The Central Russian Upland (also Central Upland and East European Upland) is an

upland Upland or Uplands may refer to: Geography *Hill, an area of higher land, generally *Highland, an area of higher land divided into low and high points *Upland and lowland, conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level *I ...

area of the East European Plain and is an undulating plateau with an average elevation of . Its highest peak is measured at . The southeastern portion of the upland known as the Kalach Upland. The Central Upland is built of

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...

deposits of the crystalline Voronezh Massif.

Location

It spans approximately 180,000 miles² (480,000 km²) in central and southern

European Russia European Russia (russian: Европейская Россия, russian: европейская часть России, label=none) is the western and most populated part of Russia. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the cou ...

northeast of Ukraine, extending from the

Oka river The Oka (russian: Ока́, ) is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its ...

to the Donets river. The upland stretches across number of regions in Ukraine and the European portion of Russian Federation. Its north and northwest borders are considered to be

Oka River The Oka (russian: Ока́, ) is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its ...

and an imaginary line

Kaluga Kaluga ( rus, Калу́га, p=kɐˈɫuɡə), a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast in Russia, stands on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: Kaluga's most famous resident, the space travel pioneer Konstantin Tsiol ...

- Ryazan. To the southeast towards the Donets River, the upland changes into the Donets Lowland. To the east its natural border is defined by the Oka–Don Lowland and to the west there is the Dnieper Lowland. Most of the upland lies within the borders of Russia, hence its name.

History

The Kostroma river and the city of the same name suggest that the area in Central Russia is an important reference point for the original home of the

Slavic tribes This is a list of Slavic peoples and Slavic tribes reported in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, that is, before the year AD 1500. Ancestors *Proto-Indo-Europeans (Proto-Indo-European speakers) ** Proto-Balto-Slavs (common ancestors of Bal ...

. The river and city bear the same name as the Slavic goddess Kostroma.

Regions

* Bryansk Oblast * Belgorod Oblast * Voronezh Oblast * Kursk Oblast * Oryol Oblast *

Rostov Oblast Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblast, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast has an area of and a populati ...

* Kharkiv Oblast (Ukraine) *

Sumy Oblast Sumy Oblast ( uk, Сумська́ о́бласть, translit=Sumska oblast; also referred to as Sumshchyna – uk, Су́мщина) is an oblast (province) in the northeastern part of Ukraine. Population: The oblast was created in its most r ...

(Ukraine) * Luhansk Oblast (Ukraine)

Tectonics

The Voronezh Massif is part of the East European Craton and southwesterly descends towards the Dnieper-Donets Through (Depression) which along with Prypiat Through forms the Prypiat-Dniper-Donets aulacogen. Most of the Voronezh Massif is covered with thin layers of

sedimentary deposits Superficial deposits (or surficial deposits) refer to geological deposits typically of Quaternary age (less than 2.6 million years old). These geologically recent unconsolidated sediments may include stream channel and floodplain deposits, beach ...

of the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Paleogene periods. In the southeast along the Don River between the cities of Boguchar and Pavlovsk (both in Voronezh Oblast) the crystalline layers come to the surface. On all sides of the upland the

deposits descend far below the sedimentary layers. A small part of the upland in the northwest was covered with a glacier during the Dnieper glaciation. Today almost all of the upland is covered with

loess Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits. Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...

and loessial

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

References

External links

Central Upland
at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Plateaus of Russia Plateaus of Ukraine East European Plain Geography of Sumy Oblast Geography of Kharkiv Oblast Geography of Luhansk Oblast Landforms of Kursk Oblast Landforms of Belgorod Oblast Landforms of Bryansk Oblast Landforms of Voronezh Oblast Landforms of Rostov Oblast Landforms of Oryol Oblast Geology of European Russia {{South-Russia-geo-stub