Crimea is located within 44o23' (Cape Sarych) and 46o15' (Perekop ditch) of northern latitude and 32o30' (Cape Karamrun) and 36o40' (Cape Lantern) of east longitude. The area of ​​the Crimean peninsula is 26.0 thousand km2, the maximum distance from north to south is 205 km, from west to east - 325 km.
A narrow eight-kilometer strip of land in the north (Perekop Isthmus) connects Crimea with the mainland, and 4-5 km - the width of the Kerch Strait in the east (the length of the strait is about 41 km) - separates it from Taman Peninsula. The total length of the Crimean borders exceeds 2500 km (taking into account the extreme sinuosity coastline northeast). On the whole, the shores of Crimea are little indented, the Black Sea forms three large bays: Karkinitsky, Kalamitsky and Feodossky; The Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov also formed three bays: Kazantip, Arabat and Sivash.

Physical and geographical position of Crimea as a whole differs in the following most characteristic features. Firstly, the location of the peninsula at 45o north latitude determines its equal distance from the equator and the North Pole, which is associated with a sufficiently large amount of incoming solar energy and a large number of hours of sunshine. Secondly, Crimea is almost an island. This is connected, on the one hand, with a large number of endemics (plant species that are not found anywhere except in this area) and endemics (similar animal species); on the other hand, this explains the significant deprivation of the Crimean fauna; in addition, the climate and other natural components are significantly influenced by the marine environment. Thirdly, the position of the peninsula in relation to the general circulation of the Earth's atmosphere, which leads to the predominance of westerly winds in Crimea, is of particular importance. Crimea occupies a border position between the temperate and subtropical geographical zones.

Features of the transport and geographical position of Crimea in the past determined the nature of the population of the peninsula and the specifics of its economy. In the Middle Ages, Crimea was a kind of dead end on the way of many nomadic tribes. Many settled here and perceived the local languages, culture, religion.
The maritime environment of the Crimea determined not only the features of external economic ties but also the development of coastal recreation. Through the Danube and Dnieper rivers, Crimea has access to the ports of Central Europe, the Baltics and Scandinavia, and through the Don and the canal system of European Russia - to the Baltic and to the White Seas, Caspian states.

A favorable feature of the economic and geographical position of the Crimea is its neighborhood with the economically developed Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine and with Krasnodar Territory RF.

State and territorial structure
The capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the city of Simferopol. The territorial-administrative composition of Crimea includes villages, urban-type settlements, cities. Sevastopol has a special status as a “separate administrative unit”, but is an integral part of Crimea.

Languages ​​spoken in Crimea- Russian, Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar.

The central figure of the coat of arms of Crimea is a white (silver) griffin holding a shell with a blue (azure) pearl in its raised paw. A griffin (a winged lion with an eagle's head) is a mythological creature, a symbol of the ancient cities of Chersonesus, Panticapaeum and others, and in later times, the cities of Sevastopol and Kerch.
Since ancient times, the griffin has been credited with protective properties. On the coat of arms of the Crimea, he is depicted as a symbol of the guardian and defender of the republic. The blue pearl symbolizes Crimea as unique corner planet, the unity of all its peoples, religions and cultures.
The griffin is placed on the Varangian shield (small coat of arms) - a symbol of the intersection of important trade routes, and its red color is a symbol of courage, bravery and courage of the peoples of Crimea of ​​all ages.
The shield is held by antique marble columns. The top of the coat of arms is the rising golden sun - a symbol of rebirth and prosperity, warmth and light.
Under the shield, wrapped in rings around the columns, there is a blue-white-red (colors of the Crimean flag) motto ribbon with the inscription: "Prosperity in unity."

Crimean nature
The natural museum is called the nature of the Crimea. There are few places in the world where a variety of comfortable and picturesque landscapes would be so originally combined. In many ways, they are due to the peculiarity of the geographical location, geological structure, relief, climate of the peninsula. The Crimean mountains divide the peninsula into two unequal parts. Large - northern - is located on the extreme temperate zone, southern - the Crimean sub-Mediterranean - belongs to the northern outskirts of the subtropical zone.
Especially rich and interesting vegetable world Crimea. Only wild-growing higher plants account for more than 65% of the flora of the entire European part of the Commonwealth countries. Along with this, about 1000 species of alien plants are cultivated here. Almost the entire flora of Crimea is concentrated in its southern mountainous part. This is truly a museum wealth of flora.

The climate of most of the Crimea- this is the climate of the temperate zone: mild steppe - in the flat part; more humid, typical for deciduous forests - in the mountains. The southern coast of Crimea is characterized by a sub-Mediterranean climate of dry forests and shrubs.
The Crimean peninsula is provided with a large amount of heat not only in summer, but also in winter. In December and January, 8-10 times more heat is received here per unit of the earth's surface per day than, for example, in St. Petersburg.
Crimea receives the greatest amount of solar heat in summer, especially in July. Spring here is cooler than autumn. And autumn - best season of the year. The weather is calm, sunny and moderately warm. True, sharp fluctuations in pressure during the day sharply exacerbate cardiovascular diseases in people who are not quite healthy.
In the Crimea, which is well supplied with heat, the biological productivity of plants, including agricultural crops, and the resistance of landscapes to loads largely depend on the amount of moisture. And the need for water is constantly growing both among the local population and the national economy, primarily rural and resort. So the water in the Crimea is the true engine of life and culture.
A relatively small amount of precipitation, a long dry summer, and the spread of karst rocks in the mountains have led to the poverty of Crimea in surface waters. Crimea is divided into two parts: a flat steppe with a very small number of surface watercourses and a mountainous forest with a relatively dense river network. There are no large fresh lakes here. In the seaside strip of the flat Crimea there are about 50 lakes-estuaries with a total area of ​​5.3 thousand square kilometers.

In Crimea, there are 1657 rivers and temporary streams with a total length of 5996 km. Of these, about 150 rivers are dwarf rivers up to 10 km long. Only the Salgir River has a length of more than 200 km. The river network is developed on the peninsula extremely unevenly.
Depending on the direction of surface water runoff, the Crimean rivers are divided into three groups: the rivers of the northwestern slopes of the Crimean Mountains, the rivers of the Southern coast of Crimea, the northern slopes Crimean mountains.
All rivers of the northwestern slopes flow almost parallel to each other. Approximately up to the middle of their course, they look like typical mountain streams. The largest of them are Alma, Kacha, Belbek and Chernaya.
The rivers of the southern coast of Crimea are short, have very steep slopes of the channels, and a stormy temper in floods.
In the west, in addition to the usually dry ravines and the Khastabash stream, the largest is the Uchan-Su river. Rapidly running to the sea, it forms waterfalls in four places. The topmost and largest of them (Flying Water).
The rivers of the northern slopes of the Crimean mountains are distinguished by the fact that outside the mountains they deviate to the east and flow into the Sivash - the lagoon Sea of ​​Azov. In the upper reaches of the river there is always water, and within the plains in summer their channels are often dry.
Salgir is the longest river in Crimea. Together with the Biyuk-Karasu tributary, it represents the largest in the Crimea water system. The upper reaches of the Salgir are formed from the confluence of the Angara and Kizil-Koba rivers. Near the village of Zarechnoye, it flows into the Salgir major tributary Ayan. Salgir fills the large Simferopol reservoir, built in 1951-1955. Below Simferopol, the river receives right tributaries - the rivers Beshterek, Zuya, Burulcha, and 27 km from Sivash - Biyuk-Karasu. The Taigan and Belogorsk reservoirs were built on Biyuk-Karasu.

Population of Crimea
The population of Crimea is distributed unevenly across the territory. 50% of the republic's population lives on the coast. In 1991, 69% of the population lived in cities, and 31% of the population lived in rural areas. 43% of the Crimean population lives in four major cities: Sevastopol (371.4 thousand people in 1991), Simferopol (357 thousand people), Kerch (189.5 thousand people) and Evpatoria (113.3 thousand people).
Crimea is characterized by an increase in the number of cities and urban-type settlements and relative stability rural settlements. In recent years, cities such as Krasnoperekopsk, Armyansk, have appeared on the map of Crimea. The number of urban-type settlements is growing rapidly - more than 2 times since 1959.
The bulk of the Crimean population is made up of workers (about 60 percent), employees - 28, peasants - less than 11 percent.

Education
Crimea has always been distinguished not only by a high proportion of the urban population, but also by a high level of literacy and education of the inhabitants. For every thousand inhabitants in the cities there were 900, and in the villages 730 people with higher, secondary specialized and secondary education.
The training of highly qualified specialists is carried out by 6 state higher educational institutions (Simferopol State University, Crimean Medical Institute, Crimean Agricultural Institute, Sevastopol Instrument-Making Institute. Crimean Institute of Environmental Protection and Resort Construction, Crimean State Industrial and Pedagogical Institute), two branches of universities - Kiev Economic University (in Simferopol) and the Kaliningrad Fish School (in Kerch), as well as several commercial universities.
Military specialists are being trained by the military institute in Sevastopol and the civil engineering school in Simferopol.
In recent years, colleges have been established on a commercial basis. 30 secondary specialized educational institutions are engaged in the training of specialists. Vocational schools train personnel in 120 specialties.
Academic and cultural institutions operate in Crimea. There are several professional theaters and a philharmonic society, an art gallery in Feodosia. A large number of newspapers are published. There are a large number of museums in Crimea, many of which are connected with the fate of outstanding writers, artists, scientists who lived on the peninsula.

Economic appearance of Crimea
The economic appearance of the Crimea, the structure, the nature of the location of industries and the population evolved mainly in accordance with its natural and socio-economic conditions.
Until 1917, the republic's economy was predominantly agrarian. Gradually, it developed into an industrial-agrarian one.
Crimea stands out for its diversified agricultural and recreational economy, the production of soda ash, titanium dioxide, sulfuric acid, technological equipment for the food industry, televisions, ocean-going ships, fish and fish products. In addition to mechanical engineering, the chemical industry, agriculture and recreation, the food industry also includes the food industry, which produces grape wines, canned fruits and vegetables, and essential oils.
In the structure of industrial production, the leading place belongs to the food industry, followed by mechanical engineering and metalworking, the chemical industry, and the building materials industry.
Crimean agriculture is specialized in grain and livestock breeding, viticulture, horticulture, vegetable growing, as well as in the cultivation of essential oil crops (lavender, rose, sage). The volumes of gross output of livestock and crop production are balanced.
Maritime transport is of great importance for the republic. Through the Crimean ports, export-import transportation of various cargoes is carried out. The most important ports are Kerch, Feodosia, Yalta, Evpatoria. The largest port city is Sevastopol.

recreational economy is one of the leading branches of the republic. From Latin, recreation is translated as “recovery”, meaning the restoration of the physical and psychophysiological conditions of a person. The composition of the recreational economy includes; sanatoriums, boarding houses, houses and recreation centers, tourist hotels and camp sites, campsites, children's camps. The recreational economy works on beach, balneological and climatic resources, therapeutic mud, sea ​​water, landscape resources.

Sectors of social infrastructure of Crimea- public utilities, consumer services, public education, public catering, trade, health care, social security, culture, physical education, credit and insurance, science and scientific services - are distinguished by a high level of development.

1.1 Relief and river network

Introduction

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is located within the boundaries of several physical and geographical regions, including about 50 landscapes. In the north of the peninsula lies the Crimean steppe province, which includes the natural-territorial complexes of the Crimean-Prisivash lowland fescue-feather grass steppe, the Central Crimean plain feather-grass-fescue-forb steppe and the Kerch hill-mountain petrophyte-xerophyte turf-cereal and wormwood steppe.

