Between what meridians and parallels is Crimea located? Geographical location of Crimea. Extreme point in the west of Crimea

Crimea has long been rightfully called the natural pearl of Europe. Here, at the junction of temperate and subtropical latitudes, as if in focus, the characteristic features of their nature are concentrated in miniature: mountains and plains, ancient volcanoes and modern mud hills, seas and lakes, forests and steppes, landscapes of the Black Sea sub-Mediterranean region and the semi-deserts of the Sivash region...

The Crimean Peninsula is located in southern Russia at the latitude of southern France and northern Italy.

His outlines are unique, some see them as a flying bird, others as a bunch of grapes, and still others as a heart.

But each of us, looking at the map, immediately finds in the middle of the blue oval of the sea an irregular quadrangle of a peninsula with a wide protrusion of the Tarkhankut Peninsula in the west and a long, narrower protrusion of the Kerch Peninsula in the east. The Kerch Strait separates the Crimean Peninsula from the Taman Peninsula, the western tip of the Krasnodar Territory.
Crimea, washed on almost all sides by the waters of the Black and Azov Seas, could have been an island if not for the narrow, only 8 kilometers wide, Perekop Isthmus connecting it to the mainland.

The total length of the borders of Crimea– more than 2500 km.

Square– 27 thousand sq. km.

Maximum distance from north to south it is 207 km, from west to east – 324 km.

Extreme points: in the north – the village of Perekop (46°15′ north latitude), in the south – Cape Sarych (44°23′ north latitude), in the east – Cape Fonar (36°40′ east longitude), in the west – Cape Kara-Mrun (32°30′ E long.).

Water Black Sea(area – 421 thousand sq.

sq. km, volume - 537 thousand cubic km) wash Crimea from the west and south. The largest bays are: Karkinitsky, Kalamitsky and Feodosiya.
From the east and northeast, the peninsula is surrounded by the Kerch Strait (width 4-5 km, length 41 km) and Sea of Azov(area - 38 thousand sq. km, volume - 300 cubic km), which forms the Kazantip, Arabat and Sivash bays.

Shorespeninsula strongly indented by numerous bays, coves and bays.

Crimean mountains divided the peninsula into two uneven parts: a large steppe and a smaller mountain one.

They stretch from southwest to northeast from the outskirts of Sevastopol to Feodosia in three almost parallel ridges, separated by longitudinal green valleys. The length of the Crimean Mountains is about 180 km, width – 50 km.

The main ridge is the highest, the most famous mountain peaks are located here: Roman-Kosh - 1545 m, Chatyrdag - 1525 m, Ai-Petri - 1231 m.

The southern slopes facing the sea are steep, while the northern slopes are gentle.

The peaks of the Crimean Mountains are treeless, undulating plateaus called yayls (translated from Turkic as “summer pasture”). Yayls combine the properties of plains and mountains. They are connected by narrow, low ridges along which mountain passes pass. The routes from the steppe part of Crimea to the southern coast have long been located here.

The beginning of the ascent to the Devil's Staircase pass, an ancient road that leads from the forest areas of the mountainous Crimea to the Southern Coast.

The highest yaylas in Crimea: Ai-Petrinskaya (1320 m), Yalta (1406 m), Nikitskaya (1470 m), Gurzufskaya (1540 m).

The limestone surface of the villages was dissolved by rainwater for many centuries; water flows made numerous passages, deep wells, mines, and amazingly beautiful caves in the thickness of the mountains.

The inner ridge of the Crimean Mountains is lower than the Main (the highest point, Mount Kubalach, reaches 739 m). It stretches from the Mekenzi Mountains near Sevastopol to Mount Agarmysh for 125 km.

The outer, or Northern, ridge is even lower - from 150 to 340 m, it is called the foothills.

The rocks from which it is composed lie at an angle: the southern slopes end with steep cliffs, and the northern slopes are gentle, long, and gradually turn into a plain.

Steppe occupies a large territory of Crimea. It represents the southern edge of the East European, or Russian, Plain and decreases slightly to the north. The Kerch Peninsula is divided by the Parpach ridge into two parts: the southwestern - flat and the northeastern - hilly, which is characterized by alternating ring-shaped limestone ridges, gentle depressions, mud hills and coastal lake basins.

However, mud volcanoes have nothing in common with real volcanoes, since they erupt not hot lava, but cold mud.

In the flat part of the peninsula, varieties of southern and carbonate chernozems predominate; dark chestnut and meadow-chestnut soils of dry forests and shrubs, as well as brown mountain-forest and mountain-meadow chernozem-like soils (on yailas), are less common.

More than 52% of the republic’s territory is occupied by arable land, 4.7% by orchards and vineyards.

The remaining lands are predominantly pastures and forests.

Expanses of Crimea

Square forests reaches 340 thousand.

ha. The slopes of the Crimean Mountains are occupied predominantly by oak forests (65% of the area of all forests), beech (14%), hornbeam (8%) and pine (13%).

On the South Coast, in the forests grow relict tall juniper, evergreen small-fruited strawberry, blunt-leaved pistachio, a number of evergreen shrubs - Pontian broom, Crimean cistus, red pyracantha, bush jasmine, etc.

On the peninsula 1657 rivers and temporary drains.

Their total length is 5996 kilometers. However, the vast majority of them are small, almost all watercourses that dry up in the summer. There are only 257 rivers longer than 5 km.

The most significant of the rivers, according to their geographical location, are divided into several groups: rivers of the northern and northeastern slopes of the Crimean Mountains (Salgir, the longest river of the peninsula, - 232 km; Wet Indol - 27 km; Churuksu - 33 km, etc.); rivers of the northwestern slope (Chernaya - 41 km, Belbek - 63 km, Kacha - 69 km, Alma - 84 km, Western Bulganak - 52 km, etc.); rivers of the southern coast of Crimea (Uchan-Su - 8.4 km, Derekoyka - 12 km, Ulu-Uzen - 15 km, Demerdzhi - 14 km, Ulu-Uzen East - 16 km, etc.); small rivers of the plain Crimea and the Kerch Peninsula.

The rivers of the northwestern slopes of the Crimean Mountains flow almost parallel to each other, until the middle of the flow they are typically mountainous.

The rivers of the northern slopes on the plain deviate to the east and flow into the Sivash. The short rivers of the Southern Coast flowing into the Black Sea are typically mountainous throughout their entire length.

The Uchan-Su mountain river runs down to the sea, forming waterfalls in four places.

Crimea. Baydarsky reserve. Kozyrek waterfall during the snowmelt period (left).

One of the tributaries of the Black River during high water (right).

The main source of river nutrition is rainwater - 44-50% of the annual flow; groundwater provides 28-36% and snow nutrition - 13-23%. The average long-term surface and underground flow of Crimea is slightly more than 1 billion cubic meters. water. This is almost three times less than the volume of water supplied annually to the peninsula via the North Crimean Canal. Natural reserves of local waters are used to the limit (73% of reserves are used).

The main surface flow is regulated: several hundred ponds and more than 20 large reservoirs have been built (Simferopol on the Salgir River, Chernorechenskoye on the Chernaya River, Belogorskoye on the Biyuk-Karasu River, etc.).

The North Crimean Canal transports 3.5 billion tons of water annually to the peninsula.

m3 of water, which made it possible to increase the area of irrigated land from 34.5 thousand hectares (1937) to 400 thousand hectares (1994).

In Crimea, mainly along the coasts, there are more than 50 lakes-estuaries with a total area of 5.3 thousand square meters. km used to obtain salts and medicinal mud: Saksky, Sasyk, Donuzlav, Bakal, Staroe, Krasnoe, Aktashskoye, Chokrakskoye, Uzunlarskoye, etc.

Sources:

All about Crimea: Reference and information publication / Under the general.

ed. D.V. Omelchuk. - Kharkov: Karavella, 1999.

Ena V.G. Nature of Crimea // Crimea: present and future: Sat. articles - Simferopol: Tavria, 1995.

In this article we will tell you about Crimea sk peninsula. Despite the fact that in recent years more and more tourists have been flocking to vacation on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, as well as on the tropical islands of Thailand.

However, Crimea nevertheless, it still remains a popular holiday destination for hundreds of thousands of people. Foreign tourists primarily visit the capital city of Ukraine - Kyiv, which has many historical and architectural attractions.

Crimea Peninsula and the Sea of Azov. View from space

In addition, in the city of Kyiv you can use the Internet directly in recreation parks.

Crimea map

And if one of the tourists did not take his tablet computer on a trip, then he can buy a Kyiv laptop at an affordable price in numerous FoxMart stores in the city, which offer a wide range of laptops from various world-famous brands, such as: SAMSUNG, ACER, LENOVO, ASUS, HP, SONY and some others.

Thanks to the Internet and a laptop, you can find out a lot of necessary, useful and, of course, interesting information, for example, about the Crimean peninsula.

Peninsula Crimea located in the southern part of the Republic of Ukraine. Geographically Crimea The Russian Peninsula belongs to the Northern Black Sea region.

On the peninsula Crimea are located in the Autonomous Republic Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, as well as part of the Kherson region. Peninsula Crimea in the documents of the Russian Empire until the 20s of the 20th century it was called Taurida.
After the creation of the Soviet Union, the Tauris Peninsula was renamed and received the name " Crimea».

Toponym " Crimea“probably comes from the Turkic word “kyrym”, which literally means - rampart, wall, ditch.

The Crimean peninsula is washed by: in the west and south - the Black Sea, in the east - the Sea of Azov, including Sivash Bay. Peninsula Crimea goes far into the Black Sea.

The area of the Crimean Peninsula is approximately 26,860 km², of which 72% is flat, 20% is occupied Crimea ski mountains, 8% are water bodies - lakes, rivers.
Length of the peninsula's coastline Crimea is over 1000 km.
The total length of the sea and land borders of the peninsula Crimea is more than 2500 km.
Greatest length Crimea of the Russian Peninsula in the direction from west to east between the picturesque capes Kara-Mrun and Fonar is approximately 325 km, and in the direction from north to south from the narrow Perekop Isthmus to Cape Sarych it is 205 km.

On the Black Sea coast there are the largest bays: Karkinitsky Gulf, Kalamitsky Gulf, Feodosiya Gulf.

On the coast of the Sea of Azov there are the following bays: Sivash Bay, Kazantip Bay and Arabat Bay.
In the east Crimea peninsula between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov is the Kerch Peninsula, and in the west the tapering part Crimea and forms the relatively small Tarkhankut Peninsula.
In the northern part of the peninsula Crimea It is connected to the continent by the rather narrow Perekop Isthmus, the width of which at its widest point does not exceed 8 km.

Peninsula Crimea according to the nature of the relief, it is divided into platform-plain, which occupies 70% of the entire territory, the rest falls on the folded mountainous surface. On the southern part of the peninsula Crimea beautiful spread out Crimea skie mountains. The highest mountain on the peninsula Crimea– Mount Roman-Kosh, which reaches a height of 1545 meters above sea level.

Northernmost point Crimea The Russian Peninsula is located on the Perekop Isthmus, its southernmost point is the beautiful Cape Sarych, the westernmost point is Cape Kara-Mrun (Priboyny) on the Tarkhankut Peninsula, the extreme eastern point of the peninsula is Cape Lantern on the Kerch Peninsula.

Picturesque nature of the Crimean peninsula

Crimea is a popular seaside resort located in southwest Russia. The main reasons why people flock to the peninsula are: the sea and the mountains. Crimea washed by two seas: the Black and Azov. Most of the resorts are located on the southern coast, whose climate is comparable to the Cote d'Azur.

Crimea: history of the name of the peninsula

There are several versions of the origin of the name of the peninsula: from Turkic “ Crimea"translated as "ditch".

Another version says that the name comes from the city of Kyrym, which was the former residence of the Golden Horde governor and became popular in the 13th century. This name was not the first for the peninsula - others are also known in history:

Tavrika is the ancient name of the peninsula, derived from the Tauri tribe who previously inhabited these places.
Tavria is a name that came into use in the 15th century.
Tavrida - came into use in 1783, when the peninsula became part of the Russian Empire.

Also, Crimea in different years was identified with Cimmeria and Lesser Scythia.

During the years of Soviet power, the Crimean region existed, after Ukraine gained independence, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea existed, and since 2014, the Republic of Crimea has appeared as part of Russia.

Geographical position of Crimea briefly

Crimea is washed from the east by the Azov Sea, from the south and west by the Black Sea, and in the north of the peninsula is the salty Sivash Bay. Most of the territory of the peninsula is located in the temperate zone, and the South Coast is in the subtropical zone, thereby providing favorable geographical location of Crimea like a resort.

The peninsula is divided into 3 conventional parts: steppe, mountains, southern coast. Extreme points of Crimea:

north – Perekop Isthmus;
south – Cape Sarych (located at 44°23′14″ N);
west – Cape Priboyny;
east – Cape Lantern.

The highest point is Roman-Kosh (1545 meters), located on Babugan-yayla.

18 settlements in Crimea have city status. The most populated among them are Sevastopol, Simferopol and Kerch. The main resorts are Yalta, Alushta and Evpatoria.

The area of Crimea is 27 thousand km².

Cape Sarych is the southernmost point of Crimea

The capital of Crimea is Simferopol, whose name translates as “gathering city.”

History of Crimea

Since ancient times, the peninsula has been an arena of military operations. Many nomadic tribes came here, then giving way to stronger ones. That's why history of Crimea contains many bloody pages and has preserved them in its legends and traditions.

The first settlers of the peninsula in the Middle Paleolithic were Neanderthals, whose sites were discovered in several places: Kiik-Koba, Chokurcha (considered the oldest human habitation in Europe).

A little later, in the Mesolithic, the Cro-Magnons appeared here.

These places were later inhabited by the Cimmerians in the 12th century BC. e., as well as the Tauri and Scythians who came to these lands in the 7th century BC.

e. Later, Greek settlers came to the lands of Taurida, who organized many cities on the coast and began trading with the local population. This is how the Bosporan kingdom, Chersonesos, Kerkinitis and a number of other cities appeared.

The Goths, Huns, Khazars, Byzantines, Tatars, Genoese, and Turks left their mark here.

For a long time (1441 - 1783) the Crimean Khanate was located here with its capital in Bakhchisarai.

Most of the time it was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, and after coming under Russian rule, the Khanate was disbanded.

In 1475, these lands were captured by the Ottoman Empire, which defeated both the Genoese and the mountain principality of Theodoro. The Turks ruled here for 3 centuries, but in 1774 Prince Dolgoruky annexed Taurida to the Russian Empire.

Before 1954 Crimea was part of Russia until it was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR.

In 2014, the peninsula returned to Russia again.

