are represented by the Ket-Tym, Kulunda, Ishim and Turin plains. In addition, there are the Lower Yisei, Verkhnetazovskaya and North Sosvinskaya uplands. Siberian ridges are a complex of hills in the west of the plain.
The West Siberian Plain lies in three regions: arctic, subarctic and temperate. Due to low pressure, Arctic air penetrates the territory, and cyclones are actively developing in the north. Precipitation is unevenly distributed, with the maximum amount falling in the middle part. Most precipitation falls between May and October. In the southern zone, thunderstorms often occur in summer.
The rivers flow slowly, and many swamps have formed on the plain. All reservoirs are flat in nature and have a slight slope. The Tobol, Irtysh and Ob originate in mountainous areas, so their regime depends on the melting of ice in the mountains. Most reservoirs have a northwestern direction. In spring there is a long flood.
Oil and gas are the main riches of the plain. In total there are more than five hundred deposits of combustible minerals. In addition to them, in the depths there are deposits of coal, ore and mercury.
The steppe zone, located in the south of the plain, is almost completely plowed. Fields of spring wheat are located on black soil. Plowing, which lasted for many years, led to the formation of erosion and dust storms. In the steppes there are many salt lakes, from which table salt and soda are extracted.
Central Siberian Plateau
Central Siberian Plateau on the map of Russia
The area of the plateau is 3.5 million km². In the north it borders on the North Siberian Lowland. The Eastern Sayan Mountains are a natural border in the south. In the west, the lands begin at the Yenisei River, in the east they end at the Lena River valley.
The plateau is based on the Pacific lithospheric plate. Because of it, the earth's crust rose significantly. The average heights are 500 m. The Putorana plateau in the north-west reaches 1701 m in height. The Byrranga Mountains are located in Taimyr, their height exceeds a thousand meters. In Central Siberia there are only two lowlands: North Siberian and Central Yakut. There are many lakes here.
Most of the territories are located in the Arctic and subarctic zones. The plateau is fenced off from warm seas. Due to the high mountains, precipitation is distributed unevenly. They fall in large numbers in the summer. The earth cools greatly in winter. The minimum temperature in January is -40˚C. Dry air and lack of winds help to endure such difficult conditions. During the cold season, powerful anticyclones form. There is little precipitation in winter. In summer, cyclonic weather sets in. The average temperature during this period is +19˚C.
The largest rivers, the Yenisei, Angara, Lena, and Khatanga, flow through the lowland. They cross faults in the earth's crust, so they have many rapids and gorges. All rivers are navigable. Central Siberia has enormous hydropower resources. Most of the major rivers are located in the north.
Almost the entire territory is located in the zone. The forests are represented by larch trees, which shed their needles for the winter. Pine forests grow along the Lena and Angara valleys. The tundra contains shrubs, lichens and mosses.
Siberia has a lot of mineral resources. There are deposits of ore, coal, and oil. Platinum deposits are located in the southeast. There are salt deposits in the Central Yakut Lowland. There are graphite deposits on the Nizhnyaya Tunguska and Kureyka rivers. Diamond deposits are located in the northeast.
Due to difficult climatic conditions, large settlements are located only in the south. Human economic activity is concentrated in the mining and logging industries.
Azov-Kuban Plain
Azov-Kuban Plain (Kuban-Azov Lowland) on the map of Russia
The Azov-Kuban Plain is a continuation of the East European Plain, its area is 50 thousand km². The Kuban River is the southern border, and the northern one is the Yegorlyk River. In the east, the lowland ends in the Kuma-Manych depression, the western part opens to the Sea of Azov.
The plain lies on the Scythian plate and is a virgin steppe. The maximum height is 150 m. The large rivers Chelbas, Beysug, Kuban flow in the central part of the plain, and there is a group of karst lakes. The plain is located in the continental belt. Warm ones soften the local climate. In winter, temperatures rarely drop below -5˚C. In summer the thermometer shows +25˚C.
The plain includes three lowlands: Prikubanskaya, Priazovskaya and Kuban-Priazovskaya. Rivers often flood populated areas. There are gas fields in the territory. The region is famous for its chernozem fertile soils. Almost the entire territory has been developed by humans. People grow cereals. The diversity of flora has been preserved only along rivers and in forests.
