The Crimean peninsula has long been called the natural pearl of Europe for a reason. Here, at the junction of subtropical and temperate latitudes, as if in focus, the characteristic features of their nature are concentrated in miniature: plains and mountains, modern mud hills and ancient volcanoes, lakes and seas, steppes and forests, landscapes of the semi-desert of the Sivash region and the Black Sea sub-Mediterranean.

Crimean peninsula located in the south of Ukraine at the same latitude as southern France and northern Italy.

The outlines of the Crimea are very peculiar, some see them as a bunch of grapes, others - a flying bird, others - a heart. Each of us, looking at the map, immediately sees in the middle blue sea an irregular quadrangle with a wide protrusion of the peninsula in the west and a long, narrower protrusion of the Kerch Peninsula in the east. The Kerch Strait separates the Crimean Peninsula from the Taman Peninsula, the western tip of Russia.

total length land borders Crimea - more than 2500 km. Area - 27 thousand square meters. km.

Crimea is washed almost from all sides by the waters of the Black and Azov Seas. It could be an island, if not for the narrow, only 8 kilometers wide, Perekop Isthmus, connecting it with the mainland.

The maximum distance from north to south is 207 km, from west to east - 324 km.

Extreme points: in the north - the village of Perekop, in the south -, in the east -, in the west - Cape Kara-Mrun.

The waters of the Black Sea (area - 421 thousand square kilometers, volume - 537 thousand cubic kilometers) wash Crimea from the west and south. The largest bays are Karkinitsky, Kalamitsky and Feodosia. The shores of the peninsula are heavily indented by numerous coves and bays.

From the east and northeast, the peninsula is surrounded (width 4-5 km, length 41 km) and the Sea of ​​Azov (area - 38 thousand sq. km, volume - 300 cubic km), which forms the Arabat, Kazantip, and Sivash bays.

The Crimean mountains divided the peninsula into two uneven parts: a large steppe and a smaller mountain. They stretched from the southwest to the northeast from the neighborhood to three almost parallel ridges separated by parallel green valleys. The Crimean Mountains are about 180 km long and 50 km wide.

The main ridge is the highest, here are the most famous Mountain peaks: - 1545 m, - 1525 m, - 1231 m. The southern slopes facing the sea are very steep, while the northern ones, on the contrary, are flat.

The peaks of the Crimean Mountains are treeless plateaus, which are called (translated from Turkic means "summer pasture"). Yayly combine the properties of both mountains and plains. They are connected by narrow lowered ridges, along which mountain passes pass. The paths from the steppe part of the Crimea to the Southern coast have long run here.

The highest yayls of Crimea: Ai-Petrinskaya (1320 m), Gurzufskaya (1540 m), Nikitskaya (1470 m), Yalta (1406 m). The limestone surface of the yayla has been dissolved for many centuries under the influence of rainwater, water flows have made numerous passages, mines, deep wells, amazingly beautiful caves in the thickness of the mountains.

The steppe occupies most of the territory of Crimea. It is the southern outskirts of the East European, or Russian, plain and slightly decreases to the north. The Kerch peninsula is divided by the Parpach ridge into two parts: the southwestern - flat and northeastern - hilly, which is characterized by the alternation of gentle depressions, ring-shaped limestone ridges, mud hills and coastal lake basins. However, mud volcanoes they have nothing in common with real volcanoes, since they do not throw out hot lava, but cold mud.

Varieties of calcareous and southern chernozems predominate on the flat part of the Crimea; dark chestnut and meadow chestnut soils of dry forests and shrubs are less common, as well as brown mountain-forest and mountain-meadow chernozem-like soils (on yayla).

More than half of the territory of the peninsula is occupied by fields, about five percent - by gardens and vineyards. The remaining lands are predominantly pastures and forests.

