Russia

G

Russia’s Natural Resources

Russia contains the greatest reserves of mineral resources of any country in the world. Although minerals are abundant, many are in remote areas with extreme climate conditions, which makes them expensive to extract.

Russia is especially rich in mineral fuels. The country may hold as much as one-half of the world’s potential coal reserves and may hold larger reserves of petroleum than any other nation. Coal deposits are scattered widely throughout the country; by far the largest fields lie in central and eastern Siberia, but the most developed fields are in western Siberia, the northeastern European region, the area around Moscow, and the Urals. The major petroleum deposits are in western Siberia and the Volga-Urals region. Smaller deposits are found in many other parts of the country. The principal natural gas deposits, of which Russia holds about 40 percent of the world’s reserves, are along Siberia’s Arctic coast, in the North Caucasus region, and in northwestern Russia. The primary iron ore deposits are found south of Moscow, near the Ukrainian border in an area known as the Kursk Magnetic Anomaly; in this area, vast deposits of iron ore have caused a deviation in the Earth’s magnetic field. Smaller iron ore deposits are scattered throughout the country. The Urals contain minor deposits of manganese. Other important iron alloys—such as nickel, tungsten, cobalt, and molybdenum—occur in adequate or even abundant quantities.

Russia is also well endowed with most of the nonferrous metals. The aluminum ores Russia does have are found primarily in the Urals, northwestern European Russia, and south central Siberia. Copper, on the other hand, is abundant: Reserves are found in the Urals, the Noril’sk area near the mouth of the Yenisey River in eastern Siberia, and the Kola Peninsula. A large deposit east of Lake Baikal became commercially exploitable when the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) railroad was completed in 1989.

Lead and zinc ores are abundant in the North Caucasus, far eastern Russia, and the western edge of the Kuznetsk Basin in southern Siberia. These ores are commonly found with copper, gold, silver, and a variety of rare metals. Russia has some of the world’s largest gold reserves, primarily in Siberia and the Urals. There are mercury deposits in the far northeastern part of Russia. Large asbestos deposits exist in the central and southern Urals and in south central Siberia.

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Raw materials for the manufacture of chemicals are also abundant. These include potassium and magnesium salt deposits in the Kama River district of the western Urals. Some of the world’s largest deposits of apatite (a mineral from which phosphate is derived) are in the central Kola Peninsula; other types of phosphate ores are found in other parts of the country. Common rock salt is found in the southwestern Urals and southwest of Lake Baikal. Surface deposits of salt are derived from salt lakes along the lower Volga Valley. Sulfur is found in the Urals and the middle Volga Valley. High-grade limestone, used for the production of cement, is found in many parts of the country, but particularly near Belgorod near the border with Ukraine, and in the Zhiguli Hills area of the middle Volga Valley.

H

Russia’s Climate

In general, Russia’s climate is similar to that of Canada, although winters are even colder and there are greater temperature extremes in many places. Much of the land lies north of the 50th parallel of latitude and far from the moderating influences of the oceans. Most of the country has a harsh continental climate with only two season: long, cold winters and short, relatively cool summers. The average yearly temperature of nearly all of European Russia is below freezing, and the average for most of Siberia is freezing or below.

During winter, an intensely cold high-pressure system covers most of the land, especially Siberia. This time of year, winds prevail from the south and southwest, but high mountains in the south prevent warmer air from reaching into Russia. Large areas of the country experience snow cover for half the year, with permafrost all year. In northern regions, especially from Moscow northward, featureless, overcast skies are so frequent, particularly during winter, that Russians have named the phenomenon pasmurno, meaning “dull, dreary weather.” During December, for instance, Moscow averages 23 days with overcast skies.

In summer, winds blow predominantly from the northwest, bringing low-pressure systems from the North Atlantic Ocean. Most of Russia lies in a zone of westerly weather patterns, and the primary marine influence comes from the Atlantic. However, by the time Atlantic air reaches Russia it has crossed the entire western part of Europe and undergone considerable modification. During summer, warm Atlantic air may push east well into central Siberia. This is the principal moisture-bearing air mass to reach inland, and it brings summer rainfall important to croplands. The far eastern region of Russia is an exception, receiving the Pacific monsoon during middle and late summer.

Most of the country has only light to modest precipitation, the majority of which comes in winter. Across the Great European Plain, average annual precipitation decreases from more than 800 mm (32 in) in western Russia to less than 400 mm (16 in) along the Caspian Sea coast. Throughout Siberia, annual precipitation generally ranges from 500 to 800 mm (20 to 32 in), with precipitation amounts generally less than 300 mm (12 in) in northeastern Siberia. At higher elevations annual totals may reach 1,000 mm (40 in) or more, but in interior basins precipitation may total less than 300 mm (12 in).

H

1

Climate Zones

Russia encompasses a number of distinct climate zones, which generally extend across the country in east-west belts. A polar desert climate exists on several of the Arctic islands, such as the northernmost portions of Novaya Zemlya and Severnaya Zemlya. Along the Arctic coast a tundra climate prevails and extends south in the far eastern region on upper mountain slopes for 100 km (60 mi) or more. To the south of this zone is a broad belt of subarctic climate that extends south to the city of Saint Petersburg and broadens east of the Urals to envelop almost all of Siberia.

