The Republic of Crimea occupies the territory of the Crimean peninsula.
The territory of the Republic of Crimea is 26.1 thousand square meters. km
Length: from west to east - 360 km, from north to south - 180 km.
Extreme points: in the south - Cape Sarych; in the west - Cape Priboyniy; in the east - Cape Lantern.
The most important seaports are Yevpatoriya, Yalta, Feodosiya, Kerch.
Related regions: Krasnodar region Russian Federation, Kherson region of Ukraine.
The climate of the peninsula differs in its various parts: in the northern part it is moderately continental, on the southern coast with subtropical features. It is not typical for Crimea a large number of precipitation throughout the year, a large number of sunny days, the presence of breezes on the coast.
The relief of the Crimean peninsula consists of three unequal parts: the North Crimean plain with the Tarkhankut Upland (about 70% of the territory), the Kerch Peninsula, and in the south - three ridges extends the mountain Crimea. The highest is the Main ridge of the Crimean Mountains (1545 m, Roman-Kosh Mountain), consisting of individual limestone massifs (yail) with plateau-like peaks, deep canyons. The southern slope of the Main Ridge stands out as the Crimean sub-Mediterranean. The inner and outer ridges form the Crimean foothills.
The Crimean peninsula is washed by the Black and Azov Seas.
The nature reserve fund includes 158 objects and territories (including 46 of national importance, the area of \u200b\u200bwhich is 5.8% of the Crimean peninsula). The reserve fund is based on 6 nature reserves with a total area of \u200b\u200b63.9 thousand hectares: Krymsky with the Swan Islands branch, Yalta Mountain Forest, Cape Martyan, Karadagsky, Kazantipsky, Opuksky.
Crimea - a peninsula richly endowed natural resources. In its bowels and on the adjacent shelf, there are industrial deposits of iron ore, combustible gas, mineral salts, building materials, oil and gas condensate.
Of greater importance are the natural recreational resources of the peninsula: mild climate, warm sea, healing mud, mineral waters, picturesque landscapes.
The largest rivers are Salgir, Indol, Biyuk-Karasu, Chornaya, Belbek, Kacha, Alma, Bulganakh. The longest river of Crimea is Salgir (220 km), the longest - Belbek (water consumption - 1500 liters per second).
There are more than 50 salt lakes in Crimea, the largest of them is Lake Sasyk (Kunduk) - 205 sq. Km.
The population of Crimea as of January 1, 2013 is 1 million 965.2 thousand people. Including economically active population is 970.3 thousand people, or less than 50% of the total population.
About 130 ethnic groups live in the Republic of Crimea. The largest ethnic groups: Russians (58.3%), Ukrainians (24.3%) and Crimean Tatars (12.1%).
State languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Crimean Tatar.
Time zone: MSK (UTC + 4).
Administrative and territorial structure: cities of republican significance - 11, districts - 14.
The capital of the Republic of Crimea is the city of Simferopol.
The representative body of the Republic of Crimea is the State Council of the Republic of Crimea.
The executive body of the Republic of Crimea is the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea.
The Republic of Crimea has symbols: coat of arms, flag and anthem.
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, are concentrated in miniature the characteristic features of their nature: plains and mountains, modern mud hills and ancient volcanoes, lakes and seas, steppes and forests, landscapes of the semi-desert of Prisivashia and the Black Sea sub-Mediterranean.
The Crimean peninsula is located in the south of Ukraine at the same latitude as southern France and northern Italy.
The outlines of Crimea are very peculiar, some see a brush of grapes in them, others see a flying bird, and others see a heart. Each of us, looking at the map, immediately sees in the middle of the blue sea an irregular quadrangle with a wide ledge of the peninsula in the west and a long, narrower ledge Kerch Peninsula in the east. The Kerch Strait separates the Crimean Peninsula from Taman - 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 of the water of the Black and Azov Seas. It could be an island, if not for the narrow, only 8 kilometers wide, Perekop Isthmus connecting it with 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 square kilometers, volume - 537 thousand cubic kilometers) wash Crimea from the west and south. The largest bays: Karkinitsky, Kalamitsky and Feodosiya. The coast of the peninsula is heavily indented with numerous bays and bays.