The forest area is 340 thousand hectares. The slopes of the Crimean Mountains are covered mainly with oak forests (65% of the area of ​​all forests), beech (14%), pine (13%) and hornbeam (8%). On the southern coast in the forests grow relict tall juniper, pistachio tupolis, evergreen small-fruited strawberry, a number of evergreen shrubs - Crimean cistus, Pontic needle, red pyracantha, shrub jasmine, etc.

The main source of river nutrition is rainwater - 44-50% of the annual runoff; snow nutrition provides 13-23% and groundwater - 28-36%. The average long-term surface and underground runoff of the Crimea is just over 1 billion cubic meters of water. This is almost three times less than the volume of water that annually enters the peninsula through the North Crimean Canal. The natural reserves of local waters are used to the limit (73% of the reserves are used). The main surface runoff has been regulated: a couple of hundred ponds and more than 20 large reservoirs have been built (on the Salgir river, Chernorechenskoye on the Chernaya river, Belogorskoye on the Biyuk-Karasu river, etc.).

Through the North Crimean Canal, 3.5 billion cubic meters of water are annually supplied to the peninsula, which made it possible to increase the area of ​​irrigated land from 34.5 thousand hectares to 400 thousand hectares (since the 30s of the XX century).

In Crimea, mainly along the coasts, there are more than 50 lakes-estuaries with total area 5.3 thousand sq. km used to obtain salts and therapeutic mud: Donuzlav, Bakal, Staroe, Krasnoe, Chokrakskoe, Uzunlarskoe, etc.

2016-11-08

Crimea today is the blessed land of the Crimean peninsula, washed by the Black and Azov Seas. In the north it stretches a plain, in the south - the Crimean mountains with a necklace near the coastal strip of seaside resort cities: Yalta, Miskhor, Alupka, Simeiz, Gurzuf, Alushta, Feodosia, Evpatoria and seaports - Kerch, Sevastopol.

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 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 related, on the one hand, 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.

Features of the transport and geographical position of the 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 adopted the local languages, culture and 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 the countries 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 Crimea is its proximity to the economically developed Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine and the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation.

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. Large - northern - is located in the extreme south of the temperate zone, southern - 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 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 per unit of the earth's surface per day is received here 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 is the best season of the year. The weather is calm, sunny and moderately warm.

True, sharp fluctuations in pressure during the day 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 atmospheric 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 lake limans with a total area of ​​5.3 thousand km2.

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 highest and largest of them is Wuchang-Su (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 - a 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.

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, such cities as Sudak, Krasnoperekopsk, Armyansk, Shelkino have appeared on the map of Crimea. The number of urban-type settlements is growing rapidly, more than doubling since 1959.

The main part of the Crimean population is made up of workers (about 60 percent), employees - 28, peasants - less than 11 percent.

Crimea has always been distinguished not only by a high proportion of the urban population, but also high level 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 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. In Simferopol, there is the Crimean branch of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the production association "Efirmaslo", "KrymNIIproekt", in the village of Nauchny - the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory and others.

There are several professional theaters and a philharmonic society, an art gallery in Feodosia. A large number of newspapers are published. There are publishing houses "Tavrida", "Tavria", "Krymuchpedgiz" and others. 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.

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.

By air transport, Crimea is connected with all CIS countries and many far-abroad countries.

Recreational economy is one of the leading branches of the republic. From the Latin language, recreation is translated as “recovery”, meaning the restoration of the physical and psycho-physiological conditions of a person. The structure 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, and landscape resources.

Branches of the social infrastructure of the Crimea - public utilities, consumer services, public education, public catering, trade, healthcare, social Security, culture, physical education, lending and insurance, science and scientific services - are distinguished by a high level of development.

The geographical position of Crimea

The Crimean Peninsula has a relatively small territory: for comparison, we can say that it is 20 times smaller in area than the Iberian and Balkan Peninsulas, and 15 times smaller than Kamchatka and Asia Minor. Crimea is located 44 and 46 degrees N. sh., i.e. this is the southern territory, it corresponds to the south of France, Ciscaucasia or the Great American Lakes in North America.