The peninsula is full of unusual, interesting and mysterious things. I suggest you find out some interesting facts about Crimea:

You can find out more about Crimea on other pages of our website.

Where is Crimea?

Where is Crimea located on the map of Russia? The Crimean Peninsula is located in the northern part of the Black Sea, and from the northeast it is washed by the Sea of Azov. In the north of Crimea it is connected with the mainland of Perekop by Isthmus (bay).

Now, of course, many Russians are interested and curious to know how long it takes to fly to Crimea from different cities in Russia, because the Crimean peninsula has become part of the Russian Federation and will likely break the flow of tourists here.

On a detailed map of the Crimean coast you can see that the entire coastline extends for 2.5 thousand kilometers.

It is also interesting that on the Black Sea coast the main resort cities are Sochi and Abkhazia, which are competitors of Crimea in terms of tourism, so it is recommended to read an interesting article about comparing these places for the quality of recreation and leisure - if it is better to relax: in Sochi or in Crimea?

There are many mountain peaks on the peninsula, of which the highest is Roman Kosh, 1545 meters high.

The northernmost point of the peninsula is the Perekop Strait, to the south - at Cape Miklavts, to the west - at Cape Kara-Mran, to the east - at the cape, on the Kerch Peninsula.

Geography of Crimea

The North Channel is the largest on the peninsula.

Detailed map of the Crimean coast

In Yandex and Google you can find a detailed map of the cities of Crimea and cities where the most popular settlements on the peninsula will be identified as Yalta, Alushta, Alupka, Feodosia, Dzhalty, Sudak and others.

Sevastopol is a heroic city with many landmarks during World War II. The most famous natural and historical attractions are the Crimean caves: marble, red and Emine-Bayr-Khosar cave.

Map of cities and places

What is Crimea

climate and natural zones of Crimea

Answers:

Crimea, despite its relatively small territory, has a varied climate. The climate of Crimea is divided into three subzones: Steppe Crimea (most of Crimea, the north, west and center of Crimea). Crimean Mountains. Southern coast of Crimea. The climate of the northern part is temperate continental, on the southern coast - with features similar to subtropical.

The average January temperature is from −1… −3 °C in the north of the steppe zone to +1… −1 °C in the south of the steppe zone, on the southern coast of Crimea from +2… +4 °C. The average July temperature of the South Coast and the eastern part of Crimea: Kerch and Feodosia is +23...+25 °C. Precipitation ranges from 300-400 mm per year in the north to 1000-2000 mm in the mountains. In summer (in the second half of July) in the steppe part of Crimea, daytime air temperatures reach +35...+37 °C in the shade, at night up to +23...+25 °C.

The climate is predominantly dry, with seasonal dry winds prevailing. The Black Sea warms up to +25 °C in summer. The Sea of Azov warms up to +27…+28 °C. The steppe part of Crimea lies in the steppe zone of temperate climate. This part of Crimea is characterized by long, dry and very hot summers and mild, little snowy winters with frequent thaws and very changeable weather.

The Crimean Mountains are characterized by a mountain type of climate with pronounced zonality in altitude. Summers are also very hot and dry, while winters are wet and mild. The southern coast of Crimea is characterized by a sub-Mediterranean climate.

Snow cover is only temporary, established on average once every 7 years, frosts only during the passage of the Arctic anticyclone.

Crimea today is the blessed land of the Crimean Peninsula, washed by the Black and Azov Seas. In the north there is a plain, in the south - the Crimean Mountains with a necklace near the coastal strip of seaside resort cities: Yalta, Miskhor, Alupka, Simeiz, Gurzuf, Alushta, Feodosia, Evpatoria and seaports - Kerch, Sevastopol.

Crimea is located within 44°23" (Cape Sarych) and 46°15" (Perekopsky Ditch) northern latitude, 32°30" (Cape Karamrun) and 36°40" (Cape Lantern) eastern longitude. The area of the Crimean peninsula is 26.0 thousand km the maximum distance from north to south is 205 km, from west to east – 325 km.

A narrow eight-kilometer strip of land to the north (Perekop Isthmus) connects Crimea from the continents, and 4-5 km - the width of the Kerch Strait in the east (the length of the strait is about 41 km) - separates it from the Taman Peninsula. The total length of the borders of Crimea exceeds 2,500 km (taking into account the extreme tortuosity of the coastline of the northeast). In general, the coasts of Crimea are little indented; the Black Sea forms three large bays: Karkinitsky, Kalamitsky and Feodosiya; The Sea of Azov also formed three bays: Kazantipsky, Arabatsky and Sivashsky.

The physical and geographical position of Crimea as a whole is distinguished by the following most characteristic features. Firstly, the location of the peninsula at 45° north latitude determines its equidistance from the equator and the North Pole, which is associated with a fairly large amount of incoming solar energy and a large number of hours of sunshine. Secondly, Crimea is almost an island. This is associated, on the one hand, with a large number of endemics (plant species that are not found anywhere except in a given area) and endemics (similar animal species); on the other hand, this explains the significant depletion of the Crimean fauna; In addition, the climate and other components of nature are significantly influenced by the marine environment. Thirdly, the position of the peninsula relative to the general circulation of the Earth’s atmosphere is especially important, leading to the predominance of westerly winds in Crimea. Crimea occupies a border position between the temperate and subtropical geographical zones.

The peculiarities of the transport and geographical position of Crimea in the past determined the nature of the population of the peninsula and the specifics of its economy. In the Middle Ages, Crimea was a kind of dead end on the path of many nomadic tribes. Many settled here and adopted the local languages, culture and religion.

The maritime environment of Crimea determined not only the peculiarities of external economic relations, but also the development of coastal recreation. Through the Danube and Dnieper rivers, Crimea has access to the ports of Central Europe, the Baltic and Scandinavian countries, and through the Don and the canal system of European Russia - to the Baltic and White Seas, the Caspian states.

A favorable feature of the economic and geographical position of Crimea is its proximity to the economically developed Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine and the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation.

The nature of Crimea is called a natural museum. There are few places in the world where diverse, comfortable and picturesque landscapes are combined in such an original way. They are largely due to the unique geographical location, geological structure, relief, and climate of the peninsula. The Crimean Mountains divide the peninsula into two unequal parts. The large one - the northern one - is located in the extreme south of the temperate zone, the southern one - the Crimean sub-Mediterranean - belongs to the northern edge of the subtropical zone.

The flora of Crimea is especially rich and interesting. Wild higher plants alone account for more than 65% of the flora of the entire European part of the Commonwealth countries. Along with this, about 1000 species of foreign plants are cultivated here. Almost the entire flora of Crimea is concentrated in its southern mountainous part. This is truly a museum richness of flora.

The climate of most of Crimea is a temperate climate: mild steppe - in the flat part; more humid, characteristic of deciduous forests - in the mountains. The southern coast of Crimea is characterized by a sub-Mediterranean climate of dry forests and bushes.

Crimea, especially its mountainous part, thanks to its comfortable climate, rich clean air, toned with phytoncides, sea salts, and the pleasant aroma of plants, also has great healing powers. The depths of the earth also contain healing mud and mineral waters.

The Crimean peninsula is provided with a large amount of heat not only in summer, but also in winter. In December and January, 8-10 times more heat per unit of earth's surface per day is received here than, for example, in St. Petersburg. Crimea receives the greatest amount of solar heat in the summer, especially in July. Spring here is cooler than autumn. And autumn is the best season of the year. The weather is calm, sunny and moderately warm.

True, sharp fluctuations in pressure during the day aggravate cardiovascular diseases in people who are not completely healthy. In Crimea, which is well supplied with heat, the biological productivity of plants, including agricultural crops, and the resistance of landscapes to stress largely depend on the amount of moisture. And the need for water is constantly increasing both among the local population and the national economy, primarily in agriculture and resorts. So water in Crimea is the true engine of life and culture.

A relatively small amount of precipitation, a long dry summer, and the spread of karst rocks in the mountains have caused the Crimea to be poor in surface water.

Crimea is divided into two parts: a flat steppe with a very small number of surface watercourses and a mountain forest with a relatively dense river network. There are no large fresh lakes here. In the coastal strip of the Crimean plain there are about 50 lakes with a total area of 5.3 thousand km2.

Depending on the direction of surface water flow, it is customary to divide the rivers of Crimea into three groups: rivers on the northwestern slopes of the Crimean Mountains, rivers on the southern coast of Crimea, and rivers on the northern slopes of the Crimean Mountains.

All rivers on the northwestern slopes flow almost parallel to each other. Until about the middle of their course, they look like typical mountain streams. The largest of them are Alma, Kacha, Belbek and Chernaya.

The rivers of the southern coast of Crimea are short, have very steep channel slopes, and are violent during floods.

In the west, in addition to the usually dry ravines and the Khastabash stream, the largest is the Uchan-Su River. Rapidly running down to the sea, it forms waterfalls in four places. The uppermost and largest of them is Uchan-Su (Flying Water).

The rivers of the northern slopes of the Crimean Mountains are distinguished by the fact that outside the mountains they deviate to the east and flow into Sivash, a lagoon of the Azov Sea. In the upper reaches of the river there is always water, but within the plains in summer their beds are often dry.

Salgir is the longest river in Crimea. Together with the Biyuk-Karasu tributary, it represents the largest water system in Crimea. The upper reaches of the Salgir are formed from the confluence of the Angara and Kizil-Koba rivers. Near the village of Zarechnoye, a large tributary, the Ayan, flows into the Salgir.

Salgir fills the large Simferopol reservoir, built in 1951-1955. Below Simferopol, the river receives right tributaries - the Beshterek, Zuya, Burulcha rivers, and 27 km from Sivash - Biyuk-Karasu. The Taiganskoye and Belogorskoye reservoirs were built on Biyuk-Karasu.

The population of Crimea is distributed unevenly across the territory. 50% of the republic's population lives on the coast. In 1991, 69% of the population lived in cities, and 31% of the population lived in rural areas. 43% of the Crimean population lives in four large cities: Sevastopol (371.4 thousand people in 1991), Simferopol (357 thousand people), Kerch (189.5 thousand people) and Evpatoria (113.3 thousand people).

Crimea is characterized by an increase in the number of cities and towns and relative stability of rural settlements. In recent years, cities such as Sudak, Krasnoperekopsk, Armyansk, and Shchelkino have appeared on the map of Crimea. The number of urban-type settlements is growing rapidly—more than doubling since 1959.

The bulk of the population of Crimea are workers (about 60 percent), office workers - 28, peasants - less than 11 percent.

Crimea has always been distinguished not only by a high proportion of the urban population, but also by a high level of literacy and education of its residents. For every thousand inhabitants in cities there were 900, and in villages 730 people with higher, secondary specialized and secondary education.

The training of highly qualified specialists is carried out by 6 state higher educational institutions (Simferopol State University, Crimean Medical Institute, Crimean Agricultural Institute, Sevastopol Instrument-Making Institute, Crimean Institute of Environmental and Resort Construction, Crimean State Industrial Pedagogical Institute), two branches of universities - Kyiv Economic University (in Simferopol) and the Kaliningrad Fishing University (in Kerch), as well as several commercial universities.

Military specialists are trained by the military institute in Sevastopol and the civil engineering school in Simferopol.

In recent years, colleges have been created on a commercial basis. 30 secondary specialized educational institutions are engaged in training specialists. Vocational schools train personnel in 120 specialties.

Academic institutes and cultural institutions operate in Crimea. In Simferopol there is the Crimean branch of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the production association "Efirmaslo", "KrymNIIproekt", in the village of Nauchny - the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory and others.

There are several professional theaters and a philharmonic society, an art gallery in Feodosia. A large number of newspapers are published. There are publishing houses “Tavrida”, “Tavriya”, “Krymuchpedgiz” and others. There are a large number of museums in Crimea, many of which are associated with the destinies of outstanding writers, artists, and scientists who lived on the peninsula.

The economic appearance of Crimea, its structure, and the nature of the location of production and population developed mainly in accordance with its natural and socio-economic conditions.

Until 1917, the republic's economy was predominantly agricultural. Gradually it developed into an industrial-agrarian one.

Crimea is distinguished by its diversified agricultural and recreational industries, the production of soda ash, titanium dioxide, sulfuric acid, technological equipment for the food industry, televisions, ocean-going vessels, fish and fish products. In addition to mechanical engineering, the chemical industry, agriculture and recreation, sectors of specialization also include the food industry, producing grape wines, canned fruits and vegetables, and essential oils.

In the structure of industrial production, the leading place belongs to the food industry, followed by mechanical engineering and metalworking, the chemical industry, and the building materials industry.

Crimean agriculture is specialized in grain and livestock farming, viticulture, horticulture, vegetable growing, as well as in the cultivation of essential oil crops (lavender, roses, sage). The volumes of gross production of livestock and crop products are balanced.

Maritime transport is important for the republic. Export-import transportation of various cargoes is carried out through Crimean ports. The most important ports are Kerch, Feodosia, Yalta, Evpatoria. The largest port city is Sevastopol.

By air, Crimea is connected with all CIS countries and many foreign countries.

The recreational sector is one of the leading sectors of the republic. From Latin, recreation is translated as “restoration”, meaning the restoration of a person’s physical and psychophysiological conditions. The recreational sector includes: sanatoriums, boarding houses, houses and recreation centers, tourist hotels and tourist centers, campsites, children's camps. The recreational sector operates on beach, balneological and climatic resources, therapeutic mud, sea water, and landscape resources.

The sectors of Crimea's social infrastructure - public utilities, consumer services, public education, public catering, trade, healthcare, social security, culture, physical education, lending and insurance, science and scientific services - are distinguished by a high level of development.

Crimea is located within 44o23′ (Cape Sarych) and 46o15′ (Perekopsky Ditch) northern latitude and 32o30′ (Cape Karamrun) and 36o40′ (Cape Lantern) eastern longitude. The area of the Crimean Peninsula is 26.0 thousand km2, the maximum distance from north to south is 205 km, from west to east – 325 km.
A narrow eight-kilometer strip of land in the north (Perekop Isthmus) connects Crimea with the mainland, and 4-5 km - the width of the Kerch Strait in the east (the length of the strait is about 41 km) - separates it from the Taman Peninsula. The total length of the borders of Crimea exceeds 2,500 km (taking into account the extreme tortuosity of the coastline of the northeast). In general, the coasts of Crimea are little indented; the Black Sea forms three large bays: Karkinitsky, Kalamitsky and Feodossiysky; The Sea of Azov also forms three bays: Kazantipsky, Arabatsky and Sivashsky.

