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| Continent | Europe andAsia |
|---|---|
| Region | Eastern Europe (European Russia) Northern Asia (Siberia) |
| Coordinates | 60°00′N100°00′E / 60.000°N 100.000°E /60.000; 100.000 |
| Area | |
| • Land | 95.78% |
| • Water | 4.22% |
| Coastline | 37,654 km (23,397 mi) |
| Borders | Poland 204.1 km (126.8 mi) Lithuania 266 km (165 mi) |
| Highest point | Mount Elbrus 5,642 m (18,510 ft) |
| Lowest point | Caspian Sea, −28 m (−92 ft) |
| Longest river | Yenisei–Angara–Selenge, 5,539 km (3,442 mi) |
| Largest lake | Lake Baikal 31,722 km2 (12,248 sq mi) |
| Climate | European Russia and Siberia: mostly cool climate Extreme north: tundra Extreme southeast: temperate continental |
| Terrain | Most of Russia consists of two plains (the East European Plain and the West Siberian Plain), two lowlands (the North Siberian and the Kolyma, in far northeastern Siberia), two plateaus (the Central Siberian Plateau and the Lena Plateau to its east), and a series of mountainous areas mainly concentrated in the extreme northeast or extending intermittently along the southern border. |
| Natural resources | Oil, gas, coal, timber, metals, diamonds, copper, lead, zinc, bauxite, nickel, tin, mercury, gold, silver, platinum, titanium, manganese, potash, uranium, cobalt, molybdenum, tungsten, aluminum, polymetals, chromium, phosphates, apatites, talc, asbestos, mica, salt, amber, precious and semiprecious stones, sand, clay, limestone, marble, granite, iron ore, arable land, tobacco, tea, citrus fruit, hydroelectricity, fresh water, fruits, and vegetables. |
| Natural hazards | Earthquakes, landslides, storms, hurricanes, forest fires, and floods. |
| Environmental issues | Deforestation, energy irresponsibility,pollution, and nuclear waste. |
| Exclusive economic zone | 7,566,673 km2 (2,921,509 sq mi) |
Russia (Russian:Россия) is the largestcountry in the world, covering over 17,125,191 km2 (6,612,073 sq mi),encompassing more than one-eighth of Earth's inhabited land area (excludes Antarctica).Russia extends acrosseleven time zones, and has themost borders of any country in the world, withsixteen sovereign nations.[b]
Russia is atranscontinental country, stretching vastly over two continents,Europe andAsia.[1] It spans the northernmost edge ofEurasia, and has the world'sfourth-longest coastline, at 37,653 km (23,396 mi).[c][3]Russia, alongsideCanada and the United States, is one of only threecountries with a coast along three oceans (however connection to the Atlantic Ocean is extremely remote),[1] due to which it has links with over thirteen marginal seas.[d][4] It lies between latitudes41° and82° N, and longitudes19° E and169° W. Russia is larger than three continents of the world[e] and has about the same surface area asPluto.[6] Russia encompasses, by far, the largest forest area of any country in the world.[7]
_(Russia_centered).svg)
Kaliningrad Oblast, westernmost part ofRussia along theBaltic Sea, is about 9,000 km (5,600 mi) apart from its easternmost part,Big Diomede Island in theBering Strait.[4] From north to south, the country ranges from the northern tip of theRussian Arctic islands atFranz Josef Land to the southern tip of theRepublic of Dagestan on theCaspian Sea, spanning about 4,500 kilometres (2,800 mi) of extremely varied, often inhospitable terrain.
Extending for 57,792 kilometres (35,910 mi), the Russianborder is the world's longest. Along the 20,139-kilometre (12,514 mi) land frontier,Russia has boundaries with 14 countries:Poland andLithuania (both viaKaliningrad Oblast),Norway,Finland,Estonia,Latvia,Belarus,Ukraine,Georgia,Azerbaijan,Kazakhstan,China,Mongolia, andNorth Korea.