Crimea is located within 44°23" (Cape Sarych) and 46°15" (Perekop ditch) of northern latitude, 32°30" (Cape Karamrun) and 36°40" (Cape Lantern) of eastern longitude The area of ​​the Crimean peninsula is 26.0 thousand km. the maximum distance from north to south is 205 km, from west to east - 325 km.

A narrow eight-kilometer strip of land to the north (Perekop Isthmus) connects Crimea from the mainland, and 4-5 km - the width of the Kerch Strait in the east (the length of the strait is about 41 km) - separates it from the Taman Peninsula. Total length the borders of Crimea exceeds 2500 km (taking into account the extreme sinuosity of the coastline of the northeast). On the whole, the coasts of the Crimea are little indented, the Black Sea forms three large bays: Karkinitsky, Kalamitsky and Feodosia; The Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov also formed three bays: Kazantip, Arabat and Sivash.

The physical and geographical position of the Crimea as a whole is distinguished by the following most characteristic features. Firstly, the location of the peninsula at 45° north latitude determines its equidistance from the equator and the North Pole, which is associated with a sufficiently large amount of incoming solar energy and a large number of hours of sunshine. Secondly, Crimea is almost an island. This is connected, on the one hand, with a large number of endemics (plant species that are not found anywhere except in a given area) and endemics (similar animal species); on the other hand, this explains the significant depletion of the Crimean fauna; in addition, the climate and other components of nature are significantly influenced by the marine environment. Thirdly, the position of the peninsula in relation to the general circulation of the Earth's atmosphere, which leads to the predominance of westerly winds in Crimea, is of particular importance. Crimea occupies a border position between the temperate and subtropical geographical zones.

This work consists of content, introduction, two chapters, conclusion, appendix, bibliography.

I. Physical and geographical features of the Crimea

1.1 Relief and river network

The Crimean peninsula (Fig. 1) is surrounded on almost all sides by the sea from the south by the deep-water part of the Black Sea, from the west by the Evpatoria and Karkinitsky bays, from the east by the Sea of ​​Azov. Along the north and northeast coast Crimea stretches Sivash - the bay of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, which is distinguished by a very indented coastline and is divided by the Chongar Peninsula into Western and Eastern Sivash. Sivash is separated from the Sea of ​​Azov by a long scythe - the Arabat arrow. The Crimean peninsula is connected to the mainland only by the narrow Perekop isthmus. The eastern tip of Crimea is called the Kerch Peninsula, which is separated from the Taman Peninsula by the Kerch Strait.

According to the nature of the relief, Crimea is divided into three main parts: the southern - mountainous, the northern - flat and the Kerch Peninsula, which is distinguished by a peculiar hilly-ridged relief. The Crimean Mountains, occupying the smaller, southern part of the Crimean peninsula, stretch for 160 km along the Black Sea coast from Sevastopol in the west to Feodosia in the east, reaching a maximum width of 50-60 km. Within mountain Crimea the following opographic parts are distinguished: the main ridge, the southern coast and the foothill ridges.

The main ridge of the Tauride Mountains stretches along the Black Sea coast from Cape Aya in the west to the Feodosiya Gulf in the east. This is the highest strip of the Crimean mountains, in the central part it reaches absolute heights of over 1500 m ( highest point Roman-Kosh 1543 m). To the west and east, the r-series gradually decreases. In the extreme west, it ends near Balaklava with the Karan heights (316 m), and in the east, near Feodosia, with the hilly heights of Cape Ilya (310 m). Geomorphologically, the main series is heterogeneous. Within its limits, three sections can be distinguished - western, middle and eastern.

The western low-mountain part of the series with altitudes from 316 to 1000 m is located between Cape Aya and Ai-Petri Yayla and has a length of about 30 km. Here the main ridge consists of a series of rocky ridges and intermountain basins. The heights of the ridges vary between 600 - 700 m, the bottoms of the basins have marks of 300 - 350 m. The basins are interconnected by gorges or canyons. The largest intermountain basins are: Balaklava, Varnautskaya, Baydarskaya and Uzundzhinskaya.

The middle part of the Main Row of the Crimean Mountains of the Uzundzha Basin to the valley of the river. Tanas is a series of high uplands known as yayls: Ai-Petri, Yalta, Nikitskaya, Babugan, Chatyrdag, Demerdzhi-yayla (Fig. 2), Dolgorukovskaya and Karabi-yayla. The largest highlands reach a width of 10 - 12 km and a length of 20 - 30 km. They are separated from each other by narrow bridges or upper reaches of river valleys; the most famous passes are usually confined to these areas: Kebit-Bogazsky (600 m), Anrarsky (762 m), Baydar gates (520 m) and others. Jurassic, are distinguished by a very high degree of karst formation: there are many karrs, funnels, hollows, grottoes, karst wells, shafts, caves and other forms. The largest mines are: Molodezhnaya on Karabi-yayla (depth 261 m) and No. 309 on Ai-Petrinsky yayla (depth 246 m). To the number famous caves include the Red Cave (Kizil-Koba) 11250 m long in the area with. Perevalnoye, as well as the Thousand-headed and Cold caves on Chatyrdag.

The eastern part of the main ridge, extending for 75 km from the valley of the river. Tanas to the Feodosia Bay, is a lowland, divided into many separate rocky ridges, small mountain ranges and rocks, separated by various kinds of depressions. The watershed consists of a series of peaks stretching along the sea, forming the mountains of Ayu-Kaya, Terkez, Perchem near Sudak and the Mandzhil Range. The highest peak of eastern Crimea, Mount Kozya (688 m), is located to the east of Sudak. The main ridge ends with the picturesque Karadag group of mountains between Shchebetovka and Planersky. Further to the east, to Cape Ilya, the foothill hilly ridge of Tete-Oba stretches. most northern mountain in the eastern part of the Crimea is Agarmysh, at the foot of which there is a mountain. Old Crimea.

All the rivers of the Crimean Peninsula begin on the slopes of the Crimean Mountains, and some of them are completely located within them. In this regard, the mountainous Crimea is distinguished by a rather large density of the river network: on the northern slope of the Crimean rop it is 0.24 km / km 2, and on the northwestern 0.30 km / km 2.

According to their location and some hydrological features, the rivers of the mountainous Crimea are divided into three groups: southern, northern and northwestern slopes.

The rivers of the southern slope of the Main Range are very short. The most significant of them are: Khostabash near Alupka, the rivers Uchan-Su (Vodopadnaya) and Derekoika (Fast), flowing into the Yalta Bay, the Avunda and East Putamis rivers, flowing into the Gurzuf Bay, the Alushta River or Ulu-Uzen Western and the river. Demerdzhi flowing into the sea near Alushta, r. Ulu-Uzen East near Solnechnogorsk, r. Uskut in the area with. Greetings, r. Raven at the Sea, Cydakskaya river within the city of Cydak, Otuzka near the village. Crimean Primorye near Karadag.

The main ridge, composed in the upper part by fissured and karst limestones and well moistened, plays the role of an important catchment area for the rivers of the southern group. However, the rock layers that make up this ridge dip to the north and northwest, so the surface, and also, obviously, the deep watersheds of the Crimean Mountains are very shifted to the south. All this determines the insignificant length of the rivers in length, their small catchment areas, low water, large slopes and flow rates. In places, the rivers of the southern group form waterfalls: Uchan-Su on the river of the same name, Golovkinsky on the Alushta river, Dzhur-Dzhur on Ulu-Uzen East.

The rivers of the southern group are also distinguished by the short duration of the spring flood. In conditions of warm and mild winters and autumns, snowmelt and rainfall often lead to powerful rises in the level of the rivers of this group.

The rivers of the northern slopes of the Crimean Mountains flow into the Sea of ​​Azov, more precisely into its Sivash Bay. This is Salrir with its right tributaries: Small Salgir, Zuya, Beshterek, Burulcha and Big Karasu, Tanas, then East Bulganak and Indol. The most full-flowing river of Crimea is the Salgir.

The rivers of the northwestern slopes of the main ridge flow into the Black Sea on the western coast of Crimea. These are Western Bulganak, Alma, Kacha, Belbek, Chernaya. All rivers in the mountainous Crimea are fed by numerous springs, mostly karst.

The northern and northwestern slopes of the Crimean uplift are much wider and flatter than the southern ones. In this regard, the rivers here have a greater length, larger catchment areas, smaller slopes, less rapid current and more full-flowing.

The thinness of the snow cover, the high absorption of melt water by karst voids, which transfer surface runoff to underground - all this determines the feeding habits of the Crimean rivers. As a rule, they are among the rivers of mixed feeding, but with a predominance of rain, which accounts for 44-52% of the annual flow. Groundwater provides 28-36% of the annual runoff, and snow supply accounts for 13-23% of the average annual runoff. The annual regime of levels and discharges of the Crimean rivers is characterized by great variability.

Crimea relief climate geographical

The flow of the most significant rivers is regulated: on the rivers Salrir near Simferopol, Biyuk-Karasu near Belororsk, Alma near the village. Postal, Kacha near Bakhchisaray, Belbek near the village. Schastlivoe, Chernaya, reservoirs were built in the Baidar basin and others. Mudflow floods are observed in the river basins of the mountainous Crimea. This phenomenon is especially characteristic of the eastern part of the southern slope of the Main Ridge, where sometimes huge alluvial fans are formed at the mouths of gullies and river valleys, causing great damage and destruction to orchards, vineyards, and tobacco plantations.

The southern coast of Crimea is the lower, coastal, most gently sloping part of the southern slope of the Main Ridge from Cape Aya in the west to Planerskoro in the east. Its width is from 1 - 2 to 6 - 8 km, the maximum height is 400 - 450 m. The formation of the steep southern slope of the Crimean Mountains was due to intensive uplifts of recent geological time in the area of ​​the main ridge and lowering of the Black Sea bottom. Intrusive massifs prepared by denudation (the rocks of Kuchuk-Ayu near the village of Frunzenskoye and Kuchuk-Lambat between Gurzuf and Alushta, mountain ranges Bear-mountain, or Ayu-Dag, near Gurzuf and Kastel near Alushta, a small mountain range Pilyaki-Hyr near Simeiz and a complex mountain group Karadag).

In the most picturesque western part between the Baidar Gates and Alushta, where Alupka, Yalta, Gurzuf and most of the sanatoriums and resorts are located, the southern coast is very narrow. Between Alushta and Sudak, the mountains move away from the sea and a wide strip of small ridges and hills stretches along the coast. Near Sudak, rocky hills again approach the very coast. To the east behind Cape Megan, near the Karadag and Koktebel bays, the coastal strip has an insignificant width, and at the foot of the Karadag it disappears completely. Koktebel Bay from the east is bordered by a narrow cape of Kiik-Atlama, stretched out into the sea.

The southern coast is characterized by a large erosional dissection, its landscape is characterized by numerous gullies and ravines (Fig. 3), terraced river valleys and well-pronounced erosional amphitheaters in the western half of the South coast (Yalta, Gurzuf, Alushta, etc.). Numerous limestone blocks are very typical for the South Coast, blocking river valleys and ravines and often completely covering watershed spaces. Separate limestone rocks are also distinguished (Sugar pits in the Laspinsky district, Isara rocks near the blue bay, Foros, Koshka and Diva rocks near Simeiz, Genoese in Gurzuf, etc.), mountain ranges (Laspi, Krestovaya near Alupka, Alchak, Sokol and Orel near Sudak) and ridges (mountain Mogabi, Ai-Todorsky, Macsandrovsky and Nikitsky ridges). Landslide processes are widely developed on the southern coast, in some places there are landslide terraces, mounds and depressions. The nature of the coast along its entire length is abrasion-bay with sand-gravel-pebble beaches.