Physical-geographical position of Crimea In general, it is distinguished by the following most characteristic features. Firstly, the location of the peninsula at 45° north latitude determines its equal distance from the equator and the North Pole, which is associated with a fairly large amount of incoming solar energy and a large number of hours of sunshine. Secondly, Crimea is almost an island. This is associated, on the one hand, with a large number of endemics (plant species found nowhere else except in this area) and endemics (similar animal species); on the other hand, this explains the significant deprivation of the Crimean fauna; In addition, the climate and other natural components are significantly influenced by the marine environment. Thirdly, the position of the peninsula relative to the general circulation of the Earth’s atmosphere is especially important, leading to the predominance of westerly winds in Crimea. Crimea occupies a border position between the temperate and subtropical geographical zones.

Features of the transport and geographical position of Crimea in the past determined the nature of the population of the peninsula and the specifics of its economy. In the Middle Ages, Crimea was a kind of dead end on the path of many nomadic tribes. Many settled here and adopted local languages, culture, and religion.
The maritime environment of Crimea determined not only the peculiarities of external economic relations, but also the development of coastal recreation. Through the Danube and Dnieper rivers, Crimea has access to the ports of Central Europe, the Baltic and Scandinavia, and through the Don and the canal system of European Russia - to the Baltic and White Seas, the Caspian states.

A favorable feature of the economic and geographical position of Crimea is its proximity to the economically developed Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine and the Krasnodar region of the Russian Federation.

State and territorial structure
The capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the city of Simferopol. The territorial-administrative structure of Crimea includes villages, urban-type settlements, and cities. Sevastopol has a special status as a “separate administrative unit”, but is an integral part of Crimea.

Languages used in Crimea– Russian, Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar.

The central figure of the Crimean coat of arms is a white (silver) griffin holding a shell with a blue (azure) pearl in its raised paw. The griffin (a winged lion with an eagle's head) is a mythological creature - a symbol of the ancient cities of Chersonesos, Panticapaeum and others, and in later times - the cities of Sevastopol and Kerch.
Since ancient times, the griffin has been credited with protective properties. On the coat of arms of Crimea he is depicted as a symbol of the guardian and defender of the republic. The Blue Pearl symbolizes Crimea as a unique corner of the planet, the unity of all its peoples, religions and cultures.
The griffin is placed on the Varangian shield (small coat of arms) - a symbol of the intersection of important trade routes, and its red color is a symbol of courage, bravery and courage of the peoples of Crimea of all centuries.
The shield is supported by antique marble columns. The top of the coat of arms is the rising golden sun - a symbol of revival and prosperity, warmth and light.
Under the shield, wrapped in rings around the columns, there is a blue-white-red (the colors of the Crimean flag) motto ribbon with the inscription: “Prosperity in unity.”

Nature of Crimea
The nature of Crimea is called a natural museum. There are few places in the world where a variety of comfortable and picturesque landscapes are so originally combined. They are largely due to the unique geographical location, geological structure, relief, and climate of the peninsula. The Crimean Mountains divide the peninsula into two unequal parts. The large one - the northern one - is located on the extreme temperate zone, the southern one - the Crimean sub-Mediterranean - belongs to the northern edge of the subtropical zone.
The flora of Crimea is especially rich and interesting. Wild higher plants alone account for more than 65% of the flora of the entire European part of the Commonwealth countries. Along with this, about 1000 species of foreign plants are cultivated here. Almost the entire flora of Crimea is concentrated in its southern mountainous part. This is truly a museum richness of flora.

Climate of most of Crimea– this is a temperate zone climate: soft steppe – in the flat part; more humid, characteristic of deciduous forests - in the mountains. The southern coast of Crimea is characterized by a sub-Mediterranean climate of dry forests and bushes.
The Crimean peninsula is provided with a large amount of heat not only in summer, but also in winter. In December and January, 8-10 times more heat per unit of earth's surface per day is received here than, for example, in St. Petersburg.
Crimea receives the greatest amount of solar heat in the summer, especially in July. Spring here is cooler than autumn. And autumn is the best season of the year. The weather is calm, sunny and moderately warm. True, sharp fluctuations in pressure during the day sharply aggravate cardiovascular diseases in people who are not entirely healthy.
In Crimea, which is well supplied with heat, the biological productivity of plants, including agricultural crops, and the resistance of landscapes to stress largely depend on the amount of moisture. And the need for water is constantly increasing both among the local population and the national economy, primarily in agriculture and resorts. So water in Crimea is the true engine of life and culture.
A relatively small amount of precipitation, a long dry summer, and the spread of karst rocks in the mountains have caused the Crimea to be poor in surface water. Crimea is divided into two parts: a flat steppe with a very small number of surface watercourses and a mountain forest with a relatively dense river network. There are no large fresh lakes here. In the coastal strip of the Crimean plain there are about 50 estuary lakes with a total area of 5.3 thousand sq. km.

In Crimea there are 1657 rivers and temporary watercourses with a total length of 5996 km. Of these, about 150 rivers are dwarf rivers up to 10 km in length. The Salgir River alone is more than 200 km long. The river network is developed extremely unevenly on the peninsula.
Depending on the direction of surface water flow, it is customary to divide the rivers of Crimea into three groups: rivers on the northwestern slopes of the Crimean Mountains, rivers on the southern coast of Crimea, and rivers on the northern slopes of the Crimean Mountains.
All rivers on the northwestern slopes flow almost parallel to each other. Until about the middle of their course, they look like typical mountain streams. The largest of them are Alma, Kacha, Belbek and Chernaya.
The rivers of the southern coast of Crimea are short, have very steep channel slopes, and are violent during floods.
In the west, in addition to the usually dry ravines and the Khastabash stream, the largest is the Uchan-Su River. Rapidly running down to the sea, it forms waterfalls in four places. The uppermost and largest of them (Flying Water).
The rivers of the northern slopes of the Crimean Mountains are distinguished by the fact that outside the mountains they deviate to the east and flow into Sivash, a lagoon of the Azov Sea. In the upper reaches of the river there is always water, but within the plains in summer their beds are often dry.
Salgir is the longest river in Crimea. Together with the Biyuk-Karasu tributary, it represents the largest water system in Crimea. The upper reaches of the Salgir are formed from the confluence of the Angara and Kizil-Koba rivers. Near the village of Zarechnoye, a large tributary, the Ayan, flows into the Salgir. Salgir fills the large Simferopol reservoir, built in 1951-1955. Below Simferopol, the river receives right tributaries - the rivers Beshterek, Zuya, Burulcha, and 27 km from Sivash - Biyuk-Karasu. The Taiganskoye and Belogorskoye reservoirs were built on Biyuk-Karasu.

Population of Crimea
The population of Crimea is distributed unevenly across the territory. 50% of the republic's population lives on the coast. In 1991, 69% lived in cities, 31% of the population lived in rural areas. 43% of the Crimean population lives in four large cities: Sevastopol (371.4 thousand people in 1991), Simferopol (357 thousand people), Kerch (189.5 thousand people) and Evpatoria (113.3 thousand people).
Crimea is characterized by an increase in the number of cities and towns and relative stability of rural settlements. In recent years, cities such as, Krasnoperekopsk, Armyansk, have appeared on the map of Crimea. The number of urban-type settlements is growing rapidly – more than doubling since 1959.
The bulk of the population of Crimea are workers (about 60 percent), office workers - 28, peasants - less than 11 percent.

Education
Crimea has always been distinguished not only by a high proportion of the urban population, but also by a high level of literacy and education of its residents. For every thousand inhabitants in cities there were 900, and in villages 730 people with higher, secondary specialized and secondary education.
The training of highly qualified specialists is carried out by 6 state higher educational institutions (Simferopol State University, Crimean Medical Institute, Crimean Agricultural Institute, Sevastopol Instrument-Making Institute, Crimean Institute of Environmental and Resort Construction, Crimean State Industrial Pedagogical Institute), two branches of universities - Kyiv Economic University (in Simferopol) and the Kaliningrad Fishing University (in Kerch), as well as several commercial universities.
Military specialists are trained by the military institute in Sevastopol and the civil engineering school in Simferopol.
In recent years, colleges have been created on a commercial basis. 30 secondary specialized educational institutions are engaged in training specialists. Vocational schools train personnel in 120 specialties.
Academic institutes and cultural institutions operate in Crimea. There are several professional theaters and a philharmonic society, an art gallery in Feodosia. A large number of newspapers are published. There are a large number of museums in Crimea, many of which are associated with the destinies of outstanding writers, artists, and scientists who lived on the peninsula.

Economic appearance of Crimea
The economic appearance of Crimea, its structure, and the nature of the location of production and population developed mainly in accordance with its natural and socio-economic conditions.
Until 1917, the republic's economy was predominantly agricultural. Gradually it developed into an industrial-agrarian one.
Crimea is distinguished by its diversified agricultural and recreational industries, the production of soda ash, titanium dioxide, sulfuric acid, technological equipment for the food industry, televisions, ocean-going vessels, fish and fish products. In addition to mechanical engineering, the chemical industry, agriculture and recreation, sectors of specialization also include the food industry, producing grape wines, canned fruits and vegetables, and essential oils.
In the structure of industrial production, the leading place belongs to the food industry, followed by mechanical engineering and metalworking, the chemical industry, and the building materials industry.
Crimean agriculture is specialized in grain and livestock farming, viticulture, horticulture, vegetable growing, as well as in the cultivation of essential oil crops (lavender, roses, sage). The volumes of gross production of livestock and crop production are balanced.
Maritime transport is important for the republic. Export-import transportation of various cargoes is carried out through Crimean ports. The most important ports are Kerch, Feodosia, Yalta, Evpatoria. The largest port city is Sevastopol.

Recreational economy is one of the leading industries of the republic. From Latin, recreation is translated as “restoration,” meaning the restoration of a person’s physical and psychophysiological conditions. The recreational facilities include; sanatoriums, boarding houses, houses and recreation centers, tourist hotels and camp sites, campsites, children's camps. The recreational sector operates on beach, balneological and climatic resources, therapeutic mud, sea water, and landscape resources.

Branches of social infrastructure of Crimea- public utilities, consumer services, public education, public catering, trade, healthcare, social security, culture, physical education, lending and insurance, science and scientific services - are distinguished by a high level of development.

The Crimean Peninsula has long been called the natural pearl of Europe for a reason. Here, at the junction of subtropical and temperate latitudes, as if in focus, the characteristic features of their nature are concentrated in miniature: plains and mountains, modern mud hills and ancient volcanoes, lakes and seas, steppes and forests, semi-desert landscapes of the Sivash region and the Black Sea sub-Mediterranean region.

The Crimean Peninsula is located in southern Ukraine at the same latitude as southern France and northern Italy.

The outlines of Crimea are very unique; some see them as a bunch of grapes, others as a flying bird, and still others as a heart. Each of us, looking at the map, immediately sees an irregular quadrangle in the middle of the blue sea with a wide protrusion of the peninsula in the west and a long, narrower protrusion of the Kerch Peninsula in the east. The Kerch Strait separates the Crimean Peninsula from the Taman Peninsula, the western tip of Russia.

The total length of the land borders of Crimea is more than 2500 km. Area – 27 thousand square meters. km.

Crimea is washed from almost all sides by the waters of the Black and Azov Seas. It could have been an island if not for the narrow, only 8 kilometers wide, Perekop Isthmus connecting it to the mainland.

The maximum distance from north to south is 207 km, from west to east – 324 km.

Extreme points: in the north - the village of Perekop, in the south - , in the east - , in the west - Cape Kara-Mrun.

The waters of the Black Sea (area - 421 thousand sq. km, volume - 537 thousand cubic km) wash Crimea from the west and south. The largest bays are: Karkinitsky, Kalamitsky and Feodosiya. The shores of the peninsula are heavily indented with numerous coves and bays.

From the east and northeast, the peninsula is surrounded (width 4-5 km, length 41 km) and the Sea of Azov (area - 38 thousand sq. km, volume - 300 cubic km), which forms the Arabat, Kazantip, and Sivash gulfs.

The Crimean Mountains divided the peninsula into two uneven parts: a large steppe part and a smaller mountain part. They stretch from southwest to northeast from the surrounding area in three almost parallel ridges, separated by parallel green valleys. The length of the Crimean Mountains is about 180 km, width – 50 km.

The main ridge is the highest, the most famous mountain peaks are located here: – 1545 m, – 1525 m, – 1231 m. The southern slopes, which face the sea, are very steep, and the northern ones, on the contrary, are gentle.

The peaks of the Crimean mountains are treeless plateaus, which are called (translated from Turkic as “summer pasture”). Yayls combine the properties of both mountains and plains. They are connected by narrow, low ridges along which mountain passes pass. The routes from the steppe part of Crimea to the southern coast have long been located here.

The highest yaylas in Crimea: Ai-Petrinskaya (1320 m), Gurzufskaya (1540 m), Nikitskaya (1470 m), Yalta (1406 m). The limestone surface of the villages was dissolved for many centuries under the influence of rainwater; water flows made numerous passages, mines, deep wells, and amazingly beautiful caves in the thickness of the mountains.

The steppe occupies most of the territory of Crimea. It represents the southern edge of the East European, or Russian, Plain and decreases slightly to the north. The Kerch Peninsula is divided by the Parpach ridge into two parts: the southwestern - flat and the northeastern - hilly, which is characterized by alternating gentle depressions, ring-shaped limestone ridges, mud hills and coastal lake basins. However, mud volcanoes have nothing in common with real volcanoes, since they emit cold mud rather than hot lava.

In the flat part of Crimea, varieties of carbonate and southern chernozems predominate; dark chestnut and meadow-chestnut soils of dry forests and shrubs, as well as brown mountain-forest and mountain-meadow chernozem-like soils (on yailas), are less common.

More than half of the peninsula's territory is occupied by fields, about five percent by orchards and vineyards. The remaining lands are predominantly pastures and forests.

The forest area is 340 thousand hectares. The slopes of the Crimean Mountains are covered mainly by oak forests (65% of the total forest area), beech (14%), pine (13%) and hornbeam (8%). On the South Coast, the forests contain relict tall juniper, blunt-leaved pistachio, small-fruited evergreen strawberry, a number of evergreen shrubs - Crimean cistus, Pontian broom, red pyracantha, bush jasmine, etc.

The main source of river nutrition is rainwater - 44-50% of the annual flow; snow nutrition provides 13-23% and groundwater - 28-36%. The average long-term surface and underground flow of Crimea is just over 1 billion cubic meters of water. This is almost three times less than the volume of water supplied annually to the peninsula via the North Crimean Canal. Natural reserves of local waters are used to the limit (73% of reserves are used). The main surface flow has been regulated: a couple of hundred ponds and more than 20 large reservoirs have been built (on the Salgir River, Chernorechenskoye on the Chernaya River, Belogorskoye on the Biyuk-Karasu River, etc.).