Approximately two-thirds of the frontier is bounded by seawater. Virtually all of the lengthy northern coast is well above theArctic Circle; except for the port ofMurmansk—which receives currents that are somewhat warmer than would be expected at that latitude, due to the effects of theGulf Stream—that coast is locked in ice much of the year. Thirteen seas and parts of two oceans—theArctic andPacific—wash Russian shores. It is separated by close sea, making it amaritime boundary. It also shares one withJapan.
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With a few changes of status, most of the Soviet Union's administrative and territorial divisions of the Russian Republic were retained in constituting the Russian Federation. As of 2014, there were eighty-five administrative territorial divisions (calledfederal subjects): twenty-tworepublics, ninekrais (territories), forty-sixoblasts (provinces), oneautonomous oblast, four autonomousokrugs, and threecities with federal status, namely the cities ofMoscow,Saint Petersburg, andSevastopol.[8]
The republics include a wide variety of peoples, including northernEuropeans,Tatars,Caucasus peoples, and indigenousSiberians. Thelargest federal subjects are in Siberia. Located in east-central Siberia, theSakha Republic (Yakutia) is the largest federal subject in the country (and thelargest country subdivision in the world), twice the size of Alaska. Second in size isKrasnoyarsk Krai, located west of Sakha in Siberia.Kaliningrad Oblast, which is a noncontiguous constituent entity of Russia, is the smallest oblast. This is both the smallest republic and the smallest federal subject of Russia except for the three federal cities. The twomost populous federal subjects,Moscow Oblast (with Moscow) andKrasnodar Krai, are in European Russia.
Russia had a population of 141.18 million according to the2010 census,[9] which rose to 146.2 million as of 2021 following theannexation of Crimea in 2014.[10][non-primary source needed] It is themost populous country in Europe, and theninth-most populous country in the world; with apopulation density of 9 inhabitants per square kilometre (23 inhabitants/sq mi).[11]
Russia is one of the world'smost urbanized countries, with roughly 75% of its total population living in urban areas.[12]Moscow, thecapital and largest city, has a population estimated at 12.4 million residents within the city limits,[13] while over 17 million residents in the urban area,[14] and over 20 million residents in themetropolitan area.[15] Moscow is among theworld's largest cities, being themost populous city entirely withinEurope, themost populous urban area in Europe,[14] themost populous metropolitan area in Europe,[15] and also the largest city by land area on the European continent.[16]Saint Petersburg, the cultural capital, is the second-largest city, with a population of roughly 5.4 million inhabitants.[17] Other major urban areas areYekaterinburg,Novosibirsk,Kazan,Nizhny Novgorod, andChelyabinsk.
— from 10 000 000 people
— from 2 000 000 to 6 000 000 people
— from 1 000 000 to 2 000 000 people
— from 600 000 to 1 000 000 people
| Rank | Name | Federal subject | Pop. | Rank | Name | Federal subject | Pop. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moscow | Moscow | 13,274,285 | 11 | Samara | Samara Oblast | 1,154,223 | ||
| 2 | Saint Petersburg | Saint Petersburg | 5,652,922 | 12 | Rostov-on-Don | Rostov Oblast | 1,143,123 | ||
| 3 | Novosibirsk | Novosibirsk Oblast | 1,637,266 | 13 | Omsk | Omsk Oblast | 1,101,367 | ||
| 4 | Yekaterinburg | Sverdlovsk Oblast | 1,548,187 | 14 | Voronezh | Voronezh Oblast | 1,041,722 | ||
| 5 | Kazan | Tatarstan | 1,329,825 | 15 | Perm | Perm Krai | 1,027,518 | ||
| 6 | Krasnoyarsk | Krasnoyarsk Krai | 1,211,756 | 16 | Volgograd | Volgograd Oblast | 1,012,219 | ||
| 7 | Nizhny Novgorod | Nizhny Novgorod Oblast | 1,198,245 | 17 | Saratov | Saratov Oblast | 886,165 | ||
| 8 | Chelyabinsk | Chelyabinsk Oblast | 1,176,770 | 18 | Tyumen | Tyumen Oblast | 872,077 | ||
| 9 | Ufa | Bashkortostan | 1,166,098 | 19 | Tolyatti | Samara Oblast | 662,683 | ||
| 10 | Krasnodar | Krasnodar Krai | 1,154,885 | 20 | Makhachkala | Dagestan | 625,322 | ||
Geographers traditionally divide the vast territory of Russia into five natural zones: thetundra zone; theTaiga, or forest, zone; thesteppe, or plains, zone; thearid zone; and themountain zone. Most of Russia consists of twoplains (theEast European Plain and theWest Siberian Plain), threelowlands (theNorth Siberian, theCentral Yakutian and theEast Siberian), twoplateaus (theCentral Siberian Plateau and theLena Plateau), and two systems of mountainous areas (theEast Siberian Mountains in far northeastern Siberia and theSouth Siberian Mountains along the southern border).