Piedmont ridges border the main ridge from the north, stretching for about 120 km and reaching a width of 20 - 30 km. All in all, there are two cuesta ridges, Predgornaya and Outer (previously they were called the Second and Third Ridges of the Crimean Mountains), separated from each other and from the main ridge by depressions, which received the names of longitudinal valleys. The foothill ridge stretches from Inkerman in the west to Caporo Crimea in the east. In the western part (near Bakhchisaray) the ridge reaches a height of 500-590 m, east of Simferopol it is weakly expressed, in the area of ​​Belogorsk its height increases again and reaches 739 m (mountain Kubalach). The southern, erosional slope of the Piedmont Ridge is steep, strongly dissected and often has a steep character. In places, completely isolated erosional remnants are observed, abruptly breaking off in all directions.

The outer ridge begins with Sapungora near Sevastopol and stretches to Simferopol. Further, it is poorly expressed and to the east it gradually disappears altogether. The ridge reaches its highest height (349 m) in the region of Bakhchisarai. Its southern slope is also steep, while the northern one is gently inclined and, gradually lowering, merges with the plain stretching at the foot of the mountains. Its eastern continuation is the Parpach ridge of the Kerch Peninsula.

Longitudinal valleys, which are wide zones of depressions washed in loose Tertiary and Cretaceous clays and marls, are fertile areas, many settlements, gardens and important roads are confined to them. The terraced river valleys crossing them widen here, while in the areas of outburst of cuesta ridges they often have a canyon-like character.

Plain Crimea is a relatively flat surface, gradually rising to the south, towards the Crimean Mountains. Here stand out: West Crimean, East Crimean, Central, Tarkhankut and North Crimean plains.

The West Crimean lowland plain corresponds structurally to the Alma depression. Its border in the east generally coincides with the watershed between the rivers and beams, which flow into the Black and Azov Seas, respectively. It is an almost flat, slightly dissected and slightly inclined to the sea plain, cut by shallow gullies and lower reaches of the rivers Belbek, Kacha, Alma, Western Bulganak. There are many salt lakes in the coastal zone: Oibur, Salt, Mainak, Sasyk-Sivash, Sak, Kizil-Yar and a number of smaller ones. The largest lake of the Western Crimean Plain and the entire Crimea is Lake Sasyk-Sivash, separated from the sea by a sandy embankment 13 km long and up to 1 km wide. Saki and Mainakskoe lakes are widely known for their therapeutic mud. The sea coast in the area described is generally flat, concave, with a slight break near Cape Lukul. To the north of Lake Kizyl-Yar, the shore is accumulative, low and flat, to the south of the said lake it is abrasion, relatively high and steep.

The East Crimean lowland plain, structurally corresponding to the Indol depression, is bounded in the west by the valley of the river. Big Karasu. The plain gradually lowers to the northeast towards the Sivash. It is cut through by rather long beams originating at the northern foothills of the Crimean Mountains, as well as by the valleys of the rivers Salgir, Biyuk-Karasu, Vostochny Bulganak, Wet and Dry Indol, Churuk-Su, and others, which usually dry up in summer. with the exception of the floodplains, which are well developed and represent important agricultural land. In the coastal strip at a height of 1-3 m above sea level, a firth-marine terrace with solonetzic soils is developed. The shore of the Eastern Sivash is low, abrasion-accumulative, but strongly dissected.

The central elevated plain, structurally corresponding to the Simferopol uplift, is located in the central part of the Crimean Peninsula. Its height gradually decreases from south to north, and the flat surface is complicated by gullies and valleys of the Salgir and its tributaries (Zuya, Burulcha). In the river valleys, the modern floodplain and the first above-floodplain terraces are well expressed (the latter in the Salgir valley reaches 1-2 km in width). The first terrace above the floodplain gradually and almost imperceptibly passes into a wide flat interfluve. Burial grounds and watch mounds are very characteristic of the landscape of the Central Plain.

The Tarkhankutskaya elevated plain in the north is bounded by the line Bakalskaya Spit - with. Luxurious, in the east - Chatyrlyk beam. In the south, its border runs north of Evpatoria. The relief of the Tarkhankutskaya elevated plain is very complex: in the east there is the East Tarkhankutsky plateau, reaching a height of 120-130 m, and in the western part, four ridges changing from south to north, separated by depressions, are pronounced in the relief. The surface of the plain is strongly dissected: long, winding and comparatively gentle ravines are located in the depressions, shorter and steep ravines cut through the slopes of the ridges. The shallow occurrence of Neogene limestones and their frequent outcrops on the day surface cause a fairly wide development of karst (karras, ponors, saucers, small grottoes and caves). The karstization of limestones is different: in some places it manifests itself to a depth of several tens of meters, in others - up to 100-120 m, in others - their entire thickness is karstified.

In the coastal zone of the Tarkhankutskaya elevated plain there are a number of salt lakes of the estuary type: Dzharylgach, Bakalskoe, Panskoe, Liman and Donuzlav (Fig. 4). The last lake is a large body of water, stretching for more than 30 km in a northeasterly direction and reaching a depth of more than 25 m. The shores of the lake are winding, mostly steep.

The shores of the Tarkhankutskaya elevated plain are of abrasion type, high (30-50 m), steep. The mechanical and dissolving action of water led to a large dissection of the coastal cliff, the formation of reservoir steps with a mass of various kinds of depressions, niches, grottoes and caves. On the Dzhangulsky section of the coast, stretching for 5 km to the north of Cape Kapa-Murun, landslides are developed (Fig.5,6). Sarmatian clays lie at the base of a high (up to 60 m) coastal cliff, along which overlying limestones slide into the sea. Landslide cirques, terraces, burrs, bulges, and block collapses are widely developed here.

The North Crimean lowland plain is bounded in the south by the line Bakalskaya Spit - the city of Nizhnegorsk - the mouth of the Salgir. Structurally, it represents the Sivash depression. This is a completely flat plain, gradually rising to the south. Geomorphologically, this is an area of ​​Pliocene and Quaternary accumulation. The retreat of the Sivash due to the rise of the lowland in the modern era has led to the formation of a terrace 1.5-2.5 m above sea level, covered by firth-marine deposits. The monotony of the lowland is somewhat broken by the pods (steppe saucers), dry valleys and beams of Samarchik, Chatyrlykskaya, Stepnaya, Pobednaya, giving it a slightly undulating character in places. In the valleys of dry rivers there are river terraces. Dry rivers and large ravines flow into the narrow bays of the Sivash and Karkinitsky Bay, which are estuaries, i.e. mouth parts of river valleys and gullies flooded by the sea. Liman-type lakes are a characteristic geomorphological element of the coastal zone, the largest and practically important of them are the lakes of the Perekop group (Staroe, Krasnoe, Kiyatskoe, Kerleutskoe, Aigulskoe). The lakes are elongated from the northwest to the southeast, their banks are quite high and steep. The sea shores of the firth-type lowland are very winding, low, steep, and in some places gently sloping.

The Arabat spit, which separates the Sivash from the Sea of ​​Azov, is a narrow alluvial sand-shell embankment created by the activity of the surf and the sea current. In the southern part, its width is about 1 km, height is 4-5 m, to the north, the arrow expands significantly and consists of several former islands height up to 20-25 m.

Only in the southernmost part of the flat Crimea, adjacent to the mountains, there is a rare river network, in the rest of the territory there are only ravines, gullies and dry rivers.

Water in them is only during the melting snow and after showers. Therefore, for the flat Crimea, exclusively importance have irrigation facilities, currently the construction of the North-Krymsky Canal is underway there.

In the flat Crimea there are more than fifty salt lakes located near the coast.

According to geomorphological features, the Kerch Peninsula is divided into two regions: southwestern and northeastern. The border between these regions runs along the Parpachsky ridge, composed of limestones, going from the village. Vladislavovka to the east to the village. Marfovka and further with a bend to the south to Cape Opuk. Orographically, the ridge is a ridge with usually gentle northern and steep southern slopes, in some cases it is barely noticeable in the relief, in others it takes on the character of well-defined hills or a rather high ledge, very dissected by erosion.

The southwestern region is a wavy-hilly, erosion-denudation lowland plain. Gently sloping hills and hills up to 50-80 m high (Jau-Tepe, Dyurmen) are separated here by usually flat-bottomed, often extensive depressions occupied by solonchaks.

There are small depressions of subsidence origin - pods, or coli. The area is characterized by active mud hills. The largest of them is Jau Tepe. The beams are not deeply incised, gently sloping, often strongly branched in the upper reaches. On the coast there are Quaternary marine terraces up to 20 m above sea level (Chaudinskaya).

The northeastern region is a hilly-ridged plain with a complex combination of anticlinal basins surrounded by rocky limestone ridges and synclinal valleys separating them. Anticlinal basins are confined to the cores of anticlines, which in most cases are composed of easily eroded clays. Mud hills are a characteristic, fairly common form of relief (Fig. 7). They are usually confined to anticlines, in places reach a relative height of 30-40 m and have a cone shape.

There are many salt lakes in the coastal zone. The largest of them are Aktashskoe, Chokrakskoe, Churubashskoe, Tobechinskoe, etc. On steep slopes, landslides are developed with detachment walls well expressed in relief and landslide bodies, sometimes terpasirovannye. On the sea coast of the Kerch Peninsula, there are sections of steep, abrasion and accumulative low-lying coast with sand-pebble and sand-shell beaches, spits and embankments.

1.2 Climate

Climate is one of the most important factors in the formation of landscapes. It determines the main pattern of landscape geography - their wide zoning. The climate of most of the Crimea can be described as a climate of the temperate zone - mild steppe in the plains, more humid broad-leaved-forest - in the mountains. The southern coast of Crimea is characterized by a sub-Mediterranean climate of dry forests and shrubs.

The climate of any territory is formed by three mutually related atmospheric processes: heat exchange, moisture circulation and general circulation of the atmosphere. These processes occur in a specific geographical setting of the territory. Consequently, the characteristics of the climate, their distribution depend on these geographical factors. The main ones are: the geographical latitude of the place, the height above sea level, the distribution of land and sea, relief (orography), the underlying surface of the landscape (vegetation, snow and other covers). A special place is occupied by human activities that affect climate-forming processes by changing certain geographical factors. All factors, of course, act simultaneously, and we separate them only for the convenience of study.

1.2.1 Geographic climate factors

Geographic latitude mainly determines the mode of solar radiation. Geographic zonality in the distribution of climate elements depends on it.

The Crimean peninsula, located in the south of Ukraine, is provided with a large amount of heat not only in summer, but also in winter.

The radiation regime mainly depends on the duration of sunshine, which, in turn, is determined by the geographical latitude and topography of the place, the cloudiness regime. Crimea is one of the sunniest regions of Ukraine. The annual duration of sunshine here varies within 2180-2470 hours. The maximum duration falls on July (320-360 hours). It is especially great on a flat sea coast, where breeze winds prevent the formation of clouds (Evpatoria, 365 hours).

Of the annual amount of radiation, Crimea receives approximately 10% in winter, 30% in spring, 40% in summer and 20% in autumn. The unequal intensity of total radiation throughout the year depends mainly on changes in the height of the sun, the length of the day, the number and shape of clouds, the transparency of the atmosphere, as well as on humidity, color and, accordingly, the reflective properties of the landscape surface (their albedo).

Although Crimea receives one and a half times more heat from the sun in spring than in autumn, nevertheless, spring is cooler than autumn. This is due to the large consumption of heat in spring for heating the soil, evaporation of moisture from it, heating the upper layers of water cooled during the winter in the Azov and Black Seas. In autumn, much less heat is consumed for these purposes, and the air receives it additionally from the soil and water that have warmed up over the summer.