Plains- vast areas of the earth's surface with small (up to 200 m) fluctuations in height and slight slopes.
Plains occupy 64% of the land area. Tectonically, they correspond to more or less stable platforms that have not shown significant activity in recent times, regardless of their age - ancient or young. Most of the land's plains are located on ancient platforms (42%).
Plains are distinguished by absolute and surface height negative-
lying below the level of the World Ocean (Caspian), low-lying- from 0 to 200 m altitude (Amazonian, Black Sea, Indo-Gangetic lowlands, etc.), sublime- from 200 to 500 m (Central Russian, Valdai, Volga uplands, etc.). Plains also include plateau (high plains), which, as a rule, are located above 500 m and are separated from the adjacent plains by ledges (for example, the Great Plains in the USA, etc.). The depth and degree of dissection of them by river valleys, gullies and ravines depends on the height of the plains and plateaus: what
The higher the plain, the more intensely they are dissected.
In terms of appearance, plains can be flat, wavy, hilly, stepped, and in terms of the general slope of the surface - horizontal, inclined, convex, concave.
The different appearance of the plains depends on their origin and internal structure, which largely depend on the direction of neotectonic movements. Based on this feature, all plains can be divided into two types - denudation and accumulative (see diagram 14-A-1-1). Within the former, the processes of denudation of loose material predominate, and within the latter, its accumulation.
It is clear that denudation surfaces have experienced upward tectonic movements for most of their history. It was thanks to them that the processes of destruction and demolition - denudation - prevailed here. However, the duration of denudation may vary, and this is also reflected in the morphology of such surfaces.
With continuous or almost continuous slow (epeirogenic) tectonic uplift, which continued throughout the entire existence of the territories, there were no conditions for the accumulation of sediments. There was only a denudation of the surface by various exogenous agents, and if thin continental or marine sediments accumulated for a short time, then during subsequent uplifts they were carried out of the territory. Therefore, in the structure of such plains, an ancient base comes to the surface - folds cut off by denudation, only slightly covered by a thin cover of Quaternary deposits. Such plains are called basement; It is easy to see that the basement plains tectonically correspond to the shields of ancient platforms and the protrusions of the folded foundation of young platforms. Basement plains on ancient platforms have a hilly topography, most often they are elevated. These are, for example, the plains of Fennoscandia - the Kola Peninsula and Karelia. Similar plains are located in northern Canada. Basement hills are widespread in Africa. As a rule, long-term denudation has cut off all the structural irregularities of the base, so such plains are astructural.
The plains on the “shields” of young platforms have a more “restless” hilly topography, with residual elevations such as hills, the formation of which is associated either with lithological features - more
hard stable rocks, or with structural conditions - former convex folds, microhorsts or exposed intrusions. Of course, they are all structurally determined. This is what, for example, the Kazakh small hills and part of the Gobi plains look like.
Plates of ancient and young platforms, experiencing a stable uplift only during the neotectonic stage of development, are composed of layers of sedimentary rocks of great thickness (hundreds of meters and a few kilometers) - limestones, dolomites, sandstones, siltstones, etc. Over millions of years, the sediments hardened, became rocky and acquired stability to erosion. These rocks lie more or less horizontally, as they were once deposited. Uplifts of territories during the neotectonic stage of development stimulated denudation on them, which did not allow young loose rocks to be deposited there. Plains on slabs of ancient and young platforms are called reservoir. From the surface, they are often covered with loose Quaternary continental sediments of low thickness, which practically do not affect their height and orographic features, but determine their appearance due to morphosculpture (East European, southern part of West Siberian, etc.).
Since strata plains are confined to platform plates, they are clearly structural - their macro- and even mesoforms of relief are determined by the geological structures of the cover: the nature of the bedding of rocks of varying hardness, their slope, etc.
During the Pliocene-Quaternary subsidence of territories, even relative ones, sediments carried away from surrounding areas began to accumulate on them. They filled in all the previous surface irregularities. This is how they were formed accumulative plains, composed of loose, Pliocene-Quaternary sediments. These are usually low-lying plains, sometimes even below sea level. According to the conditions of sedimentation, they are divided into marine and continental - alluvial, aeolian, etc. An example of accumulative plains are the Caspian, Black Sea, Kolyma, Yana-Indigirsk lowlands composed of marine sediments, as well as the Pripyat, Leno-Vilyui, La Plata, etc. Accumulative plains , as a rule, are confined to syneclises.