TheEast European Plain encompasses most ofEuropean Russia. TheWest Siberian Plain, which is the world's largest, extends east from theUrals to theYenisei River. Because the terrain and vegetation are relatively uniform in each of the natural zones, Russia presents an illusion of uniformity. Nevertheless, Russian territory contains all the major vegetation zones of the world except atropical rain forest.
The Russian Arctic stretches for close to 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) west to east, fromKarelia and theKola Peninsula toNenetsia, theGulf of Ob, theTaymyr Peninsula and theChukchi Peninsula (Kolyma,Anadyr River,Cape Dezhnev). Russian islands and archipelagos in theArctic Sea includeNovaya Zemlya,Severnaya Zemlya, and theNew Siberian Islands.
About 10 percent of Russia istundra[20]—a treeless, marshy plain. The tundra is Russia's northernmost zone, stretching from the Finnish border in the west to theBering Strait in the east, then running south along the Pacific coast to the northernKamchatka Peninsula. The zone is known for its herds of wildreindeer, for so-calledwhite nights (dusk at midnight, dawn shortly thereafter) in summer, and for days of total darkness in winter. The long, harsh winters and lack of sunshine allow onlymosses,lichens, anddwarf willows and shrubs to sprout low above the barrenpermafrost. Although several powerful Siberian rivers traverse this zone as they flow northward to the Arctic Ocean, partial and intermittent thawing hamper drainage of the numerous lakes, ponds, and swamps of the tundra. Frost weathering is the most important physical process here, gradually shaping a landscape that was severely modified byglaciation in thelast ice age. Less than one percent of Russia's population lives in this zone. The fishing and port industries of the northwestern Kola Peninsula and the hugeoil andgas fields of northwestern Siberia are the largest employers in the tundra. With a population of 180,000, the industrial frontier city ofNorilsk is third in population toMurmansk andArkhangelsk among Russia's settlements above the Arctic Circle. From here you can also see the auroras (northern lights).
Taiga, the most extensive natural area of Russia, stretches from the western borders of Russia to the Pacific. It occupies the territory of the Eastern Europe and West Siberian plains to the north of ° N and most of the territory east ofYenisei River taiga forests reach the southern borders of Russia in Siberia taiga only accounts for over 60% of Russia. In the north–south direction the eastern taiga is divided (east of the Yenisei River), with a continental climate, and west, with a milder climate, in general, the climate zone is moist, moderately warm (cool in the north) in the summer and harsh winter, there is a steadysnow cover in the winter. In the latitudinal direction, the taiga is divided into three subzones - northern, middle and southern taiga. In the western taiga dense spruce andfir forests on wetlands alternate withpine forests, shrubs, and meadows on the lighter soils. Such vegetation is typical of the eastern taiga, but it plays an important role not fir and larch. Coniferous forest, however, does not form a continuous array and sparse areas of birch,alder,willow (mainly in river valleys), the wetlands - marshes. Within the taiga are widespread fur-bearing animals -sable,marten,ermine,moose,brown bear,Wolverine,wolf, andmuskrat.[21]
In the taiga is dominated bypodzolic and cryogenic taiga soils, characterized by clearly defined horizontal structure (only in the southern taiga there is sod-podzolic soil). Formed in a leaching regime and in poorhumus. Groundwater is normally found in the forest close to the surface, washingcalcium from the upper layers, resulting in the top layer of soil of the taiga being discolored and oxidized. Few areas of the taiga, suitable for farming, are located mainly in the European part of Russia. Large areas are occupied bysphagnum marshes (here is dominated by podzolic-boggy soil). To enrich the soil for agricultural purposeslime and otherfertilizers should be used.
