Kola

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kola
Kola peninsula.png
Location of the Kola Peninsula between the Barents Sea and the White Sea
Geographical location
Kola (Northwestern Federal District)
Kola
Coordinates 67 ° 41 ′  N , 35 ° 57 ′  E Coordinates: 67 ° 41 ′  N , 35 ° 57 ′  E
Waters 1 Barents Sea
Waters 2 White sea
length 370 km
width 244 km
surface 100,000 km²
Whiteseamap.jpg
Map (1635) by Willem Janszoon Blaeu

The Kola Peninsula ( Russian полуостров Кольский , kildinsamisch , нёаррк Куэлнэгк , Finnish Niemimaa Kuolan , Norwegian Kolahalvøya , Northern Sami Guoládatnjárga ) is a peninsula in the northwest of Russia and also forms the eastern part of northern Scandinavia in Fennoscandia . The northern coastal strip of the peninsula bordering the Barents Sea is called the Murmanküste , the eastern coastal strip between the Barents Sea and the White Sea is called the Ter Coast . The line between the end of Kandalaksha Bay , Imandra Lake and Kola Bay is considered to be the border to the rest of the mainland . The mountains of the Chibinen , the Lowosero Tundra and the Keiwy Highlands are centrally located on the peninsula. Politically and administratively , the peninsula belongs to the Murmansk Oblast in northwestern Russia . The ethnic minority of the seeds , the indigenous population represents the area. Today, there is a majority of Russians inhabited.

geography

The Kola Peninsula is located in the far northwest of Russia on the Arctic Circle and is part of the Murmansk Oblast . It borders the Barents Sea to the north and northeast and the White Sea and Kandalaksha Bay to the east and south . From a geological point of view, the peninsula belongs to the Baltic Shield . The northern coast slopes steeply towards the water; the relief of the south coast, however, is mostly flat. The west of the peninsula is characterized by the mountain ranges of the Chibinen and the Lowosero tundra . The highest point of the peninsula is the 1201 m high Judytschwumtschorr mountain in the Chibinen. The mountain relief of the Murman coast and that of the Khandalakshan coast extends from the southwest to the northwest.

climate

The climate of the peninsula is heterogeneous. The close proximity to the Gulf Stream leads to unusually high temperatures in the winter months, which in turn are responsible for considerable temperature fluctuations between the sea and the mainland. Sometimes there are strong gusts of wind up to hurricane-like wind strengths within the colder months. During the summer months there are often high pressure runners; so-called monsoon winds are common in most regions of the island. Overall, the number of storm days is 80–120 days per year.

The annual amount of precipitation on the peninsula varies between 500 and 1000 millimeters per year. In the mountains of the Chibinen mountain range and the Lowosero tundra, about 900 to 1000 mm of precipitation falls annually, on the coastal areas it is 600 to 700 mm and 500 to 600 mm falls in the low plains. The months of August and October are the wettest of the twelve months, while March and April are the driest of the year.

The mean January-February temperatures range from −10 to −8 ° C in the north and from −15 to −13 ° C in the center, in July the average temperatures are +8 to +11 ° C and +12 to +14 ° C. Deep foothills sometimes also bring very low temperatures; the coldest temperature ever recorded on land was -50 ° C and -35 ° to -40 ° C on the coast. The record high was +30 ° C on the entire peninsula. The country is covered with snow between October and May, and in the mountains also in June.

Hydrology

Umbosero lake

The Kola peninsula is characterized by several rivers, some of which are very fast flowing; the longest river is the Ponoi with 426 km , the most water-rich is the Tuloma . In addition to these two, there are some tributaries such as the Warsuga , Kola , Iokanga , Teriberka , Voronja and the Umba . Most of the rivers originate in the swamp regions in the southern part of the peninsula or have their sources in one of the numerous lakes. The majority of the rivers drain into the Barents Sea, a few streams in the south into the White Sea. A large number of the slow-flowing rivers partially or completely freeze over during the winter months; the rivers with a higher flow velocity, however, only in the bank areas.

The peninsula is just as rich in lakes. The largest and at the same time richest lake is the Imandra with an area of ​​876 km². Other large lakes are the Umbosero and the Lowosero . All lakes have an area of ​​more than 0.01 km².