In large basins among the mountains and at their feet, accumulative plains have a surface inclined from the mountains, cut through by the valleys of many rivers flowing from the mountains and complicated by their alluvial cones. They are more complex
We are filled with loose continental sediments: alluvium, proluvium, colluvium, and lake sediments. For example, the Tarim Plain is composed of sands and loess, the Dzungarian Plain is composed of powerful sand accumulations brought from neighboring mountains. The ancient alluvial plain is the Karakum desert, composed of sands brought by rivers from the southern mountains in the pluvial era of the Pleistocene.
The morphostructures of plains usually include ridges These are linearly elongated hills with rounded peaks, usually no more than 500 m high. They are composed of dislocated rocks of different ages. An indispensable feature of a ridge is the presence of a linear orientation, inherited from the structure of the folded region in the place of which the ridge arose, for example, Timansky, Donetsk, Yenisei.
It should be noted that all of the listed types of plains (basement, strata, accumulative), as well as plateaus, plateaus and ridges, according to I. P. Gerasimov and Yu. A. Meshcheryakov, are not morphographic concepts, but morphostructural ones, reflecting the relationship of relief with geological structure 1.
Plains on land form two latitudinal series corresponding to the platforms of Laurasia and Gondwana. Northern Plains Row formed within the framework of the ancient North American and East European platforms, which were relatively stable in recent times, and the young EpiPaleozoic West Siberian platform - a plate that experienced even slight subsidence and is expressed in relief as a predominantly low-lying plain.
The Central Siberian plateau, and in the morpho-structural sense these are high plains - a plateau, was formed on the site of the ancient Siberian platform, activated in recent times due to resonant movements from the east, from the active geosynclinal Western Pacific belt. The so-called Central Siberian Plateau includes volcanic plateaus(Pu-torana and Syverma), tuffaceous plateaus(Central Tunguska), trap plateaus(Tungusskoye, Vilyuiskoye), reservoir plateaus(Priangarskoe, Prilenskoe), etc.
The orographic and structural features of the plains of the northern row are peculiar: beyond the North-
“Plateaus and plateaus are often distinguished only by their appearance and degree of dissection, without taking into account their geological structure. Plateaus are considered less dissected forms of relief and are classified as high plains. Plateaus are usually higher, dissected more intensely and deeper in the marginal parts, so they are classified as mountains.
The Arctic Circle is dominated by low coastal accumulative plains; to the south, along the so-called active 62° parallel, there is a strip of basement hills and even plateaus on the shields of ancient platforms - Laurentian, Baltic, Anabar; in middle latitudes along 50° N. w. - again a strip of stratal and accumulative lowlands - North German, Polish, Polesie, Meshchera, Sredneobskaya, Vilyuiskaya.
On the East European Plain, Yu. A. Meshcheryakov identified another pattern: the alternation of lowlands and hills. Since the movements on the East European Platform were wave-like in nature, and their source in the neotectonic stage was collisions of the Alpine belt, he established several alternating stripes of hills and lowlands, fanning out from the southwest to the east and taking an increasingly meridional direction as they move away from the Carpathians . The Carpathian strip of uplands (Volyn, Podolsk, Prydneprovskaya) is replaced by the Pripyat-Dnieper strip of lowlands (Pripyat, Prydneprovskaya), followed by the Central Russian strip of uplands (Belarusian, Smolensk-Moscow, Central Russian); the latter is successively replaced by the Upper Volga-Don strip of lowlands (Meshchera lowland, Oka-Don plain), then by the Volga upland, Trans-Volga lowland and, finally, by a strip of the Cis-Ural uplands.
In general, the plains of the northern series are inclined to the north, which is consistent with the flow of the rivers.
Southern Plains Row corresponds to the Gond-Van platforms, which have experienced activation in recent times. Therefore, elevations predominate within its boundaries: stratum (in the Sahara) and basement (in southern Africa), as well as plateaus (Arabia, Hindustan). Only within the inherited troughs and syneclises did stratal and accumulative plains form (Amazonian and La Plata lowlands, the Congo depression, the Central Lowland of Australia).
