The Valdai Upland: relief, rivers and climate. The Valdai Upland on the map

One of the picturesque and unique in its beauty, climate and natural features of the places of Russia is the Valdai Upland. In the heart of it is the city of Valdai, whose history is almost five hundred years old. Many tourists are eager to come here. One of the reasons for the popularity of this route with travelers is the proximity to such large cities as Moscow, Novgorod, St. Petersburg. The Valdai Upland unites several hills and ridges, the largest of which are Valdai, Vysheololocka, Ostashkovskaya. Here the Volga River, the Western Dvina, the Dnieper River originate, there are many mineral springs, springs and springs.

Location on the map

The Valdai Upland on the map is located in Novgorod, Smolensk, Tver regions, partly in Pskov and Leningrad in the north-west of the Russian Federation. The length of the elevation is about 600 km, the altitude varies from 150 to 250 km. The highest point is 346.9 km.

Relief of the Valdai Upland

For this area is characterized by the alternation of ridges, troughs and valleys. There are small plains. The average height of the hills is 20-50 m, the degree of their slope is 15-20 and higher. The basins with valleys, located between the hills, are often filled and form small lakes. On the Valdai Upland, three relief forms are combined : zandra, kamovy and finely moraine. The appearance of the terrain was due to the activities of glaciers. Other factors of relief formation are insignificant.

The climate of Valdai

Overland humidity prevails over the area. A short cool summer and a long warm autumn - the weather is different for the Valdai Upland. The climate here is moderately continental, very similar to the sea. The Valdai winter is relatively warm, and spring is long and cold. Weather conditions are formed as a result of the circulation of air masses. Above the terrain, arctic air and air of temperate latitudes accumulate. Continental air from temperate latitudes gives heat in summer and frost in winter, and the sea sets the rainy weather in summer and thaws with snowfall in the cold season. In general, the weather in Valday is unstable, can change dramatically.

On average, the air warms up to 3.2 ⁰ C per year, in winter the temperature drops to -9 ..- 10 ⁰ С, in summer the average temperature is +16 ⁰ С. The prevailing winds are western, southern and south-western. During the year, a little more than 800 mm of precipitation falls, the height of the snow cover reaches 50 cm.

Hydrological characteristics

On the hill there is a watershed of the basins of the Baltic Sea, the Volga and the Dnieper. Here are the sources of such rivers as Msta, Tvertsa, Mologa, Syas, Pola, Lovat and others. The rivers of the Valdai Upland have a swift current, rapids, deep valleys. They get food from snowmelt, as well as from rain and groundwater. The rivers are covered with ice about 4-5 months a year. Ledostav observed in December, and the opening of the ice - in April, with early spring - in March and even in February.

There are a lot of different kinds of fish in the rivers: perch, pike, minnow, burbot, pike perch, bleak, borer, asp, bream, ide, roach and others.

Lake of the same name - Valdai - beautiful, clean. By the way, Vald means "clean", "light". It refers to the monuments of nature. The lake is located on an area of about two thousand hectares, its average depth is 15 m, but in some places it reaches 50 m. There are several islands on the surface of the reservoir. Birch and Rowan - one of the largest, they divide the lake into two valleys - the Valdai and Dolgoborodsky. Adds beauty to this place being on the shore of the Iberian Monastery and the Kolokolov Museum. After all, initially in the city of Valdai casting bells was the main occupation.

The lake edge is rightly called the Valdai Upland, on the map of which there are more than a dozen lakes. The largest of them are Seliger, Velye, Dinner, Borovno, Ilmen. On the shores of the lakes, many different recreation centers have been built, where vacationers are given a typically Russian rest - washing in a bath, shish kebab, fishing.

National parks

The Valdai Upland is a very attractive area for the location of national parks here . Valdai National Park was established in 1990 with the aim of organizing recreation and preserving the natural natural conditions of the area. This natural unit occupies more than one hundred thousand hectares. In the park are forests, lakes, rivers, inhabited by various representatives of the animal world. A lot of species of vegetation that are here are listed in the Red Book. This is a semi-stubble bristly, Venus shoe, orchis shlemonosny, Baltic finger balm and many others. Under the protection of the state there are more than a hundred species of different mosses.

More than 150 species of birds nest here. From rare species were observed: black stork, peregrine falcon, golden eagle and osprey. And also the gray heron, kingfisher, yellow, some breeds of woodpeckers, bittern. The fauna is represented by mass species: squirrel, fox, brown bear, raccoon dog, lynx, mouse.

The Valday National Park conducts a huge scientific work, one of which is the educational activity among children. The park is part of the Federation of European National Parks.

An excellent recreational area is the Valdai Upland, where many recreation places are located. On the banks of rivers and lakes built children's camps, recreation centers. Developed on foot, canoe, ski and horse routes.

In the waters of the Sebezhsky National Park there are more than 20 species of fish: tench, eel, ide, pike, rare - peled, trout, silvery crucian carp. There are a lot of lakes and rivers on the territory of the park, connected to each other in a single water system. The largest lakes here are Sebezhskoye and Necheritsa.

Reserves

The Valdai Upland also includes protected areas. This is the Polistovsky and Rdeisky nature reserves. Here, as well as in national parks, scientific work is carried out. Thanks to the existence of such reserves in Russia, this direction of recreation, such as ecological tourism, is developing. It organizes tours and whole expeditions with spending the night in tents, cooking at the stake. Employees of the reserve together with children make and install information signs on environmental issues.

Vegetation

Under the influence of a climate with excessive moisture, soddy-podzolic soils are formed in the territory of Valdai. On these depleted lands with a small part of humus, coniferous tree species, pine and spruce, predominate. There are also rare species of ecosystems with a predominance of northern vegetation, namely northern oak forests with ash, hazel. There are many wetlands.