Courland Spit

(Kuršių-Nerija), a sandy peninsula on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, in the Lithuanian SSR and Kaliningrad Oblast, RSFSR. It forms a narrow, slightly bent arc stretching from southwest to northeast, from the Kaliningrad (Sambiiskii) Peninsula to Klaipėda, separating the Courland Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. It is 98 km long and from 0.4 to 3.8 km wide. The Baltic seashore of the spit is covered with sand dunes, rising from 4 m to 12 m; in places the dunes are stabilized by vegetation. The dunes are backed by an uneven, occasionally swampy and flat lowland (palve), covered with grass and bushes. A ridge of big sand dunes rises all along the Courland Spit; the elevation of the dunes is 30–40 m, rising to a maximum of 70 m, and the width of the range is from 300 m to 1 km. A great part of the ridge is covered with forests of mountain pine and black alder mixed with oak, linden, elm, and other trees. The Courland Spit is a reservation area. The city of Neringa is located on the Courland Spit.