Lake Varsh () is a freshwater lake, shared by

Mezensky District Mezensky District () is an administrative district (raion), one of the administrative divisions of Arkhangelsk Oblast, twenty-one in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia.Law #65-5-OZ As a subdivisions of Russia#Municipal divisions, municipal division, it is ...

Arkhangelsk Oblast Arkhangelsk Oblast ( rus, Архангельская область, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲskəjə ˈobɫəsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It includes the Arctic Ocean, Arctic archipelagos of Franz ...

and the

Nenets Autonomous Okrug The Nenets Autonomous Okrug (; ) also known as Nenetsia ( ) is a federal subject of Russia and an autonomous okrug of Arkhangelsk Oblast. Its administrative center is the town of Naryan-Mar. It has an area of and a population of 42,090 ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, just below the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

. It is one of the biggest lakes in Arkhangelsk Oblast and the biggest one in Mezensky District. The area of the lake is , and the area of its basin is . Lake Varsh is the biggest of the system of glacial lakes at the border between Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug at the western edge of the Timan Ridge. The system also includes

Lake Pocha A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

(which drains into Lake Varsh via the Pochviska), Lake Bormat and Lake Zhadobo (which both drain into Lake Varsh), Lake Koras and Lake Atyozero (both drain into the Varchushka) and others. The whole system of the lakes drains into the Varchushka River, a right tributary of the Pyoza, and thus belongs to the drainage basin of the Mezen and the basin of the

White Sea The White Sea (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; ) is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the nort ...

. The lake consists of two round bays (one on the northern side, another on the southern side) of approximately the same area, connected in the middle by a straight; the border between Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug crosses the southern bay west to east, so that the major part of the lake belongs to the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Lake Varsh is surrounded by coniferous forest (

taiga Taiga or tayga ( ; , ), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. In North A ...

), almost all of the shore is occupied by

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s. The lake and immediate vicinities of the lake are not populated, The nearest settlement is the village of Safonovo on the Pyoza, several dozens kilometers south-west from the lake. Lake Varsh is popular for fishing.

References

{{reflist Varsh Bodies of water of Nenets Autonomous Okrug LVarsh