The total heat supply of a territory is determined by the value of its radiation balance, which is the difference between its absorbed total radiation and effective radiation. The radiation balance is positive if the underlying surface absorbs more heat than it loses, and negative if, on the contrary, this surface absorbs less heat than it gives off to the surrounding space. In general, for the year, the radiation balance in Crimea is positive. Only the average monthly values ​​of December and January are negative in the Yayla.

With height above sea level (in the mountains), the changes in the climatic properties of places are much greater than the changes associated with moving along geographical latitude. A special mountain climate is created. Atmospheric pressure decreases with height, air transparency increases and radiation is especially effective. For this reason, despite the increase in solar radiation with height, the radiation balance, air temperature and the amplitude of its daily variation decrease. In the Crimea, for every 100 m rise, the radiation balance decreases by an average of 25 MJ / (year m2), and the air temperature - by 0.65 °. At the same time, the amount of precipitation and, as a rule, wind speed increase with height. For this reason, altitudinal climatic zonality is manifested in the mountains, which, in turn, determines the same zonality in the distribution of other components of landscapes, especially the soil and vegetation cover.

With the distribution of land and sea is associated primarily with the allocation of types of climate, marine and continental. The position of the place relative to the coastline greatly affects the regime of temperature and humidity, cloudiness and precipitation, determines the degree of continentality of its climate. True, in this case, the position of the place in the conditions of the general circulation of the atmosphere also plays an important role.

Crimea is surrounded by a large area (412 thousand km2), volume (537 thousand km3) and depth of the Black Sea and a small (about 38 thousand km2), with a volume of 300 km3, the shallow Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. At the same time, the peninsula is located among the large land area of ​​the northern half of the Eastern Hemisphere, which can also be called the Eastern Continent. On maps reflecting the degree of continentality of the climate of the regions Southern Europe, Crimea, with the exception of the Sivash region, is located along with the coast of the eastern Mediterranean in the area outlined by the zero isoline of continentality. Thus, the climate of almost the entire Crimea is less continental than even the climate of the waters of the Azov and northwestern Black Seas.

Large landforms (orography) have a great impact on the climate. Air currents are delayed and deflected by ridges, and meteorological fronts are deformed. In the narrow passages between the ridges, the speed of air currents changes, and local mountain-valley winds arise. Above differently oriented slopes, different conditions of heating and cooling are created, and therefore different regimes of air and soil temperatures are created. In connection with the flow of air currents through the ridges on the windward slopes of the mountains, especially at lower and narrow saddles, passes, conditions for increased cloudiness and precipitation are formed. On the leeward slopes, on the contrary, foehn winds occur with higher temperatures and low air humidity. Above the heated slopes of the mountains, air convection increases and, consequently, cloud formation.

Warm air coming to the Crimea from the south, due to the significant size of the vertical thickness, relatively freely penetrates through the low Crimean mountains into the steppe regions of the peninsula. In the case of the invasion of cold dense Arctic air, which, on the contrary, has a small vertical thickness, the mountains prevent its penetration to the South Coast. Consequently, for the South Coast, the protective role of the Crimean Mountains from the arctic cold in winter is the most important. This can be seen from a comparison of the air temperature in the central part of the flat Crimea (Krasnogvardeiskoye), where in January it is - 2 °, and in Yalta + 4 °, and its absolute minimum in the first point reached - 33 °, and in the second - 15 °.

If there were no mountains in Crimea, then the Southern coast would not differ much from the steppe coast of the Black and Azov Seas. Consequently, the Crimean Mountains are associated not only with large differences in the climates of the South Coast and other regions of the peninsula, but also with significant overall landscape differences in these territories. At the same time, the role of the height of the Crimean Mountains is not so great as their general direction from west to east, parallel to the coast.

The underlying surface has a great influence on climate formation; the surface with which solar radiation and the atmosphere interact. Thus, the temperature of the soil and surface air also depends on the vegetation and snow cover. Dense grass cover reduces the daily amplitude and average temperature of the soil, and, consequently, the air. A large contrast during daytime solar heating and nighttime cooling in summer is characteristic of the surfaces of loose dark soil, asphalted areas, and pebble beaches.

The forest has a more significant, peculiar and complex influence on the climate, which allows many scientists to talk about its special phytoclimate. The crown not only maintains solar radiation, but also changes its spectral composition, absorbing most of the ultraviolet rays. At night, the forest retains the outgoing long-wave thermal radiation, which noticeably changes the temperature of the soil and air above its canopy. In summer, in the Crimean forest, the air temperature during the day is often 2-3°, and the soil is even 25-30° lower than in open space. In winter, the average monthly air temperature is higher in the forests by 0.2-0.5°, and in the parks of the South Coast - by 1.5-2°.

In the warm season, under the forest canopy, there is usually a higher air humidity. At noon, in a pine forest, it is often higher by 4-5%, in a beech forest by 9-10%, in parks - by 3-7% than in open areas. Tree crowns intercept atmospheric precipitation. The proportion of intercepted precipitation depends on the type of forest and its density. Coniferous trees usually retain more precipitation than deciduous trees. They account for up to 50-55%, and deciduous about 35% of the total precipitation in the open.

The forest is also a good store of moisture. During the slow melting of snow during rains, the forest soil absorbs a lot of water, which then significantly affects the nutrition of springs and rivers. One hectare of the Crimean mountain forest can transfer soil runoff up to 5-6 thousand cubic meters. m of water. The forest greatly reduces the speed of the wind. In the depths of even a leafless forest, its speed often decreases by more than two times compared to open areas.

Snow cover reduces soil heat loss and temperature fluctuations. The surface of the cover itself strongly reflects solar radiation during the day and is very cooled by radiation at night. In the spring, a lot of heat from the surface air is spent on the melting of the snow cover, but the soil is enriched with moisture.

Man influences nature and climate through his economic activity. The result of this impact is mostly negative. The reduction in forest area has a particularly large impact. Over the past 1000 years, they have decreased by 50-70% in the world, and in the Crimea - by about one and a half times.

On large areas A decrease in solar radiation is also due to atmospheric pollution by industrial enterprises, transport, which emit a large amount of impurities (aerosols) into the air, consisting of combustion products of fuel and dust. Every year, their total mass in the world is over 4 billion g. From fuel combustion, about 20 billion tons of carbon dioxide enter the Earth's atmosphere, which, as many scientists believe, can significantly increase air temperature in the future. As a result, the melting of ice will intensify (primarily in the Arctic and Antarctic), the level of the World Ocean will rise (flooding of the most habitable low-lying areas of the Earth, etc.).

Satellite observations show that about 10-15% of the surface of the World Ocean (and this corresponds approximately to the area of ​​Eurasia - 53 million km2) is simultaneously covered with an oil film. It also reduces evaporation from the water surface by about 10%. Due to such anthropogenic pollution of the World Ocean, evaporation from its surface, according to scientists, is reduced by about 5,000 km3 of water, which naturally affects its flow to land, including Crimea.

Along with this, man in some places improves the climate by irrigation, planting forests, forest belts and other land reclamation measures. Thanks to them, the albedo of the underlying surface decreases, the air is moistened, the soil temperature decreases in summer, etc.

1.2.2 Atmospheric circulation

On the whole, western zonal air transport prevails over the peninsula, which is largely blocked by large atmospheric vortices - cyclones and anticyclones, which, in turn, produce interlatitudinal air exchange. The activity of meteorological processes is determined, therefore, by cyclonic activity - the emergence, development and movement of cyclones and anticyclones in the atmosphere. In turn, this activity depends on the interaction of pressure zones, called centers of action of the atmosphere. A cyclone is an atmospheric vortex with lower pressure at its center and wind directed counterclockwise towards its center in the northern hemisphere. An anticyclone is an area of ​​high atmospheric pressure with a clockwise wind from the center (in the northern hemisphere).

Atmospheric circulation over the Crimea has its own characteristics. Compared to the central and northern regions of Ukraine, atmospheric processes are less active here, cyclonic activity is weaker, anticyclones are more pronounced, especially in summer season. They erode atmospheric fronts, contribute to the formation of air masses with local properties.

The greatest probability of precipitation in Crimea occurs when continental and maritime tropical air enters (especially in the autumn-winter season), as well as maritime air from the temperate zone. Droughts and dry winds most often occur under the conditions of the formation of powerful anticyclones and with the entry of continental tropical air from Asia Minor. The intensity and frequency of these dangerous weather events in Crimea is highly dependent on local conditions.

The greatest amount of precipitation falls in the Crimea during the passage of meteorological fronts of cyclones. Scientists have calculated that from March to October, 152 thousand km3 of moisture enters the airspace of Crimea, and from November to February - 230.4 thousand km3. cold - 15.5%. Consequently, less precipitation falls in Crimea in winter than in summer. Precipitation averages 27.6% of the amount of moisture contained in the airspace of Crimea during the year. By studying the ways of influencing meteorological processes, this share can be significantly increased. The reserve for increasing the volume of moisture recapture is quite sufficient.

The peculiarities of the geographical position of the Crimea determine the special regime of circulation processes over it, on which the weather depends, and the weather-forming meteorological elements (according to the seasons of the year).

In winter, over the southern part of Ukraine in the latitudinal direction, you often establish an axis of high atmospheric pressure (two maxima are connected - Asian and Azores), and over the Black Sea - a zone of low pressure. As a result, cold and dry continental air from temperate latitudes or arctic air often invades the Crimea. Associated with it are sharp drops in air temperature and the frequent recurrence of strong northeast winds, especially in the steppe and northeastern parts of the mountainous Crimea. In the same season, relatively often coming here cyclones from mediterranean sea, in the warm sectors of which tropical sea air moves. Mediterranean cyclones, as a rule, linger in the northwestern part of the Black Sea. As a result, warm air affects primarily the southwestern part of the mountainous Crimea. As a result, winter in the Crimea is relatively wet everywhere, with frequent precipitation and low evaporation. Due to frequent thaws in winter, the air temperature fluctuates greatly, and the snow cover is unstable and thin.

Spring in Crimea flows quickly, due to the increase in the height of the sun and the length of the day, the decrease in cloudiness due to the spread of the Azores anticyclone here and the influx of southern warm air. In the interior regions of Crimea, there is a significant increase in air temperature already from February to March, and on the sea coast, spring is delayed by 1.5-2 months due to the cooling effect of the sea, especially the Sea of ​​Azov. Spring is the driest and windiest season of the year. In the spring there are often "returns of cold weather" with night frosts, morning frosts, especially in the basins and river valleys of the foothills, which negatively affects early-flowering stone fruit trees and thermophilic grapes.

In summer, over the south of Ukraine and the Black Sea, an anticyclonic field with small pressure drops is established. Due to this, clear, hot and low-wind weather prevails in Crimea with the manifestation of local breezes and mountain-valley and slope winds. Due to the fact that the continental air of temperate latitudes is transformed here into local tropical air, dry weather prevails in Crimea.

Precipitation in summer is brought to the Crimea by sea air masses of temperate latitudes and Atlantic cyclones. Heavy, intense, but most often short-term rains fall. If tropical air is established for a long time, then thermal thunderstorms develop and also short-term precipitation.

The summer type of atmospheric circulation begins in the second half of May and continues until the end of September. Thus, summer in Crimea lasts 4-5 months.

Autumn in Crimea is the best season of the year. The weather is calm, sunny and moderately warm. Autumn is warmer than spring by 2-3° in the central and by 4-5° in coastal areas, which is primarily due to the influence of the seas and the preservation of the anticyclone over the Crimea.

A sharp change in the weather occurs, as a rule, in the second half of November due to the change of the summer type of atmospheric circulation to the winter one.