In general, the largest areas among the plains on the continents belong to strata plains, within which the primary plain surfaces are formed by horizontally lying layers of sedimentary rocks, and the basement and accumulative plains are of subordinate importance.
In conclusion, we emphasize once again that mountains and plains, as the main forms of relief on land, are created by internal processes: mountains gravitate towards mobile folded belts
Lands, and plains - to platforms (Table 14). Relatively small, relatively short-lived relief forms created by external exogenous
processes overlap
on large ones and give them a unique appearance. They will be discussed below.
Table 14
Areas of the main types of continental morphostructures (%)
If you look at the physical map of the world, you will notice that mountains and plains are the main types of earthly relief, and plains are larger in area than mountain ranges. Most of our planet's population lives on plains, which are characterized by fertile soils and a climate favorable for agriculture.
Interestingly, not all continents are equally level. Most of the plains are located in Africa (about 84%), in Asia, on the contrary, 57% of the continent’s territory is occupied by the largest mountain systems in the world: Tibet, Altai, the Himalayas, the Pamirs, etc.
What are plains and how did they appear?
Before we learn the history of the appearance of plains and classify them into existing types, let us define the term itself. In principle, the word itself already contains the answer to the question of what plains are. These are flat areas on the bottom of the oceans or on the surface of the Earth, often occupying huge areas. The largest plain on our planet is the Amazon Lowland in South America.
The plains differ from each other in geological structure, relief nature and height. Briefly, geologists explain their appearance on land this way: once in prehistoric times, mountains rose in the place where the plains are now, then over a long period these mountains were destroyed by earthquakes until they were almost completely leveled.
At first glance, it may seem that the plains are almost flat spaces. In fact, their relief is complex and diverse. Thus, in some areas of the Earth the plains are indeed almost flat, for example, in the semi-deserts north of the Caspian Sea; in other places their surface is crossed by ridges, hills and ridges - hills with gentle slopes. Such a hilly plain is, for example, the East European one.
Classification of plains by absolute height
It is not difficult to describe a plain, because, as we have already found out, this term means a vast expanse of land with a flat or hilly topography. All plains, depending on the height at which they are located relative to sea level, are divided into several types.
- The first is the lowlands. They can be located either below sea level, like the Caspian, or their height does not exceed 200 meters above sea level, like, for example, the West Siberian. Where the earth's crust sags, there are coastal plains. One of these places is the Padana Lowland, on which the city of Venice is located.
- Uplands are the next type of plains. Their height above sea level ranges from 200 to 500 meters. Uplands are a mixture of hilly and flat areas, such as the Central Plains of North America.
- The highest plains on Earth are plateaus with flat or hilly terrain, located at altitudes from 500 m to 1 km and above. An example of a plateau is the Anatolian in Turkey or the Altiplano in South America.
the East European Plain
The second largest plain in the world is the East European Plain, which is also called Russian. It extends from the White Sea coast in the north to the Caspian coast in the south. The Russian Plain belongs to the type of hills, since its average height above sea level reaches 170 m.
In most of its part the climate is temperate continental, only in the far north is it subarctic. Despite urbanization, almost half of the territory of the East European Plain is covered by forests, and in some of its areas the Askania Nova, Belovezhskaya Pushcha, Vodlozersky National Park, etc. reserves have been created.
West Siberian Plain
Between the Central Siberian Plateau and the Ural Mountains is the West Siberian Plain - the third in area after the Amazon and Russian. Its main feature is its very smooth terrain. The climate throughout its territory is continental with sharp temperature changes and unstable weather.
The Siberian Plain is rich in mineral resources. In addition to gas and oil, iron ore, peat, and brown coal are mined here. On the territory of the plain there are about a million lakes of various sizes and several vegetation zones: tundra, forest-tundra, forest-steppe, forest swamps and steppe.
Severe swampiness of large areas is another distinctive feature of the Siberian Plain. This is due to several reasons: permafrost, low temperatures, flat topography, and excess moisture.
In conclusion, we note that the relief of the plains is the most convenient for economic activity and life, therefore their territories have been significantly changed by humanity.
