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Geography of Ukraine: Kinburn Sandbar Ochakiv Mykolaiv Oblast

Ukraine has a diverse landscape ranging from fertile plains to mountains. It lies within the East European Plain and has over 600,000 square kilometers of land area. The country's terrain consists mainly of plains but also includes the Carpathian and Crimean Mountains. Ukraine has abundant natural resources and fertile soil, especially black earth soils, which make it a major agricultural producer. The climate varies from continental in the north to subtropical in Crimea, with precipitation highest in western regions. Biodiversity includes six terrestrial ecoregions and habitats ranging from forests to grasslands.

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51 views

Geography of Ukraine: Kinburn Sandbar Ochakiv Mykolaiv Oblast

Ukraine has a diverse landscape ranging from fertile plains to mountains. It lies within the East European Plain and has over 600,000 square kilometers of land area. The country's terrain consists mainly of plains but also includes the Carpathian and Crimean Mountains. Ukraine has abundant natural resources and fertile soil, especially black earth soils, which make it a major agricultural producer. The climate varies from continental in the north to subtropical in Crimea, with precipitation highest in western regions. Biodiversity includes six terrestrial ecoregions and habitats ranging from forests to grasslands.

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Hiro
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Geography of Ukraine

Ukraine is a large country in Eastern Europe, lying mostly in the East European Plain. It is
the second-largest European country, after Russia. It covers an area of 603,628 square kilometres
(233,062 sq mi) and with a coastline of 2,782 kilometres (1,729 mi).[40] It lies between
latitudes 44° and 53° N, and longitudes 22° and 41° E.
The landscape of Ukraine consists mostly of fertile plains (or steppes) and plateaus, crossed by
rivers such as the Dnieper (Dnipro), Seversky Donets, Dniester and the Southern Bug as they flow
south into the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. To the southwest, the delta of
the Danube forms the border with Romania. Ukraine's various regions have diverse geographic
features ranging from the highlands to the lowlands. The country's only mountains are
the Carpathian Mountains in the west, of which the highest is the Hora Hoverla at 2,061 metres
(6,762 ft), and the Crimean Mountains on Crimea, in the extreme south along the coast.[222]
Ukraine also has a number of highland regions such as the Volyn-Podillia Upland (in the west) and
the Near-Dnipro Upland (on the right bank of Dnieper). To the east there are the south-western
spurs of the Central Russian Upland over which runs the border with the Russian Federation. Near
the Sea of Azov can be found the Donets Ridge and the Near Azov Upland. The snow melt from the
mountains feeds the rivers, and natural changes in altitude form sudden drops in elevation and give
rise to waterfalls.
Significant natural resources in Ukraine include iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt,
sulphur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber and an abundance of arable
land. Despite this, the country faces a number of major environmental issues such as inadequate
supplies of potable water; air and water pollution and deforestation, as well as radiation
contamination in the north-east from the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power
Plant. Recycling toxic household waste is still in its infancy in Ukraine. [223]

Soil

Kinburn sandbar, Ochakiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast

From northwest to southeast the soils of Ukraine may be divided into three major aggregations: [224]

Agricultural works in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast

 a zone of sandy podzolized soils
 a central belt consisting of the extremely fertile Ukrainian black earth (chernozems)
 a zone of chestnut and salinized soils
As much as two-thirds of the country's surface land consists of black earth, a resource that has
made Ukraine one of the most fertile regions in the world and well known as a "breadbasket".
[225]
 These soils may be divided into three broad groups:

 in the north, a belt of deep chernozems, about 5 feet (1.5 metres) thick and rich in
humus
 south and east of the former, a zone of prairie, or ordinary, chernozems, which are
equally rich in humus but only about 3 feet (0.91 metres) thick
 the southernmost belt, which is even thinner and has still less humus
Interspersed in various uplands and along the northern and western perimeters of the deep
chernozems are mixtures of gray forest soils and podzolized black-earth soils, which together
occupy much of Ukraine's remaining area. All these soils are very fertile when sufficient water is
available. However, their intensive cultivation, especially on steep slopes, has led to widespread soil
erosion and gullying.
The smallest proportion of the soil cover consists of the chestnut soils of the southern and eastern
regions. They become increasingly salinized to the south as they approach the Black Sea. [224]

Climate
Further information: Climate of Ukraine

Ukraine within the Köppen climate classification system

Ukraine has a mostly continental climate, with the exception of the southern coast of Crimea which
has a subtropical climate.[226] The climate is influenced by moderately warm, humid air coming from
the Atlantic Ocean.[227] Average annual temperatures range from 5.5–7 °C (41.9–44.6 °F) in the north,
to 11–13 °C (51.8–55.4 °F) in the south.[227]
Precipitation is disproportionately distributed. It is highest in the west and north and lowest in the
east and southeast.[227] Western Ukraine, particularly in the Carpathian Mountains, receives around
1,200 millimetres (47.2 in) of precipitation annually, while Crimea and the coastal areas of the Black
Sea receive around 400 millimetres (15.7 in).[227]

Biodiversity
Further information: Wildlife of Ukraine
Ukraine contains six terrestrial ecoregions: Central European mixed forests, Crimean
Submediterranean forest complex, East European forest steppe, Pannonian mixed
forests, Carpathian montane conifer forests, and Pontic steppe.[228] Ukraine is home to a diverse
assemblage of animals, fungi, microorganisms and plants.

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