From the east and northeast, the peninsula is surrounded (4-5 km wide, 41 km long) and the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov (area - 38 thousand square kilometers, volume - 300 cubic km), which forms the Arabat, Kazantip, and Sivash bays.
Crimean mountains divided the peninsula into two uneven parts: a large steppe and a smaller mountain. They stretched from southwest to northeast from the vicinity to three almost parallel ridges separated by parallel green valleys. The Crimean mountains are about 180 km long and 50 km wide.
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 slopes are, on the contrary, canopies.
The peaks of the Crimean mountains are treeless plateaus, which they call (translated from Turkic means "summer pasture"). Yailos combine the properties of both mountains and plains. They are connected by narrow, lowered ridges along which mountain passes pass. There have long been paths from the steppe part of Crimea to the southern coast.
The highest eggs of Crimea: Ai-Petrinskaya (1320 m), Gurzufskaya (1540 m), Nikitskaya (1470 m), Yalta (1406 m). The limestone surface of the yayl was dissolved for many centuries under the influence of rainwater, water flows made numerous passages, mines, deep wells, and surprisingly beautiful caves in the thickness of the mountains.
The steppe occupies a large half of the territory of Crimea. It represents the southern outskirts 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: southwest - plain and northeastern - hilly, which is characterized by the alternation of gentle depressions, ring-shaped limestone ridges, mud hills and coastal lake basins. However, mud volcanoes with real volcanoes have nothing in common, since they do not throw out lava, but cold mud.
Varieties of carbonate and southern chernozems prevail on the lowland part of Crimea, dark chestnut and meadow chestnut soils of dry forests and shrubs, as well as brown mountain forest and mountain meadow chernozem-like (on eggs) are less common.
More than half of the peninsula is occupied by fields, about five percent - by orchards and vineyards. On the remaining lands are mainly pastures and forests.
Forest area is 340 thousand ha. The slopes of the Crimean mountains are covered mainly with oak forests (65% of the area of \u200b\u200ball forests), beech (14%), pine (13%) and hornbeam (8%). Relict junipers tall, pistachio goofy, evergreen strawberries are small-fruited, a number of evergreen shrubs - Crimean cistus, Ponticus needle, red pyracantha, red jasmine, etc. grow in the forests on the South Bank.
The main source of river nutrition is rainwater - 44-50% of the annual runoff; snow nutrition provides 13-23% and groundwater - 28-36%. The average long-term surface and underground runoff of Crimea is just over 1 billion cubic meters of water. This is almost three times less than the volume of water flowing annually to the peninsula along the North Crimean Canal. Natural reserves of local waters are used at the limit (73% of the reserves are involved). The main surface runoff 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.).
3.5 billion cubic meters of water is supplied to the peninsula annually through the North Crimean Canal, which allowed to increase the area of \u200b\u200birrigated land from 34.5 thousand ha to 400 thousand ha (since the 30s of the 20th century).
In Crimea, mainly along the coasts, there are more than 50 estuary lakes with a total area of \u200b\u200b5.3 thousand square meters. km used to obtain salts and therapeutic mud: Donuzlav, Bakal, Old, Krasnoye, Chokrakskoye, Uzunlarskoye, etc.
2016-11-08Crimea today is the blessed land of the Crimean peninsula washed by the Black Sea and the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. In the north it stretches a plain, in the south - the Crimean mountains with a necklace near the coastal strip of coastal resort towns: Yalta, Miskhor, Alupka, Simeiz, Gurzuf, Alushta, Feodosiya, Yevpatoria and the seaports of Kerch, Sevastopol.
Crimea is located within 44 ° 23 "(Cape Sarych) and 46 ° 15" (Perekopsky moat) of northern latitude, 32 ° 30 "(Cape Karamrun) and 36 ° 40" (Cape Fonar) east longitude The Crimean peninsula is 26.0 thousand km the maximum distance from north to south is 205 km, from west and east - 325 km.
A narrow eight-kilometer strip of land to the north (the 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) - it is separated from the Taman Peninsula. The total length of the Crimean borders exceeds 2500 km (taking into account the extreme tortuosity of the coastline of the northeast). In general, the coast of Crimea is slightly indented, the Black Sea forms three large bays: Karkinitsky, Kalamitsky and Feodosiya; The Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov also formed three bays: Kazantip, Arabat and Sivash.
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 sufficiently large amount of incoming solar energy and a large number of hours of sunshine. Secondly, Crimea is almost an island. This is connected, on the one hand, with a large number of endemics (plant species not found anywhere except in this locality) and endemic species (similar animal species); on the other, this explains the significant depletion of the Crimean fauna; In addition, the marine environment has a significant impact on climate and other components of nature. Thirdly, the position of the peninsula with respect to the general circulation of the Earth’s atmosphere, which leads to the predominance of westerly winds in Crimea, is especially important. Crimea occupies a boundary position between the temperate and subtropical geographical zones.
The features of the transport and geographical location 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 here settled down and perceived local languages, culture and religion.
The marine environment of the Crimea determined not only the features of external economic relations, but also the development of coastal recreation. Through the Danube and Dnieper rivers, Crimea has access to the ports of the countries of Central Europe, the Baltic States and Scandinavia, and through the Don and the system of channels of European Russia to the Baltic and White Seas, the Caspian states.
A favorable feature of the economic and geographical location of Crimea is its proximity to the economically developed Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions of Ukraine and the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation.
The nature museum of Crimea is called a natural museum. There are few places in the world where varied, comfortable and picturesque landscapes would combine so in an original way. In many respects, they are due to the peculiarity of the geographical location, geological structure, relief, and climate of the peninsula. Crimean mountains divide the peninsula into two unequal parts. The large - northern - located in the extreme south of the temperate zone, the southern - Crimean sub-Mediterranean - refers to the northern edge of the subtropical zone.
The flora of Crimea is especially rich and interesting. Only wild higher plants 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 all the flora of Crimea is concentrated in its southern mountainous part. This is truly a museum wealth of flora.
The climate of most of Crimea is the climate of the temperate zone: mild steppe - in the lowlands; more humid, characteristic of broad-leaved forests - in the mountains. The southern coast of Crimea is characterized by a sub-Mediterranean climate of dry forests and shrubs.
Crimea, especially its mountainous part, due to its comfortable climate, the saturation of clean air toned with volatile products, sea salts, a pleasant aroma of plants, has a great healing power. The bowels 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 is supplied per unit of the earth’s surface per day than, for example, in St. Petersburg. Largest amount Crimea receives solar heat in the summer, especially in July. Spring 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 exacerbate cardiovascular disease in people who are not completely healthy. In the Crimea, well provided with heat, the biological productivity of plants, including crops, and the resistance of landscapes to stresses are largely dependent on the amount of moisture. And the need for water is constantly growing both among the local population and the national economy, especially rural and resort. So the water in the Crimea is a true engine of life and culture.
A relatively small amount of atmospheric precipitation, a long dry summer, and the distribution of karst rocks in the mountains led to the poverty of Crimea in surface waters.
Crimea is divided into two parts: flat steppe with a very small number of surface watercourses and mountain forest with a relatively dense river network. There are no large fresh lakes. In the coastal strip of the lowland Crimea there are about 50 ozerlimans with a total area of \u200b\u200b5.3 thousand km2.
In Crimea there are 1657 rivers and temporary streams with a total length of 5996 km. Of these, about 150 rivers are dwarf rivers up to 10 km long. Only the Salgir River has a length of more than 200 km. The river network is developed on the peninsula extremely unevenly.
Depending on the direction of the surface water runoff, it is customary to divide the rivers of Crimea into three groups: rivers of the northwestern slopes of the Crimean mountains, rivers of the southern coast of Crimea, rivers of the northern slopes of the Crimean mountains.
All rivers of the northwestern slopes flow almost parallel to each other. About the middle of their course, they have the appearance of 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 slopes of the channels, and have a stormy flood character.
In the west, in addition to the usually dry ravines and Khastabash stream, the largest is the Uchan-Su river. Rushing to the sea, it forms waterfalls in four places. The highest and largest of them is Wuchang-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 the Sivash - the lagoon of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. In the upper reaches of the river constantly with water, and within the plain in the summer, their channels 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 Salgira are formed from the confluence of the Angara and Kizil-Koba rivers. Near the village of Zarechnoye, a large tributary of the Ayan flows into Salgir.
Salgir fills the large Simferopol reservoir, built in 1951-1955. Below Simferopol, the river receives the right tributaries - the Beshterek, Zuya, Burulcha rivers, and Biyuk-Karasu - 27 km from Sivash. The Taigan and Belogorsk reservoirs were built on Biyuk-Karasu.
The population of Crimea is unevenly distributed throughout the territory. 50% of the republic’s population lives on the coast. In 1991, 69% lived in cities, in rural areas - 31% of the population. 43% of the Crimean population lives in four major cities: Sevastopol (371.4 thousand people in 1991), Simferopol (357 thousand people), Kerch (189.5 thousand people) and Yevpatoriya (113.3 thousand people).
Crimea is characterized by an increase in the number of cities and urban-type settlements and the relative stability of rural settlements. AT last years such cities as Sudak, Krasnoperekopsk, Armyansk, Shchelkino appeared on the map of Crimea. The number of urban-type settlements is growing rapidly - since 1959, more than 2 times.
The bulk of the Crimean population are workers (about 60 percent), employees - 28, peasants - less than 11 percent.
Crimea has always been distinguished not only by a high proportion of the urban population, but also high level literacy, education of residents. For every thousand inhabitants in the cities, there were 900, and in the villages of 730 people with higher, secondary specialized and secondary education.
Higher qualification specialists are trained 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 and Pedagogical Institute), two branches of universities - Kiev Economic University (in Simferopol) and the Kaliningrad fish 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 established on a commercial basis. 30 secondary specialized educational institutions are engaged in the training of specialists. Vocational schools train personnel in 120 specialties.
Academic and cultural institutions work in Crimea. In Simferopol there is the Crimean branch of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the production association Efirmaslo, KrymNIIIIproekt, in the village of Scientific - 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. The publishing houses are Tavrida, Tavria, Krymuchpedgiz and others. In Crimea, a large number of museums, many of which are associated with the fate of prominent writers, artists, scientists who lived on the peninsula.
The economic appearance of Crimea, the structure, the nature of the location of industries and the population were formed mainly in accordance with its natural and socio-economic conditions.
Until 1917, the economy of the republic was mainly agricultural in nature. Gradually, it grew into an industrial-agrarian one.
Crimea is distinguished by diversified agriculture and recreation, the production of soda ash, titanium dioxide, sulfuric acid, technological equipment for the food industry, televisions, ocean vessels, fish and fish products. In addition to mechanical engineering, the chemical industry, agriculture and recreation, the specialization industries also include the food industry, which produces grape wines, canned fruits and vegetables, and essential oils.
The leading place in the structure of industrial production belongs to the food industry, followed by machine building and metalworking, the chemical industry, and the building materials industry.
Crimean agriculture is specialized in grain and livestock, viticulture, horticulture, vegetable growing, as well as the cultivation of essential oil crops (lavender, roses, sage). The volumes of gross production of livestock and crop production are balanced.
Sea transport is important for the republic. Through Crimean ports, export-import transportation of various cargoes is carried out. The most important ports are Kerch, Theodosius, Yalta, Evpatoria. The largest port city is Sevastopol.
By air, Crimea is connected with all CIS countries and many countries of the far abroad.
Recreational facilities are one of the leading industries in the republic. Recreation is translated from Latin as “restoration”, meaning the restoration of a person’s physical and psychophysiological conditions. The structure of the recreational facilities includes: sanatoriums, boarding houses, houses and recreation centers, vacation hotels and camp sites, campsites, children's camps. Recreational facilities operate on beach, balneological and climatic resources, healing mud, sea water, landscape resources.
The sectors of the Crimean social infrastructure — public utilities, consumer services, public education, catering, trade, healthcare, social welfare, culture, physical education, lending and insurance, science and scientific services — are highly developed.Located on the latitude of southern France and northern Italy.
Crimean rivers
The main river is Salgir. Her 232 -kilometer bed begins in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Angarsk Pass and is lost off the coast of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. A total of about 150 rivers The most fertile and picturesque valleys are located between Bakhchisaray and Sevastopol. They are formed by the rivers Alma, Kacha, Belbek, and Chernaya.
Being essentially an island, it has become a kind of reserve for some representatives of flora and fauna that are endemic (not found anywhere except in this area). Vegetable and animal world.
Rare plants and animals, unique landscapes, which the peninsula is so rich in, are under protected protection. Their total area is about 700 square kilometers, it’s more 2,5% from the territory, one of the highest rates of reserved saturation for the CIS. Many of the protected sites are visited by tourists, here you are required to take special care of nature.
Geographical position Crimea.
The Crimean peninsula is located in the extreme south of the European part of Russia and extends from north to south for 195 km, from west to east - for 325 km. The area of \u200b\u200bCrimea is 26 thousand square meters. km, a population of 1 million 600 thousand people.
The sea surrounds the peninsula from all sides, and only in the north a narrow (up to 8 km) Perekop Isthmus connects it with the mainland. Crimea is washed by the Black Sea from the west and south, and the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov and the Kerch Strait from the east.
The Crimean region was formed in June 1945. In February 1954, it became part of Ukraine. In 2014 to the Russian Federation. The administrative center of the region is Simferopol. On the administrative map Russia shows the borders of the Crimean region, settlements, communication paths.
The geological past of Crimea.
The geological map and geological profile acquaints with the geological past of Crimea and its constituent rocks. In the geological periods of the sea, distant from us by millions of years, replacing each other, they either covered or exposed the territory of the present Crimea. Their existence is mainly associated with the distribution of rocks in Crimea.
In the museum of local lore of the Crimea you can see sandstones, shales, limestones and other rocks. Here is a collection of fossils and prints of inhabitants of ancient seas: mollusks and fish, cetacean animal citoterium prescum, sea turtle, etc.
For millions of years of the Tertiary period, it was warm and humid in Central and Southern Europe, and mastodons, hipparions, and antelopes lived here. The glaciation that occurred in the Quaternary period changed the landscape, flora and fauna.
The glacier did not reach Crimea, but the climate here was very harsh. At this time, mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, giant and reindeer, cave bear, cave hyena were found in Crimea.
Minerals in the Crimea.
About 200 deposits of various minerals, which are widely used in the national economy, have been discovered and studied in Crimea. The most important industrial importance are the Kerch iron ores. Ores are located close to the surface and are mined open pit in quarries. Crimea is rich in chemical raw materials - salts of chlorine, sodium, potassium, bromine, magnesium, which are contained in huge quantities in Sivash brine and numerous salt lakes. Gypsum, table salt, magnesium chloride, etc. are obtained from brine. The use of these salts opens up great prospects for the development of the chemical industry.
A variety of building materials are mined in the Crimea. Some of them are very important and are almost never found in other places of Russia. Diorite and andesite are used in road construction, for cladding monuments and large buildings, and ground powder is added to cement to improve its properties. Marble-like limestones are used in the construction industry, and are used as fluxes in metallurgical plants.
Some Crimean minerals - rock crystal, chalcedony, carnelian, jasper are used as ornamental stones and are valued for their rich colorful range. Crimea is rich in mineral water resources from hydrogen sulfide sources to narzan and borjomi.
Relief of the Crimea.
By the nature of the surface, Crimea is divided into two parts: steppe and mountain. In the north and central Crimea, a calm undulating plain extends. The steppe occupies about 2/3 of the entire area of \u200b\u200bthe peninsula. In the west, it gradually turns into the hills and heights of Tarhankut. Interesting feature in the eastern part - a slightly hilly Kerch Peninsula - are mud volcanoes that have nothing to do with volcanism and spew out cold mud, and troughs are cup-shaped depressions filled with iron ore. In the southern part of Crimea are mountains, consisting of three parallel ridges separated by narrow valleys. The mountains stretch from southwest to northeast, bending with a weak arc to the north - their length is 150 km, width - 50 km. The most significant peak of the Crimean mountains is Roman-Kosh (1545 g), located in the Main (southern) ridge, in the Babugan massif. The highlands of the Main Ridge consist of undulating plateaus (pastures) —Ai-Petrinskaya, Nikitskaya, Karabi, and others. In the east of Crimea, the main ridge is closed by the Kara-Dag mountain group, an interesting monument of volcanic activity of the Jurassic geological era. The main ridge is largely composed of limestones, which, exposed to atmospheric and groundwater, give vivid manifestations of karst processes (karst dips, cavities and caves).