Crimea is an integral part of the vast continent of Eurasia, while it is located almost at an equal distance from both the North Pole and the equator, since a latitude of 45 degrees crosses the peninsula near the city of Dzhankoy. Approximately here is the border between two climatic zones: temperate zone and subtropics, so in the Crimea, on this small peninsula, one can observe atmospheric and natural processes and phenomena characteristic of both belts.

The Crimean peninsula occupies a relatively small territory - in area it is 20 times smaller than the Iberian and Balkan Peninsulas, 15 times smaller than Kamchatka and Asia Minor. But Crimea has become famous, significant and attractive largely due to the peculiarities of its nature, and above all, its peculiar geographical position.

Perekop isthmus - extreme north point Crimean peninsula. It is removed from Cape Sarych (the southernmost point) at 207 km. From the extreme western point - Cape Kara-Mrun, located on the Tarkhankut Peninsula, to Cape Lantern on the Kerch Peninsula - east - 324 km. And three capes, like the three legendary biblical whales lying in the Black and Azov Seas, seem to "support" the peninsula afloat.

In shape, Crimea resembles a slightly distorted rhombus, but if you turn on your imagination, you can see in the outlines of the peninsula - a bird that dives into the waters of the Black Sea. But the beauty of the peninsula, combined with its outlines, gave the well-known Chilean poet Pablo Neruda the idea to call Crimea "the most magnificent medal on the chest of the Earth."

Close to the truth and the figurative expression "the island of Crimea." The thing is that only the Perekop Isthmus connects it with land, the width of which narrows in places to only 7 km. And all highways in the area of ​​the Chongar Strait, they are laid across the Sivash Bay by an embankment dam and a bridge.

Sometimes, in old guidebooks, the Perekop Isthmus was compared with the Isthmus of Panama in terms of its geographical significance, but instead of deep oceanic waters, it is surrounded by shallow waters and viscous gray mud of the Rotten Sea (Sivash). In the distant revolutionary times, the isthmus was dug deep, up to 10 m, a ditch, next to which an 8-meter-high earthen rampart was built, up to 11 km long.

The almost "island" geographical position of the Crimea, surrounded by two - the Black and Azov Seas, enhances the isolation of the peninsula, and is noticeably reflected in the features of its landscapes, flora and fauna. That is why not only many rare species are found here, but also endemic species found on Earth only in the Crimea.

Crimea is also characterized by a circular (circum-island) distribution of climatic phenomena, which manifests itself in less precipitation, longer duration of sunshine, the presence of breezes on the coast, which distinguishes them from central parts peninsulas. A special place of the peninsula is the Crimean mountains, which form another internal "island", with its own special and unique features and characteristics.

The Crimean peninsula, located in the extreme east of the vast Mediterranean, is a connecting "bridge" connecting the East European Plain, Asia Minor and the Caucasus. Therefore, in the Crimea, there is a change in the areas of geographical distribution of a number of plant and animal species, which gives originality to the flora and fauna of the peninsula.

The landscapes of the peninsula are also diverse, where vast flat plains alternate with dissected uplands, and in the south they are replaced by mountain ranges, which abruptly break off to the Black Sea. Due to the sublatitudinal location of the Crimean Mountains, even in a relatively small area of ​​the peninsula, there is a sharp contrast between the temperate steppe climate of the plains and the almost sub-Mediterranean climate on the southern coast of Crimea.

The Crimean peninsula is located in the south of Russia. Latitude southern France or northern Italy. From the east, the shores of Crimea are washed by the waters of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, and from the west and south - by the Black Sea. The Crimean peninsula is connected to the mainland only by a narrow isthmus, a maximum of eight kilometers wide. The name of the isthmus at first glance seems unexpected - Perekopsky (what did they want to dig, but did not have time?!).

Crimea also includes two peninsulas:

• Kerch, it is located in the east between the Black and Azov seas,
• Tarkhankutsky, occupies the western part of the Crimea.