Russian Taiga has the world's largest reserves of coniferous wood, but from year to year - as a result of intensive logging - they decrease. Development of hunting, farming (mainly in river valleys).
The mixed anddeciduous forest belt is triangular, widest along the western border and narrower towards theUral Mountains. The main trees areoak andspruce, but many other growths of vegetation such asash,aspen,birch,hornbeam,maple, andpine reside there. Separating the taiga from the wooded steppe is a narrow belt of birch and aspen woodland located east of the Urals as far as theAltay Mountains. Much of the forested zone has been cleared foragriculture, especially inEuropean Russia. Wildlife is more scarce as a result of this, but theroe deer,wolf,fox, andsquirrel are very common.
Thesteppe has long been depicted as the typical Russian landscape. It is a broad band of treeless, grassy plains, interrupted by mountain ranges, extending fromHungary acrossUkraine, southern Russia, andKazakhstan before ending inManchuria. In a country of extremes, the steppe zone provides the most favorable conditions for human settlement and agriculture because of its moderate temperatures and normally adequate levels of sunshine and moisture. Even here, however, agricultural yields are sometimes adversely affected by unpredictable levels ofprecipitation and occasional catastrophicdroughts. The soil is very dry.
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Russia's mountain ranges are located principally along its continental dip (the Ural Mountains), along the southwestern border (theCaucasus), along the border withMongolia (the eastern and westernSayan Mountains and the western extremity of theAltay Mountains), and in eastern Siberia (a complex system of ranges in the northeastern corner of the country and forming the spine of theKamchatka Peninsula, and lesser mountains extending along theSea of Okhotsk and theSea of Japan). Russia has nine major mountain ranges. In general, the eastern half of the country is much more mountainous than the western half, the interior of which is dominated by low plains. The traditional dividing line between the east and the west is theYenisei River valley. In delineating the western edge of theCentral Siberian Plateau from the West Siberian Plain, the Yenisey runs from near the Mongolian border northward into the Arctic Ocean west of theTaymyr Peninsula.
TheUral Mountains form the natural boundary betweenEurope andAsia; the range extends about 2,100 kilometres (1,300 mi) from theArctic Ocean to the northern border ofKazakhstan. Several low passes provide major transportation routes through the Urals eastward from Europe. The highest peak,Mount Narodnaya, is 1,894 metres (6,214 ft). The Urals also contain valuable deposits of minerals.
To the east of the Urals is theWest Siberian Plain, stretching about 1,900 kilometres (1,200 mi) from west to east and about 2,400 kilometres (1,500 mi) from north to south. With more than half its territory below 200 metres (660 ft) in elevation, the plain contains some of the world's largestswamps andfloodplains. The plain is largely flat and featureless. The only slightly elevated areas are theSiberian Uvaly across the central part and theOb Plateau in the south.[22] There are steppe areas in the southern part reaching into Kazakhstan, such as theIshim Steppe with theKamyshlov Log trench. Most of the plain's population lives in the drier section south of 77 degrees northlatitude.
The region directly east of the West Siberian Plain is theCentral Siberian Plateau, which extends eastward from the Yenisei River valley to theLena River valley. The region is divided into severalplateaus, with elevations ranging between 320 and 740 metres (1,050 and 2,430 ft); the highest elevation is about 1,800 metres (5,900 ft), in the northernPutoran Mountains. The plain is bounded on the south by thePrimorsky Range and theBaikal Mountains, and on the north by the North Siberian Lowland, an extension of the West Siberian Plain extending into the Taymyr Peninsula on the Arctic Ocean.
