The Volga Upland, also known as the Volga Uplands, Volga Hills, or Volga Plateau, (Russian: Приволжская возвышенность - Privolzhskaya vozvyshennost) is a vast region of the

East European Plain The East European Plain (also called the Russian Plain, "Extending from eastern Poland through the entire European Russia to the Ural Mountaina, the ''East European Plain'' encompasses all of the Baltic states and Belarus, nearly all of Ukraine, a ...

in the European part of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

that lies west of the

Volga River The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...

and east of the

Central Russian Upland 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 u ...

. The uplands lie in the cool

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in the middle latitudes (40 to 55 north), within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing som ...

zone, characterised by large fluctuations in seasonal temperatures and generally little rainfall. Outside of the cities in the region, population density is generally between 28 and 129 inhabitants per square mile.

Geography

The uplands run for approximately in a southwest-northeasterly direction from

Volgograd Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

. The

Tsimlyansk Reservoir Tsimlyansk Reservoir or Tsimlyanskoye Reservoir (russian: Цимля́нское водохрани́лище) is an artificial lake on the Don River in the territories of Rostov and Volgograd Oblasts at . Completed in 1952, the reservoir ...

lies at the southwestern end of the Volga Upland, with the

Kuybyshev Reservoir Kuybyshev Reservoir or Kuybyshevskoye Reservoir (russian: Ку́йбышевское водохрани́лище, Kuybyshevskoye Vodokhranilishche), sometimes called Samara Reservoir and informally called Kuybyshev Sea, is a reservoir of ...

at the northeastern end. The landscape on the Volga Uplands is hilly, and several rivers have cut into it, such as the

Khopyor The Khopyor (, also transliterated as Khoper) is a river in European Russia, the biggest left tributary of the river Don.� ...

, Medveditsa and the

Sura A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah ('' Al-K ...

. The Volga-Don Canal cuts through the lowlands between the Volga Uplands to the north and the adjacent Yergeni Hills to the south. The Volga Uplands themselves are rather sparsely populated, but along their edges and in particular along the banks of the Volga there are several large cities, such as (from north to south)

Ulyanovsk Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population: The city, founded as Simbirsk (), was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (born ...

Saransk Saransk (russian: Саранск, p=sɐˈransk; mdf, Саранск ошсь, Saransk oš; myv, Саран ош, Saran oš) is the capital city of the Republic of Mordovia, Russia, as well as its financial and economic centre. It is located i ...

Penza Penza ( rus, Пе́нза, p=ˈpʲɛnzə) is the largest city and administrative center of Penza Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Sura River, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, Penza had a population of 517,311, making it the 38th-l ...

Syzran Syzran ( rus, Сызрань, p=ˈsɨzrənʲ) is the third largest city in Samara Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of Saratov Reservoir of the Volga River. Population: History Founded in 1683 as a fortress, Syzran grew into an important ...

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...

and

. DK Publishing (1999). ''Millennium World Atlas''. DK. p. xxix, 229.

Subranges

The hill ranges along the Volga banks are traditionally called ''mountains'' (russian: горы), despite being of low height. The main ones are: * Uslon Mountains * Yuryevy Mountains * Bogorodskye Mountains * Syukeyevo Mountains * Tetyushi Mountains * Undory Mountains *

Zhiguli Mountains The Zhiguli Mountains ( rus, Жигулëвские горы) or simply Zhiguli ( rus, Жигули́, p=ʐɨɡʊˈlʲi), are a range of wooded mountains located in Russia on the right bank of the Volga River, inside the Samara bend. The mountains ...

Khvalynsk Mountains Khvalynsk Hills (russian: Хвалынские горы) is a hilly region in Saratov Oblast and Penza Oblast, Russia. A sector of the hills is a protected area under the name Khvalynsky National Park, which was established in 1994. Geography ...

* Don-Medveditsa Ridge

References

External links

* Plains of Russia East European Plain Volga basin {{Volga-geo-stub

Geography

Subranges

See also

References

External links