1.2.3 Characterization of meteorological elements

One of the main elements of climate is air temperature. In Crimea, the annual change in air temperature almost coincides with the change in the influx of solar radiation. Average monthly air temperatures mainly change from north to south, with the exception of the South Coast, where the change occurs to the east and west. Most often, the coldest month is January or February, especially on the sea coast. The lowest average temperature(-4°) in January is observed in the mountains, and the highest (about 5°) - on the South Coast. The highest average monthly temperature occurs most often in July, when it reaches 23-24° in most of the peninsula, and 16° in the mountains.

During the day, the lowest temperatures are observed before sunrise, and the highest - at 12-14 hours. The highest daily air temperatures are in valleys and pits (especially in the foothills) with difficult air flow, and the lowest - in elevated places with good air exchange. Breeze winds reduce the daytime temperature and increase the nighttime temperature, as a result of which the daily amplitude on the sea coast is less than away from the sea. At a distance of 10-15 km from the sea coast, the daily amplitude of air temperature increases by 1.5-2 times. In all months, the temperature amplitudes can reach 20-26° in the steppe, and 15-20° in the rest of the Crimea. During calm and clear weather, the daily amplitude is almost twice as large as during cloudy and windy weather.

The minimum air temperature in the Crimea is observed during the invasion of the continental arctic air. The absolute minimum air temperature occurs mainly in January-February. It is in the central part of the steppe - 30. - 32, and in the foothills - up to - 35. - 37.

A decrease in air or soil temperature to 0 ° and below during a period of generally positive temperature that has been established is called frost. They occur, as a rule, at night or early morning hours in clear, calm weather as a result of intense radiative cooling of the underlying surface. The most frost-prone are the valleys and peaks of the Crimean mountains (150-160 days), and the least - the South Coast (frost-free 240-260 days).

According to the average dates of the stable transition of the average daily air temperature through 0 ° and 15 °, the year is conventionally divided into climatic seasons.

In summer, it is customary to consider the period limited by the dates of the transition of the average daily air temperature through 15 °. The earliest summer comes on the South Coast - at the end of the first decade of May, and later than all - in the mountains - the first decade of July (Ai-Petri). However, approximately every third year such a stable transition of air temperature in the mountains is not observed; there is no summer season. Summer in Crimea is the longest season, it lasts from 150-160 days in the South Coast to 130-140 days in the rest of the peninsula, except for the mountains.

Humidity is an integral part of the water balance of the atmosphere. Cloud formation and precipitation largely depend on its magnitude. The main source of air enrichment with moisture is the water of the seas and oceans, which, evaporating from their surface, is transported by air currents in the form of water vapor to various regions of the Earth.

Distinguish between absolute and relative humidity. Absolute humidity is the amount of water vapor contained in a unit volume of air (expressed in grams per 1 m 3 of air). The health and well-being of people, the conditions for growing plants are significantly affected not by absolute, but by relative humidity, which is the ratio of the actual content of water vapor in the air to its maximum possible content at a given temperature (expressed as a percentage). The annual and daily change in relative humidity is opposite to the change in air temperature. Relative humidity is lowest in summer and highest in winter.

Of particular interest are data on relative air humidity at 13:00, when its values ​​are approaching a minimum. Days when it reaches 80% or more at this time are usually referred to as wet, and those days on which it drops to 30% or less are very dry. In the winter months, the midday relative humidity in Crimea varies from 60% in the foothills to 65-76% in the rest of the territory, and in summer from 40-44% in the steppe and foothills to 50-55% on the sea coast and on the yayla. In the Crimea, in the summer months, due to the dryness of the air, vacationers feel much better than, for example, on Black Sea coast Caucasus, where at this time the relative humidity at noon rises to 70-75% and above.

Along with air temperature, precipitation is an important element of the climate. Due to the complex structure of the relief and the peculiarities of the atmospheric circulation, they are distributed very unevenly over the territory of the Crimea - from 250 mm per year in the steppe to 1000 mm or more in the mountains. Most of the peninsula is characterized by insufficient moisture, especially the sea coast, where precipitation is 100-150 mm less than even in central regions blind.

The conditions for the distribution of precipitation over the peninsula largely depend on the Crimean Mountains, which, although not high, nevertheless contribute to an increase in thermal and dynamic turbulence (vortex motion) of air, its rise and the formation of a mountain humidification regime.

The features of circulation and the joint influence of the Crimean Mountains and the Black Sea determine the formation of a subtropical (sub-Mediterranean) climate zone, especially in the southwestern part of the peninsula. Here, on the South Coast, although approximately as much (430-550 mm) precipitation falls per year as in the steppe regions, most of them, as in the Mediterranean countries, fall on the cold period. They are associated with Mediterranean winter cyclones.

In addition to the uneven distribution of precipitation over the peninsula, their amount also fluctuates sharply from year to year. With an average value of 340-425 mm, their annual amount varies in the steppe regions from 115-250 to 490-720 mm, in the foothills at 450-490 mm - from 190-340 to 715-870 mm, on the South coast at 430-550 mm - from 160-280 to 1030 mm, on western yayla at 960 mm from 410 to 1650 mm. For the normal growth of most plants in the main areas of the peninsula, the amount of precipitation is at least 500 mm per year.

Precipitation is unevenly distributed over the seasons of the year. So, in the steppe and foothill Crimea, their maximum occurs in June - July, in the South Coast and in the southern part of the mountains - in January or December, on the western and eastern coasts precipitation falls relatively evenly throughout the year.

In Crimea, on average, 80-85% of the annual precipitation falls as rain. Solid precipitation accounts for less than 10%, and mixed - 5-8%. In the mountains, the proportion of liquid precipitation decreases with height. So, on Ai-Petri they make up only 49%.

The number of days with rain varies from 80-130 in the steppe regions to 150-170 in the mountains. In the summer in Crimea, there are no more than 5-10 days with rain per month. However, exceptionally torrential downpours are not uncommon. During downpours in ravines, on rivers, large mudflows of mudflows are not uncommon, which rush at the speed of a train and reach a height of 23 m in narrow places of the channels. They cause great destruction: they destroy bridges, wash away roads, wash away the fertile layer of the soil, or deposit powerful sediments in orchards, vineyards, etc. Mudflows can occur on almost any river or beam of the mountainous Crimea, but most often they occur in the area between Alushta and Sudak.

The unequal distribution of precipitation in the winter period across the territory of Crimea also determines the uneven distribution of snow cover. Since winters in the Crimea are relatively warm, with frequent thaws, there is no stable winter cover in most of the peninsula in eight out of ten winters. The snow cover is stable only in the mountains, where the duration of its occurrence on average lasts 70-90 days, with fluctuations from 30 to 150 days from year to year. In the plains and foothills of the Crimea, stable snow cover, which lasts for at least a month, occurs only in snowy winters. The total number of days with snow cover is 20-30 days in the steppe, and about 40 days in the foothills. The smallest number on the coast is only 10-20 days.

An important meteorological element is also the wind, or the movement of air relative to the earth's surface. It is characterized by the speed (m / s or in conditional points) by the correction from where it blows. The movement of air from place to place occurs under the influence of the difference in atmospheric pressure, the force of friction.

The repeatability of wind directions and speeds in Crimea is dominated by the spur of the Azores anticyclone in the warm season, and the Asian anticyclone in the cold season. Large changes in atmospheric pressure occur during the approach of cyclones and active atmospheric fronts to Crimea, especially cold ones in winter. By the way, sharp fluctuations in pressure during the day exacerbate cardiovascular diseases in not quite healthy people.

During the year, winds of the northeast, southwest and northwest directions prevail in Crimea. In winter, the frequency of northeast winds is 45%, southwest 25%, south up to 20%. During late autumn and winter, often very strong northeasterly winds continue for 270-325 hours per month. During these winds, the air temperature is usually 8-10° lower than during winds of other directions. In cases where northeast winds are accompanied by an intrusion of arctic air, severe cooling sets in in Crimea.

In spring, due to the weakening of cyclonic activity in steppe Crimea northeast and northwest winds blow equally often, southerly on the Black Sea coast. In May, the frequency of northeast winds gradually decreases due to the increased action of the spur of the Azores anticyclone. From June to mid-August, westerly and north-western winds of small force usually prevail, lasting up to 300-350 hours per month.

In addition to directions, the characteristics of wind speeds are important. The highest wind speeds are observed in late winter - early spring, and the lowest - in summer. In winter, average speeds are 7 m/s or more in the mountains, 6 m/s on the western and eastern coasts, 3 m/s on the South Coast, and less than 3 m/s in sheltered valleys and foothill basins. In summer, even on Ai-Petri and Karabi-Yail, the average wind speeds do not exceed 5 m/s.

Strong winds or storms (more than 15 m/s) are repeated an unequal number of times in different regions of the Crimea. During the year in the foothills they usually last 10-17 days, on the southern coast - 20-24, on the western coast - up to 40, in the central steppe regions - 12-28, and on the tops of the mountains - 80-85 days.

Hurricanes (winds over 34 m/s) are formidable natural phenomena. In Crimea, they usually occur during long storm winds of the northeast direction, less often during southwest storms. Such winds uproot trees, rip off poorly reinforced roofs, cut off power lines, and so on.

In addition to the winds of the general circulation of the atmosphere, local winds are also observed in the Crimea: breezes, mountain-valley and foehns.

Breezes blow during the day from the sea to the land (sea breezes), at night, on the contrary, from land to the sea (coastal breezes). Most often (17-18 days per month) breezes blow in July and August. In the evening, during the period between the change of direction of the breezes, a complete lull often sets in, lasting for 2-3 hours. This best time for evening walks. The speed of these winds does not exceed 6-7 m/s during the day and 5 m/s at night. Only in Evpatoria and Kerch the speed of the sea breeze sometimes reaches 9 m/s. Sea breezes spread deep into the Crimean plains by 20-30 km, and deep into the South Coast - by 2-4 km. On hot days, sea breezes sometimes lower the air temperature on the coast by more than 15-16°C compared to the temperature 10 km from the coast.

Mountain-valley winds, like breezes, blow up during the day and down the valley at night. On the South Coast, breezes are superimposed on the mountain-valley winds. The speeds of mountain-valley winds during the day are within 3-7 m/s, and at night - only 1-2 m/s. The streams of the mountain-valley cool air saturated with phytoncides in the forests in summer have an extremely beneficial effect on humans.

In the Crimean mountains in winter or spring, a warm and dry foehn wind often forms. The relative humidity of the air with it sometimes drops to only 8%. Hair dryers last from several hours to 2-3 days. They are especially frequent in Simeiz.

Dust storms sometimes occur in the steppe Crimea. They occur during dry and windy weather in almost all months of the year. They worsen the sanitary and hygienic conditions of cities, damage crops of economic crops, carry away the upper part of the arable horizon from the fields and cover gardens, vineyards, forest belts, etc. with fine earth.

Depending on the relief conditions (plains, mountain ranges, river valleys, slopes of different exposures, etc.), mesoclimates (local climates) are formed - climates of large areas (from several kilometers to a few tens of kilometers in diameter), created under the influence of mesorelief forms due to changes incoming solar radiation, air temperature, precipitation, etc.

Yes, deep mountain valleys(upper and middle part of the valleys of the Chernaya, Belbek, Kacha, Alma, Salgir, Biyuk-Karasu, etc. rivers) cold air accumulates, less solar energy comes in due to shading by neighboring ridges. The slopes of the ridges oriented to the south heat up more strongly, those oriented to the north - on the turn. There are breezes in coastal areas. In cities, there are more fogs, less duration of sunshine, the temperature is 1-2 C higher.

