Ossetian Plain

(also Severo-Osetiia Plain), a plain in the Severnaia Osetiia ASSR. It is surrounded by the foothills of the Greater Caucasus in the south, the Terek-Sunzhensk watershed in the east, the Zmeiskii Hills in the northwest, and the Sunzhensk Range in the north.

The Ossetian Plain has elevations from 350 to 600 m. Its flat surface inclines from the foothills of the Greater Caucasus northward and is divided by the Terek River and its tributaries, including the Ardon River. The plain consists of fluvioglacial and alluvial rubbly deposits, which are covered by loess-like loam. The forest-steppe terrain mainly has leached and meadow chernozems, on which grains and commercial crops (sugar beets) are raised.