Geography of the Voronezh region

Voronezh region is located in the central part of the East European Plain and covers an area of ​​52.2 thousand km² ^[1] . It borders with the Tambov, Saratov, Volgograd, Rostov, Belgorod, Kursk and Lipetsk regions, as well as with Ukraine.

The relief of the Voronezh region is formed by the following large structures: Central Russian and Kalach uplands, experiencing uplift and the Oka-Don lowland plain , for which the lowering processes predominate. The southern part of the Central Russian Upland occupies the west of the region. It has heights of 220-260 m. The Central Russian Upland is covered by a dense ravine-girder network. The high right bank of the Don is composed of Cretaceous deposits and bears the name of the Don Belogorye.

In the southeast of the region there is the Kalach Upland with a height of up to 234 m. On the Central Russian and Kalach Uplands, the position of the basal and summit leveling surfaces varies greatly. This causes intense geodynamic processes leading to a strong disintegration of the territory. The Oksko-Don plain occupies the northeast of the region, with the highest altitude of 178 m, the base and summit erosion are more close, therefore, exogenous relief formation processes are weak. Ravines, karst and suffusion phenomena are widespread in the region ^[2] .

The Dnieper glaciation was an important stage in the formation of the modern relief of the region. Thickness of ice covered most of the Voronezh region, and permafrost and solifluction processes took place outside the glacier. However, the glacial relief is poorly preserved.

Voronezh region is located in the central part of the East European platform , in the southeast of the Voronezh anteclise . The platform consists of a crystalline basement and sedimentary cover . The foundation is composed of granites and gneisses of Archean and Proterozoic age. It comes to the surface in the Don valley near the cities of Boguchar and Pavlovsk. Precambrian deposits were also discovered by the Pavlovsky granite quarry.

The sedimentary cover is composed of sediments of the Paleozoic , Mesozoic and Cenozoic age. During the Paleozoic era, the sea occupied the territory of the modern Voronezh region in the Devonian and Carboniferous periods. In the Early Paleozoic, continental conditions prevailed with a predominance of surface denudation. Devonian deposits are widely developed throughout the region and are represented by clays, sands, limestones formed in the sea and river deltas. Carboniferous deposits are sands, sandstones, limestones of the shallow sea, as well as carbonaceous, clay and sand deposits of plains and shallow lagoons. Earlier, coal deposits covered almost the entire territory of the region, but were destroyed in Permian time.

The sediments of the Mesozoic era are represented by Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks. In the Jurassic period, sands and clays of alluvial and lake-bog origin accumulated. In the region they were preserved in the Ostrogozhsky and Repyevsky regions. Cretaceous rocks are of great power and widespread. In the lower tiers, these are sands, clays, siltstones, accumulating in the conditions of floodplains of rivers, deltas and shallow waters. Above, they are replaced by white writing chalk, which was deposited in the warm sea.

Deposits of the Cenozoic era are widespread in the Voronezh region. During the Paleogene, the sea repeatedly stepped on the southern part of the Voronezh region. Clays, sands, phosphorites, marls accumulated. In Neogene, the climate became drier and cooler. A huge river flowing through the territory of the region to the south formed the Oka-Don alluvial plain. Neogene deposits are represented by sand and clay.

In the Quaternary period , the modern appearance of the region was formed. River valleys of the Don, Khopra, Voronezh and other rivers were formed. During the Quaternary, glacial and interglacial epochs alternated. For the Voronezh region, the most significant was the Don glaciation, which did not cover only the south of the region. Quaternary sediments are river, glacial, and water-glacial rocks: sands, clays, and mineral pigments.

Minerals of the crystalline basement.

Deposits of thorium, uranium, polymetals, cobalt, nickel, copper, gold, platinum group metals, mercury, tellurium, silver, molybdenum, tungsten, gallium, germanium, graphite, fluorite were identified in the crystalline basement of the Voronezh region by geological and geophysical studies and boreholes. , precious and ornamental stones.

The Shkurlatovsky granite deposit, located 15 km southeast of the city of Pavlovsk, was discovered by a quarry operating since 1976. An open-pit mining and processing plant produces high-quality building materials: crushed stone of various fractions and screenings in a total amount of up to 8 million m³ per year.

Minerals sedimentary cover.

Among sediments of the Devonian period, gemstone raw materials are found: crystals of white quartzite, brown sphalerite, and barite. In the region there are deposits of refractory clays, kaolin raw materials, bentonite and ceramic clays, clay ocher. The Voronezh region is especially rich in carbonate raw materials - white writing chalk , which is mined in seven quarries. Numerous quarries for the extraction of building sand. Siliceous rock and phosphorite deposits are also known. In the sedimentary cover there are manifestations of gold, diamonds, intermetallic compounds.

