PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF UKRAINE 8 CLASS
Materials for lessons
A guide for teachers and students

LANDSCAPES AND PHYSICAL-GEOGRAPHICAL ZONING

natural complex(landscape) is a combination of components of nature that are in complex interaction and form an inseparable system. The concept of "natural complex" (PC) is one of the most important in geography. Any natural complex consists of natural components: rocks, relief, water, air, soil and living organisms, forming a single inseparable system. Natural components are in a complex interaction, and any change in one of the components of the natural complex leads to a change in the rest, which leads to the transformation of the complex as a whole.

Facies are the simplest of natural complexes (the smallest link). The facies can be the bottom of a ravine, one of the slopes of a beam or a hill. It is the features of the relief that are main reason facies formation. The northern and southern slopes of one beam may differ in the amount of solar heat and light received. In spring, the southern slope is freed from snow faster, plant development begins earlier here, and more heat-loving species can grow. On the northern slope, the vegetation is poorer, shade-tolerant species grow, because this slope of the beam receives less heat and light. Two slopes of the beam are the simplest natural complexes that are part of a larger complex - the beam.

Landscapes are classified into classes and types. Landscape classes are distinguished with a difference in absolute heights; on this basis, mountain and plain are distinguished. There are three classes of landscapes in Ukraine: flat East European, Carpathian and Crimean with signs of the Mediterranean.

Landscape types are distinguished by zonal features. Three types of landscapes have formed on the flat part of Ukraine: mixed forests, forest-steppe, and steppe.

Within Ukraine, there are three physical-geographical countries: the East European Plain, the Ukrainian Carpathians and the Mountainous Crimea. Within the East European Plain, zonal natural complexes of mixed and broad-leaved forests, forest-steppe and steppe are distinguished.

The climate of the Carpathian Mountains differs from the adjacent flat areas. The average annual air temperatures here range from +7 °С on the plains to +0.6 °С in the upper tier of the mountains. The annual amount of precipitation is the largest in Ukraine, their maximum is observed in Montenegro and Gorgan - up to 1400-2000 mm. About 80% of the total precipitation occurs in the summer, part of it falls in the form of downpours with severe thunderstorms, but overcast foggy rains are more typical. In the mountainous areas of the Carpathians, the total air temperatures above 10 °C do not exceed 1700-2000 °C.

natural areas

In Transcarpathia, the climate is much warmer than in the Carpathians: spring in Transcarpathia comes about two weeks earlier, the frost-free period is 30 days longer, and the sum of temperatures in the summer season is almost 800 ° C higher.

The climate of the Crimean mountains is temperate continental, humid. The average January temperature in the mountains at an altitude of 1000 m is -4...-5 °C, in July + 15 °C. The amount of precipitation decreases from west to east from 1100 to 500-600 mm per year. Winter usually lasts from mid-October to the end of March. But the weather during these months is extremely changeable. So, in January the temperature can rise to +10 °C, and in May, on the contrary, snow can fall.

The rivers of the mountainous Crimea are not rich in water. Many of them in summer time dry up. There are many springs, many of them also dry up in summer.

At an altitude of 150-200 meters above sea level, steppes are common on the northern slopes. The foothills with altitudes from 150-200 to 300-350 m are occupied by the forest-steppe zone. Above it is a belt of forest vegetation, which on the northern slopes is represented by oak forests (heights from 350 to 600-700 m) and beech forests (above 700 m). The upper limit of the beech belt passes at an altitude of 1200-1300 m above sea level. The plateau-like peaks of the Crimean Mountains are occupied by yayls, which are stony dry steppes. About 2300 species have been identified in the Crimean mountains wild plants. There are deciduous evergreen relics here: jasmine, pyracanthus and needles.

Typical inhabitants of the Crimean mountains are the Crimean deer, roe deer, wild boar, European mouflon, hare and fox. Of the large birds, griffon vulture, black vulture, eagle owl, kestrel, tawny owl, buzzard are found here.

The Crimean mountains protect from the influence of cold northern air masses a narrow seaside strip - the southern coast of Crimea.

The duration of the spring-autumn period in different natural areas(for B. O. Chernov)

On the southern coast of Crimea, the climate has signs of a Mediterranean climate with mild winters and moderately hot dry summers. Average annual temperatures are +11... +13 °С. Winter on the South Coast is almost snowless and mild. Summers are sunny, dry and warm. The frost-free period lasts up to 236 days. Precipitation is not enough - 350-600 mm per year. The sums of air temperatures above 10 °С are 3700-3900 °С.