The climate of most of the Crimea can be described as a climate of the temperate zone - mild steppe in the plains, more humid, typical for broad-leaved forests in the mountains. The southern coast of Crimea is characterized by a sub-Mediterranean climate. There are two main factors that affect the climate of the peninsula: the Crimean mountains and the proximity of the sea. In winter, it plays the role of a huge "heater", and in summer it somewhat reduces the heat.

There are many intermediate options between these types of climates. For example, in the Foothills (Simferopol, Zuya, Belogorsk) the climate is transitional from steppe to mountain-forest - it can be called foothill forest-steppe.

In the flat Crimea, the climate is steppe, temperate continental, dry: cool winters (average January temperature from -3 to 0 C) and hot summers (average July temperature from +21 to +23 C) Rainfall - 350 - 450 mm / year, and most of them fall in the form of showers in summer.

There are differences between the climates of the coastal areas (Chernomorskoye, Yevpatoria, Kerch) and the central part of the peninsula (Krasnogvardeyskoye, Dzhankoy, Pervomayskoye, etc.). Such a climate can be called a coastal steppe.

In the foothills (Simferopol, Belogorsk), the amount of precipitation increases to 500-600 mm/year, and summer temperatures decrease.

In the mountains, there is a decrease in summer and winter temperatures, an increase in the amount of precipitation. For every 100 m of altitude, the temperature drops by an average of 0.5-0.6 ° C, the amount of precipitation increases by 50-70 mm / year. Therefore, on the Yayla, the average monthly winter temperatures are up to - 4. - 5 o C, and the amount of precipitation is 1000-1500 mm / year.

The South Coast is of the greatest interest in terms of climate. This is the only place in Ukraine with a sub-Mediterranean, in other words, almost Mediterranean climate. Winter here is mild, with positive temperatures.

The climate of Yalta is cooler compared to the points located on the Mediterranean Sea. This is especially true in winter, in Yalta sometimes frosts down to -15 ° C occur. Such low temperatures limit the possibility of growing subtropical crops.

In Crimea, there are several hundred varieties of local climates.

The climate in the Salgir Valley, for example, differs from the climate on the cuesta ridges by a higher day temperature and a lower night temperature. Valley winds often blow here, bringing cool air from the mountains.

A specific climate is formed in the Baydarskaya valley. This part of the Chernaya River Valley is hollow-shaped, so when the weather is calm, cold air accumulates in it, flowing down from the slopes of the surrounding mountains. As a result, the absolute minimum air temperature in the valley is lower than in the surrounding areas.

Local climates are also formed due to foehns, breezes, mountain-valley winds. The influence of breezes is especially pronounced in the Crimea. They happen in the summer and are associated with uneven heating of land and sea: during the day the wind blows from the sea to land, and at night - vice versa. Breezes can be considered as microanalogues of the Asian monsoons, only there the mainland (Asia) and the ocean (Pacific) interact, and the wind direction changes in summer and winter. Due to the breezes on the coast, the summer midday and afternoon heat softens. The location of the Crimea within the territory with a marine climate option of the Eastern Mediterranean makes it climatic conditions comfortable enough. Even in Simferopol, which is located not on the coast, but in the central part of the peninsula, the climate is much more comfortable for a person compared to the same latitudes (45) of the Eastern Hemisphere (with colder winters and a climate contrasting in seasons) and Western (where summers are relatively cool ). Here are some climate "records" for the Crimean peninsula over the past 150-200 years:

The most heat in summer - the absolute maximum (+40.7 C) - was recorded in August 1930 in the village of Klepinino.

· The lowest temperature in winter - the absolute minimum (-36.8 C) - was registered in January 1940 in the village of Nizhnegorsky.

The coldest and snowiest winter was 1953-1954, when the temperature was below -10 C for almost 50 days.

· The warmest was the winter of 1965-1966, when there was no snow on the yayla at all, and in Simferopol the thaw continued for almost three months.

· The maximum amount of precipitation - 1718 mm - was registered in 1981 on Ai-Petri.

· The longest was the drought of 1947, when even in the mountains there was no rain for almost 100 days.

· The maximum number of foggy days (not only in the Crimea, but also in Ukraine) is observed on Ai-Petri (in 1970 - 215 days).

· The most windy point not only in the Crimea, but also in Ukraine - Ai-Petri (in 1949, the wind at a speed of over 15 m/s blew here for 125 days). Ai-Petri also recorded the highest wind speed - 50 m/s.

1.3 Land cover

Crimea is distinguished by a wide variety of soils and vegetation, which is directly dependent on the features of the geological structure, the diversity of parent rocks, topography and climate. A characteristic feature of the distribution of the soil and vegetation cover of the mountainous Crimea is the existence of vertical zonality. Brown and partly brown forest soils are developed on the southern coast. Brown soils are common under dry sparse forests and shrubs and are formed on clay shales of the Taurian series and red-colored weathering products of limestones, brown forest soils are typical for less dry places.

The vegetation of the South Shore is distinguished by its xerophytic character, saturation with Mediterranean forms and many alien cultural forms. The most common are forest formations, shrub thickets and thickets of dry-loving grasses and semi-shrubs. The forests are undersized and are formed by fluffy oak, juniper tree, wild pistachio, Crimean pine, hornbeam, and strawberry. Shrub thickets, which are an analogue of the Eastern Mediterranean shibleyak, consist of shrubby forms of fluffy oak, hornbeam, hold-tree, skumpia, sumac, shaggy pear, dogwood, iris, cistus, etc. Open, dry and stony areas are covered with dry-loving herbs and shrubs - Crimean analogue of the Eastern Mediterranean frigana. Cypresses, cedars, spruces, pines, sequoias, firs, laurels, magnolias, palm trees, cork oaks, plane trees, Lankaran acacias grow in the parks.

Vineyards, orchards and tobacco plantations are also characteristic elements of the landscape of the South Coast.

Orographic and climatic differences in individual parts of the Main Ridge determine the diversity of their soil and vegetation cover. The western part of the ridge is characterized by brown mountain forest soils, mountain brown soils of dry forests and shrubs, and alluvial meadow soils of river valleys and gullies. Due to the low-mountain relief and its great fragmentation, the vertical zonality of the soil-vegetation cover is weakly expressed here. Forests consisting of downy oak, arborescent juniper, wild pistachio (kev tree) with an undergrowth of hornbeam, dogwood, hold-tree and blackthorn predominate. On stony soils and rocky areas, low-growing juniper forests grow. Higher up the slopes grow taller mixed deciduous forests of beech, oak, hornbeam, and ash. Lots of wild grapes and ivy. The valleys and depressions are characterized by herbaceous meadow-steppe vegetation. To a greater extent, the hollows have been developed for fields, vineyards, orchards, and tobacco plantations.

The slopes of the middle part of the Main Ridge are occupied by brown mountain forest soils and their podzolized varieties. Here, the vertical vegetation zonality is quite well expressed.

The lower part of the northern slope of the Main Ridge is occupied by a low-stemmed coppice oak forest, which is very sparse. The forest is formed mainly by downy and sessile oak and partly by pedunculate oak. Dogwood and hornbeam in the undergrowth. Occasionally there are small patches of pine, oak-pine and juniper forests. The open areas of the slope are occupied by forest and partly steppe herbaceous vegetation that has already penetrated here (siler, kupena, bluegrass, fragrant woodruff, feather grass, fescue, wheatgrass, etc.). Higher up the slope (up to 600 m), a tall oak forest grows with an admixture of ash, field maple, aspen, large-fruited mountain ash. In the undergrowth there are hornbeam, dogwood, hazel, buckthorn, hawthorn, skumpia. Even higher (from 600 to 1000 m), a tall beech forest dominates with an admixture of hornbeam, there are rare areas of Crimean pine, and on the slopes of the southern exposure there are groves of juniper trees and single yews. At altitudes above 1000 m, an already undersized beech forest grows with rare patches of Scots pine.

On the southern slope of the Main Ridge, above the dry forests and shrubs of the Southern Birch, at an altitude of 400 to 800-1,000 m, there is a forest of Crimean pine. As an admixture, there are fluffy oak and tree-like and shrubby juniper. To the east of Gurzuf, the distribution of the Crimean pine is already of an island character, and to the east of Alushta, only individual specimens of this tree are found. pine forests are replaced here by forests of fluffy oak, hornbeam, tree-like juniper, wild pistachio and dogwood. Above 1000 m, a forest of beech, Scotch pine and partly Crimean pine, oak, maple, linden, and hornbeam grows.

Yayla, as a rule, are treeless and covered with grassy meadow-steppe vegetation on mountain chernozems and mountain-meadow chernozem-like soils. The eastern part of the Main Ridge is characterized by low-stemmed woodlands of oak, beech, ash, hornbeam and shrub thickets of dogwood, hawthorn, hold-tree, skumpia on brown mountain forest soils and steppe varieties of mountain brown soils.

The foothills are occupied by forest-steppe with a mosaic alternation of treeless (steppe) and forest areas. The soils are calcareous chernozems, gravelly sod-calcareous and brown. Woodless areas are characterized by herbaceous cereal-forb vegetation: feather grass, fescue, wheatgrass, wheatgrass, saffron, adonis or spring adonis, sage, peon, yarrow, immortelle, etc. They are mostly plowed and developed for fields, vineyards, tobacco plantations and plantations of ether. - oilseed plants. Orchards and vineyards are common in the river valleys. Forest areas consist of low-growing trees, forest shrubs (fluffy oak, sessile and pedunculate oak, field maple, ash, elm, hazel and dogwood). Of the shrubs, skumpia, hawthorn, blackthorn, wild rose, buckthorn, etc. are common.

In the central part of the Crimean plains and in the northeastern part of the Kerch Peninsula, heavy loamy and clayey southern chernozems are widespread. These soils were formed on loess-like rocks under sparse grass vegetation and contain little humus (3-4%). Due to the peculiarities of their mechanical composition, the southern chernozems float during rain, and when dried, they become covered with a crust, however, despite this, they are still the best soils of the Crimean plains. With proper agricultural technology, southern chernozems can provide good yields of grain and industrial crops, grapes. The southern part of the Crimean plains adjacent to the mountains and partly the northeastern region of the Kerch Peninsula are characterized by low-humus carbonate chernozems.

The belt of southern chernozems to the north is gradually replaced by a belt of heavy loamy dark chestnut and chestnut solonetsous soils, formed under conditions of a high standing of saline groundwater on loess-like rocks. The content of humus in these soils is only 2.5-3%. Soils of the chestnut type are also characteristic of the southwestern region of the Kerch Peninsula, where they were formed on saline Maikop clays. With proper agricultural practices, chestnut soils can provide fairly high yields of various crops.

On the low-lying coast of the Sivash and the Karkinit Bay, where groundwater occurs very close to the surface and is highly saline, solonetzes and solonchaks are developed. Similar soils are also found in the southwestern region of the Kerch Peninsula. The natural vegetation cover of the flat Crimea was a typical steppe. In the herbage, the main background was turf grasses: various feathery feather grasses, hairy feather grass (tyrsa), fescue (or steppe fescue), thin-legged, steppe keleria (or kipets), wheatgrass. The forbs were represented by sage (drooping and Ethiopian), kermek (Tatar and Sarepta), yellow alfalfa, spring adonis, steppe katran, yarrow, etc. A characteristic element was plants of a short spring vegetation period - ephemera (annual species of fires, hare and mouse barley and etc.) and ephemeroids (tulips, steppe irises, etc.). Significant areas were occupied by the so-called desert steppe on chestnut-type soils. Along with the predominant cereals (fescue, wheatgrass, tyrsa, etc.), Crimean wormwood was very common there as a result of increased grazing. Ephemera and ephemeroids were also quite characteristic.