The southern coast of the Crimean peninsula is not without reason considered the most favorable: the sea is located in the southeast, mountains protect from the winds in the northwest. This creates a velvety climate of dry subtropics.

The Crimean peninsula has borders with Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Georgia. The capital and the largest transport hub on the peninsula is the city of Simferopol. The population of Simferopol is about 400 thousand inhabitants.

Geographic characteristics

Territory - 26860 km². Length: from east to west - 360 km, from south to north - 180 km.
The southernmost part is Cape Sarych; the westernmost cape is Priboyny; the cape with the speaking name Lantern is in the east.

There are many seaports, the largest are Evpatoria, Feodosia, Yalta, Kerch.

(function(w, d, n, s, t) ( w[n] = w[n] || ; w[n].push(function() ( Ya.Context.AdvManager.render(( blockId: "R-A -256054-1", renderTo: "yandex_rtb_R-A-256054-1", async: true )); )); t = d.getElementsByTagName("script"); s = d.createElement("script"); s .type = "text/javascript"; s.src = "//an.yandex.ru/system/context.js"; s.async = true; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); ))(this , this.document, "yandexContextAsyncCallbacks");

Length coastline the Crimean peninsula is more than 2,500 km. Of these, almost 50% falls on the Sivash Bay, 750 km - the Black Sea coast and about 500 km - the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov. The shores of the peninsula are indented by numerous bays, gulfs and coves.

The territory of Crimea is 72% plains, 20% mountains and 8% lakes and rivers.

Relief

The Crimean peninsula and in the distant years, judging by the results of the study, had favorable natural conditions. People have lived here for a very long time. Here are found monuments of the Middle Paleolithic (about 150 thousand years ago), Mesolithic, Neolithic, Eneolithic and Bronze Age.

Many Crimean local history museums store unique archaeological finds found in grottoes, caves, under rock canopies, where primitive people found a natural shelter.

Here are some natural historical monuments Crimea:

• burial of Neanderthals in the Kiik-Koba cave, located near the village. Zuya in the Belogorsky district,
• Wolf Grotto and Chokurcho near Simferopol,
• Starosele near Bakhchisarai,
• Ak-Kaya near Belogorsk.

In Europe, older finds are not known.

The relief of the Crimean peninsula consists of three unequal parts:

• North Crimean Plain with the Tarkhankut Upland (about 70% of the territory),
• Kerch Peninsula
• and in the south - the mountainous Crimea extends in three ridges.

The highest mountain in the Crimean mountains is Roman-Kosh (1545 m).

Crimean mountains

Once upon a time, 200 million years ago, the waves of the primary Tethys ocean crashed in this place. The Crimean and Caucasian mountains rose from it 7-8 million years ago. These mountains divided the waters of the ocean, forming the Black and Caspian Seas.

They have three main ridges, which are separated by valleys. These ridges begin in the southwest of Crimea. Here are their names:

• Main (aka South) - starts at and follows along the coast to Feodosia. It has a length of almost 180 km. It ends at Cape St. Elijah;
• The inner ridge (Middle), stretches from the Mekenziev mountains towards the Old Crimea;
• External - starts from the Kara-Tau hill, which is on the watershed of the Belbek and Kacha rivers, and follows to Simferopol.

The width of the mountain strip reaches 50 km.

The Crimean mountains are very picturesque and not like the others. They are like huge frozen waves. The main ridge to the north has gentle slopes, and to the south it breaks off with high steep walls. It has its own peculiarity - it does not have the usual peaks, but wavy upland plateaus. In Crimea, they are called yayly (translated as summer pasture).

In Alushta, the Main Ridge is divided into separate massifs bearing the names Babugan, Chatyr-Dag and Demerdzhi. The sloping Dolgorukovskaya yayla goes to the north, and the largest Karabi-yayla in terms of area goes to the east. It connects with Demerdzhinskaya only by a "bridge" in the form of the Table Mountain.