In the mountain system west ofLake Baikal in south-central Siberia, the highest elevations are 3,300 metres (10,800 ft) in the WesternSayan, 3,200 metres (10,500 ft) in the Eastern Sayan, and 4,500 metres (14,800 ft) atBelukha Mountain in theAltay Mountains. The Eastern Sayan reach nearly to the southern shore ofLake Baikal; at the lake, there is an elevation difference of more than 4,500 metres (14,800 ft) between the nearest mountain, 2,840 metres (9,320 ft) high, and the deepest part of the lake, which is 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) below sea level. The mountain systems east of Lake Baikal are lower, forming a complex of minor ranges and valleys that reaches from the lake to the Pacific coast. The maximum height of theStanovoy Range, which runs west to east from northern Lake Baikal to the Sea of Okhotsk, is 2,550 metres (8,370 ft). To the south of that range is southeastern Siberia, whose mountains reach 800 metres (2,600 ft). Across theStrait of Tartary from that region isSakhalin Island, Russia's largest island, where the highest elevation is about 1,700 metres (5,600 ft). The smallMoneron Island, the site of the shootdown ofKorean Air Lines Flight 007, is found to its west.
Truly alpine terrain appears in the southern mountain ranges. Between the Black and Caspian seas, theCaucasus Mountains rise to impressive heights, forming a boundary between Europe and Asia. One of the peaks,Mount Elbrus, is the highest point in Europe, at 5,642 metres (18,510 ft). The geological structure of the Caucasus extends to the northwest as theCrimean andCarpathian Mountains and southeastward intoCentral Asia as theTian Shan andPamirs. The Caucasus Mountains create an imposing natural barrier between Russia and its neighbors to the southwest,Georgia andAzerbaijan.
Northeastern Siberia, north of the Stanovoy Range, is an extremely mountainous region. The longKamchatka Peninsula, which juts southward into the Sea of Okhotsk, includes manyvolcanic peaks, some of which are still active. The highest is the 4,750-metre (15,580 ft)Klyuchevskaya Sopka, the highest point in theRussian Far East. The volcanic chain continues from the southern tip of Kamchatka southward through theKuril Islands chain and intoJapan. Kamchatka also is one of Russia's two centers of seismic activity (the other is the Caucasus). In 1995, a major earthquake largely destroyed the oil-processing town ofNeftegorsk. Also located in this region is the very largeBeyenchime-Salaatin crater.
Russia, home to over 100,000 rivers,[1] is divided intotwenty watershed districts. It has one of the world's largest surface water resources, with its lakes containing approximately one-quarter of the world's liquidfresh water.[23] Russia is second only toBrazil bytotal renewable water resources.[24]
Forty of Russia's rivers longer than 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) are east of the Ural Mountains, including the three major rivers that drain Siberia as they flow northward to the Arctic Ocean: theIrtysh-Ob system (totaling 5,380 kilometres or 3,340 miles), theYenisey (5,075 kilometres or 3,153 miles), and theLena (4,294 kilometres or 2,668 miles), they are among theworld's longest rivers.[25] The basins of those river systems cover about eight million square kilometres (3.1 million square miles), discharging nearly 50,000 cubic meters of water per second (1.8 million cu ft/s) into the Arctic Ocean. The northward flow of these rivers means that source areas thaw before the areas downstream, creating vast swamps such as the 48,000-square-kilometre (19,000 sq mi)Vasyugan Swamp in the center of the West Siberian Plain. The same is true of other river systems, including thePechora and theNorthern Dvina in western Russia, and theKolyma and theIndigirka in Siberia. Approximately 10 percent of Russian territory is classified as swampland.
Russia's inland bodies of water are chiefly a legacy of extensiveglaciation.Ladoga andOnega in northwestern Russia are two of thelargest lakes in Europe.[1] However,Lake Baikal is the largest and most prominent among Russia's fresh water bodies, is the world's deepest, purest, oldest and most capacious fresh water lake, containing over one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water.[26] Numerous smaller lakes dot northern Russia and Siberian plains. The largest of these are lakesBelozero,Topozero,Vygozero, andIlmen in the country's northwest andLake Chany in southwestern Siberia.
