Oka-Don Plain
The Oka-Don plain ( Russian О́кско-Донска́я равни́на / Oksko-Donskaja rawnina) is a landscape in central Russia and part of the Eastern European plain .
The plain extends from the watershed between the catchment area of the Oka (river system of the Volga , basin of the Caspian Sea ) and the Don (basin of the Sea of Azov / Atlantic ) in a northerly direction to the Oka, where it merges into the Meschtschoran lowlands, and in the south Direction up to the Kalatscher heights . To the west the plain is bounded by the Central Russian Plate and to the east by the Volga Plate . The central part of the Oka-Don plain is also called the Tambower plain .
The plain has a flat, undulating relief at heights between 150 and 180 meters above sea level, interrupted by wide, terraced river valleys, locally also narrow gorges ( Balki ) and depressions, so-called “steppe pans”.
The largest rivers in the northern part are the right tributaries of the Oka Ossjotr , Pronja and the lower reaches of the Mokscha with its tributaries Zna and Wad . In the southern part, besides the Don, there are its left tributaries Voronezh and Bityug as well as the upper and middle reaches of the Chopjor at the transition to the Volga plate.
The Oka-Don plain represents a heavily eroded ice age moraine landscape , which is covered by sand in the river valleys and by loess deposits in the higher areas . Black earth and gray forest soils predominate . The natural vegetation is a forest steppe , which has been pushed back in many places because of the often fertile soils. The Oka-Don Plain is one of the most important agricultural areas of European Russia.
The largest cities in the Oka-Don Plain are Lipetsk , Tambov and Michurinsk in the central part and Borisoglebsk in the southeast. Voronezh lies on the western edge of the plain .