The North Crimean Canal annually supplies the peninsula with 3.5 billion cubic meters of water, which made it possible to increase the area of irrigated land from 34.5 thousand hectares to 400 thousand hectares (since the 30s of the twentieth century).

In Crimea, mainly along the coasts, there are more than 50 estuary lakes with a total area of 5.3 thousand square meters. km used to obtain salts and medicinal mud: Donuzlav, Bakal, Staroe, Krasnoye, Chokrakskoye, Uzunlarskoye, etc.

2016-11-08

1.1 Relief and river network

Introduction

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is located within the boundaries of several physical and geographical regions, including about 50 landscapes. In the north of the peninsula lies the Crimean steppe province, which includes the natural-territorial complexes of the Crimean-Prisivash lowland fescue-feather grass steppe, the Central Crimean lowland feather grass-fescue-fescue-forb steppe and the Kerch hilly petrophytic-xerophytic turf-grass and wormwood steppe.

A narrow eight-kilometer strip of land to the north (Perekop Isthmus) connects Crimea with the continents, and 4 - 5 km - the width of the Kerch Strait in the east (the length of the strait is about 41 km) - separates it from the Taman Peninsula. The total length of the borders of Crimea exceeds 2,500 km (taking into account the extreme tortuosity of the coastline of the northeast). In general, the coasts of Crimea are little indented; the Black Sea forms three large bays: Karkinitsky, Kalamitsky and Feodosiya; The Sea of Azov also formed three bays: Kazantipsky, Arabatsky and Sivashsky.

This work consists of contents, introduction, two chapters, conclusion, appendix, bibliography.

I. Physical and geographical features of Crimea

1.1 Relief and river network

The Crimean Peninsula (Fig. 1) is surrounded on almost all sides by the sea from the south by the deep-water part of the Black Sea, from the west by the Evpatoria and Karkinitsky gulfs, and from the east by the Sea of Azov. Along the northern and northeastern coast of Crimea stretches Sivash, a bay of the Sea of Azov, distinguished by a very indented coastline and divided by the Chongar Peninsula into Western and Eastern Sivash. Sivash is separated from the Sea of Azov by a long oblique - the Arabat Spit. The Crimean peninsula is connected to the mainland only by the narrow Perekop Isthmus. The eastern tip of Crimea is called the Kerch Peninsula, which is separated from the Taman Peninsula by the Kerch Strait.

According to the nature of the relief, Crimea is divided into three main parts: the southern - mountainous, the northern - flat and the Kerch Peninsula, characterized by a peculiar hilly-ridge topography. The Crimean Mountains, occupying the smaller, southern part of the Crimean Peninsula, stretch for 160 km along the Black Sea coast from Sevastopol in the west to Feodosia in the east, reaching a maximum width of 50-60 km. Within the mountainous Crimea, the following orographic parts are distinguished: the Main Ridge, the Southern Coast and the Foothill Ridges.

The main ridge of the Tauride Mountains stretches along the Black Sea coast from Cape Aya in the west to the Feodosia Gulf in the east. This is the highest strip of the Crimean mountains; in the central part it reaches absolute heights of over 1500 m (the highest point of Roman-Kosh is 1543 m). To the west and east the row gradually decreases. In the extreme west it ends near Balaklava with the Karan heights (316 m), and in the east near Feodosia - with the hilly heights of Cape Ilya (310 m). In geomorphological terms, the main series is heterogeneous. Within its boundaries, three sections can be distinguished - western, middle and eastern.

The western low-mountain part, with altitudes from 316 to 1000 m, is located between Cape Aya and Ai-Petrinskaya Yayla and has a length of about 30 km. Here the main ridge consists of a series of rocky ridges and intermountain basins. The heights of the ridges range from 600 to 700 m, the bottoms of the basins have elevations of 300 to 350 m. The basins are connected by gorges or canyons. The largest intermountain basins are: Balaklava, Varnautskaya, Baydarskaya and Uzundzhinskaya.

The middle part of the Main Range of the Crimean Mountains of the Uzundzhin Basin to the river valley. Tanas is a series of high highlands known as yayla: Ai-Petrinskaya, Yalta, Nikitskaya, Babuganskaya, Chatyrdagskaya, Demerdzhi-yayla (Fig. 2), Dolgorukovskaya and Karabi-yayla. The largest highlands reach a width of 10 - 12 km and a length of 20 - 30 km. They are separated from each other by narrow bridges or the upper reaches of river valleys; the most famous passes are usually confined to these areas: Kebit-Bogazsky (600 m), Anarsky (762 m), Baydarsky Gate (520 m) and others. The Yaylinsky uplands, composed of limestones of the upper The Jurassic region is characterized by a very high degree of karst formation: there are many karsts, sinkholes, basins, grottoes, karst wells, mines, caves and other forms. The largest mines are: Molodezhnaya on Karabi-Yayla (depth 261 m) and No. 309 on Ai-Petrinskaya Yayla (depth 246 m). The most famous caves include the Red Cave (Kizil-Koba) with a length of 11,250 m in the area of the village. Perevalnoe, as well as Thousand-headed and Cold caves on Chatyrdag.

The eastern part of the main ridge, extending 75 km from the river valley. Tanas to the Gulf of Feodosia is a low mountainous region, divided into many separate rocky ridges, small mountain ranges and cliffs, separated by various kinds of depressions. The watershed consists of a series of peaks stretching along the sea, forming the mountains Ayu-Kaya, Terkez, Perchem near Sudak and the Mandzhilsky ridge. The highest peak of eastern Crimea, Mount Kozya (688 m), is located east of Sudak. The main ridge ends with the picturesque Karadag group of mountains between Shchebetovka and Planerskoye. Further to the east, the foothill hilly ridge of Tete-Oba stretches to Cape Ilya. The northernmost mountain in the eastern part of Crimea is Agarmysh, at the foot of which stands Mt. Old Crimea.

All the rivers of the Crimean Peninsula begin on the slopes of the Crimean Mountains, and some of them are completely located within their boundaries. In this regard, the mountainous Crimea is distinguished by a fairly high density of the river network: on the northern slope of the Crimean rops it is 0.24 km/km 2 , and on the northwestern slope 0.30 km/km 2 .

According to their location and some hydrological features, the rivers of the mountainous Crimea are divided into three groups: southern, northern and northwestern slopes.

The rivers on the southern slope of the Main Ridge are very short. The most significant of them are: r. Khostabash near Alupka, the Uchan-Su (Vodopadnaya) and Derekoika (Bystraya) rivers, flowing into the Yalta Bay, the Avunda and Eastern Putamis rivers, flowing into the Gurzuf Bay, the Alushta River or Ulu-Uzen Western and the river. Demerdzhi, flowing into the sea near Alushta, r. Ulu-Uzen East in the Solnechnogorsk region, r. Uskut near the village. Greetings, r. Raven near the village Morskoe, Sydakskaya river within the city of Sydak, Otuzka near the village. Crimean Primorye near Karadag.

The main ridge, composed of fractured and karst limestones in the upper part and well moistened, plays the role of an important drainage basin for the rivers of the southern group. However, the rock layers composing this ridge fall to the north and northwest, so the surface, and also, obviously, the deep watersheds of the Crimean Mountains are very shifted to the south. All this determines the insignificant length of rivers, their small drainage areas, low water content, large slopes and flow speeds. In some places, the rivers of the southern group form waterfalls: Uchan-Su on the river of the same name, Golovkinsky on the Alushta River, Dzhur-Dzhur on the Ulu-Uzen East.

The rivers of the southern group are also distinguished by the short duration of the spring flood. In conditions of warm and mild winter and autumn, melting snow and falling rain often lead to powerful rises in the level of rivers in this group.

The rivers of the northern slopes of the Crimean Mountains flow into the Sea of Azov, or more precisely into its Sivash Bay. This is the Salrir with its right tributaries: the Small Salgir, Zuya, Beshterek, Burulcha and Bolshoi Karasu, Tanas, then the Eastern Bulganak and Indol. The deepest river in Crimea is the Salgir.

The rivers of the northwestern slopes of the main ridge flow into the Black Sea on the western coast of Crimea. These are Western Bulganak, Alma, Kacha, Belbek, Chernaya. All rivers in the mountainous Crimea are fed by numerous springs, most of them karst.

The northern and northwestern slopes of the Crimean mountain uplift are much wider and flatter than the southern one. In this regard, the rivers here are longer, have larger drainage areas, smaller slopes, less rapid currents and are fuller.

The thinness of the snow cover, the high absorption of melt water by karst cavities, which convert surface runoff into underground runoff, all determine the feeding characteristics of the Crimean rivers. As a rule, they are among the rivers of mixed feeding, but with a predominance of rainwater, which accounts for 44-52% of the annual flow. Groundwater provides 28-36% of the annual runoff, and snow supply accounts for 13-23% of the average annual runoff. The annual regime of levels and flows of the Crimean rivers is characterized by great variability.

Crimea relief climate geographical

The flow of the most significant rivers is regulated: on the Salir rivers near Simferopol, Biyuk-Karasu near Belororsk, Alma near the village. Pochtovoe, Kacha near Bakhchisarai, Belbek near the village. Schastlivoe, Chernaya in the Baydar Basin and other reservoirs were built. In the river basins of the mountainous Crimea, mudflows are observed. This phenomenon is especially typical for the eastern part of the southern slope of the Main Ridge, where sometimes huge alluvial cones are formed at the mouths of ravines and river valleys, causing great damage and destruction to gardens, vineyards, and tobacco plantations.

The southern coast of Crimea is the lower, coastal, most flat part of the southern slope of the Main Ridge from Cape Aya in the west to Planersko in the east. Its width is from 1 - 2 to 6 - 8 km, the maximum height is 400 - 450 m. The formation of the steep southern slope of the Crimean Mountains was caused by intense uplifts of recent geological time in the area of the main ridge and subsidence of the Black Sea bottom. The relief of the southern coast of Crimea is given great originality by intrusive massifs prepared by denudation (the Kuchuk-Ayu rocks near the village of Frunzenskoye and Kuchuk-Lambat between Gurzuf and Alushta, the mountain ranges of Bear Mountain, or Ayu-Dag, near Gurzuf and Kastel near Alushta, a small mountain range Pilyaki-Khyr near Simeiz and the complex Karadag mountain group).

In the most picturesque western part between the Baydar Gate and Alushta, where Alupka, Yalta, Gurzuf and most of the sanatoriums and resorts are located, the southern coast is very narrow. Between Alushta and Sudak, the mountains depart from the sea and a wide strip of small ridges and hills stretches along the coast. Near Sudak, rocky hills again approach the shore itself. To the east, beyond Cape Megan, near the Karadag and Koktebel bays, the coastal strip is insignificantly wide, and at the foot of Karadag it disappears completely. Koktebel Bay is bordered on the east by the narrow cape Kiik-Atlama, stretched out into the sea.

The southern coast is distinguished by great erosional dissection; its landscape is characterized by numerous gullies and ravines (Fig. 3), terraced river valleys and well-pronounced erosion amphitheaters in the western half of the southern coast (Yalta, Gurzuf, Alushta, etc.). Very typical of the South Coast are numerous limestone blocks that clutter river valleys and ravines and often completely cover watershed spaces. There are also individual limestone rocks (Sugar traps in the Laspinsky region, Isary rocks near the Blue Bay, Foros, Koshka and Diva rocks near Simeiz, Genoese in Gurzuf, etc.), mountain ranges (Laspi, Krestovaya near Alupka, Alchak, Sokol and Orel near Sudak) and ridges (Mogabi Mountains, Ai-Todorsky, Macsandrovsky and Nikitsky ridges). Landslide processes are widely developed on the southern coast; in some places there are landslide terraces, mounds and basins. The nature of the coast along its entire length is abrasion-bay with sand, gravel and pebble beaches.

Foothill ridges border the main ridge from the north, stretching for about 120 km and reaching a width of 20 - 30 km. In total, there are two cuesta ridges, the First Mountain and the External (formerly they were called the Second and Third ridges of the Crimean Mountains), separated from each other and from the main ridge by depressions called longitudinal valleys. The foothill range stretches from Inkerman in the west to Staporo Crimea in the east. In the western part (near Bakhchisarai) the ridge reaches a height of 500 - 590 m, east of the city of Simferopol it is weakly expressed, in the area of the city of Belogorsk its height increases again and reaches 739 m (Mount Kubalach). The southern, eroded slope of the Piedmont ridge is steep, highly dissected and often steep. In some places, completely isolated erosional remnants are observed, plunging steeply in all directions.

The outer ridge begins with Sapungora near Sevastopol and stretches to Simferopol. Further it is poorly expressed and to the east it gradually disappears completely. The ridge reaches its greatest height (349 m) in the Bakhchisarai region. Its southern slope is also steep, while the northern slope is gently sloping and, gradually descending, merges with the plain stretching at the foot of the mountains. Its eastern continuation is the Parpach ridge of the Kerch Peninsula.

Longitudinal valleys, which are wide zones of depressions washed in loose tertiary and chalk clays and marls, are fertile areas, many settlements, gardens and important roads are confined to them. The terraced river valleys that cross them widen here, while in areas where cuesta ridges break through they often have a canyon-like character.

The Crimean plain is a relatively flat surface, gradually rising to the south, towards the Crimean Mountains. The following are distinguished here: Western Crimean, Eastern Crimean, Central, Tarkhankut and North Crimean plains.

The Western Crimean lowland plain corresponds structurally to the Alma depression. Its border in the east generally coincides with the watershed between the rivers and ravines flowing into the Black and Azov Seas, respectively. This is an almost flat, slightly dissected and slightly inclined plain towards the sea, cut through by shallow ravines and the lower reaches of the Belbek, Kacha, Alma, and Western Bulganak rivers. There are many salt lakes in the coastal zone: Oyburskoye, Solenoye, Mainakskoye, Sasyk-Sivashskoye, Sakskoye, Kizil-Yarskoye and a number of smaller ones. The largest lake in the Western Crimean Plain and the entire Crimea is Lake Sasyk-Sivash, separated from the sea by a sandy embankment 13 km long and up to 1 km wide. Lakes Saki and Mainak are widely known for their healing mud. The seashore in the described area is generally flat, concave, with a slight break at Cape Lukul. To the north of Lake Kizil-Yar the shore is accumulative, low and flat, to the south of the said lake it is abrasive, relatively high and steep.