After that, the Main Range finally disintegrates, leaving only individual mountain ranges, peaks and volcanic massifs, of which the most interesting and unusual is Karadag.

In many places East Bank the ancient "Taurian platform" protrudes directly from the ground, forming an unusually shaped elevation with landslides, cracks, ravines. Further, to the east of Feodosia, roads and paths lead to sparsely populated land, the relief of which is called the Kerch hilltop.

To the north and northwest of the Feodosia Bay, almost the entire little Crimea occupied a huge, in comparison with the coastal resort strip, the Crimean steppe. So "Cimmeria" (sometimes called "Kimtavria") is a land of contrasts - mountains, coast, flat hills, steppe.

Steppe

The steppe occupies the largest part of the Crimean territory. It is the southern outskirts of the East European, or Russian, plain and slightly lowers to the north. The Kerch Peninsula is divided by the Parpach Ridge into two parts: the southwestern - flat and the northeastern - hilly, which is characterized by the alternation of ring-shaped limestone ridges, gentle depressions, mud hills and coastal lake basins.

In the flat part of the peninsula, varieties of southern and carbonate chernozems predominate, dark chestnut and meadow chestnut soils of dry forests and shrubs, as well as brown mountain-forest and mountain-meadow chernozem-like soils (on yayles) are less common.

The Crimean peninsula has vast agricultural lands. More than 52% of the territory is occupied by arable land, there are not so many orchards and vineyards - about 5%. It’s not even clear where Crimean wines appeared in our stores now! Part of the land is used for pastures. There are also forests.

Rivers and lakes

On the Crimean peninsula more 1600 rivers and temporary drains. Their total length is about 6000 kilometers. However, usually these are small streams, which dry up almost all in summer. There are only 257 rivers longer than 5 km.

The most significant of the rivers according to their geographical position are divided into several groups:

• rivers of the northern and northeastern slopes of the Crimean Mountains (Salgir, the longest river of the peninsula, - 232 km; Wet Indol - 27 km; Churuksu - 33 km, etc.);
• rivers of the northwestern slope (Chernaya - 41 km, Belbek - 63 km, Kacha - 69 km, Alma - 84 km, Western Bulganak - 52 km, etc.);
• the rivers of the southern coast of Crimea (Uchan-Su - 8.4 km, Derekoika - 12 km, Ulu-Uzen - 15 km, Demerdzhi - 14 km, Ulu-Uzen East - 16 km, etc.);
• river-beams of the flat Crimea and the Kerch Peninsula.

The rivers of the northwestern slopes of the Crimean Mountains flow almost parallel to each other, until the middle of the course they are typically mountainous. The rivers of the northern slopes on the plain deviate to the east and flow into the Sivash. The short rivers of the Southern Coast flowing into the Black Sea are typically mountainous throughout their entire length. The mountain river Wuchang-Su runs down to the sea, forming waterfalls in four places.

There are also many lakes and estuaries on the territory of the peninsula - more than three hundred. Some of them are muddy. The lakes located along the coast are mostly salty. On the Tarkhankut peninsula there is a rather large freshwater Ak-Mechet lake. mountain lakes are mainly artificial reservoirs. There are more than 50 salt lakes in Crimea, the largest of them is Lake Sasyk (Kunduk) - 205 sq. km.

Weather in Crimea

The natural conditions of the Crimean peninsula are very extraordinary. This amazing land is endowed with fertile lands, and a magnificent sea coast, and majestic, unique in their beauty, mountain ranges. The Crimean peninsula has a mild climate throughout the peninsula.

However, there are differences in the south and north. On south coast The Crimean peninsula is close to the Mediterranean and subtropical, and in the northern part of the peninsula - continental.

Summers are sunny and rather hot, with rare but heavy rains. It usually starts in mid-May and lasts until the end of September. The air in these places is not very humid. Autumn in the Crimea is rainy, but warm, almost windless, smoothly turning into a snowy winter with rare, not severe frosts.