On the stony-gravelly slopes of ridges and hills of the Tapkhankut and Kerch peninsulas, a petrophytic (stony) steppe is located. Here, along with grasses (feather grass, fescue, wheatgrass, etc.), xerophytic semi-shrubs (wormwood, dubrovnik, thyme) are common. There are shrub thickets of wild rose, hawthorn, blackthorn, etc.

On the saline soils of the coast of the Karkinitsky Gulf, Sivash and the southwestern part of the Kerch Peninsula, solonchak vegetation (sarsazan, soleros, sveda) is common. On drier and less saline soils, cereals grow there (volosnets, beskilnitsa, coastal).

At present, the Crimean steppe has lost its natural appearance. It is almost completely plowed and occupied by fields of wheat, corn, various vegetables, as well as vineyards and orchards. Recently, rice has become more and more widespread in the Crimea. A characteristic element of the cultural landscape of the Crimean plains are field-protective forest strips of white locust, birch bark, ash maple, ash and apricot.

II. Environmental problems of Crimea

Crimea is characterized by great diversity natural conditions and landscapes, which are associated with its geographical position and complex geological and geomorphological structure. The diversity of landscapes was promoted by long-term anthropogenic impact, which led both to the degradation of many natural landscapes and the formation of completely new anthropogenic landscapes. Currently, natural, poorly transformed landscapes occupy only 2.5% of the Crimean territory. These are mountain broad-leaved forests, mountain forest-steppe on yayles, salt marshes and halophyte meadows of the Sivash region and the Kerch Peninsula. Most of the territory of the peninsula (62%) is developed for constructive landscapes: arable land, gardens, cities, roads, etc. The rest of the territory (35.5%) is represented by secondary landscapes.

The main features of the modern flora and fauna in the Crimea were formed about 5 thousand years ago. At this time, people moved from gathering and hunting to agriculture and animal husbandry. For many centuries, economic pressures did not lead to a significant change in landscapes. Until the 19th century, in the Plain Crimea, the inhabitants were engaged in cattle breeding, and in the mountainous part and on the southern coast they grew grapes, wheat, apples, pears. But in the XIV - XVII centuries. and here cattle breeding was greatly developed, which led to the deforestation of large areas and the expansion of pastures due to them. IN early XIX V. the area of ​​forests in the Crimea was 361 thousand hectares, and in 1913 it was already 318 thousand hectares, in 1929 it was only 274 thousand hectares. The Crimean forests suffered greatly during the Great Patriotic War - by 1946 their area was reduced to 210 thousand hectares. In recent decades, thanks to reforestation work, the area of ​​forested territories has increased and at present the total area of ​​Crimean forests is 338 thousand hectares.

Not only the Crimean forests were badly affected, but also the yayls, which at the beginning of the century were a grazing place for both the local population and cattle brought from southern regions Russia and even from Romania and Bulgaria.

In the Piedmont and Plain Crimea, extensive cattle breeding gradually gave way to agriculture. Especially great changes occurred after the abolition of serfdom. From 1865 to 1890 the population of Crimea doubled, and the sown area increased from 222 thousand hectares to 925 thousand hectares. In Soviet times, the expansion of the area of ​​arable land continued and in 1995 it was 1154 thousand hectares. Foothill steppe communities with a predominance of feather grass vegetation were destroyed on 50% of their area, and the degradation of steppe communities in the Plain Crimea became close to 100%.

A significant impact on the natural environment occurred with the commissioning of the North Crimean Canal. The area of ​​irrigated land in Crimea has reached approximately 20% of all cultivated land. However, due to the poor technical condition of the canal, about half of the water is lost, and this caused an increase in the level of groundwater, flooding of land, and salinization of the soil. Irrigation led to a qualitative change in landscapes: rice fields appeared, the area of ​​gardens, vegetable and row crops increased. New settlements arose, the population of agricultural areas grew.

Recreational loads on landscapes have increased, especially on the southern coast of Crimea. The number of recreants increased like an avalanche: in 1928, 110 thousand rested in the Crimea, in 1938 270 thousand, in 1958 - 700 thousand, in 1970 - 6.5 million, in the 80s - up to 10 million people annually. In addition to the direct impact on nature (trampling of vegetation, soil compaction, logging for fires, forest fires, littering, etc.), the influx of vacationers required the construction of new sanatoriums and rest houses, roads, reservoirs, and exacerbated the problem of water supply. All this has led to an increase in the volume of polluted wastewater, degradation of some coastal marine and forest ecosystems.

Industry and transport developed intensively. The construction of the main chemical plants in the Crimea, some of which work on imported raw materials, dates back to the 60-80s. By the beginning of the 90s, industrial production reached its highest volume, and emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere amounted to a maximum value of 565 thousand tons. In recent years, due to a decline in production, the amount of emissions into the atmosphere decreased: - 430 thousand tons, in 1993 - 295 thousand tons, in 1994 - 190 thousand tons, in 1995 - 150 thousand tons, in 1996 - 122.5 thousand tons.

Rivers, reservoirs and coastal waters of the Black and Azov Seas are polluted by industrial and domestic wastewater. Sewage treatment facilities have insufficient capacity, as a result, in 1996, 230 million cubic meters were discharged into open water bodies. m of wastewater, of which 106 are polluted, 124 million cubic meters are treated according to standards. m. More than 42 million cubic meters have accumulated on the territory of Crimea. m of municipal solid waste.

In general, the pollution of the peninsula and adjacent waters is very high. The flat part of Crimea in terms of pollution (especially soils) is second only to the Krivoy Rog-Pridneprovsky region, the southern parts of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions and is approximately on the same level as the Donbass. This significant contamination is associated with the use a large number fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture. The average pollution of air and soil, as well as land disturbance in the Crimea is lower than the average for Ukraine. Approximately two times lower and water pollution, but pesticide contamination is more than two times higher than in Ukraine. The overall anthropogenic transformation in the Crimea is inferior to the industrial Dnieper and Donbass, but surpasses other areas.

In the Crimean Mountains, despite the prohibitions, cattle grazing continues. Of great concern is grazing on the yayla, where a significant part of the river flow of the peninsula is formed. The karst and fissuring of the limestones that make up the Yaylin plateaus contribute to the rapid infiltration of polluted surface waters and their entry into rivers and reservoirs.

Crimea is washed by the waters of two inland seas. Their originality lies in their limited connection with the World Ocean, which means that their hydrological regime is significantly dependent on river runoff and water exchange through the Bosporus. And although hydrogen sulfide contamination of the deep layers of the Black Sea determines the absence of organic life below 150 m, the coastal surface waters of the sea are characterized by high biological productivity. The Sea of ​​Azov, until recently, was one of the most productive seas of the World Ocean.

Modern natural conditions in the Azov-Black Sea basin developed approximately 4-6 thousand years ago. However, the presence of relic organisms and the specific conditions of speciation determined a rather high - more than 10% - endemism of the fauna of the basin. It is home to more than 1200 species of algae and higher plants, 2100 invertebrates, 192 species of fish and 4 species of mammals.

Already at the beginning of the 20th century, the impact of anthropogenic loads on the coastal ecosystems of the Crimea was noted, mainly due to the intensive catching of valuable fish species. The regulation of river flow in the 50s of our century had a very detrimental effect on hydrological regime and structure of biological communities of the Sea of ​​Azov. An increase in the salinity of the sea waters has led to the suppression of many species of benthic fauna - the main food for fish valuable in nutrition. Pollution of the river waters of the Danube and the Dnieper, in turn, determined the eutrophication of the shallow northwestern part of the Black Sea and regular deaths in the summer. Anthropogenic pollution of the waters washing the Crimean peninsula caused the oppression of brown algae and increased development of green algae, the mass reproduction of the ctenophore - a new "tenant" of the sea, the voracity of which led to a noticeable decrease in zooplankton, and finally, water bloom. In recent decades, near the southern coast of Crimea, the area of ​​the most massive representative of brown algae, cystoseira, has decreased by 40%.

However, against the background of significant general pollution of the Azov-Black Sea basin, the southern and West Coast The Crimea turned out to be in a relatively favorable position due to the peculiarities of water circulation. The greatest damage to the Crimean coastal waters is caused by local local sources of pollution, and the water areas of bays and gulfs with poor water exchange are the most affected. Less damage was caused to aquatic ecosystems near open shores.

In general, the environmental problems of Crimea are associated with a complex of reasons of a socio-economic and natural resource nature, which are reflected in the nature of nature management.

Conclusion

The natural museum is called the nature of the Crimea. There are few places in the world where diverse, comfortable and picturesque landscapes would be so originally combined. In many ways, they are due to the peculiarity of the geographical location, geological structure, relief, climate of the peninsula. The Crimean mountains divide the peninsula into two unequal parts. Big - northern - is located on far south temperate zone, the southern one - the Crimean sub-Mediterranean - belongs to the northern outskirts of the subtropical zone.

The flora of Crimea is especially rich and interesting. Only wild-growing higher plants account for more than 65% of the flora of the entire European part of the Commonwealth countries. Along with this, about 1000 species of alien plants are cultivated here. Almost the entire flora of Crimea is concentrated in its southern mountainous part. This is truly a museum wealth of flora.

The climate of most of the Crimea is the climate of the temperate zone: mild steppe - in the flat part; more humid, typical for broad-leaved forests - in the mountains. The southern coast of Crimea is characterized by a sub-Mediterranean climate of dry forests and shrubs.

Crimea, especially its mountainous part, due to the comfortable climate, the saturation of clean air, toned with phytoncides, sea salts, and the pleasant aroma of plants, also has great healing power. The earth's interior also contains healing mud and mineral waters.

The reserve fund accounts for more than 135,000 hectares of the peninsula, which is 5.2% of its area. The reserve fund plays a significant role in preserving the creations of inanimate and animate nature, and stabilizes the ecological situation on the peninsula.

Crimea is a unique region of Ukraine, where 152 objects of the natural reserve fund are located in a relatively small area, including: 6 nature reserves, 30 reserves, 69 natural monuments, 2 botanical gardens, 1 dendrological park, 31 park-monument gardening art, 8 reserved tracts, 1 zoo.

More than 200 mineral deposits are known in Crimea. Of national importance are iron ores (Kerch iron ore basin), salts of Sivash and coastal lakes (Staroe, Krasnoye, etc.), natural gas (Black Sea deposits), flux limestones (Balaklavskoye, Kerch deposits, etc.), cement marls (Bakhchisaray), pottery and bleaching clays (foothills). For therapeutic and recreational purposes, therapeutic mud and mineral springs(Saki, Evpatoria, Feodosia, etc.), sandy and pebble beaches (western and southern coasts, Azov region). Many steppes, unfortunately, are plowed under the fields of wheat, corn, rice paddies, vegetable plantations, vineyards and orchards.

Regional development problems:

1. Insufficiently rational use of natural conditions and resources;

2. Weak water supply of the Crimean peninsula;

3. Contradictions in the location and development of heavy industry enterprises, in the formation of a large port economy, on the one hand, and in the use recreational resources- with another;

4. Pollution of the western Crimea leads to a weakening medicinal properties Saka mud;

5. Threatening ecological state of the Black and Azov seas and lake-bay Sivash;

6. Extraction of pebbles and limestone on the beaches adversely affects the natural features of the Crimean resorts;

7. Naval bases and air Force create large noise pollution;

8. Implementation of the program for the protection of cultural monuments of the Crimean peninsula.

Crimea today is a specific region, where a huge number of rare species of animals and plants, unique climatic zones and ecological reserves are concentrated. If drastic and radical measures are not taken to stabilize the ecological situation, then we will simply lose this unique region. The government of both Ukraine and Crimea should pay more attention to this issue, tightening environmental policy and applying more severe sanctions to violators of environmental legislation.

