The Central Russian Upland (also Central Upland and East European Upland) is an upland area of the East European Plain and is an undulating plateau with an average elevation of . Its highest peak is measured at . The southeastern portion of the upland known as the

Kalach Upland Kalach may refer to: Places * Kalach, Iran * Kalach, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia * Kalach, Liskinsky District, Voronezh Oblast, in the Liski, Voronezh Oblast urban settlement * Kalach, Kalacheyevsky District, Voronezh Oblast, Russia * Kalach-na-Donu ...

. The Central Upland is built of Precambrian deposits of the crystalline

Voronezh Massif Voronezh Massif (also Voronezh Anteclise russian: Воронежская антеклиза, or Voronezh Uplift) is a tectonic anteclise in the south of the Central Russian Upland with a high occurrence of the Precambrian basement. It lies to the s ...

Location

It spans approximately 180,000 miles² (480,000 km²) in central and southern European Russia northeast of Ukraine, extending from the Oka river to the

Donets river The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets, is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv, Don ...

. The upland stretches across number of regions in Ukraine and the European portion of

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...

. Its north and northwest borders are considered to be Oka River and an imaginary line Kaluga- Ryazan. To the southeast towards the

Donets River The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets, is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv, Don ...

, the upland changes into the Donets Lowland. To the east its natural border is defined by the

Oka–Don Lowland The Oka–Don Lowlands (russian: Окско-Донская равнина) (also: Oka–Don Plain), is a flat plain in European Russia, bounded on the north by the Oka River (and the Meshchera Lowlands), on the south by the Don River, on the west ...

and to the west there is the

Dnieper Lowland Dnieper Lowland () is a major geographic feature of the Central Ukraine region and the East European Plain. Location It lies along the midstream of Dnieper river mostly on its left bank from Belarus all the way to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The lowlan ...

. Most of the upland lies within the borders of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...

, hence its name.

History

The Kostroma river and the city of the same name suggest that the area in

Central Russia Central Russia is, broadly, the various areas in European Russia. Historically, the area of Central Russia varied based on the purpose for which it is being used. It may, for example, refer to European Russia (except the North Caucasus and ...

is an important reference point for the original home of the

Slavic tribes This is a list of Slavic peoples and Slavic tribes reported in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, that is, before the year AD 1500. Ancestors *Proto-Indo-Europeans (Proto-Indo-European speakers) ** Proto-Balto-Slavs (common ancestors of Ba ...

. The river and city bear the same name as the Slavic goddess Kostroma.

Regions

Bryansk Oblast Bryansk Oblast (russian: Бря́нская о́бласть, ''Bryanskaya oblast''), also known as Bryanshchina (russian: Брянщина, ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Bryansk. As of t ...

Belgorod Oblast Belgorod Oblast (russian: Белгоро́дская о́бласть, ''Belgorodskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Belgorod. Population: History At the turn of the 17th cen ...

* Voronezh Oblast * Kursk Oblast * Oryol Oblast * Rostov Oblast *

Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast ( uk, Харківська́ о́бласть, translit=Kharkivska oblast), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna ( uk, Ха́рківщина), is an oblast (province) of eastern Ukraine. The oblast borders Russia to the north, Luh ...

(Ukraine) * Sumy Oblast (Ukraine) * Luhansk Oblast (Ukraine)

Tectonics

The

is part of the East European Craton and southwesterly descends towards the Dnieper-Donets Through (Depression) which along with

Prypiat Through Pripyat ( ; russian: При́пять), also known as Prypiat ( uk, При́пʼять, , ), is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, located near the border with Belarus. Named after the nearby river, Pripyat, it was founded on 4 February ...

forms the Prypiat-Dniper-Donets aulacogen. Most of the Voronezh Massif is covered with thin layers of sedimentary deposits of the Devonian, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and

Paleogene period The Paleogene ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning o ...

s. In the southeast along the

Don River The Don ( rus, Дон, p=don) is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its ...

between the cities of

Boguchar Boguchar (russian: Богуча́р) is a town and the administrative center of Bogucharsky District in Voronezh Oblast, Russia, located on the Boguchar River (a tributary of the Don), south of Voronezh, the administrative center of the oblas ...

and Pavlovsk (both in Voronezh Oblast) the crystalline layers come to the surface. On all sides of the upland the Precambrian deposits descend far below the sedimentary layers. A small part of the upland in the northwest was covered with a glacier during the

Dnieper glaciation } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and ...

. Today almost all of the upland is covered with loess and loessial loams.

References

External links

Central Upland
at the

Encyclopedia of Ukraine The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' ( uk, Енциклопедія українознавства, translit=Entsyklopediia ukrainoznavstva), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was creat ...

. Plateaus of Russia Plateaus of Ukraine East European Plain Geography of Sumy Oblast Geography of Kharkiv Oblast Geography of Luhansk Oblast Landforms of Kursk Oblast Landforms of Belgorod Oblast Landforms of Bryansk Oblast Landforms of Voronezh Oblast Landforms of Rostov Oblast Landforms of Oryol Oblast Geology of European Russia {{South-Russia-geo-stub