The East Crimean lowland plain, corresponding structurally to the Indole depression, is limited in the west by the valley of the river. Big Karasu. The plain gradually decreases to the northeast towards Sivash. It is cut through by rather long ravines, originating at the northern foothills of the Crimean Mountains, as well as by the valleys of the Salgir, Biyuk-Karasu, Eastern Bulganak, Wet and Sukhoi Indol, Churuk-Su, and other rivers, which usually dry up in summer. The river valleys are shallow, with weakly pronounced terraces, with the exception of floodplains, which are well developed and represent important agricultural land. In the coastal strip at an altitude of 1-3 m above sea level, an estuary-marine terrace with solonetzic soils has developed. The coast of Eastern Sivash is low, abrasion-accumulative, but highly dissected.

The central elevated plain, corresponding structurally to the Simferopol uplift, is located in the central part of the Crimean Peninsula. Its height gradually decreases from south to north, and the flat surface is complicated by gullies and valleys of the Salgir and its tributaries (Zuya, Burulcha). In the river valleys, the modern floodplain and the first above-floodplain terraces are well defined (the latter in the Salgir valley reaches 1-2 km in width). The first terrace above the floodplain gradually and almost imperceptibly turns into a wide flat interfluve. Burial grounds and guard mounds are very characteristic of the landscape of the Central Plain.

The Tarkhankutskaya elevated plain in the north is limited by the line Bakalskaya Spit - the village. Luxurious, in the east - Chatyrlyk beam. In the south, its border runs north of Evpatoria. The relief of the Tarkhankut elevated plain is very complex: in the east there is the East Tarkhankut Plateau, reaching a height of 120-130 m, and in the western part the relief shows four ridges alternating from south to north, separated by depressions. The surface of the plain is strongly dissected: in the depressions there are long, winding and relatively flat ravines, shorter and steeper ravines cut through the slopes of the ridges. The shallow occurrence of Neogene limestones and their frequent exposure to the day surface determine the fairly widespread development of karst (karrs, ponoras, saucers, small grottoes and caves). The karstization of limestones varies: in some places it appears to a depth of several tens of meters, in others - up to 100-120 m, in others - their entire thickness is karstified.

In the coastal zone of the Tarkhankut high plain there are a number of salt lakes of the estuary type: Dzharylgach, Bakalskoye, Panskoye, Liman and Donuzlav (Fig. 4). The last lake is a large body of water, stretching for more than 30 km in the north-east direction and reaching a depth of over 25 m. The shores of the lake are winding, mostly steep.

The banks of the Tarkhankutskaya elevated plain are of abrasion type, high (30-50 m), steep. The mechanical and dissolving effect of water led to greater dissection of the coastal cliff, the formation of layered steps with a mass of various types of depressions, niches, grottoes and caves. On the Dzhangulsky section of the coast, stretching 5 km north of Cape Kapa-Murun, landslides are widespread (Fig. 5, 6). At the base of a high (up to 60 m) coastal cliff lie Sarmatian clays, along which overlying limestones slide into the sea. Landslide cirques, terraces, bores, bulging shafts and blocky collapses are widely developed here.

The North Crimean lowland plain is limited in the south by the line Bakalskaya Spit - the city of Nizhnegorsk - the mouth of Salgir. Structurally, it represents the Sivash depression. This is a completely flat plain, gradually rising to the south. Geomorphologically, this is an area of Pliocene and Quaternary accumulation. The retreat of Sivash due to the rise of the lowland in the modern era led to the formation of a terrace 1.5-2.5 m high above sea level, overlain by liman-marine sediments. The monotony of the lowland is somewhat broken by pods (steppe saucers), dry valleys and ravines of Samarchik, Chatyrlykskaya, Stepnaya, Pobednaya, giving it a slightly undulating character in places. In the valleys of dry rivers there are river terraces. Dry rivers and large gullies flow into the narrow bays of Sivash and Karkinitsky Bay, which are estuaries, i.e. mouth parts of river valleys and gullies flooded by the sea. A characteristic geomorphological element of the coastal zone are lakes of the estuary type, the largest and practically important of them are the lakes of the Perekop group (Staroe, Krasnoye, Kiyatskoye, Kerleutskoye, Aigulskoye). The lakes have an elongated shape from northwest to southeast, their shores are quite high and steep. The sea shores of the estuary-type lowland are very winding, low, steep, and in places flat.

The Arabat Spit, separating Sivash from the Sea of Azov, is a narrow alluvial sand-shell bar created by the activity of the surf and sea currents. In the southern part, its width is about 1 km, height 4-5 m, to the north the spit widens significantly and consists of several former islands connected by embankments up to 20-25 m high.

Only in the southernmost part of the Crimean plain, adjacent to the mountains, is there a sparse river network; throughout the rest of the territory there are only ravines, ravines and dry rivers.

There is water in them only when the snow melts and after rainstorms. Therefore, irrigation structures are extremely important for the lowland Crimea; the Northern-Crimean Canal is currently being built there.

In the Crimean plain there are more than fifty salt lakes located near the coast.

According to geomorphological features, the Kerch Peninsula is divided into two regions: southwestern and northeastern. The border between these areas runs along the Parpachsky ridge composed of limestones, coming from the village. Vladislavovka east to the village. Marfovka and further with a bend to the south to Cape Opuk. In orographic terms, the ridge is a ridge with usually gentle northern and steep southern slopes; in some cases it is barely noticeable in the relief, in others it takes on the character of well-defined hills or a rather high ledge, very dissected by erosion.

The southwestern region is a undulating, hilly, erosion-denudation lowland plain. Gentle hills and hills up to 50-80 m high (Jau-Tepe, Dyurmen) are usually separated here by flat-bottomed, often extensive depressions occupied by salt marshes.

There are small depressions of subsidence origin - pods, or coli. The area is characterized by active mud hills. The largest of them is Jau Tepe. The beams are shallowly embedded, gently sloping, and often highly branched in the upper reaches. On the coast there are Quaternary marine terraces up to 20 m above sea level (Chaudinskaya).

The northeastern region is a hilly ridge plain with a complex combination of anticlinal basins surrounded by rocky limestone ridges and synclinal valleys separating them. Anticlinal basins are confined to the cores of anticlines, composed in most cases of easily eroded clays. A characteristic, fairly common form of relief are mud hills (Fig. 7). They are usually confined to anticlines, in some places reach a relative height of 30-40 m and have a cone-shaped shape.

There are many salt lakes in the coastal zone. The largest of them are Aktashskoe, Chokrakskoe, Churubashskoe, Tobechinskoe, etc. On steep slopes, landslides with detachment walls and landslide bodies, sometimes terraced, are well developed in the relief. On the sea coast of the Kerch Peninsula there are areas of steep, abrasive and accumulative low-lying coast with sand-pebble and sand-shell beaches, spits and bay-bars.

1.2 Climate

Climate is one of the most important factors in the formation of landscapes. It determines the main pattern of landscape geography - their wide zonality. The climate of most of Crimea can be characterized as a temperate climate - soft steppe in the flat part, more humid broad-leaved forest in the mountains. The southern coast of Crimea is characterized by a sub-Mediterranean climate of dry forests and bushes.

The climate of any territory is formed by three mutually related atmospheric processes: heat exchange, moisture circulation and general atmospheric circulation. These processes occur in the specific geographical setting of the territory. Consequently, climate characteristics and their distribution depend on these geographical factors. The main ones are: geographic latitude of the place, altitude above sea level, distribution of land and sea, relief (orography), underlying landscape surface (vegetation, snow and other covers). A special place is occupied by human activities that influence climate-forming processes by changing certain geographical factors. All factors, naturally, act simultaneously, and we separate them only for the convenience of study.

1.2.1 Geographic climate factors

Geographic latitude mainly determines the solar radiation regime. Geographical zonality in the distribution of climate elements depends on it.

The Crimean peninsula, located in the south of Ukraine, is provided with a large amount of heat not only in summer, but also in winter.

The radiation regime mainly depends on the duration of sunshine, which, in turn, is determined by the geographic latitude and topography of the place, and the cloudiness regime. Crimea is one of the sunniest regions of Ukraine. The annual duration of sunshine here varies between 2180-2470 hours. The maximum duration occurs in July (320-360 hours). It is especially great on the flat sea coast, where breeze winds prevent the formation of clouds (Evpatoria, 365 hours).

Of the annual amount of radiation, Crimea receives approximately 10% in winter, 30% in spring, 40% in summer and 20% in autumn. The unequal intensity of total radiation throughout the year depends mainly on changes in the height of the sun, the length of the day, the number and shape of clouds, the transparency of the atmosphere, as well as on humidity, color and, accordingly, the reflective properties of the surface of landscapes (their albedo).

Although in spring Crimea receives one and a half times more heat from the sun than in autumn, nevertheless, spring is cooler than autumn. This is due to the large heat consumption in the spring to heat the soil, evaporate moisture from it, and heat the upper layers of water cooled during the winter in the Azov and Black Seas. In autumn, much less heat is consumed for these purposes, and the air receives additional heat from the soil and water that have warmed up over the summer.

The total heat supply of a territory is determined by the value of its radiation balance, which represents the difference between its absorbed total radiation and effective radiation. The radiation balance is positive if the underlying surface absorbs more heat than it loses, and negative if, on the contrary, this surface absorbs less heat than it releases into the surrounding space. In general, the radiation balance in Crimea for the year is positive. Only the average monthly values of December and January are negative on the Yayls.

With altitude above sea level (in the mountains), changes in the climatic properties of places are much greater than changes associated with movement across geographic latitude. A special mountain climate is created. With altitude, atmospheric pressure decreases, air transparency and radiation become especially effective. For this reason, despite the increase in solar radiation with increasing altitude, the radiation balance, air temperature and the amplitude of its daily variation decrease. In Crimea, with every 100 m rise, the radiation balance decreases by an average of 25 MJ/(year m2), and the air temperature decreases by 0.65°. At the same time, the amount of precipitation and, as a rule, wind speed increase with altitude. For this reason, altitudinal climatic zonality appears in the mountains, which, in turn, determines the same zonality in the distribution of other landscape components, especially soil and vegetation cover.

The distribution of land and sea is primarily associated with the identification of marine and continental climate types. The position of a place relative to the coastline greatly influences the regime of air temperature and humidity, cloudiness and precipitation, and determines the degree of continentality of its climate. True, the position of the place in the conditions of general atmospheric circulation also plays an important role.

Crimea is surrounded by the Black Sea, which is large in area (412 thousand km2), volume (537 thousand km3) and depth, and the small (about 38 thousand km2), with a volume of 300 km3, shallow Sea of Azov. At the same time, the peninsula is located among a large land area in the northern half of the eastern hemisphere, which can also be called the Eastern continent. On maps reflecting the degree of continentality of the climate of the regions of Southern Europe, Crimea, with the exception of the Sivash region, is located together with the coast of the eastern Mediterranean in the area outlined by the zero isoline of continentality. Thus, the climate of almost all of Crimea is less continental than even the climate of the waters of the Azov and northwestern parts of the Black Sea.

Large landforms (orography) have a major impact on climate. Air currents are delayed and deflected by ridges, and weather fronts are deformed. In the narrow passages between the ridges, the speed of air currents changes, and local mountain-valley winds arise. Over differently oriented slopes, unequal heating and cooling conditions are created, and therefore different air and soil temperature regimes. Due to the flow of air currents through the ridges on the windward slopes of the mountains, especially at lower and narrow saddles and passes, conditions for increased cloudiness and precipitation are formed. On the leeward slopes, on the contrary, fen winds occur with higher temperatures and low air humidity. Over heated mountain slopes, air convection and, consequently, cloud formation increase.

Warm air coming to Crimea from the south, due to the significant vertical thickness, penetrates relatively freely through the low Crimean Mountains into the steppe regions of the peninsula. When cold, dense Arctic air, which, on the contrary, has a small vertical thickness, invades, the mountains prevent its penetration to the South Coast. Consequently, for the Southern Coast, the Crimean Mountains play the most protective role from the Arctic cold in winter. This can be seen from a comparison of the air temperature in the central part of the Crimean plain (Krasnogvardeyskoe), where in January it is - 2°, and in Yalta + 4°, and its absolute minimum in the first point reached - 33°, and in the second - 15°.

If there were no mountains in Crimea, then the Southern Coast would be little different from the steppe coast of the Black and Azov Seas. Consequently, the Crimean Mountains are associated not only with large differences in the climates of the Southern Coast and the rest of the peninsula, but also with significant overall landscape differences between these territories. In this case, the role of the height of the Crimean Mountains is not so great as their general direction from west to east, parallel to the coast.

The formation of climate is greatly influenced by the underlying surface, i.e. the surface with which solar radiation and the atmosphere interact. Thus, the temperature of the soil and ground air also depends on vegetation and snow cover. Dense grass cover reduces the daily amplitude and average temperature of the soil, and, consequently, the air. A large contrast between daytime solar heating and nighttime cooling in summer is typical for the surfaces of loose dark soil, paved areas, and pebble beaches.

The forest has a more significant, unique and complex influence on the climate, which allows many scientists to talk about its special phytoclimate. The crown not only supports solar radiation, but also changes its spectral composition, absorbing most of the ultraviolet rays. At night, the forest retains outgoing long-wave thermal radiation, which noticeably changes the temperature of the soil and air above its canopy. In the summer in the Crimean forest, the air temperature during the day is often 2-3°, and the soil is even 25-30° lower than in the open. In winter, the average monthly air temperature is higher in forests by 0.2-0.5°, and in the parks of the South Coast - by 1.5-2°.

During the warm season, there is usually higher air humidity under the forest canopy. At noon, in a pine forest it is often 4-5% higher, in a beech forest by 9-10%, in parks - by 3-7%, than in open areas. Tree crowns intercept precipitation. The proportion of precipitation intercepted depends on the type of forest and its density. Coniferous tree species usually retain more precipitation than deciduous trees. Their share accounts for up to 50-55%, and deciduous ones for about 35% of the total precipitation in an open area.

The forest is also a good moisture storage facility. During the slow melting of snow during rain, the forest soil absorbs a lot of water, which then significantly affects the nutrition of springs and rivers. One hectare of Crimean mountain forest can transfer intrasoil runoff to 5-6 thousand cubic meters. m of water. The forest greatly reduces the wind speed. In the depths of even a leafless forest, its speed often decreases by more than half compared to open areas.

Snow cover reduces soil heat loss and temperature fluctuations. The surface of the cover itself strongly reflects solar radiation during the day and is greatly cooled by radiation at night. In spring, a lot of heat from the ground air is spent on melting the snow cover, but the soil is enriched with moisture.

Man influences nature and climate through his economic activities. The result of this impact is predominantly negative. The reduction in forest area has a particularly large impact. Over the past 1000 years, they have decreased by 50-70% in the world, and in Crimea - by about one and a half times.

