Meshchera Lowland

a low-lying plain lying between the Kliaz’ma River to the north, the Moscow River to the southwest, the Oka River to the south, and the Sudogda and Kolp’ rivers to the east, within the Moscow, Vladimir, and Riazan’ oblasts of the RSFSR. The lowland is an outwash plain, with elevations ranging from 80–100 m in the south to 120–130 m in the north, formed by the action of river water and glacial melt water of Anthropogene glaciation. It occupies part of the Moscow syneclise to the south of its axis. The surface is composed of glacial-water and river sand and loam, lying on a washboard moraine or on basic rock—Carboniferous limestone and clay and, in the center of the lowland, Jurassic clay and Cretaceous sand. The terrain is flat with some terraces and aeolian forms.

The climate is moderately continental, with average temperatures of — 10° or — 11°C in January and 18°C in July. Annual precipitation decreases toward the southeast from 550 mm to 450 mm. There are few rivers, and their valleys are swampy. The principal rivers—the Buzha, Tsna, Polia, Gus’, and Pra—have slow currents. There are many lakes, notably the Shaturskie and Spas-Klepikovskie, and swamps. The soils are mainly podzolic. More than 50 percent of the area is covered by mixed forests. Pine forests grow on the sandy soils, and meadows extend along the valleys of the Kliaz’ma and Oka. The most characteristic natural feature of the lowland is the predominance of woodland (poles’e) landscapes, among which are found pockets of opol’e with loesslike blanket loams. Peat and quartz sand are extracted, and swamps are being reclaimed for agricultural use. The chief economic activities are livestock raising for meat and milk and poultry farming.

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