There are many places on the planet that cause mystics to tremble, and scientists to understand, study and make a previously incomprehensible object ordinary by giving it another scientific name. So, people are still looking for Shambhala to put its secrets on public display, or argue about the existence of Hyperborea.
Northern Uvaly is one of such objects. On the one hand, they have been studied, measured and mapped, and on the other hand, it is not clear why they became the watershed of the great rivers.
Geographic description
Located in the northern regions of the East European Plain, a hilly upland 600 km long. This is the Northern Uvaly, the maximum height of which reaches 294 m. The main purpose of this area is in the watershed of the Volga and Northern Dvina river basins.
Scientists have found that they are the result of glacial and fluvioglacial deposits, which are clearly visible at higher elevations as bedrock.
The name "val" was given for a reason, since it was it that denoted inhilly ridges with gentle slopes, and in the plural because there are several such ridges. The Northern Uvaly upland stretches from the southwest to the northeast, originating from the Unzhi River and up to the Ural Mountains.
The hilly terrain alternates with river-carved valleys and wetlands. The climate in Northern Uvaly can be called harsh, as there are very cold winters and cool summers.
Coniferous forests interspersed with small-leaved forests grow in dry and elevated areas.
The birthplace of great rivers
Northern Uvaly captured the northwestern part of the Perm region, and their relief here is expressed by weak hilly with a height not exceeding 270 m above sea level. But most of them are in the Vologda and Kirov regions, where the relief is constantly changing.
Being the watershed of the Volga and Northern Dvina rivers, the Uvaly also became the beginning of many great rivers of Russia, such as the Kama, Kostroma, Vyatka, Sheksna, Unzha, Sukhona, Vetluga, Yug, Moloma, Sysola, Sharzhenka and most of their tributaries.
For example, the source of the Vetluga starts from Severnye Uvalov and travels 884 km, crossing the Kirov, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod regions, and flows into the Volga on the territory of Mari El.
The path of the Unzhi River also starts from the Northern Uvals and lasts 430 km until it flows into the Volga in the form of its full-flowing and large left tributary. The reservoirs that originate here played a significant role in the relief of the ridges, but the main reason for such an unusual structure and direction is theirorigin.
Relief of Northern Ridges
The composition of this hill largely determines its appearance. Northern Uvaly, whose relief is mostly smoothed hilly, consists of loose Mesozoic rocks, which, in turn, are based on older Permian deposits.
They were formed as a result of tectonic movement of the earth's crust in the area of the Moscow syneclise (a gentle trough within one platform).
Northern Ridges have a powerful foundation going 2000-3000 m deep, while the surface is mainly expressed by clay-marl layers of the Permian and Triassic period. In places of the watershed, sandy-clay deposits of the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous periods come across.
Uvaly in the Vologda Oblast
Due to the elevation of the Northern Ridges, the Vologda Oblast is rich in such reservoirs:
- Sukhona is the largest river in the region, into which Vologda and Dvinitsa flow.
- South with Luz tributary.
- Mologa, Sheksna and Unzha.
Northern Ridges here are expressed by hilly relief with flat drops. The highlands are dominated by forests, which are home to lynxes, elks, martens, badgers, wolverines and foxes. Here, mushrooms and berries grow in abundance, and the rivers are full of fish.
On the flat territory of the Northern Uvaly there are many swamps inhabited by birds and which are real cranberry plantations. The Uvaly towering above the river look especially good,covered with snow with patches of green firs and pines.
Among the local population, fishing and hunting are favorite types of recreation, since the generous nature of this region allows this at any time of the year. In the summer season, cranberry lovers come to the local swamps, and mushroom pickers to the forests.
Uvaly in the Kirov region
To understand where the Northern Ridges are located, you need to know how they are located. Their uniqueness lies in the fact that the entire Russian Plain has a meridional orientation, while they have an inversion morphostructure with a sublatitudinal direction. This suggests that the upland and the plain were formed in completely different periods of the movement of tectonic waves. Today this is manifested in the opposite of their directions.
Thus, the Northern Ridges cut through the plain through the areas located on it, and do not run parallel to it. For example, the Kirov region "got" their southern spurs, represented by hills and ridges with a gentle slope and flat, rounded peaks.
The entire elevated part of the ridges is pierced by rivers, and from the south it is adjoined by a slightly hilly, swampy plain. Large boulders are often found on the hills, and much of the upland and river valleys are covered with dense tracts of forest. The main river of the Kirov region, the Vyatka, originates in the northern Uvaly.
Nature of the Northern Ridges
Everyone who has ever visited the Northern Uvaly will never forget their austere beauty, June white nights, and the first yellowness of foliage in August.
They are also good in winter, although severe - the temperature here often drops to -40 degrees, and the snow cover can reach 170 cm. The main attraction of this region are its many reservoirs, each of which is beautiful in its own way.
For example, the South River, which is 491 km long, not only has picturesque banks with good beaches and campsites, but also pampers fishermen with an abundance of fish. Here you can catch pike and burbot, ide and chub, grayling and asp, perch and minnow.
But the main attraction of these parts is forests, which occupy 70% of the area. They grow mainly pines, spruces, fir and larches, there are aspens, lindens and birches, maples, elms and bird cherry. For mushroom pickers, this is a real paradise. They are waiting for boletus and porcini mushrooms, boletus and milk mushrooms, upland mushrooms and volushki, chanterelles and russula, mushrooms and morels. There is an abundance of cranberries in the swamps, especially in the Lower Kem region.
Although many believe that the Northern Ridges are a watershed and that's it, in fact it is not. This is the richest region, stretching for 600 km along the Russian Plain.
Northern Uvaly and Hyperborea
Today, many scientists are busy searching for the mysterious land of Hyperborea, a very specific description of which was given by Herodotus. Based on its geographical indicators, such as the direction to the cardinal points, according to the stars, according to the external description, some of them put forward the hypothesis that this land lay precisely behind the Northern Ridges, which, as stated in the description, are both a watershed and the beginning of great rec.
Is itis still unknown, but there are a lot of facts in favor of this theory.