Among the flora and fauna there are many relict and endemic species. In hard-to-reach places, thickets of yew berry, Stankevich pine, Steven maple, etc. have been preserved.

Natural complexes of the Black and Azov Seas

The Black Sea stretches from west to east - 1167 km, and from north to south - 624 km. It occupies the Black Sea tectonic depression and therefore has significant depths, crossed - 1271 m, maximum - 2245 m.

Water temperature in summer +24...+26 °С, in winter +6...+ 8 °С. The maximum average monthly surface water temperature is usually observed in August, the minimum - in February. The greatest seasonal changes in water temperature, as a rule, are observed to a depth of 75 m. With increasing depth, temperature changes decrease and are often expressed in hundredths of a degree. From a depth of 500 m, an almost constant temperature of +8.9 °С is established, and at the maximum Black Sea depths, below 2000 m, it is +9.1 °С.

The salinity of surface waters in the central part of the Black Sea averages 18%0, in some cases it exceeds 18.2%0. At a depth of 300 m salinity exceeds 21% 0. The further increase in salinity with depth slows down - at a depth of 1000 m it is about 22%.

Seasonal fluctuations in salinity are insignificant - in the spring-summer period closer to the peripheral regions, its minimum is 17.5%. The lowest salinity is observed in the northwest (from 13 to 15%), where the main amount of river water enters the sea. Near the mouth of the rivers, a thin surface layer of muddy river water almost does not mix with sea water.

A characteristic feature of the Black Sea is a high concentration of hydrogen sulfide starting from a depth of 150-200 m, where its content is about 0.04-0.16 ml per 1 liter. Its concentration increases with depth, at a depth of 300 m it approaches 1 ml/l, at a depth of 500 m it exceeds 3 ml/l, and below 1000 m it reaches 6 ml/l. The reason for the formation of hydrogen sulfide are bacteria of the genus Microspira. They are anaerobes and use sulfate oxygen for life.

Winds and inflow of river waters lead to the emergence of two rings of constant sea currents directed counterclockwise.

Flora and fauna are concentrated mainly in the upper layer rich in oxygen. In total, there are over 665 plant species and over 2 thousand animal species in the Black Sea. Most plants are benthic and planktonic algae. Common brown algae, red algae cerarium. Of the 160 species of Black Sea fish, the most common are several, horse mackerel, anchovy, flounder-kalkan, mullet, beluga, garfish, herring, gobies, sea bass, sultanka. There are more than ten species of gobies in the Black Sea: the bubir goby, aphia, the tsutsik goby, the mart goby, etc. The mammals of the Black Sea include the monk seal and three species of dolphins: azovka, common dolphin and bottlenose dolphin. The largest dolphin is the bottlenose dolphin, the smaller one is the common dolphin and the smallest one is the azovka. Bottlenose dolphins usually become residents of dolphinariums and oceanariums.

The Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov differs from the Black Sea in its size, depths, temperatures (primarily of the water mass as a whole), hydrological regime, and salinity. The area of ​​the Black Sea is almost 11 times larger than the area of ​​Azov, and in terms of volume - 1678 times. The territory of the Sea of ​​Azov is bounded by the parallels 45° 16" N and 47° 17" N. sh. and meridians 33° 36" E and 39° 21" E. village of Azov and Black Sea connects the Kerch Strait, the length of which is 41 km, the smallest width is 4 km, the smallest depth in the fairway is 5 m.

In summer, the temperature of the surface layer of water in the open part of the sea is about + 25 ... + 26 ° С, and the temperature of the bottom layer is +21 ... + 22 ° С. This temperature distribution persists until the first significant storm, after which the differences become less noticeable. Temperature changes during the year are significant. In most cases, in coastal waters, the temperature ranges from +30 ... +31 ° С to warm summer days down to -0.3 °С in winter. Ice formation is noted annually, which usually begins in the Taganrog Bay.

The level of the Sea of ​​Azov is usually several centimeters higher than the level of the Black Sea. This is due to differences in the density of the waters of these seas and the continuous flow of river water, which supports this difference. Between the beginning and end of the Kerch Strait at ideal conditions the difference in level is approximately 2-3 cm. The closer to the Taganrog Bay, the greater the difference becomes, especially in spring and summer, when there is a significant river runoff, rain falls and the temperature is somewhat higher.

The salinity of the water increases from the mouth of the Don in a southwestern direction. In recent decades, it has been growing, which is explained by the imbalance in the supply of fresh water and salty Black Sea waters to the sea. The average salinity today is about 13% 0, and in the recent past it was 11% for a long time. Slightly higher salinity is noted in the area between the Biryuchy Peninsula and the northern part of the Arabat Spit, where during strong westerly winds the more saline waters of the Sivash periodically enter. Before the creation of reservoirs and the regulation of the flow of the Don and Kuban rivers, seasonal changes in salinity in the Sea of ​​Azov were insignificant, but now they have decreased.

In the sea, under the influence of winds and the influx of river waters, a circular current arises, directed counterclockwise. The features of the hydrological regime of the Sea of ​​Azov are due to the relatively large inflow of fresh water and the milkiness of the basin.

The coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov is less picturesque and diverse than the Black Sea. The steppes come close to the sea, and in some places the floodplains overgrown with reeds. The shores are treeless, they are either low and gentle, with a sandy-shelly beach, or low, but steep, composed of yellow forest-like loams. One of characteristic features coast of the Sea of ​​Azov - a large number of braids. The largest spit - the Arabat arrow has a length of 115 km and a width of 270 m to 7.5 km. It is located in the western part of the Sea of ​​Azov, adjacent to the Kerch Peninsula.

The underwater relief of the Sea of ​​Azov is quite simple. The bottom is almost flat, the depths generally grow slowly and smoothly as they move away from the coast, the greatest depths are in the center of the sea. Scientists believe that the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov is gradually shallowing.

Unrest in the shallow Sea of ​​Azov has some features: the height of the waves reaches a maximum of 1.2-1.5 g - with a wind of 6-7 points and its duration is about 6 hours. In the case of a longer duration and strength of the wind, the Azov waves begin to break up and resemble breaking waves in their character. They are more dangerous to ships than the higher waves formed in deep water. Sailors often refer to these waves as "evil" waves. For comparison: in the oceans, waves can exceed 13-14 m in height and over 400 m in length, and in the Black Sea, the height reaches 6-7 m, and the length - up to 180 m.

Donna flora of the sea is relatively poor: brown, red, green algae, sea grass, microalgae, and bacteria.

The animal world has about 400 species - from unicellular to fish and mammals. The latter are represented in the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov by one species of dolphins - the Azov. The species composition of fish is 79 species, of which sprat, pelengas, anchovy, pike perch, mullet, Kerch herring, gobies, bream, flounder, sturgeons are of commercial importance.

In the 40-60s. 20th century 16 times more fish were caught from 1 hectare of the water surface of the sea than in the Black Sea. Half of the fish species were of industrial importance. Today, that number has shrunk to a third. Of the 24 species of sturgeon in the Sea of ​​Azov, five lived: sterlet, stellate sturgeon, Russian sturgeon, spike, beluga (reached 4-5 m and more than 1000 kg). Mullet was of three types: Loban - up to 75 cm and up to 12 kg, golden mullet - up to 45 cm, sharp-nosed - up to 40 cm. The fishing for tyulka and anchovy was especially great. Today, however, fishing happiness has turned away from the inhabitants of the coast, the sea is suffering from pollution by industrial and domestic wastewater. Even more dangerous was the reduction by a third of fresh water from the Don and Kuban. This led to a decrease in the supply of substances necessary for the vital activity of algae, as well as to the fact that the inflow of more salty Black Sea water into the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov increased. In addition, since 1988, a rib - a melt - a type of marine invertebrates, from 2 mm to 2.5 m long, began to penetrate into the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov from the Black Sea. It was introduced into the Black Sea in 1983-1984. from the northwest Atlantic on one of the tankers carrying oil. Feeding mainly on phytoplankton, the finfish greatly undermined the food base of the anchovy, tyulka and other species of Azov fish. All this adversely affected the flora and fauna of the sea, reducing the number of valuable fish species and their capture. If in 1930 the catch of zander was 38.9 thousand tons, bream 16.3 thousand tons, sturgeon 2.1 thousand tons, today their catch is ten times less.

biosphere reserves

nature reserves

National natural parks

Sivash is a huge natural laboratory. Its southern part has been turned into a settling basin, in which the brine evaporates in the sun and turns into salt. Through the Genichesk Strait, “raw materials” from the Sea of ​​Azov constantly enter the basin. Chemical enterprises producing magnesia, potassium, sodium salts work on salt raw materials. Healing mud of the estuary is used for medicinal purposes.