Flora of Crimea.
The flora of Crimea is very rich, it is represented by more than two thousand species of plants. The distribution of vegetation depends on the climate, topography and soils of the peninsula.
In the plain, from north to south, zones of salt-hardy vegetation inherent in the salted soils of Sivas (soleros, sarsazan, kermek and others), wormwood and wormwood-fescue steppes succeed each other. Further south, feather-grass steppes lie, and in the foothills shrubby grass-steppes with thyme (thyme), rock alfalfa, and asphodeline Tauride appear. Currently, virgin lands are plowed. The third mountain range (foothill zone) is occupied by a forest-steppe, where groves of low oaks, maples, and ash are especially common, as well as thickets of blackthorn, hawthorn, rosehip, and scoopia. The slopes of the mountains of the middle and main ridges are clad in oak, beech and pine forests. Yailos are treeless, covered with grassy vegetation. Lonely pine and beech trees are curiously bent by the wind and give the landscape a peculiar harsh flavor. Of great interest is the flora of the southern slope of the Main Ridge. The natural vegetation here is mostly forest: pine, juniper, fluffy oak and Mediterranean species: pistachio, strawberry tree, yellow jasmine. But the typical landscape of the South Bank is created by decorative garden and park vegetation. As a result of human creative activity, exotic plants have become a constant element of the landscape: Himalayan and Lebanese cedars, cypresses, magnolias, sequoias, ivy, Chinese wisteria. There are also endemic (inherent only in this area) plants in Crimea: Steven maple (in the forests of the northern slopes of the mountains), Bieberstein's spruce (“Crimean edel-weiss”, on high plateaus and yayl), Stankevicha pine, on coastal rocks from Balaklava to the cape Ayia and near Sudak).
The climate of Crimea.
The Crimean peninsula lies on the southern border of the temperate zone. The climate of Crimea is distinguished by some features related to its geographical location: great softness and humidity, significant sunshine. But the diversity of the relief, the influence of the sea and mountains create great differences in the climate of the steppe, mountain and south coast of the peninsula. In the steppe Crimea, hot summers and relatively warm winters (July 23-24 °, February 0.5-2 °), the annual rainfall is small. Mountain Crimea is characterized by more significant precipitation, less hot summers.
The southern coast provides the most favorable combination of climatic factors: mild winters, sunny hot summers (average February temperature in Yalta 3.5 °, July 24 °), summer breezes that moderate the heat, fresh breath of forests and parks. Favorable climatic conditions of the region of Evpatoria and the southeast coast (Feodosia, Sudak, Planerskoe), as well as the mountainous Crimea (Old Crimea).
Water in the Crimea.
The waters of Crimea are divided into surface (rivers, streams, lakes) and underground (ground, artesian, karst). Rivers originate in the Main Ridge of the Crimean Mountains, they are short, shallow and have a large flow irregularity (they flood in the spring and in heavy rains and dry out in the summer). The most significant river is Salgir (length 232 km). The water problem in Crimea is solved by the construction of artificial reservoirs and canals (reservoirs on Alma, Kache, Salgir, Simferopol reservoir, containing up to 36 million cubic meters of water). Reservoirs are being built on the river. Belbeke and laid through the main mountain range a tunnel about 7 km long for the Belbek runoff to Yalta.
The waters of the North Crimean Canal flooded and irrigate the most arid regions of the steppe Crimea from Perekop to Kerch. The construction of this canal will increase the yield of corn, wheat, rye, tobacco, and more intensively develop highly productive livestock. The industrial centers and villages of the Crimea will be supplied with excellent Dnieper water.
Soil of Crimea.
The nature of the soil depends on the parent rocks, relief, climate, plant and animal organisms. A variety of physical and geographical conditions created a very heterogeneous composition of soils in the districts. The predominant type are southern chernozems and dark chestnut soils, which occupy central part steppe Crimea.
The soils of the foothill, mountainous Crimea and the South Bank are varieties of chernozems: carbonate chernozems, brown mountain forest soils, mountain meadow subalpine chernozems, brown soils of forests and shrubs of the South Coast. On these soils, tobacco, vegetables, etheronos, grapes, stone fruit, ornamental trees and shrubs are well cultivated. The main place in agriculture in the steppe Crimea belongs to grain crops, and of them - wheat and corn. In modern conditions, the progressive role of the cultivating system of agriculture, which significantly increases the yield of grain, is especially important.
Black Sea.
The Black Sea belongs to the so-called inland seassince it is not directly related to the ocean. By its hydrobiological and hydrophysical properties, the Black Sea stands out sharply from other marine bodies of water. Its feature is a sharp fluctuation in surface water temperatures (from one to twenty-eight degrees). The salinity of the Black Sea due to desalination by the waters of the Danube, Dniester and others is relatively small: in the upper layers 17-18% (in 1 l -i 17-18 g of salt), at a depth it increases significantly, since the deep Bosphorus current brings masses more salt water from the Sea of \u200b\u200bMarmara. The greatest depth of the Black Sea is determined at 2243 m. Oxygen is contained in the upper horizons, “and at a depth of 200 m and below, oxygen disappears and the saturation with sulfur-hydrogen increases.
The Black Sea is a source of fish wealth. The history of the formation of the Black Sea basin has several tens of millions of years, during which its shape and hydrological regime have repeatedly changed. That is why the composition of his animal world is diverse. Three groups of fish are distinguished in the Black Sea: relict (residual, herring, sturgeon, many types of gobies), freshwater - in estuaries and estuaries (pike perch, perch, ram), Mediterranean invaders (hamsa, sprat, mullet, horse mackerel , mackerel, bonito, tuna and others, in total over 100 species of fish). Tuna is the largest commercial fish, its length can reach three meters, and the weight of five hundred kilograms.
The animal world of Crimea.
The fauna of Crimea is distinguished by a number of features and is of the so-called island character. Many species of animals living in the territories adjacent to Crimea are absent in Crimea, but there are endemic (local) forms of animals, the appearance of which is associated with the peculiar geological history of the peninsula (the geological age of the mountainous Crimea is older than the steppe part of the peninsula, and its fauna formed much earlier and in other conditions). Steppe Crimea belongs to the European-Siberian zoogeographic subregion, and mountainous to the Mediterranean. On the territory of the peninsula, these subregions border on the foothills.
Crimean scorpion (poisonous), found in crevices of rocks on the South Bank, Crimean gecko, Crimean owl, black and long-tailed tit, goldfinch, linnet, mountain oatmeal and some others. Mediterranean forms of animals were distinguished: phalanx, scolopendra, leopard snake, yellow-bellied (legless lizard, very useful, as it destroys harmful rodents). In the same window is a rock lizard, a water lizard, a marsh turtle; from amphibians, the crested newt is found in small mountain ponds, tree frog is an inhabitant of tree stands near freshwater ponds, as well as shrews, a water cutter, bats, a protected beech forest with protected animals: Crimean deer, roe deer and mouflon. For many centuries, Crimean forests and animals were mercilessly destroyed. Only after the Great October Socialist Revolution was an end to the predatory destruction of the forests and animals of Crimea.
To protect nature and its restoration in the central mountainous part of Crimea in 1923 was created State reservereorganized in 1957 into the Crimean State Wildlife Refuge. The flora and fauna of the Crimean mountains in the territory of the economy is largely restored. Crimea flies a lot of birds on its way to warm countries: snail, golden plover, garlicnose, white heron, kite, heron, golden eagle and others. These birds have a rest in Crimea before flying through the Black Sea, birds flying to Crimea for wintering: tap dancing, bullfinches, waxwing, siskins, yurka, larks, Siberian winter sheep and others.