Voronezh region is between 52˚ and 49˚ s. w. in the temperate climate zone. Summer is relatively hot, and winter is moderately cold. Continental climate increases from northwest to southeast ^[3] . Almost the entire year, the territory of the Voronezh region is dominated by western transport and moderate air mass. Climate formation is influenced by moderate, arctic and tropical air masses. The average annual air temperature is about 5 ° C. The average July temperature is about 20.5 ° C. The average January temperature is about −9.4 ° C. The annual temperature amplitude increases to the east of the region, reflecting the increase in climate continentality. The absolute minimum is −42˚С, the absolute maximum + 43˚С. The frost-free period lasts from 142-157 days in the north to 155-168 days in the south of the region. Freezing is possible in all warm months except July. Relative humidity varies markedly throughout the year. So in May-June it is 41-47%, and in winter - 80-85%. The average annual rainfall varies from northwest to southeast from 550 to 450 mm. A little more precipitation falls on the windward slopes of the hills, over large forests, settlements. Maximum precipitation occurs in July, and a minimum in February. In the Voronezh region, winds with a western component prevail. The average annual wind speed is 3.3-5.2 m / s. Stronger winds are characteristic of winter, with an average of 6.2 m / s.

The weather regime of the Voronezh region is rather unstable. In winter, thaws occur, which are often replaced by frost. In winter, westerly winds prevail. Often there is an invasion of air masses from Western Siberia and the Arctic. In summer, the wind often changes from southeast to northwest. At the same time, August is the “quietest” month of the year with a wind speed of 2.7 to 4 m / s. Summer in the Voronezh region is often hot. Droughts are frequent: 2-3 years for 10 years. During droughts, there are frequent dry winds , with which up to 40 days occur during the warm period. In the fall, usually frost begins in October, then the first snow can also fall. Stable snow cover falls in December, but there are years when it was established in January-February. Moreover, occasionally in the south of the region stable snow cover does not form at all. In spring, snow cover usually disappears by the end of March. This process takes place very intensively, taking 2-3 weeks, and in some years all the snow can melt in just a week.

The waters of the Voronezh region are rivers, lakes, ponds, reservoirs, swamps and groundwater. Voronezh region is located in a zone with insufficient moisture. In addition, the water content of the region decreases, and many small rivers over the past half century have turned into dry lands. There are 829 rivers in the region. Most of them belong to the Don basin. Snow food predominates, rain and underground are less important. Spring flood is pronounced and lasts from one to two months. Rivers are opened from ice in late March - early April. Ice drift lasts from 1 to 10 days. Don is the main river of the region. According to the catchment area among European rivers, it is in fourth place. Its width on the territory of the Voronezh region is between 50-80 m low water. Depth is 3-5 m. Freezing on the Don occurs from the beginning of December, sometimes only in January. Spring flood is very wide. On the territory of the Voronezh region tributaries of the Don flow: Voronezh , Damsel , Potudan , Silent Pine , Ikorets , Bityug , Chernaya Kalitva , Tolucheevka , Khopyor and others.

The lakeiness of the Voronezh region is low. This is primarily the floodplain lakes of the Don , Khopr , Voronezh and Bityug . The Khopra Valley, which has about 200 permanent reservoirs, is of the greatest importance in this indicator. On the watersheds of the Central Russian Upland there are lakes of karst origin. Swamps are even less common. These are swampy areas of the floodplains of the Silent Pine , Ikorets , Khopr , Savala , and Black Kalitva rivers. On the territory of the Voronezh region there are about 2.5 thousand ponds, and the largest artificial reservoir is the Voronezh reservoir . Ponds are regulators of river flow.

Groundwater of the Voronezh region is divided into three structural and geological floors: upper (water is contained in the rocks of the Cenozoic), middle (water is contained in the rocks of the Mesozoic and Paleozoic) and lower (water in the fractured rocks of the crystalline basement). For the needs of water supply, the upper and middle floors are used. The rivers drain primarily the Cretaceous horizons on the Central Russian and Kalach uplands and the Neogene-Quaternary on the Oka-Don plain .

There are about 1300 springs in the Voronezh region . In the city of Voronezh, there are 17 sources. However, the spring water in the city is far from cleanliness standards due to the filtration of ground pollution.

About 80% of the Voronezh region is occupied by chernozems - the most fertile soils of the Earth. These are southern chernozems, common, podzolized, typical, leached, solonetzic and meadow chernozem. Other types of soils are represented by floodplain soils, which also have high fertility, as well as low productivity sandy and saline soils, solonetzes, and solonchaks ^[4] .

The territory of the region is plowed up by 62.7%. By the nature of soils, the territory can be divided into the forest-steppe part with typical, leached, podzolized chernozems and the steppe with southern and ordinary chernozems ^[5] . The soil cover depends on the height of the terrain. On the Oksko-Don Lowland, soil features are associated with a lowland relief. On the Central Russian Upland, a strong rugged terrain enhances the diversity of the soil cover.

The vegetation cover of the Voronezh region is diverse. The territory of the region is divided into the northern forest-steppe part, where grass and meadow steppes and broad-leaved forests, and the southern steppe part, with feather-grass fescue and feather-grass steppes, previously prevailed. At present, when almost the entire territory has been plowed up, agro-cultural landscapes prevail everywhere. Primordial vegetation has been preserved only in agricultural inconveniences and in protected areas, which include: Voronezh and Khopersky reserves, Shipov forest, Tellerman grove, Khrenovsky pine forest and Khrenovsky steppe, Usmansky pine forest, Divnogorye, places of growth of Cretaceous pine forests, Khripunsky steppe, Stone steppe.

About 2000 species of vascular plants, 200 species of bryophytes, 200 species of lichens grow on the territory of the region ^[6] . Those small areas that have not been plowed delight with the diversity of herbs. The Oka-Don plain is characterized by various natural complexes of depressions: lowland bogs, lowland meadows, shrubby depressions, forest depressions.

On the Central Russian Upland, peculiar plant communities are found, including rare and rare plants, these are the Thyme forests (in which the main species is the Cretaceous thyme) and hyssopniks (the main species is the Cretaceous hyssop).

Forests occupy 8.4% of the territory of the Voronezh region. These are oak forests - Shipov Forest and Tellerman Grove, upland oak forests, pine forests on the sandy terraces of Don, Bityug, Khopra, Voronezh. Olshaniki occupy swampy areas of floodplains. Forests from poplar, willow, and aspen also grow in small tracts ^[7] .

Both the steppe and forest natural complexes need protection.

About 70 species of mammals, 290 species of birds, 9 species of reptiles, 10 species of amphibians, 55 species of fish, 1 species of cyclostomes (Ukrainian lamprey) and more than 10,000 species of insects live in the region. Voronezh region is included in 2 zoogeographic zones: forest-steppe and steppe.

About half of the species composition of mammals is animals with a wide zoogeographic range. During the 20th century, the list of mammals was replenished with returned moose, roe deer, red deer, wild boars. The most common species from mammals are:, fox, wild boar, elk, weasel, brown hare, European deer, beaver. An acclimatized raccoon dog is also found. Numerous rodents, bats and insectivores.

The richness of the species of birds of the Voronezh region is determined by the diversity of natural landscapes. The most numerous representatives of the order Passeriformes. This is a finch, flytraps, sticks, nuthatch, blackbirds, sparrows, larks of the warbler, greenfinch, wagtails and many others. Of daytime predators, the following are common: goshawk and sparrow hawk, buzzard, osprey, buzzard, eagle-burial ground, chyglok, kestrel, kobchik, kite. Of the nocturnal predators - eared owls, wading owls, owl, owl. Water birds are diverse: mallard, teal, coot, hench, googol, red-headed duck, goose. Herons live on the water bodies of the region: gray, red, bittern. Occasionally, white herons and white storks are found.

Reptiles are a fast lizard, multi-colored lizard, viviparous lizard, copperfish, steppe and common viper, common, patterned snake, and marsh turtle.

Amphibians are represented by the following species: common garlic, red-bellied toad, common toad, lacustrine, sharp-faced, pond and grass frog, comb and common newt.

In the Don, its tributaries, in lakes and ponds of the region more than 50 species of fish are found. Among them there are quite numerous species: bream, roach, pike, ruff, zander, perch, crucian carp. And there are rare species that need protection: sterlet, Russian sturgeon. Unfortunately, water pollution, violation of the water regime, uncontrolled and illegal fishing cause the impoverishment of the wealth given to us by nature.

Insects of the Voronezh region include species with a wide geographical distribution, northern taiga-forest species and southern species. Among the southern species, beetles characteristic of broad-leaved forests are represented: dead-beetle, stag beetle, celandine, relict lumberjack. Many insects are listed in the Red Book of Russia and the Red Book of the Voronezh region.

On the territory of the Voronezh region there are two reserves: the Voronezh State Natural Biosphere Reserve and the Khopersky State Nature Reserve .

• The nature of the Voronezh region
• Voronezh Land - Black Earth region of Russia
• Official site of the Khopery Reserve
• Official site of the Voronezh Reserve
• Geography of the Voronezh region