A number of other rivers drain Siberia from eastern mountain ranges into thePacific Ocean. TheAmur River and its main tributary, theUssuri, form a long stretch of the winding boundary between Russia and China. The Amur system drains most of southeastern Siberia. Three basins drain European Russia. TheDnieper, which flows mainly through Belarus and Ukraine, has its headwaters in the hills west of Moscow. The 1,860-kilometre (1,160 mi)Don, which is the fifth-longest river in Europe, originates in theCentral Russian Upland south of Moscow and then flows into theSea of Azov atRostov-on-Don. TheVolga, widely seen as Russia's national river due to its historical and cultural importance, is thelongest river in Europe,[25] it rises in theValdai Hills west of Moscow and meandering southeastward for 3,510 kilometres (2,180 mi) before emptying into theCaspian Sea. Altogether, the Volga system drains about 1.4 million square kilometres (540,000 sq mi). Linked by several canals, western Russia's rivers long have been a vital transportation system; the Volga remains the country's most commercial river, and carries about two-thirds of Russia's inland water traffic.
One billion acres of land is arable in Russia, but only about 0.1 percent is permanent agriculture. The landscapes of region have extremely varied environments because of the following:
The workforce involved in agriculture workforce was reported to be about 9.4% of the population in 2016.[27]
The main export of Russia is grain, which is about 6% of the world trade. Other exported products include fish and oil with 3%, meals with 2%, and meat which accounts for less than 1%.[28]
Agriculture has always been important for Russia. The land was worked by its peasant class.[29]
The sheer size of Russia and the remoteness of many areas from the sea result in the dominance of thehumid continental climate, which is prevalent in all parts of the country except for the tundra and the extreme southwest. Mountains in the south and east obstruct the flow of warm air masses from theIndian and Pacific oceans, while the plain of the west and north makes the country open to Arctic and Atlantic influences.Most ofNorthwest Russia and Siberia has asubarctic climate, with extremely severe winters in the inner regions of Northeast Siberia (mostlySakha, where the NorthernPole of Cold is located with the record low temperature of −71.2 °C or −96.2 °F),[31] and more moderate winters elsewhere. Russia's vast stretch of land along the Arctic Ocean and theRussian Arctic islands have apolar climate.[32]
The coastal part ofKrasnodar Krai on the Black Sea, most notablySochi, and some coastal and interior strips of theNorth Caucasus possess ahumid subtropical climate with mild and wet winters. In many regions of East Siberia and the Russian Far East, winter is dry compared to summer; while other parts of the country experience more even precipitation across seasons. Winter precipitation in most parts of the country usually falls as snow. The westernmost parts of Kaliningrad Oblast on theVistula Spit, and some parts in the south of Krasnodar Krai and the North Caucasus have anoceanic climate. The region along the Lower Volga and Caspian Sea coast, as well as some southernmost silvers of Siberia, possess asemi-arid climate and anarid climate.[30]
Throughout much of the territory, there are only two distinct seasons—winter and summer—as spring and autumn are usually brief periods of change between extremely low and extremely high temperatures.[32] The coldest month is January (February on the coastline); the warmest is usually July. Great ranges of temperature are typical. In winter, temperatures get colder both from south to north and from west to east. Summers can be quite hot, even in Siberia.[33]
Area (excluding Crimea):
Area - comparative:
Slightly larger than twice the size ofBrazil
Land boundaries:
Kaliningrad forms the westernmost part of Russia, having no land connection to the rest of the country. It is bounded by Poland, Lithuania, and the Baltic Sea.
Crimea, a peninsula on the Black Sea, is claimed and de facto administered by the Russian Federation since Russiaoccupied andannexed it from neighboringUkraine in March 2014. It is recognized as a territory of Ukraine by most of the international community.
Border countries:
| Country | Length | |
|---|---|---|
| km | mi | |
| Norway | 195.8 | 121.7 |
| Finland | 1,271.8 | 790.3 |
| Estonia | 138 | 86 |
| Latvia | 270.5 | 168.1 |
| Lithuania | 266 | 165 |
| Poland | 204.1 | 126.8 |
| Belarus | 1,239 | 770 |
| Ukraine | 1,925.8 | 1,196.6 |
| Georgia | 875.5 | 544.0 |
| Azerbaijan | 372.6 | 231.5 |
| Kazakhstan | 7,512.8 | 4,668.2 |
| Mongolia | 3,485 | 2,165 |
| China | 4,209.3 | 2,615.5 |
| North Korea | 17 | 11 |
| Japan | water | |
| US | water | |
| Country | Length | |
|---|---|---|
| km | mi | |
| Abkhazia | 255.4 | 158.7 |
| South Ossetia | 70 | 43 |
| remaining border with Georgia | 365 | 227 |
Coastline excluding Crimea: 37,653 km (23,396 mi)
Maritime claims:
Elevation extremes:
Russia holds the greatest reserves of mineral resources of any country in the world. Though they are abundant, they are in remote areas with extreme climates, making them expensive to mine. The country is the most abundant in mineral fuels. It may hold as much as half of the world'scoal reserves and even larger reserves ofpetroleum. Deposits of coal are scattered throughout the region, but the largest are located in central and easternSiberia. The most developed fields lie in western Siberia, in the northeastern European region, in the area aroundMoscow, and in theUrals. The major petroleum deposits are located in western Siberia and in the Volga-Urals. Smaller deposits are found throughout the country.Natural gas, a resource of which Russia holds around forty percent of the world's reserves, can be found along Siberia'sArctic coast, in theNorth Caucasus, and in northwestern Russia. Majoriron-ore deposits are located south of Moscow, near theUkrainian border in theKursk Magnetic Anomaly; this area contains vast deposits of iron ore that have caused a deviation in the Earth's magnetic field. There are smaller deposits in other parts of the country. The Ural mountains hold small deposits ofmanganese.nickel,tungsten,cobalt,molybdenum and other iron alloying elements occur in adequate quantities.
Russia also contains most of the nonferrous metals.Aluminium ores are scarce and are found primarily in the Ural region, northwestern European Russia, and south-central Siberia.Copper is more abundant and major reserves are located in the Urals, theNorilsk area near the mouth of theYenisey in eastern Siberia, and theKola Peninsula. Another vast deposit located east ofLake Baikal only became exploited when theBaikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) railroad was finished in 1989.
The North Caucasus, far eastern Russia, and the western edge of theKuznetsk Basin in southern Siberia contain an abundance oflead andzinc ores. These are commonly found along with copper,gold,silver, and a large amount of other rare metals. The country has one of the largest gold reserves in the world; mostly in Siberia and the Urals.Mercury deposits can be found in the central and southern Urals and in south-central Siberia.
Raw materials are abundant as well, includingpotassium andmagnesiumsalt deposits in theKama River region of the western Urals. Russia also contains one of the world's largest deposits ofapatite found in the central Kola Peninsula. Rock salt is located in the southwestern Urals and the southwest of Lake Baikal. Surface deposits of salt are found in salt lakes along the lower Volga Valley.Sulfur can be found in the Urals and the middle Volga Valley.
Eight percent of the land is used forarable farming, four percent—for permanentpastures, forty-six percent of the land is forests and woodland, and forty-two percent is used for other purposes.
A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 1,002 km2 (387 sq mi) of tidal flats in Russia, making it the 33rd ranked country in terms of tidal flat area.[36]
Volcanic activity in theKuril Islands and volcanoes and earthquakes on theKamchatka Peninsula are other natural hazards.
Russia also shares borders with the twopartially recognized breakaway states ofSouth Ossetia andAbkhazia.
Like many lakes, it does not feed into an ocean, but it is sea-like in its size and depth.
Russia takes up 17,098,250 square kilometres, roughly one-eighth of the world's total land mass. That's larger than the entire continent of Antarctica...
Pluto's diameter is larger than expected at 2,370 kilometres across. This is about two-thirds the size of Earth's moon, giving Pluto a surface area comparable to Russia.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. Russia: A Country Study.Federal Research Division. This article incorporatespublic domain material fromThe World Factbook.CIA.