Bibliography

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2. Velichko B.P. Mudflows in the Crimea and methods of dealing with them. Sat. "Fight against mountain soil erosion and mudflows", Tashkent, 1962.

3. Vulf E.V. The Kerch Peninsula and its vegetation in connection with the question of the origin of the Crimean flora. Zap. Crimea. Society of Natural Sciences, vol. XI, 1929.

4. "Geography of Crimea" P.D. Podgorodetsky, V.B. Kudryavtseva, Simferopol, 1995

5. Gubanov I.G., Podgorodetsky P.D. Wealth of mineral resources // Nature of Crimea. - Simferopol: Crimea 1996

6. Davitishvili L.Sh. To the knowledge of the fauna of the Chaudinsky horizon. From. Ass. Research Institute of Physics and Mathematics of the I Moscow State University, v.11, issue 2a, 1930

7. Dobrynin B.F. Landscapes of the mountainous Crimea "Crimea", No. 1/5, 1929

8. Ena V.G. Protected landscapes of the Crimea, - Simferopol "Tavria" - 1989

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10. Muratov M.V., Nikolaev N.I. River terraces of the mountainous Crimea. BMOIP, dep. geol. No. 1, 1939

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Application

Fig.1. Overview map of Crimea

Fig.2. Mount Demerdzhi

Columnar forms of weathering of Upper Jurassic conglomerates

Fig.3. the south coast of Crimea

Erosive landforms in the Taurian shale,

at the village Merry (near Sudak).

Fig.4. Northeast coast of the lake. Donuzlav

Fig.5. Dzhangulskoe landslide coast. Tapxankut Peninsula

Fig.6. Landslide terraces of the Dzhangulsky coast.

Tarkhankut Peninsula

Fig.7. The surface of a mud hill with a crater and a fresh mud stream

Table 1. Sunshine duration, h

Table 2.

Table 3 Total solar radiation, MJ/m2

Table 4

Observation point	July	August	September	October	November	December	Year
Klepinino	733	654	494	310	139	96	4 994
Black Sea	800	691	511	318	155	101	5 317
Kerch	779	679	499	310	151	96	5 095
Evpatoria	788	687	524	327	159	105	5 247
Simferopol	754	652	515	331	168	117	5 186
Feodosia	767	662	511	315	155	101	5 059
Sevastopol	779	683	520	325	168	122	5 253
Yalta	763	675	511	327	168	122	5 134
Ai-Petri	721	633	486	310	180	126	5 054

Table 5 Air temperature, evaporation (E) and volatility (Eo)

Observation point	Air temperature, C			Evaporation,	volatility,	attitude,
	January	July	year	year	year	year
Armyansk	-2,9	23,2	10,0	338	958	0,35
Klepinino	-2,0	22,8	9,9	460	931	0,49
Black Sea	-0,1	22,1	10,8	314	771	0,41
Nizhnegorsky	-1,6	22,8	10,4	460	911	0,50
Kerch	-1,0	23,3	10,6	429	841	0,51
Evpatoria	-0,3	23,0	11,0	367	872	0,42
Belogorsk	-1,4	21,4	9,8	416	928	0,45
Simferopol	-1,0	21,8	10,2	457	958	0,48
Feodosia	-0,6	23,8	11,7	372	998	0,37
Alushta	3,0	23,3	12,3	331	1 023	0,32
Sevastopol	2,7	22,4	12,0	343	940	0,36
Yalta (port)	4,0	23,7	13,0	366	1 059	0,35
Ai-Petri	-3,6	15,6	5,7	488	755	0,65
Sirach	4,5	23,6	13,3	371	1 121	0,33

Table 6 Annual sums of temperatures above 10C

Observation point	Sum of temperatures	Observation point	Sum of temperatures
Yishun	3 468	Alushta	3 655
Dzhankoy	3 519	Crimean
Klepino	3 441	Reserve	2 500
Kerch	3 650	Sevastopol	3 580
Evpatoria	3 674	Postal	3 160
Belogorsk	3 245	pigeon	3 040
Simferopol	3 245	Nikitsky
Old Crimea	3 065	Botanical Garden	3 885
Feodosia	3 675	Yalta (port)	3 850
Karadag	3 635	Ai-Petri	1 805
Karabi-yayla	2 060	Miskhor	4 195
Zander	3 540	Simeiz	4 060
Meganom	3 710	Sarych	3 935

Table 7 Average long-term sums of atmospheric precipitation, mm

Observation point	November-March	April-October	year	Observation point	November-March	April-October	year
Armyansk	129	212	341	Alushta	225	202	427
Dzhankoy	147	271	418	Sevastopol	165	184	349
Klepino	165	301	466	Postal	209	273	482
Black Sea	133	183	316	pigeon	261	307	568
Nizhnegorsky	164	300	464	Gurzuf	281	233	514
Kerch	161	251	412	Nikitsky
Evpatoria	156	197	353	Botanic. garden	298	237	535
Belogorsk	147	276	423	Balaklava	201	219	420
Simferopol	196	305	501	Yalta (port)	313	247	560
Old Crimea	202	312	514	Ai-Petri	648	404	1 052
Feodosia	151	225	376	eagle	317	265	582
Karadag	146	211	357	Miskhor	273	236	509
Karabi-yayla	214	381	595	Simeiz	226	206	432
Zander	129	189	318	Sarych	184	188	372
Meganom	115	157	272

Look at the map of our Motherland. In the extreme south of the European part, a peninsula resembling an irregular quadrangle juts out deeply. He is small. Its area is only about 26 thousand square meters. km - 14 times less. In the north, narrow (up to 8 km), it is connected to the mainland, in the south and west it is washed by the waters of the Black Sea, in the northeast and east by the Sea of ​​Azov and the Kerch Strait.

In the distant geological past, there were vast seas in the south: Sarmatian, Meotic and Pontic. The bottom of the Pontic sea-lake began to rise, and its waters finally gathered in two basins: the Black Sea and the Caspian, which were first connected by the Kumo-Manych Strait. They either connected with through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, then separated from it.

The modern Black Sea arose about 10 thousand years ago. It is one of the deepest seas in our country. Along its shores stretches a strip of coastal shallow water - with depths of up to 200 m. This shoal descends in several more or less steep ledges to the central part of the bottom. The maximum depth of the Black Sea is 2245 m.

The Black Sea is warm. In summer, surface waters in the open sea warm up to 24-25°, and in shallow coastal waters to 28-29°. In winter, surface water temperatures high seas 6-7°. The temperature of the coastal waters generally stays around 0°C with slight fluctuations. In this regard, in its coastal part, the sea freezes only in especially cold winters.

Located inside the mainland, desalinated by the rivers flowing into it, the Black Sea is a medium basin. The salinity of its surface waters is 16-18 ppm, that is, 16-18 weight parts of salt per 1000 weight parts of water. The deep waters of the Black Sea are saturated with hydrogen sulfide and therefore lifeless.

Its organic world is very peculiar. There are fish here that previously inhabited the Pontic sea-lake - Pontic relics, which include beluga, sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, sprat, some types of gobies, etc. There are fish that, in the cold eras of the past, descended from the south, penetrated into the Mediterranean Sea, and from it to Black. Representatives of this so-called boreal-Atlantic group of fish are sprats, salmon, flounder-glossa, shark-katran, stingray - sea fox.

There are, although rarely, representatives of the Arctic fauna - seals. In 1934, a seal was seen near Batumi.

The most numerous and diverse fish of the Mediterranean fauna: mullet, mackerel, horse mackerel, red mullet, bonito, sea bass, crucian carp, flounder, stingray - sea cat.

Small fish also live: needlefish, seahorse, stickleback.

Two species of Mediterranean fish are poisonous. This is a sea ruff (scorpionfish) and a sea dragon. The ruff at the base of the second ray of the dorsal fin has a gland that produces a poisonous fluid that causes a painful inflammatory process.

A big and daring predator is the swordfish. In a state of irritation, she attacks not only fishing scows, but even passing ships.

Crimea is not only an administrative and resort unit. First of all, it is a peninsula, a geographical unit. Therefore, in geography lessons native land local students remember extreme points Crimea - their coordinates, names and features.

Extreme northern point in Crimea

• Coordinates - 46.161050, 33.692249.

It is difficult to name a specific point for this tip of the peninsula - the northern cordon of Crimea runs across the Perekop isthmus. But where is his place? Theoretically right in the middle. Where is his middle?

As a result, geographers took the path of least resistance, issuing a conditional border, indicating that the closest to northern point The Crimean settlement is the village of Perekop. It is subordinate to the city council of Armyansk (the city is also located on the isthmus). The settlement was the result of an attempt to restore the town of the same name - it was destroyed during the Civil War. Now about 1000 people live in it, in fact it is a district. Next to it is the border area. But the village itself is not included in it.

As for, it has always been considered the most vulnerable and "responsible" part of the Crimea. It connects it to the mainland, while it is very narrow (no more than 9 km). When trying to attack Taurida from land, Perekop took the brunt of it - for this reason, even in ancient times, it was blocked by defensive structures called. Due to the narrowness of the perimeter, the defense could be held for a long time and reliably - this business was always entrusted to the best military leaders, and the reliable defense of Perekop greatly increased the overall security of Crimea (it is also not easy to take it from the sea).

Of the "warriors of Perekop", the Tatar Murza Tugay-bey (comrade-in-arms of B. Khmelnitsky) and M.V. Frunze, who in 1920 organized a unique military operation to defend the white army of Baron Wrangel.

Extreme point in the south of Crimea

• Coordinates - 44.386747, 33.777032.

With the south, everything is also not easy, the sources call two capes - and Nikolai (both - next to and next to each other).

In fact, the extreme southern point of the Crimea is still Cape Nikolai, but Sarych is 3 geographical minutes to the north. It's just that he is more famous, in particular, for the legendary battle of the Russian squadron with the Breslau and Goeben cruisers at the initial stage of the First World War.

Its name is associated with the name of N.N. Raevsky, general, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812, father-in-law of the Decembrist S.G. Volkonsky. For his military exploits, the commander was granted a country estate near the cape, and geographical feature named after the patron saint of himself and his father.

Now it is problematic to get to the ledge itself - there is a frontier post on it. Near it camp "Foros" is located.

Extreme point in the west of Crimea

• Coordinates - 45.390415, 32.480458.

The extreme western point of Crimea will not provide a comfortable rest - the shores of Cape Priboyny (the Tatar name Kara-Mrun is also common) are steep, there are no tolerable roads on its plateau.

But it is located in a romantic resort area - it is part of the Tarkhankut Peninsula. closest to him locality- popular. Surfing delimits and . From the north, its neighbor is Ocheretai Bay, also known among tourists.

A geodetic sign has been installed on the cape. Its plateau is covered with the usual annual meadow herbs and, in principle, is not very interesting. Usually regulars wander here to take pictures "in the very west of Crimea."

Extreme eastern point in Crimea

• Coordinates - 45.382946, 36.644643.

But not all extreme points of Crimea are so mysterious or everyday. Its eastern end - - has a clear location on the map, a rich and, moreover, well-studied history, and no one disputes its right to be called the "border".

The cape is found on, near the outskirts of modern Kerch and marks the entrance to. For this reason, it has been marked by people since ancient times. Archaeologists have recorded the existence of settlements on Lantern Bronze Age and the ancient Greek settlement of Parthenium.

There is an active lighthouse on the cape. It appeared there in 1820, but now you can see only new buildings - the old ones were destroyed during the Great Patriotic War (the participants of the Kerch-Eltingen operation were disembarked here). The lighthouse complex still does not guarantee against crashes - in 1995, the cargo ship "Doja" under the Syrian flag sank abeam Lantern - the now abandoned ship is a bait