Over large areas, a decrease in solar radiation also occurs due to atmospheric pollution by industrial enterprises and transport, which emit large amounts of impurities (aerosols) consisting of fuel combustion products and dust into the air. Every year, their total mass in the world is over 4 billion. About 20 billion tons of carbon dioxide enter the Earth’s atmosphere from fuel combustion, which, as many scientists believe, can significantly increase air temperatures in the future. As a result of this, the melting of ice will increase (primarily in the Arctic and Antarctic), and the level of the World Ocean will rise (flooding of the most populated low-lying areas of the Earth, etc.).

Observations from satellites show that about 10-15% of the surface of the World Ocean (and this corresponds approximately to the area of Eurasia - 53 million km2) is simultaneously covered with an oil film. It also reduces evaporation from the water surface by about 10%. Due to such anthropogenic pollution of the World Ocean, evaporation from its surface, according to scientists, is reduced by approximately 5,000 km3 of water, which naturally affects its flow to land, including Crimea.

Along with this, people improve the climate in some places by irrigation, planting forests, forest belts and other reclamation measures. Thanks to them, the albedo of the underlying surface decreases, the air is moistened, the soil temperature decreases in summer, etc.

1.2.2 Atmospheric circulation

In general, the western zonal air transport predominates over the peninsula, which is largely blocked by large atmospheric eddies - cyclones and anticyclones, which, in turn, produce inter-latitudinal air exchange. The activity of meteorological processes is determined, therefore, by cyclonic activity - the emergence, development and movement of cyclones and anticyclones in the atmosphere. In turn, this activity depends on the interaction of pressure zones called centers of action of the atmosphere. A cyclone is an atmospheric vortex with lower pressure at its center and winds directed counterclockwise toward its center in the northern hemisphere. Anticyclone - an area of high atmospheric pressure with wind from the center clockwise (in the northern hemisphere).

Atmospheric circulation over Crimea has its own characteristics. Compared to the central and northern regions of Ukraine, atmospheric processes are less active here, cyclonic activity is weaker, and anticyclones are more pronounced, especially in the summer season. They erode atmospheric fronts and contribute to the formation of air masses with local properties.

The greatest probability of precipitation in Crimea occurs when continental and sea tropical air enters (especially in the autumn-winter season), as well as sea air from the temperate zone. Droughts and hot winds most often occur when powerful anticyclones form and when continental tropical air enters from Asia Minor. The intensity and frequency of these hazardous weather phenomena in Crimea is highly dependent on local conditions.

The greatest amount of precipitation falls in Crimea during the passage of cyclone meteorological fronts. Scientists have calculated that from March to October 152 thousand km3 of moisture enters the airspace of Crimea, and from November to February - 230.4 thousand km3. Of this amount, 43.6% of moisture falls in the form of precipitation in the warm period of the year, and in cold - 15.5%. Consequently, in winter there is less precipitation in Crimea than in summer. Precipitation on average accounts for 27.6% of the amount of moisture contained in the airspace of Crimea during the year. By studying the ways of influencing meteorological processes, this share can be significantly increased. The reserve for increasing the volume of moisture recapture is quite sufficient.

The peculiarities of the geographical location of Crimea determine the special regime of circulation processes above it, on which the weather depends, and the meteorological elements that form the weather (according to the seasons of the year).

In winter, over the southern part of Ukraine in the latitudinal direction, an axis of high atmospheric pressure is often established (two maxima are connected - Asian and Azores), and over the Black Sea - a zone of low pressure. As a result, cold and dry continental air of temperate latitudes or Arctic air often invades Crimea. It is associated with sharp drops in air temperature and frequent recurrence of strong northeastern winds, especially in the steppe and northeastern parts of the mountainous Crimea. In the same season, cyclones from the Mediterranean Sea come here relatively often, in the warm sectors of which tropical sea air moves. Mediterranean cyclones, as a rule, linger in the northwestern part of the Black Sea. As a result, warm air primarily affects the southwestern part of the mountainous Crimea. As a result, winter in Crimea is relatively wet everywhere, with frequent precipitation and low evaporation. Due to frequent thaws in winter, air temperatures fluctuate greatly, and the snow cover is unstable and thin.

Spring in Crimea proceeds quickly, thanks to an increase in the height of the sun and the length of the day, a decrease in cloudiness due to the spread of the Azores anticyclone here and the influx of southern warm air. In the interior regions of Crimea, there is a significant increase in air temperature from February to March, and on the sea coast, spring is delayed by 1.5-2 months due to the cooling influence of the sea, especially the Azov Sea. Spring is the driest and windiest season of the year. In spring there are often “returns of cold weather” with night frosts and morning frosts, especially in the basins and river valleys of the foothills, which negatively affects early flowering stone fruit trees and heat-loving grapes.

In summer, an anticyclonic field with small pressure drops is established over the south of Ukraine and the Black Sea. Due to this, clear, hot and low-wind weather prevails in Crimea with the manifestation of local breezes and mountain-valley and slope winds. Due to the fact that continental air of temperate latitudes is transformed here into local tropical air, dry weather prevails in Crimea.

Precipitation in summer is brought to Crimea by marine air masses of temperate latitudes and Atlantic cyclones. Heavy, intense, but most often short-term rainfall occurs. If tropical air settles for a long time, thermal thunderstorms and also short-term precipitation develop.

The summer type of atmospheric circulation begins in the second half of May and continues until the end of September. Thus, summer in Crimea lasts 4-5 months.

Autumn in Crimea is the best season of the year. The weather is calm, sunny and moderately warm. Autumn is warmer than spring by 2-3° in central and by 4-5° in coastal regions, which is primarily due to the influence of the seas and the persistence of the anticyclone over Crimea.

A sharp change in weather occurs, as a rule, in the second half of November due to a change from the summer type of atmospheric circulation to the winter one.

1.2.3 Characteristics of meteorological elements

One of the main elements of climate is air temperature. In Crimea, the annual change in air temperature almost coincides with the change in the influx of solar radiation. Average monthly air temperatures mainly change from north to south, with the exception of the South Coast, where the change occurs to the east and west. Most often, the coldest month is January or February, especially on the sea coast. The lowest average temperature (-4°) in January is observed in the mountains, and the highest (about 5°) is observed on the South Coast. The highest average monthly temperature most often occurs in July, when it reaches 23-24° in most of the peninsula, and 16° in the mountains.

During the day, the lowest temperatures are observed before sunrise, and the highest - at 12-14 hours. The highest daily air temperatures are in valleys and pits (especially in the foothills) with difficult air flow, and the lowest in elevated places with good air exchange. Breeze winds reduce daytime temperatures and increase nighttime temperatures, as a result of which the diurnal amplitude on the sea coast is less than far from the sea. At a distance of 10-15 km from the seashore, the daily amplitude of air temperature increases by 1.5-2 times. In all months, temperature amplitudes can reach 20-26° in the steppe, and 15-20° in the rest of Crimea. During calm and clear weather, the daily amplitude is almost twice as large as during cloudy and windy weather.

The minimum air temperature in Crimea is observed during the invasion of continental Arctic air. The absolute minimum air temperature occurs mainly in January - February. It is in the central part of the steppe - 30. - 32, and in the foothills - up to - 35. - 37.

A decrease in air or soil temperature to 0° and below during a period of generally positive temperature is called frost. They usually occur at night or early morning in clear, calm weather as a result of intense radiation cooling of the underlying surface. The most frost-hazardous areas are the valleys and peaks of the Crimean Mountains (150-160 days), and the least dangerous are the South Coast (frost-free 240-260 days).

Based on the average dates of the stable transition of the average daily air temperature through 0° and 15°, the year is conventionally divided into climatic seasons.

Summer is considered to be the period limited by the dates of transition of the average daily air temperature through 15°. Summer arrives earliest on the South Coast - at the end of the first ten days of May, and later in the mountains - in the first ten days of July (Ai-Petri). However, approximately every third year such a stable transition in air temperature in the mountains is not observed, i.e. there is no summer season. Summer in Crimea is the longest season, it lasts from 150-160 days on the South Coast to 130-140 days on the rest of the peninsula, except for the mountains.

An integral part of the water balance of the atmosphere is air humidity. The formation of cloudiness and precipitation largely depend on its magnitude. The main source of air enrichment with moisture is the water of the seas and oceans, which, evaporating from their surface, is carried in the form of water vapor by air currents to various regions of the Earth.

A distinction is made between absolute and relative air humidity. Absolute humidity is the amount of water vapor contained in a unit volume of air (expressed in grams per 1 m 3 of air). The health and well-being of people and the conditions for growing plants are significantly influenced not by absolute, but by relative air humidity, which is the ratio of the actual content of water vapor in the air to its maximum possible content at a given temperature (expressed as a percentage). The annual and daily change in relative humidity is opposite to the change in air temperature. Relative humidity is lowest in summer and highest in winter.

Of particular interest is information on relative air humidity at 13:00, when its values approach a minimum. Days when it reaches 80% or more at this time are usually considered wet, and those days when it drops to 30% or less are very dry. In the winter months, midday relative humidity in Crimea varies from 60% in the foothills to 65-76% in the rest of the territory, and in the summer from 40-44% in the steppe and foothills to 50-55% on the sea coast and on the yayla. In Crimea in the summer months, due to the dry air, vacationers feel much better than, for example, on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, where at this time the relative air humidity at noon rises to 70-75% and higher.

Along with air temperature, precipitation is an important element of climate. Due to the complex structure of the relief and the peculiarities of atmospheric circulation, they are distributed very unevenly across the territory of Crimea - from 250 mm per year in the steppe to 1000 mm or more in the mountains. Most of the peninsula is characterized by insufficient moisture, especially the sea coast, where precipitation falls 100-150 mm less than even in the central regions of the region.

The conditions for the distribution of precipitation across the peninsula largely depend on the Crimean Mountains, which, although not high, nevertheless contribute to increased thermal and dynamic turbulence (vortex movement) of the air, its rise and the formation of a mountain humidification regime.

Circulation features and the combined influence of the Crimean Mountains and the Black Sea determine the formation of a subtropical (sub-Mediterranean) climate zone, especially in the southwestern part of the peninsula. Here, on the South Coast, although approximately as much precipitation (430-550 mm) falls per year as in the steppe regions, most of it, as in the Mediterranean countries, falls during the cold period. They are associated with Mediterranean winter cyclones.

In addition to the uneven distribution of precipitation across the peninsula, its amount fluctuates sharply from year to year. With an average value of 340-425 mm, their annual amount varies in the steppe regions from 115-250 to 490-720 mm, in the foothills at 450-490 mm - from 190-340 to 715-870 mm, on the southern coast at 430-550 mm - from 160-280 to 1030 mm, on western yailas at 960 mm from 410 to 1650 mm. For the normal growth of most plants in the main areas of the peninsula, a precipitation amount of at least 500 mm per year is required.

Precipitation is also unevenly distributed across the seasons. Thus, in the steppe and foothill Crimea, their maximum occurs in June - July, on the South Coast and in the southern part of the mountains - in January or December, on the western and eastern coasts precipitation falls relatively evenly throughout the year.

In Crimea, on average, 80-85% of the annual precipitation falls in the form of rain. Solid precipitation accounts for less than 10%, and mixed precipitation - 5-8%. In the mountains, the proportion of liquid precipitation decreases with altitude. So, on Ai-Petri they make up only 49%.

The number of days with rain ranges from 80-130 in steppe areas to 150-170 in the mountains. In summer in Crimea there are no more than 5-10 days with rain per month. However, it is not uncommon to experience exceptionally heavy rainfall. During heavy rains in ravines and rivers, there are often large mudflows of mud and stones, which rush at the speed of a train and reach a height of 23 m in narrow places of the riverbeds. They cause great destruction: they destroy bridges, wash away roads, wash away the fertile layer of soil or deposit powerful sediments in gardens, vineyards, etc. Mudflows can occur on almost any river or ravine in the mountainous Crimea, but most often they occur in the area between Alushta and Sudak.

The uneven distribution of precipitation in winter across the territory of Crimea also causes uneven distribution of snow cover. Since winters in Crimea are relatively warm, with frequent thaws, most of the peninsula does not have stable winter cover in eight out of ten winters. The snow cover is stable only in the mountains, where the duration of its occurrence lasts on average 70-90 days, with fluctuations from year to year from 30 to 150 days. In the plain and foothill Crimea, stable snow cover, which lasts for at least a month, occurs only in winters with heavy snow. The total number of days with snow cover is 20-30 in the steppe, and about 40 days in the foothills. The smallest number on the coast is only 10-20 days.

An important meteorological element is also wind, or the movement of air relative to the earth's surface. It is characterized by speed (m/s or in arbitrary points) and the direction from which it blows. The movement of air from place to place occurs under the influence of differences in atmospheric pressure and friction.

The frequency of wind directions and speeds in Crimea is predominantly influenced by the spur of the Azores anticyclone in the warm period of the year, and by the Asian anticyclone in the cold season. Large changes in atmospheric pressure occur when cyclones and active atmospheric fronts, especially cold ones in winter, approach Crimea. By the way, sharp fluctuations in pressure during the day aggravate cardiovascular diseases in not completely healthy people.

During the year, winds from the north-east, south-west and north-west directions prevail in Crimea. In winter, the frequency of northeast winds is 45%, southwest 25%, south up to 20%. During late autumn and winter, it is not uncommon for very strong northeasterly winds to continue for 270-325 hours per month. During these winds, the air temperature is usually 8-10° lower than during winds from other directions. In cases where northeastern winds are accompanied by the invasion of Arctic air, severe cold snaps occur in Crimea.

In the spring, due to the weakening of cyclonic activity in the steppe Crimea, northeastern and northwestern winds blow equally often, and southern winds blow on the Black Sea coast. In May, the frequency of northeastern winds gradually decreases due to the strengthening of the action of the spur of the Azores anticyclone. From June to mid-August, weak westerly and north-westerly winds usually prevail, lasting up to 300-350 hours per month.

In addition to directions, the characteristics of wind speeds are important. The highest wind speeds are observed in late winter - early spring, and the lowest in summer. In winter, average speeds are 7 m/s or more in the mountains, 6 m/s on the western and eastern coasts, 3 m/s on the South Coast, and less than 3 m/s in protected valleys and basins of the foothills. In summer, even on Ai-Petri and Karabi-Yayla, average wind speeds do not exceed 5 m/s.

Strong winds or storms (more than 15 m/s) occur an uneven number of times in different regions of Crimea. During the year, in the foothills they usually last 10-17 days, on the southern coast - 20-24, on the west coast - up to 40, in the central steppe regions - 12-28, and on the mountain tops - 80-85 days.

