Central Russian Upland

an elevated region in the central European part of the USSR. The Central Russian Upland is located within the East European Plain, from the east-west segment of the Oka valley in the north to the Donets Ridge in the south. It is roughly 1,000 km in length and reaches 500 km in width; elevations generally range from 220 to 250 m (maximum 293 m). The southeastern part is called the Kalach Upland.

The Precambrian crystalline foundation is most uplifted in the middle part of the upland and outcrops in the Don River Valley between the cities of Pavlovsk and Boguchar. In the north the upland is composed of Devonian and Carboniferous limestones covered with sandy-clayey Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous beds; in the south it is composed of Upper Cretaceous chalk and marl covered with Paleogenic sands, clays, and sandstones. Loesses and loess-like loams are the typical soils of the region. Useful minerals include the iron ores from the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly (the Mikhailovskoe deposit is the most significant) and brown coal. The upland’s relief has been formed by erosion; the gulleys and valleys have a density of dissection reaching 1.3–1.7 m per sq km and depths from 50 to 150 m.

The Central Russian Upland is the watershed of the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azov. Major rivers flowing out of the upland include the Oka (with its tributaries—the Zusha, Upa, Zhizdra, and others), Desna, Seim, Psel, Vorskla, and Don (with its tributary the Severskii Donets).

The upland lies in the broadleaf subzone of the forest zone, as well as in the forest-steppe and steppe. It has chernozem soils; gray forest soils occur in the north. The region is heavily farmed. The V. V. Alekhin Central Chernozem Preserve and Galich’ia Gora are located in the region.