Most of European Russia has a more temperate continental climate. This belt is widest in the west. It stretches from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, then tapers eastward to include a narrow strip of the southern West Siberian Plain; it is also found in the extreme southeastern portion of Russia.

A broad belt of drier steppe climate with cold winters begins along the Black Sea coast and extends northeast across the North Caucasian Plain, the lower Volga Valley, the southern Urals, and southwestern Siberia. It continues eastward in isolated mountain basins along the extreme fringes of Siberia.

H

2

Temperatures

The coldest winter temperatures occur in eastern Siberia, while air from the Atlantic Ocean tempers conditions somewhat in the west. Verkhoyansk in the northeast is often called the “cold pole of the north.” During January, temperatures there average -51°C (-59°F), and they have reached a low of -68°C (-90°F) in February. The same conditions that make for cold temperatures during winter—isolation from the sea and narrow valleys between mountains—produce air stagnation in Verkhoyansk in summer. Furthermore, because the city is so far north, it experiences nearly continuous daylight hours in summer. During July temperatures in Verkhoyansk average 13°C (56°F) and have reached as high as 37°C (98°F). The city has an absolute temperature range (the difference between the coldest and hottest recorded temperatures) of 105°C (188°F), by far the greatest temperature range on Earth.

Temperatures in Moscow, which lies in the continental climate zone, range from -13° to -6°C (9° to 21°F) in January and from 13° to 24°C (56° to 75°F) in July. Temperatures in Vladivostok, in the southern part of far eastern Russia, range from -17° to -9°C (1° to 16°F) in January and from 15° to 20°C (59° to 69°F) in July.

I

Environmental Issues in Russia

Land and water resources experienced severe degradation during the Soviet period. Some areas were degraded beyond repair, including the Kuznetsk Basin on the Tom’ River in southern Siberia, the industrial belt along the southern portion of the Ural Mountains, and the lower Volga River.

By-products of nuclear weapons production caused permanent damage near Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk in southern Siberia, and near Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountains. Fallout from the 1986 explosion at Ukraine’s Chernobyl’ nuclear power plant affected Russia primarily in Bryansk Oblast (see Chernobyl’ Accident). Less well-known than the Chernobyl’ disaster were accidents at the Mayak nuclear weapons production plant near Chelyabinsk in 1949, 1957, and 1967, which together released significantly higher emissions than Chernobyl’. The Soviet military tested nuclear weapons on the islands of Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocean, which was their second testing site after Semipalatinsk (now Semey), Kazakhstan. Nuclear reactors and wastes were dumped into the Barents and Kara seas of the far north, and in far eastern Siberia. Dumping of nuclear wastes in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) continued until 1993. The disposal of nuclear submarines and nuclear waste has been a problematic issue. Although a number of nuclear submarines were decommissioned, many remained docked at Russian ports as a result of a lack of money and facilities for storing nuclear wastes.

Airborne pollutants have caused damage to vegetation in many areas of Russia. Copper, cobalt, and nickel smelters emit huge amounts of sulfur dioxide in the northern Siberian city of Noril’sk and on the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia. Winds spread these contaminants across northern Europe, where the pollutants have caused widespread destruction of Scandinavian forests. They have also affected large areas of forests in the Kuznetsk Basin and the southern Urals.

Chemical fertilizers and airborne pollutants have contaminated some agricultural areas. Soil resources have also been adversely affected by mismanagement. Broad areas of land in southern Russia suffer from erosion. Wind erosion has affected the more arid parts of the North Caucasus, lower Volga River basin, and western Siberia.

Pollutants released into rivers have accumulated in lakes and seas with limited water exchange, including the Caspian Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the Black Sea. Inadequate or nonexistent wastewater treatment contributes to the degradation of rivers and lakes.

Many hydroelectric dams were built during Soviet times on Russia’s major rivers. The dams significantly reduce the volume of water that the rivers carry, so the rivers retain even more of the pollutants that are discharged into their waters. In addition, many of the dams were not constructed with properly functioning fish ladders, preventing many fish from reaching their spawning grounds. As a result, populations of sturgeon and other fish were greatly reduced.

Forests in more accessible parts of Russia suffer from deforestation caused by extensive logging. The rate of deforestation has increased in the Ussuri region in extreme far eastern Russia because of the activities of foreign logging operations. Some large stands of undisturbed forests are protected in Russia’s extensive network of national reserves and parks. Adequate funding for park rangers and other personnel is lacking, however, and poaching (illegal hunting) of endangered animals such as the Siberian tiger has increased as a result.

Russia produces a significant portion of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to the greenhouse effect that causes global warming. In 2004 the government of Russia ratified the Kyōto Protocol, an international treaty that calls for industrialized nations to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases. For the treaty to go into effect, it had to be ratified by at least 55 countries and by enough industrialized nations to account for at least 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Russia’s decision to enforce the treaty paved the way for it to go into effect in 2005.

Kurt E. Engelmann contributed the Land and Resources section of this article.

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