Hurricanes (winds over 34 m/s) are menacing natural phenomena. In Crimea, they usually occur during prolonged storm winds of the north-eastern direction, less often during south-western storms. Such winds uproot trees, tear off poorly reinforced roofs, break power lines, etc.

In addition to the winds of the general circulation of the atmosphere, local winds are also observed in Crimea: breezes, mountain-valley and foehn.

Breezes blow during the day from the sea to the land (sea breezes), and at night, on the contrary, from the land to the sea (shore breezes). Most often (17-18 days per month) breezes blow in July and August. In the evening, during the period between changes in breeze directions, there is often complete calm, lasting for 2-3 hours. This is the best time for evening walks. The speed of these winds does not exceed 6-7 m/s during the day and 5 m/s at night. Only in Evpatoria and Kerch the speed of the sea breeze sometimes reaches 9 m/s. Sea breezes extend 20-30 km deep into the Crimean plain, and 2-4 km deep into the Southern Coast. On hot days, sea breezes sometimes lower the air temperature on the shore by more than 15-16° compared to the temperature 10 km from the coast.

Mountain-valley winds, like breezes, blow upward during the day and down the valley at night. On the South Coast, mountain-valley winds are superimposed by breezes. The speed of mountain-valley winds during the day is within 3-7 m/s, and at night - only 1-2 m/s. Streams of cool mountain-valley forest air saturated with phytoncides in summer have an extremely beneficial effect on humans.

In the Crimean Mountains in winter or spring, a warm and dry fen wind often forms. The relative humidity of the air sometimes drops to only 8%. Hair dryers last from several hours to 2-3 days. They are especially frequent in Simeiz.

Dust storms sometimes occur in the steppe Crimea. They occur during dry and windy weather in almost all months of the year. They worsen the sanitary and hygienic conditions of cities, damage crops, carry away the upper part of the arable horizon from the fields and fill gardens, vineyards, forest belts, etc. with fine earth.

Depending on the relief conditions (plains, mountain ranges, river valleys, slopes of different exposures, etc.), mesoclimates (local climates) are formed - climates of large areas (from several kilometers to a few tens of kilometers in diameter), created under the influence of mesorelief forms due to changes incoming solar radiation, air temperature, precipitation, etc.

Thus, in deep mountain valleys (the upper reaches and middle part of the valleys of the Chernaya, Belbek, Kacha, Alma, Salgir, Biyuk-Karasu, etc. rivers) cold air accumulates, and less solar energy is received due to shading by neighboring ridges. The slopes of the ridges oriented to the south heat up more strongly, and those oriented to the north - vice versa. There are breezes in coastal areas. In cities there is more fog, the duration of sunshine is shorter, and the temperature is 1-2 C higher.

The climate of most of Crimea can be characterized as a temperate climate - soft steppe in the flat part, more humid, characteristic of deciduous forests in the mountains. The southern coast of Crimea is characterized by a sub-Mediterranean climate. There are two main factors that influence the climate of the peninsula: the Crimean mountains and the proximity of the sea. In winter it plays the role of a huge “hot water bottle”, and in summer it somewhat reduces the heat.

There are many intermediate options between these types of climates. For example, in the Foothills (Simferopol, Zuya, Belogorsk) the climate is transitional from steppe to mountain-forest - it can be called foothill forest-steppe.

In the lowland Crimea, the climate is steppe, moderate continental, dry: cool winter (average January temperature from - 3 to 0 C) and hot summer (average July temperature from +21 to +23 C) Precipitation - 350 - 450 mm/year, and Most of them fall in the summer in the form of showers.

There are differences between the climates of the coastal territories (Chernomorskoye, Evpatoria, Kerch) and the central part of the peninsula (Krasnogvardeyskoye, Dzhankoy, Pervomaiskoye, etc.) in the coastal part there is higher relative humidity, intensity of solar radiation, less cloudiness and amount of precipitation. This climate can be called coastal steppe.

In the foothills (Simferopol, Belogorsk), the amount of precipitation increases to 500-600 mm/year, summer temperatures decrease.

In the mountains, summer and winter temperatures decrease and the amount of precipitation increases. For every 100 m of altitude, the temperature decreases by an average of 0.5-0.6 o C, the amount of precipitation increases by 50-70 mm/year. Therefore, on the Yailas, the average monthly winter temperatures are up to - 4. - 5 o C, and the amount of precipitation is 1000-1500 mm/year.

The South Coast is of greatest interest in terms of climate. This is the only place in Ukraine with a sub-Mediterranean, in other words, almost Mediterranean climate. Winter here is mild, with positive temperatures.

The climate of Yalta is cooler compared to points located on the Mediterranean Sea. This is especially true in winter; frosts down to -15 o C sometimes occur in Yalta. Such low temperatures limit the possibility of growing subtropical crops.

There are several hundred varieties of local climates in Crimea.

The climate in the Salgir valley, say, differs from the climate on the cuesta ridges in that it has higher daytime temperatures and lower nighttime temperatures. Valley winds often blow here, bringing cool air from the mountains.

A specific climate is formed in the Baydar Valley. This part of the Chernaya River valley is basin-shaped, therefore, in calm weather, cold air flowing down from the slopes of the surrounding mountains accumulates in it. As a result, the absolute minimum air temperature in the valley is lower compared to the surrounding areas.

Local climates are also formed due to hair dryers, breezes, and mountain-valley winds. The influence of breezes is especially pronounced in Crimea. They occur in the summer and are associated with uneven heating of land and sea: during the day the wind blows from the sea to the land, and at night - vice versa. Breezes can be considered as microanalogs of the Asian monsoons, only there the continent (Asia) and the ocean (Pacific) interact, and the change in wind direction occurs in summer and winter. Thanks to the breezes on the coast, the summer midday and afternoon heat is softened. The location of Crimea within the territory with the maritime climate of the Eastern Mediterranean makes its climatic conditions quite comfortable. Even in Simferopol, located not on the coast, but in the central part of the peninsula, the climate is much more comfortable for humans compared to the same latitudes (45) of the Eastern Hemisphere (with colder winters and contrasting climate in seasons) and Western (where summers are relatively cooler ). Here are some climate “records” for the Crimean Peninsula over the past 150-200 years:

· The highest temperature in summer - the absolute maximum (+40.7 C) - was recorded in August 1930 in the village of Klepinino.

· The lowest temperature in winter - the absolute minimum (-36.8 C) - was recorded in January 1940 in the village of Nizhnegorsky.

· The coldest and snowiest winter was 1953-1954, when the temperature remained below - 10 C for almost 50 days.

· The warmest winter was 1965-1966, when there was no snow on the yayls at all, and in Simferopol the thaw lasted for almost three months.

· The maximum amount of precipitation - 1718 mm - was recorded in 1981 on Ai-Petri.

· The longest drought was in 1947, when even in the mountains there was no rain for almost 100 days.

· The maximum number of foggy days (not only in Crimea, but also in Ukraine) is observed on Ai-Petri (in 1970 - 215 days).

· The windiest point not only in Crimea, but also in Ukraine is Ai-Petri (in 1949, winds blew here at a speed of over 15 m/s for 125 days). The highest wind speed was also recorded on Ai-Petri - 50 m/s.

1.3 Soil and vegetation cover

Crimea is distinguished by a wide variety of soils and vegetation, which is directly dependent on the characteristics of the geological structure, diversity of parent rocks, relief and climate. A characteristic feature of the distribution of soil and vegetation cover in the mountainous Crimea is the existence of vertical zonality. Brown and partly brown forest soils are developed on the South Coast. Brown soils are common under dry sparse forests and shrubs and are formed on clayey shales of the Tauride series and red-colored products of limestone weathering; brown forest soils are typical for less dry places.

The vegetation of the South Coast is distinguished by its xerophytic character, rich in Mediterranean forms and many alien cultural forms. The most common formations are forests, bushes and thickets of dry-loving grasses and subshrubs. The forests are low-growing and are formed by fluffy oak, tree-like juniper, wild pistachio, Crimean pine, hornbeam, and strawberry. Shrub thickets, which are an analogue of the Eastern Mediterranean shibliak, consist of shrubby forms of fluffy oak, hornbeam, dwarf tree, mackerel, sumac, scraggly pear, dogwood, orelica, cistus, etc. Open, dry and rocky areas are covered with dry-loving grasses and subshrubs - Crimean analogue of the East Mediterranean frigana. The parks contain cypresses, cedars, spruces, pines, sequoias, fir trees, laurels, magnolias, palm trees, cork oaks, plane trees, and Lankaran acacias.

A characteristic element of the South Coast landscape are also vineyards, orchards and tobacco plantations.

Orographical and climatic differences in individual parts of the Main Ridge determine the diversity of their soil and vegetation cover. The western part of the ridge is characterized by brown mountain-forest soils, mountain-brown soils of dry forests and shrubs, and alluvial-meadow soils of river valleys and ravines. Due to the low-mountain relief and its great fragmentation, the vertical zonation of the soil and vegetation cover is poorly expressed here. The predominant forests consist of downy oak, tree-juniper, wild pistachio (keva tree) with an undergrowth of hornbeam, dogwood, blackthorn and blackthorn. Low-growing juniper forests grow on stony soils and rocky areas. Higher on the slopes grow taller mixed deciduous forests of beech, oak, hornbeam, and ash. Lots of wild grapes and ivy. Valleys and depressions are characterized by grassy meadow-steppe vegetation. To a greater extent, the basins are developed for fields, vineyards, orchards, and tobacco plantations.

The slopes of the middle part of the Main Ridge are occupied by brown mountain forest soils and their podzolized varieties. The vertical vegetation zone is quite well defined here.

The lower part of the northern slope of the Main Ridge is occupied by low-trunk oak coppice forest and is very thinned out. The forest is formed mainly by downy and sessile oak and partly by pedunculate oak. Dogwood and hornbeam are in the undergrowth. Occasionally there are small patches of pine, oak-pine and juniper forest. The open areas of the slope are occupied by forest and partly steppe herbaceous vegetation that has already penetrated here (siler, kupena, bluegrass, woodruff, feather grass, fescue, wheatgrass, etc.). Higher up the slope (up to 600 m) a tall oak forest grows with an admixture of ash, field maple, aspen, and large-fruited rowan. In the undergrowth are hornbeam, dogwood, hazel, buckthorn, hawthorn, and mackerel. Even higher (from 600 to 1000 m) a tall beech forest with an admixture of hornbeam dominates, there are rare areas of Crimean pine, and on the slopes of the southern exposure there are groves of tree-like juniper and isolated yews. At altitudes above 1000 m there is already a low-growing beech forest with rare areas of Scots pine.

On the southern slope of the Main Ridge, above the dry forests and shrubs of the Southern Birch, at an altitude of 400 to 800-1,000 m, there is a forest of Crimean pine. Fluffy oak and tree-like and shrubby juniper are found as admixtures. To the east of Gurzuf, the distribution of the Crimean pine is already of an island nature, and to the east of Alushta only isolated specimens of this tree are found. Pine forests are replaced here by forests of downy oak, hornbeam, tree juniper, wild pistachio and dogwood. Above 1000 m there is a forest of beech, Scots pine and partly Crimean pine, oak, maple, linden, and hornbeam.

Yailas are, as a rule, treeless and covered with grassy meadow-steppe vegetation on mountain chernozems and mountain-meadow chernozem-like soils. The eastern part of the Main Ridge is characterized by low-trunked open forests of oak, beech, ash, hornbeam and shrubby thickets of dogwood, hawthorn, dwarf tree, and mackerel on brown mountain forest soils and steppe varieties of mountain brown soils.

The foothills are occupied by forest-steppe with a mosaic alternation of treeless (steppe) and forest areas. The soils are carbonate chernozems, crushed soddy-carbonate and brown soils. Treeless areas are characterized by herbaceous grass and forb vegetation: feather grass, fescue, wheatgrass, wheatgrass, saffron, adonis or spring adonis, sage, peon, yarrow, immortelle, etc. They are mostly plowed and developed into fields, vineyards, tobacco plantations and ether plantations - oil plants. Orchards and vineyards are common in river valleys. Forest areas consist of low-growing trees, forest shrubs (downy oak, sessile and pedunculate oak, field maple, ash, elm, hazel and dogwood). The most common shrubs are mackerel, hawthorn, blackthorn, rose hip, buckthorn, etc.

In the central part of the Crimean plain and in the northeastern part of the Kerch Peninsula, heavy loamy and clayey southern chernozems are common. These soils were formed on loess-like rocks under sparse grass vegetation and contain little humus (3-4%). Due to the peculiarities of their mechanical composition, southern chernozems float during rain and become crusty when dry, however, despite this, they are still the best soils of the Crimean plain. With proper agricultural technology, southern chernozems can provide good yields of grain and industrial crops, and grapes. The southern part of the Crimean plain adjacent to the mountains and partly the northeastern region of the Kerch Peninsula are characterized by weakly humus carbonate chernozems.

The belt of southern chernozems to the north is gradually replaced by a belt of heavy loamy dark chestnut and chestnut solonetzic soils, formed under conditions of high standing saline groundwater on loess-like rocks. The humus content in these soils is only 2.5-3%. Chestnut-type soils are also characteristic of the southwestern region of the Kerch Peninsula, where they were formed on salt-bearing Maykop clays. If proper agricultural practices are followed, chestnut soils can provide fairly high yields of various crops.

On the low-lying coast of Sivash and Karkinitsky Bay, where groundwater lies very close to the surface and is highly saline, solonetzes and solonchaks are developed. Similar soils are also found in the southwestern region of the Kerch Peninsula. The natural vegetation cover of the Crimean plain was a typical steppe. In the grass stand, the main background consisted of turf grasses: various feathery feather grasses, feather grass (tyrsa), fescue (or steppe fescue), tonkonogo, steppe keleria (or kipets), wheatgrass. Forbs were represented by sage (drooping and Ethiopian), kermek (Tatar and Sarepta), yellow alfalfa, spring adonis, steppe katran, yarrow, etc. A characteristic element were plants of a short spring growing season - ephemerals (annual species of brome, hare and mouse barley and etc.) and ephemeroids (tulips, steppe irises, etc.). Significant areas were occupied by the so-called desert steppe on chestnut-type soils. Along with the predominant cereals (fescue, wheatgrass, tyrsa, etc.), Crimean wormwood was very widespread there as a result of intensive grazing. Ephemera and ephemeroids were also quite characteristic.

On the rocky and gravelly slopes of the ridges and hills of the Tapkhankutsky and Kerch peninsulas there is a petrophytic (rocky) steppe. Here, along with grasses (feather grass, fescue, wheatgrass, etc.), xerophytic subshrubs (wormwood, dubrovnik, thyme) are common. There are bush thickets of rose hips, hawthorn, thorns, etc.

On the saline soils of the coast of the Karkinitsky Bay, Sivash and the southwestern part of the Kerch Peninsula, solonchak vegetation (sarsazan, soleros, sweda) is common. On drier and less saline soils, cereals grow there (volosnets, beskilnitsa, beskilnitsa).

Currently, the Crimean steppe has lost its natural appearance. It is almost entirely plowed and occupied by fields of wheat, corn, various vegetables, as well as vineyards and orchards. Recently, rice has become increasingly widespread in Crimea. A characteristic element of the cultural landscape of the Crimean plains are forest shelterbelts made of white acacia, birch bark, ash maple, ash and apricot.

II. Environmental problems of Crimea

Crimea is characterized by a wide variety of natural conditions and landscapes, which are associated with its geographical location and complex geological and geomorphological structure. The diversity of landscapes has been facilitated by long-term anthropogenic impact, which has led to both the degradation of many natural ones and the formation of completely new anthropogenic landscapes. Currently, natural, slightly transformed landscapes occupy only 2.5% of the territory of Crimea. These are mountain broad-leaved forests, mountain forest-steppe on the yailas, salt marshes and halophytic meadows of the Sivash region and the Kerch Peninsula. Most of the territory of the peninsula (62%) is developed for constructive landscapes: arable lands, gardens, cities, roads, etc. The remaining territory (35.5%) is represented by derivative landscapes.

The main features of the modern flora and fauna in Crimea were formed approximately 5 thousand years ago. At this time, people moved from gathering and hunting to farming and animal husbandry. For many centuries, economic pressures did not lead to significant changes in landscapes. Until the 19th century, in the Plain Crimea, residents were engaged in cattle breeding, and in the mountainous part and on the southern coast they grew grapes, wheat, apples, and pears. But in the XIV - XVII centuries. and here cattle breeding developed greatly, which led to the deforestation of large areas and the expansion of pastures due to them. At the beginning of the 19th century. The forest area in Crimea was 361 thousand hectares, and in 1913 it was already 318 thousand hectares, in 1929 only 274 thousand hectares. Crimean forests suffered greatly during the Great Patriotic War - by 1946 their area was reduced to 210 thousand hectares. In recent decades, thanks to reforestation work, the area of forested areas has increased and currently the total forest area of Crimea is 338 thousand hectares.

Not only the Crimean forests were severely damaged, but also the yayls, which at the beginning of the century were a place for grazing both the livestock of the local population and livestock imported from the southern regions of Russia and even from Romania and Bulgaria.

In the Foothill and Plain Crimea, extensive cattle breeding gradually gave way to agriculture. Particularly great changes occurred after the abolition of serfdom. From 1865 to 1890 the population of Crimea doubled, and the cultivated area increased from 222 thousand hectares to 925 thousand hectares. During Soviet times, the expansion of arable land area continued and in 1995 it amounted to 1154 thousand hectares. Foothill steppe communities with a predominance of feather grass vegetation were destroyed on 50% of their area, and the degradation of steppe communities in the Plain Crimea became close to 100%.

A significant impact on the natural environment occurred with the commissioning of the North Crimean Canal. The area of irrigated land in Crimea has reached approximately 20% of all cultivated land. However, due to the poor technical condition of the canal, about half of the water is lost, and this has caused an increase in groundwater levels, flooding of land, and salinization of the soil. Irrigation led to a qualitative change in landscapes: rice fields appeared, and the area of gardens, vegetable and row crops increased. New settlements emerged and the population of agricultural areas grew.

Recreational loads on landscapes have increased, especially on the southern coast of Crimea. The number of vacationers increased like an avalanche: in 1928, 110 thousand vacationed in Crimea, in 1938, 270 thousand, in 1958 - 700 thousand, in 1970 - 6.5 million, in the 80s - up to 10 million people annually. In addition to the direct impact on nature (trampling of vegetation, soil compaction, cutting down forests for fires, forest fires, littering, etc.), the influx of vacationers required the construction of new sanatoriums and rest houses, roads, reservoirs, and aggravated the problem of water supply. All this has led to an increase in the volume of polluted wastewater and the degradation of some coastal marine and forest ecosystems.

Industry and transport developed intensively. The construction of major chemical production facilities in Crimea dates back to the 60-80s, some of which operate on imported raw materials. By the beginning of the 90s, industrial production reached its greatest volume, and emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere amounted to the maximum value - 565 thousand tons. In recent years, due to a drop in production volumes, the amount of emissions into the atmosphere decreased: in 1992. - 430 thousand tons, in 1993 - 295 thousand tons, in 1994 - 190 thousand tons, in 1995 - 150 thousand tons, in 1996 - 122.5 thousand tons.

Rivers, reservoirs and coastal waters of the Black and Azov Seas are polluted by industrial and domestic wastewater. Sewage treatment plants have insufficient capacity; as a result, in 1996, 230 million cubic meters were discharged into open water bodies. m of wastewater, of which 106 are polluted, 124 million cubic meters are regulatory-treated. m. More than 42 million cubic meters have accumulated on the territory of Crimea. m of solid waste.

In general, the pollution of the peninsula and adjacent waters is very high. The flat part of Crimea in terms of pollution levels (especially soils) is second only to the Krivoy Rog-Dnieper region, the southern parts of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions and is approximately on the same level as the Donbass. Such significant pollution is associated with the use of large amounts of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture. Average air and soil pollution, as well as land disturbance in Crimea are lower than the average for Ukraine. Water pollution is approximately two times lower, but pesticide pollution is more than twice as high compared to Ukraine. The overall anthropogenic transformation in Crimea is inferior to the industrial Dnieper region and Donbass, but superior to other areas.

In the Mountainous Crimea, despite the bans, livestock grazing continues. Of great concern is grazing on the yailas, where a significant part of the peninsula’s river flow is formed. The karst formation and fracturing of the limestones that make up the Yaila plateaus contribute to the rapid infiltration of polluted surface waters and their entry into rivers and reservoirs.

Crimea is washed by the waters of two internal seas. Their uniqueness lies in their limited connection with the World Ocean, which means that their hydrological regime significantly depends on river flow and water exchange through the Bosphorus Strait. And although hydrogen sulfide contamination of the deep layers of the Black Sea determines the absence of organic life below 150 m, the coastal surface waters of the sea are characterized by high biological productivity. Until recently, the Sea of Azov was one of the most productive seas of the World Ocean.

Modern natural conditions in the Azov-Black Sea basin developed approximately 4-6 thousand years ago. However, the presence of relict organisms and specific conditions of speciation determined a rather high - more than 10% - endemism of the fauna of the basin. It is home to more than 1,200 species of algae and higher plants, 2,100 invertebrate animals, 192 species of fish and 4 species of mammals.

Already at the beginning of the twentieth century, the influence of anthropogenic loads on the coastal ecosystems of Crimea was noted, mainly due to the intensive fishing of valuable fish species. The regulation of river flow in the 50s of our century had a very detrimental effect on the hydrological regime and the structure of biological communities of the Azov Sea. The increase in the salinity of sea waters has led to the suppression of many species of bottom fauna - the main food of nutritionally valuable fish. Pollution of the river waters of the Danube and Dnieper, in turn, determined the eutrophication of the shallow northwestern part of the Black Sea and regular death in the summer. Anthropogenic pollution of the waters washing the Crimean peninsula has caused the suppression of brown algae and the increased development of green algae, the mass proliferation of ctenophores - a new “tenant” of the sea, the gluttony of which has led to a noticeable decrease in zooplankton, and finally, water blooms. In recent decades, off the southern coast of Crimea, the area of the most abundant representative of brown algae, Cystoseira, has decreased by 40%.

However, against the backdrop of significant overall pollution of the Azov-Black Sea basin, the southern and western coasts of Crimea found themselves in a relatively favorable situation due to the peculiarities of water circulation. The greatest damage to the Crimean coastal waters is caused by local local sources of pollution, and the water areas of bays and bays with poor water exchange are the most affected. Less damage was caused to aquatic ecosystems near open shores.

In general, the environmental problems of Crimea are associated with a complex of socio-economic and natural resource factors, which are reflected in the nature of environmental management.

Conclusion

The climate of most of Crimea is a temperate climate: soft steppe - in the flat part; more humid, characteristic of deciduous forests - in the mountains. The southern coast of Crimea is characterized by a sub-Mediterranean climate of dry forests and bushes.

The reserve fund accounts for more than 135 thousand hectares of the peninsula, which is 5.2% of its area. The reserve fund plays a significant role in preserving the creations of inanimate and living nature, and stabilizes the ecological situation on the peninsula.

Crimea is a unique region of Ukraine, where in a relatively small area there are 152 natural reserves, including: 6 nature reserves, 30 reserves, 69 natural monuments, 2 botanical gardens, 1 dendrological park, 31 park-monuments of landscape art , 8 protected areas, 1 zoo.

More than 200 mineral deposits are known in Crimea. Iron ores (Kerch iron ore basin), salts of Sivash and coastal lakes (Staroye, Krasnoe, etc.), natural gas (Black Sea deposits), fluxing limestones (Balaklavskoe, Kerch deposits, etc.), cement marls (Bakhchisaray), are of national importance. pottery and bleaching clays (foothills). For medicinal and recreational purposes, medicinal mud and mineral springs (Saki, Evpatoria, Feodosia, etc.), sand and pebble beaches (west and south coasts, Azov region) are used. Many steppes, unfortunately, are plowed under fields of wheat, corn, rice paddies, vegetable plantations, vineyards and orchards.

Problems of regional development:

1. Insufficiently rational use of natural conditions and resources;

2. Poor water supply to the Crimean Peninsula;

3. Contradictions in the location and development of heavy industry enterprises, in the formation of a large port economy, on the one hand, and the use of recreational resources, on the other;

4. Pollution of the western Crimea leads to a weakening of the healing properties of Saki mud;

5. Threatening ecological state of the Black and Azov seas and the lake-bay of Sivash;

6. The extraction of pebbles and limestone on the beaches negatively affects the natural features of the resorts of Crimea;

7. Naval bases and air forces create a lot of noise pollution;

8. Implementation of the program for the protection of cultural monuments of the Crimean Peninsula.

Crimea today is a specific region where a huge number of rare species of animals and plants, unique climatic zones and ecological reserves are concentrated. If sharp and radical measures are not taken to stabilize the environmental situation, then we will simply lose this unique region. The government of both Ukraine and Crimea should pay more attention to this issue, tightening environmental policies and applying more severe sanctions to violators of environmental legislation.

Bibliography

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Application

Fig.1. Overview map of Crimea

Fig.2. Mount Demerdzhi

Columnar weathering patterns of Upper Jurassic conglomerates

Fig.3. the south coast of Crimea

Erosion Landforms in Tauride Shales,

at the village Vesele (near Sudak).

Fig.4. North-eastern shore of the lake. Donuzlav

Fig.5. Dzhangul landslide coast. Tapxankutsky Peninsula

Fig.6. Landslide terraces of the Dzhangul coast.

Tarkhankut Peninsula

Fig.7. The surface of a mud hill with a crater and a fresh mud flow

Table 1. Duration of sunshine, hours

Table 2.

Table 3. Total solar radiation, MJ/m2

Table 4.

Observation point	July	August	September	October	November	December	Year
Klepinino	733	654	494	310	139	96	4 994
Black Sea	800	691	511	318	155	101	5 317
Kerch	779	679	499	310	151	96	5 095
Evpatoria	788	687	524	327	159	105	5 247
Simferopol	754	652	515	331	168	117	5 186
Feodosia	767	662	511	315	155	101	5 059
Sevastopol	779	683	520	325	168	122	5 253
Yalta	763	675	511	327	168	122	5 134
Ai-Petri	721	633	486	310	180	126	5 054

Table 5. Air temperature, evaporation (E) and volatility (Eo)

Observation point	Air temperature, C			Evaporation,	Volatility,	Attitude,
Observation point	January	July	year	year	year	year
Armyansk	-2,9	23,2	10,0	338	958	0,35
Klepinino	-2,0	22,8	9,9	460	931	0,49
Black Sea	-0,1	22,1	10,8	314	771	0,41
Nizhnegorsky	-1,6	22,8	10,4	460	911	0,50
Kerch	-1,0	23,3	10,6	429	841	0,51
Evpatoria	-0,3	23,0	11,0	367	872	0,42
Belogorsk	-1,4	21,4	9,8	416	928	0,45
Simferopol	-1,0	21,8	10,2	457	958	0,48
Feodosia	-0,6	23,8	11,7	372	998	0,37
Alushta	3,0	23,3	12,3	331	1 023	0,32
Sevastopol	2,7	22,4	12,0	343	940	0,36
Yalta (port)	4,0	23,7	13,0	366	1 059	0,35
Ai-Petri	-3,6	15,6	5,7	488	755	0,65
Syrach	4,5	23,6	13,3	371	1 121	0,33

Table 6. Annual sums of temperatures above 10C

Observation point	Sum of temperatures	Observation point	Sum of temperatures
Yishun	3 468	Alushta	3 655
Dzhankoy	3 519	Crimean
Klepino	3 441	Reserve	2 500
Kerch	3 650	Sevastopol	3 580
Evpatoria	3 674	Postal	3 160
Belogorsk	3 245	Dove	3 040
Simferopol	3 245	Nikitsky
Old Crimea	3 065	Botanical Garden	3 885
Feodosia	3 675	Yalta (port)	3 850
Karadag	3 635	Ai-Petri	1 805
Karabi-yayla	2 060	Miskhor	4 195
Zander	3 540	Simeiz	4 060
Megan	3 710	Sarych	3 935

Table 7. Average long-term amounts of atmospheric precipitation, mm

Observation point	November-March	April-October	year	Observation point	November-March	April-October	year
Armyansk	129	212	341	Alushta	225	202	427
Dzhankoy	147	271	418	Sevastopol	165	184	349
Klepino	165	301	466	Postal	209	273	482
Black Sea	133	183	316	Dove	261	307	568
Nizhnegorsky	164	300	464	Gurzuf	281	233	514
Kerch	161	251	412	Nikitsky
Evpatoria	156	197	353	Botanich. garden	298	237	535
Belogorsk	147	276	423	Balaclava	201	219	420
Simferopol	196	305	501	Yalta (port)	313	247	560
Old Crimea	202	312	514	Ai-Petri	648	404	1 052
Feodosia	151	225	376	Orlinoe	317	265	582
Karadag	146	211	357	Miskhor	273	236	509
Karabi-yayla	214	381	595	Simeiz	226	206	432
Zander	129	189	318	Sarych	184	188	372
Megan	115	157	272