Flora and fauna

The cold and windy climate of the peninsula and the permafrost limit the growth of many tree species. The landscape is therefore characterized in many places by grasses, wildflowers, bushes (mainly dwarf birches and cloudberries ) as well as by lichens and mosses. In the regions of the north and Murman coast, stone and bush lichen is widespread. In the southern part, characterized by boreal coniferous forests , pines and firs dominate the landscape.

The fauna has adapted to the environment and climatic conditions. In the north, reindeer roam in herds and graze in the large open meadows in the summer months. Only red and arctic foxes , wolverines , moose , otters and lynxes can be found in the south . The American mink , which was released near the Oleniza River between 1935 and 1936, is now common across the peninsula. However, this has been an increasing problem in recent years, as this genus of mink displaces native species and is therefore hunted intensively. The regionally native beaver , which was endangered until 1880 and completely disappeared from the island by the end of the 19th century, was resettled between 1934 and 1957.

The beluga is the only representative of the whales ( Cetacea ) to be found year-round in the waters around the peninsula. Other marine mammals, such as various dolphins , porpoises , bowhead whales , humpback whales , blue whales and fin whales only visit the seas and bays for a certain period of time. In the coastal areas of Kandalakscha Bay and on some beach sections of the Barents Sea there are whelping sites for bearded and ringed seals ; Gray seals and harp seals , on the other hand, are very rare.

Twenty-nine species of freshwater fish have been counted and recognized within the White Sea and Kandalaksha Bay and rivers in recent years, including trout , grayling , stickleback , vendace , pike and perch . The rivers Ponoi, Tuloma, Kola, Iokanga, Niva and Teriberka represent one of the most important habitats for the Atlantic salmon , which visit the spawning grounds in the streams of the peninsula from the seas around Greenland and the Faroe Islands in the spring months. Halibut and cod are found in the surrounding marine areas .

The Kandalaksha nature reserve, founded in 1932, is located in the Gulf of Kandalaksha and on certain sections of the coast on the Barents Sea.

Natural resources

The Kola Peninsula has a large number of natural resources. Nickel is mined in the towns of Nikel and Montschegorsk, iron ore and other heavy metals , apatite and nepheline ores as well as jewelery and precious stones in other places .

As a result, almost all levels of environmental pollution can be found on the peninsula, from intact arctic tundra to heavy-metal-poisoned post-industrial overburden landscapes. Most of the ores are smelted in combines directly on site, which sometimes leads to considerable air pollution. The energy required for smelting is supplied by the Kola nuclear power plant . It was built during the Soviet Union and has four pressurized water reactors of the type VVER -440.

From 1970, the so-called Kola borehole was carried out here, which in 1994 reached a depth of 12,262 meters and thus still holds the world record as the deepest borehole.

Military use

The peninsula is home to numerous military installations of the Northern Fleet , in particular bases for nuclear submarines and also the ELF transmitter ZEVS .

At the beginning of the 1980s, a nuclear waste storage facility for low-level radioactive nuclear waste was set up in Andrejewa Bay as a temporary measure (intended period: 5 years). In 2007 around 21,000 spent fuel rods from reactors of Soviet submarines were stored there . Norway , which has already raised 12.5 million euros to secure the dilapidated halls, is demanding a comprehensive renovation of the halls and moving the fuel rods to a safe repository. The reactors themselves (more than 30) are in a warehouse in Sajda Bay .

administration

→ see main article: Administrative divisions of Murmansk Oblast

The administrative division of the peninsula consists mainly of the Lowozero and Tersky districts, in smaller areas of the two districts of Kandalakscha and Kola and the areas that are subordinate to the cities of Murmansk , Ostrownoi , Severomorsk , Kirovsk , Apatity , Olenegorsk and Polyarnyje Sori .

The Rajons are also divided into a total of 13 urban and 10 rural communities. The largest district in terms of area is the Lowosero district with 52,978 km², followed by the Kola, Terski, Kandalaksha and Pechenga districts.

Rajons

Web links

Commons : Kola  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. yandex.de
  2. WildWorld.de ( Memento from March 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive )