Describe the geographic location of the Urals. Geographical location of the Urals: specifics and features

Questions and tasks

1. Compare the geographical location of the Ural Mountains and other large mountain systems in Russia. What are the main differences?

The main feature of these mountains is that the Urals have always been famous for their wealth in terms of minerals. The main reason for such wealth is the age of the mountains. Ural Mountains some of the oldest on earth and once, according to some scientists, their height exceeded the height of the modern Himalayas. Ice ages, ice, water, wind destroyed the Ural Mountains and now they can hardly be called high, but thanks to these processes, what was previously hidden by rocks was exposed. What is difficult to extract in other regions because it is located deep in the mountains, in the Urals actually appeared out in the open. That is, in fact, the Ural Mountains are now the basis of once huge mountains, one might say their interiors, rich in ores, precious stones and others. One of the most striking examples was Mount Magnitnaya, the level of iron ore in which was 75%, which is truly unique.

2. Confirm with facts that the geographical location of the Urals has changed over time.

The Urals are an example of one of the large linear fold systems stretching for thousands of kilometers. It is a meganticlinorium, which consists of alternating anticlinoria and synclinorium, oriented in the meridional direction. In this regard, the Urals are characterized by exceptional constancy of the section along the strike of the folded system and rapid variability across the strike.

The modern structural plan of the Urals was laid down already in the Ordovician, when all the main tectonic zones arose in the Paleozoic geosyncline, and the thickness of Paleozoic deposits reveals a clear facies zonation. However, there are sharp differences in the nature geological structure and the development of tectonic zones on the western and eastern slopes of the Urals, forming two independent mega-zones. They are separated by a narrow (15-40 km) and very consistent along the strike Uraltau anticlinorium (in the north it is called Kharbeysky), limited on the east by a large deep fault - the Main Ural Fault, which is associated with a narrow strip of outcrops of ultrabasic and basic rocks. In some places the fault is a strip 10-15 km wide.

The eastern megazone, maximally deflected and characterized by the development of basic volcanism and intrusive magmatism, developed in the Paleozoic as a eugeosyncline. Thick strata (over 15 km) of sedimentary-volcanogenic deposits have accumulated in it. This megazone is part of the modern Urals only partially and, to a large extent, especially in the northern half of the Urals, is hidden under the Meso-Cenozoic cover of the West Siberian Plate.

The western megazone is practically devoid of igneous rocks. In the Paleozoic, it was a miogeosyncline, where marine terrigenous and carbonate sediments accumulated. In the west, this megazone passes into the Pre-Ural foredeep.

The modern Ural Federal District includes the following regions: Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk regions, as well as the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs. The total area of ​​the district is about 1,790 thousand km 2. The capital of the federal district is the center of the Sverdlovsk region, Yekaterinburg.

The Ural Federal District has a very favorable economic and geographical position. Located in the central part of the country between the economically developed western part of Russia and the eastern territories rich in natural resources, the Urals plays the role of a transit macro-region. The proximity to markets for finished products allows us to reduce the costs of logistics of goods and services. The favorable economic and geographical position of the Urals strengthens its role in the interregional geographical division of labor.

The study of the historical and geographical features of the development and settlement of the territory of the Urals is dictated by the need to identify the cultural, historical, socio-economic and natural prerequisites and factors that contributed to the formation of the modern economic complex of the Urals as an old industrial region. To understand the term “old industrial region” it is necessary to analyze the theory of deindustrialization and post-industrial society by D. Bell. It states that the economic development of society goes through three main stages: pre-industrial, industrial and post-industrial. In a pre-industrial society, the main industries are extractive industries, agriculture, fishing, forestry and mining. Industrial society is dominated by processing industries - mechanical engineering, light industry and food industry. In the post-industrial stage, the main sectors that will form the basis of economic development are the sectors of non-material production: science, education, trade, finance, insurance, healthcare. The service sector, science and education are acquiring a leading role in a post-industrial society, corporations are giving way to universities, and businessmen are giving way to scientists and professionals.

Old industrial regions include those regions in which systemically important industries, due to fluctuations in demand and under the influence of scientific and technological progress, are stagnant, unprofitable or have ceased to exist. As a result, territories of this kind move from the rank of highly developed to depressed. But, as a rule, at present, negative processes in industry associated with scientific and technological progress affect only small areas, since modern production is diversified. As an old industrial region, the Urals are characterized by a high level of industrial development with an established stable structure of the production complex. Traditionally, the Urals specializes in the fuel and energy complex, mining and metallurgical industry, mechanical engineering, defense industry, basic chemistry and petrochemistry.

Stages economic development and the settlement of the territory of the Urals we will consider within the framework of the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods. The pre-revolutionary period is analyzed with late XVI century, that is, from the beginning of Russian colonization of the Urals until the October Socialist Revolution of 1917. The Soviet period covers the time period from 1917 to 1989.

A formational approach is adopted as a methodological basis for identifying chronological periods. Within its framework, the idea of ​​socio-economic formations that successively replace each other is clearly highlighted: the primitive communal system, the slave system, feudalism, socialism, communism. Consequently, the feudal and capitalist formation corresponds to the pre-revolutionary period, and the socialist formation corresponds to the Soviet period.

The development of the first settlements in the Urals began with the arrival of the first Russian settlers. The location of the Urals on the border of Europe and Asia was of great importance for the further development of Siberia and the Far East. The central position of the Urals between the European and Asian parts of Russia determined its role as an intermediary in economic relations between them. The deepest development of the Urals began with the advent of the 16th-18th centuries. the first Russian explorers mainly from the north-west and west of Russia. The objective need to conquer such a vast territory as the Urals was explained by the peculiarities of the ethno-geopolitical situation of the Russian state. It is located inside the mainland, away from the main world sea routes, and the internal dynamism of the Russian nation contributed to the involvement of the richest in economic turnover natural resources undeveloped or sparsely populated areas.

Further advance of the settlers deeper into the Urals required the construction of fortified settlements that would serve as control over the territory. For this purpose, on the eastern slope of the Urals, along the route of the first Russian settlers, the towns of Lozvinsk (founded in 1589) and Pelym (founded in 1593) were built and fortified, which also served as the collection of road tax - yasak. The construction of these first two towns can be considered a turning point in the development of the entire Urals.

Simultaneously with the construction of fortified towns in the middle parts of the Trans-Urals and Cis-Urals, trade relations are further developing, which requires the construction of a new, shorter land road. In 1595, a decree was issued on the creation of a direct road from Solikamsk to the upper reaches of the river. Tours, and Artemy Babinov, a “Solikamsk” townsman, managed to do this. In official correspondence, this road was called the “Solikamsk-Verkhotursky tract”, and was popularly known as the “Babinovskaya road”.

Thus, an increasing number of new territories were drawn into the sphere of influence of the Slavic population. Despite the fact that the Russian settlers tried to maintain stable and good neighborly relations with the local population, the increasingly intense trade turnover required the construction of a fortified settlement, with the help of which it would be possible to secure transport links along the new road. The new settlement would have to perform not only military-strategic, but also administrative and trade functions. In 1598, the Cherdyn governor Sarych Shestakovich built a new customs city, Verkhoturye, on the site of the native town of Neromkura, which acquired outstanding significance in the life of the Trans-Urals. The road passing through Verkhoturye became the main “sovereign” road, since traveling on roads was prohibited for fiscal purposes. Consequently, the main flow of the Yamsk chase went through Verkhoturye. Two years after the founding of Verkhoturye, halfway between Verkhoturye and Tyumen on the river. Ture, in 1600, the city of Turinsk appeared - the second oldest in the Middle Urals.

Further development of the Trans-Urals in mid-17th century- The 18th century leads to the growth of numerous peasant settlements and monastic estates on the rivers Tura, Neiva, Tagil, and Iset. The developing agricultural region was protected by lines of built towns - fortresses. In this period, the Russian settlement of Siberia and the Urals of the 17th - 18th centuries is a settlement with fortified wooden walls, with a trade, fishing and industrial profile, with state, religious, private services and buildings.

A radical change in the development of the Urals occurs in the 18th century and is associated with the beginning of the reign of Peter I. At this time historical period The mining industry emerged in the Urals, the development of which had a huge impact on the settlements, changing their functional structure, layout and social and professional composition of the population. At the end of the 17th century, most ironworks in Russia were concentrated in two regions - Tula-Kashira and Olonets. At the same time, the quality of Russian iron produced was unsatisfactory, and the volume of its output was insufficient to meet the needs of the domestic market. These circumstances required increasing metal production and improving its quality. The growth of domestic demand for iron was facilitated by the Northern War, in which Russia fought for access to Baltic Sea. Therefore, the construction of metallurgical plants in the Urals was intended, first of all, to provide the army with high-quality metal for weapons.

Accordingly, the functional structure of settlements began to gradually transform from agricultural to industrial (mining) and trade. Those settlements that arose in an earlier period and whose functions did not undergo transformation turned out to be incapable of further positive development. In this regard, the example of Verkhoturye is indicative, the main function of which (military-administrative) turned out to be unclaimed in the changed economic conditions.

Location of the first metallurgical factories in the Middle Urals at the end of the 17th - early XVIII century was subject to the following requirements: proximity of iron ore deposits; the presence of a river capable of setting factory mechanisms in motion (there were a large number of small rivers in the Urals); sufficient forest as a source of fuel; the proximity of navigable rivers for transporting factory products and the possibility of supplying the population. Therefore, the first mining settlements arose around large deposits of ore minerals, on the basis of which the first metallurgical plants were created.

The prevailing part of the numerous factory and administrative-trade settlements was formed in the middle Urals and Trans-Urals in the first third of the 18th century, forming a kind of semi-ring, within which, especially on its eastern side, all the factories were located. The nature of the location of the first metallurgical plants - Nevyansky (1701), Kamensky (1701), Alapaevsky (1704), Uktussky (1704), Vyysky (1722), Nizhny Tagil (1725), Ekaterinburg ( 1723), formed inside a semi-ring of fortress settlements (Solikamsk, Verkhoturye, Kungur, Ufa, Irbit, Tyumen, Turinsk, Cherdyn) clearly characterizes this.

By the end of the 18th century, a unique type of territorial organization of the mining and metallurgical industry was being formed in the Urals, characterized by a clear multi-level organization. At the first level there was a metallurgical plant, to which mines and forest lands (factory dachas) were attached. If a group of dachas belonged to one owner, a factory district was allocated - a production and economic unit that included groups of factories.

Most factories were immediately built in the form of large manufactories. The specifics of the equipment and technology of metallurgical production of that period, which consisted in the relative complexity of plant devices and the limited capabilities of water energy, predetermined the emergence of a unique division of labor: internal - within the plant (between workshops) and external - between plants. While maintaining the original unity of the production process (although it could not be continuous in the conditions of manufacturing production), this led to complication industrial relations and, accordingly, to the complex structure of the production complex. This feature led to the fact that each such manufactory began to represent a historically established complex of metallurgical enterprises - main (blast furnace) and auxiliary (iron-making), which were closely interconnected and had a single raw material, transport, and often energy system. The nature of production relationships led to the strengthening of inter-settlement economic and production ties.

A typical example of this kind was the Nizhne Tagil factories. At the beginning of the 19th century. this included two blast furnaces (Nizhne-Tagilsky and Verkhne-Saldinsky), six ironworks (two Laisky, Chernoistochinsky, Visimo-Utkinsky, Visimo-Shaitansky and Nizhne-Saldinsky), as well as the Vyya copper smelter, interconnected by factory tracts. Together with the raw material base (mines and forests located on the territory of the factory “dachas”), they formed a single territorial production complex of the district factory economy.

Period XVII – XVIII centuries. became the most decisive for the development of the Urals. During this period, a general pattern of settlements was formed in the Urals, which arose on the basis of the spatial combination of ore and coal mining, semi-finished and finished products. The movement of the Siberian Highway and its pass section through the Urals to Yekaterinburg (on the Iset River) to the south was of great importance for the further development of the Middle Urals. Therefore, many settlements that found themselves away from the transport routes under construction found themselves in decline.

The next stage in the development of the Urals is associated with the development of capitalist relations. During the period of its highest development in the 18th century. Ural factories produced most of the country's iron and copper. At the end of the 18th century. The Central Urals mining industry entered a period of stagnation that lasted more than 100 years. The crisis of the mining industry, in our opinion, was due primarily to the extensive nature of the development of the territory when locating metallurgical production, the predominant use of serf labor and imperfect management. Therefore, the remaining elements of the feudal system hampered the further industrial development of the Urals, which led to losses in competition with the industrial South of Russia.

The district system, which showed its effectiveness during the feudal period, turned out to be incapable of further industrial-capitalist transformation. The normal functioning of the district system was possible only under the conditions of serfdom, as well as the monopoly position of the Ural factory owners. Economic preferences ensured optimal management of the entire production system, which made it possible to clearly respond to changing economic conditions. The “self-sufficiency” of the Ural mining system contributed to its technological sustainability, but had a negative impact on the development of market economic mechanisms.

The crisis in which the district system found itself primarily affected the mining villages and factory settlements, which were in close socio-economic dependence on the metallurgical plants. In populated areas there was no growth of the economic structure, the core of which was the mining industry, while at the same time there was insufficient development of the so-called “urban” functions related to serving the population. As a result, the rate of emergence of mining settlements slowed down; new urban settlements did not arise until the abolition of serfdom (1861)

During the 19th century. there is a growth of large administrative and industrial centers(in particular, Yekaterinburg). This was due to the beginning of large-scale railway construction and the concentration of industry in areas rich in iron ore (the eastern slopes of the Ural ridge and its axial zone). Other settlements, especially those in which auxiliary-type ironworks (refinishing plants) were located, gradually fell into decay (for example, Visimo-Shaitansk, Laya).

After the abolition of serfdom, the Urals lost in the competition for the right to supply metal to the country's domestic market. As a result, the pace of development of urban settlements in the Middle Urals is slowing down. At this time, the bulk of the urban population was concentrated in the mining part of the Middle Urals and on the plains of the Trans-Urals.

Thus, in the pre-revolutionary period, most settlements arose in the mining zone, and their core was a factory, a pond and a dam. In mining settlements, one-story buildings predominated, and the most large buildings were administrative buildings or churches.

The beginning of the Soviet period of development of the Urals took place in extremely contradictory conditions. The October Revolution of 1917 led to a sharp and inconsistent change in the vector of the country's socio-economic development with a simultaneous transition to a fundamentally different type of economic management - planned. There was a profound break in the established mechanisms of urbanization and in the established traditions of urban life in the Urals. Urbanization processes began to transform on an industrial basis. The emphasis of the state's economic policy on the industrialization of the country and the creation of a second ore and metallurgical base in the Urals determined the priority development of heavy industry. Since then, “socialist industrialization” and urbanization have been inextricably linked in the process historical development Soviet society. Therefore, the role of the state in the development of urbanization processes since the 1930s. intensified, leading to rapid growth of the urban population.

In existing historical conditions this process turned out to be hypertrophied and compressed in time. This happened under the influence of two groups of factors - external, which stemmed from the objective situation of the country, and internal, introduced by the political system - the command-administrative management system, extreme control and management of resources from the center, the accelerated nature of development with limited and austere resources. The development of settlements was closely connected with the development of the economy on the basis of five-year plans, which were an integral part of long-term master plans for the development of the country's economy.

A large number of diverse mineral resources and the established traditions of the mining industry predetermined the further specialization of the economy of the Middle Urals in heavy industry: ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, wood processing and logging, chemical industry, mechanical engineering, production of building materials, etc.

The industrialization of the country led to the gradual formation of a new socio-professional structure of society. Social groups of workers and employees appeared. The construction of new enterprises required labor, which was in short supply during the first five-year plans. The main source of replenishment of the working class was the peasantry. The labor reserves released from agriculture gradually moved to cities and urban-type settlements.

In connection with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in the USSR the development plan was not completed National economy, scheduled for the third five-year plan. The entire industry of the Urals reorganized its work to meet military needs. The bulk of the evacuated enterprises and the arriving population were located in cities. In the post-war period, the tendency towards further concentration of industrial production in already established industrial hubs and centers continued. The process of emergence of new settlements practically stops, their number is gradually stabilizing, since their quantitative growth has turned into qualitative. Social infrastructure is being developed in cities and towns, housing, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, etc. are being built.

Stabilization of the number of settlements since the mid-1970s. occurred primarily for economic reasons. The focus on increasing production indicators in five-year plans, practiced in Soviet economic planning, although seemingly positive, however, led to the accumulation of resource-factor contradictions in the economy. Due to limited labor and natural resources, the extensive growth of human settlements has reached its limit. The available resources could not provide the growth factor. Therefore, there was a gradual decline in the volume of production at industrial enterprises.

This was especially evident in the field of mining enterprises. Increasing production plans, in particular, the volume of extraction of mineral raw materials, led to a more rapid depletion of the resource base. At the same time, there was a need for the development of other deposits, renewal and reconstruction of industrial production assets. In addition, the country began the industrial development of other territories, and financial and labor resources were redistributed. Underestimation of the economic situation in foreign markets in long term resulted in lost opportunities for diversification or reorientation economic sphere settlements on modern stage.

The conducted historical and geographical analysis of the formation of the socio-economic appearance of the Ural region showed that it went through several stages of its development. The main economic and geographical features of the region are determined by more than three centuries of industrial development.

7. Ural region: economic and geographical resource studies

The development of territorial socio-economic systems and society is associated with the use of natural resources and energy, which are those natural benefits that are already used or can be used by humans in the foreseeable future. Therefore, in the block of geographical and regional sciences a separate scientific discipline– economic and geographical resource studies, which deals with the problems of studying territorial location natural resources, their structure and territorial combinations, economic assessment and rational use. Thus, by natural resources we understand the components of the natural environment that people use in their economic activities.

Large territorial differences in combinations of natural resources have a significant impact on the development of productive forces. First of all, the development of production is influenced by the availability of mineral and raw materials, fuel and energy resources and water. Enterprises engaged in the processing of mineral resources are located in areas with an advantageous transport and geographical location (this allows reducing the time of delivery of products to consumers), or within transport accessibility to sources of raw materials. Non-ferrous metallurgy is a more energy-intensive industry, and, as a rule, gravitates towards areas where it is more efficient to transport fuel and energy, or to those where there is an excess of them. Aluminum production requires large quantity electricity per unit of production. That's why big number Aluminum production is located in areas abundant in sources of inexpensive electricity, primarily hydroelectric power stations. Ferrous metallurgy enterprises gravitate towards large transport arteries or sources of raw materials.

Chemical production (production of sulfuric acid, fertilizers, synthetic fibers, rubber, etc.), due to the difficulty of transporting products, is located near consumer enterprises, oil pipelines, developed oil fields and sea ports.

One of the main limiting factors in the location of industry is water resources. They are graded based on inventory, quality, and seasonal variations in quantity and quality. Particularly water-intensive industries are chemical industry, ferrous metallurgy, pulp and paper industry and hydropower. Unfortunately, the supply of usable clean fresh water is decreasing every year, which is especially important for the food industry. This circumstance forces enterprises to change the properties of water through additional purification, but this causes additional costs. In this regard, great attention is paid to the choice of water supply sources, and environmental quality requirements treatment facilities increase. The wealth of reserves and diversity of natural resources create additional competitive advantages for industrial development.

The main characteristic of natural resources is the possibility of their use at a given level of development of productive forces to meet the needs of society and industry. To include certain elements of nature in the category of natural resources, criteria are applied for the economic feasibility of use and the availability of consumer needs, as well as the technical feasibility of being involved in economic turnover.

In the process of production activities, natural resources are processed into products with specified properties needed by the consumer. Those resources that have undergone changes during production processes and are subject to subsequent processing become raw materials (for example, mined ore). Another part of natural resources, which is assessed in quantitative terms and suitable for use at the achieved level of development of productive forces, is reserves.

The main types of natural resources can be classified according to the following criteria:

1.by origin– mineral resources, biological resources (plant and animal), land, climate, water resources;

2. by method of use– industrial and agricultural production, non-production spheres;

3.according to the degree of reserves and the possibility of renewal– exhaustible, including renewable (biological, land, water, etc.) and non-renewable (mineral), practically inexhaustible (solar energy, geothermal and hydropower).

In addition to the classification of natural resources, their quantitative and qualitative assessment is carried out, and the study of their territorial combinations (TCC) in the regions as a factor in the development of commercial and production clusters is carried out. The general assessment of the region’s natural resources is formed from private assessments individual species resources, which makes it possible to determine their totality - natural resource potential (NRP).

Natural resource potential serves as the basis for natural resource zoning, in which natural resource regions are identified. They are territories, each of which, within certain boundaries, differs from its neighboring territories in the size and structure of its natural resource potential. The resulting assessment of the PDP serves as the basis for studying the structure and extent of application of this potential in a particular territory. The difference between the total value of the PRP and that part of it that is used in economic activity, reflects further opportunities for exploitation of the territory’s natural resources. One of the main components of the PDP assessment is the economic assessment of natural resources. Since the Middle Urals is characterized high level development of the mining industry, let us dwell in more detail on the assessment mineral resources. Mineral raw materials are obtained by developing mineral deposits in which the useful substance is contained in an amount that economically justifies its extraction. All deposits are assessed from geological, technical and economic points of view.

A geological assessment of a deposit shows the quantity and quality of the mineral, conditions, depth, form of occurrence (layer, vein or stock) and other necessary information about it. The main importance is the quantity (reserve) of minerals in the deposit. Inventories are divided into on-balance and off-balance sheet. The first include those reserves in which mineral resources in their size, quality and occurrence conditions satisfy the requirements of consumers ( industrial enterprises) and production requirements. All other reserves that do not meet these requirements are considered off-balance sheet. The transfer of off-balance sheet reserves to the on-balance sheet category occurs, as a rule, after the latter are exhausted.

Today in the Sverdlovsk region there is no large-scale industrial development of deposits of iron and copper ores with a low content of useful substances (for iron ores - less than 10-12%, for copper ores - less than 2-3%). When rich deposits are exhausted, such deposits will be in demand, so they can be classified as off-balance. Off-balance deposits also include those deposits whose development was stopped 10-15 years ago due to economic inefficiency at that time, although the ore body was not completely mined. Examples include the Levikhinskoye copper ore deposit and the Bulanashskoye coal deposit. It should be noted that these mines have been repeatedly flooded, so reactivation will require other mining technologies, for example, underground leaching or oxidation. Therefore, with the improvement of technology and development technology, off-balance reserves can move into the category of on-balance reserves.

Another element of the geological assessment of deposits is their division according to the degree of exploration into four categories: A, B, C and C2.

Category A includes those reserves that are ready for development; As a result of the preparation of mine workings, the quality of the mineral is satisfactory, and the technologies for its processing and use have been developed.

Category C includes those reserves that are determined based on data from a rare network of exploration drilling wells. The quality of the mineral was determined based on individual samples.

The technical assessment of mineral deposits is intended to determine the technical parameters for the development of identified reserves, the scale of production and the life of the deposit. The mining method (open pit or underground), the volume of stripping work, plans for shaft excavation, technical indicators for processing minerals, etc. are also determined.

The economic assessment of mineral deposits shows the importance of the mineral for the economy and the feasibility of its extraction and development as a source of a certain type of mineral raw material. Based on the economic assessment, criteria for the quality of mineral raw materials are established, the reserves of the deposit are determined, the sequence of involvement in the development of its parts is assigned, etc. The main evaluation criterion is the difference between the price of the final product obtained from the mineral raw materials of the deposit and the costs of obtaining it. Economic assessment of mineral deposits contributes to the rationalization of environmental management, and due to this, production efficiency increases.

At all stages of use natural substance(or groups of substances) its transformations and territorial movements occur within the framework of the social link of the general circulation of a given substance (or substances) on Earth. This process is called the resource cycle. The following resource cycles are distinguished: energy resources and energy, metal ore resources and metals, non-metallic fossil raw materials, forest resources and timber, land resources and agricultural raw materials. There is a planetary territorial structure of resource cycles and regional-local structures of different taxonomic levels. One of the most important criteria for the rational functioning and development of resource cycles is to ensure the full properties and qualities of the environment necessary for humans.

But for the development of industry, it is important not only a general assessment of the PRP and resource cycles, but also an assessment of the private potentials of the territory, which have a great influence on the industrial specialization of the regions and the possibilities of population settlement: geographical location, relief, mineral reserves, climate, water, land and biological resources. Therefore, we will consider each potential separately in relation to the Ural Federal District, which, stretching from north to south for more than a thousand kilometers, has extremely diverse natural resource potential. Features of the geographical location were discussed above. IN in this case We note that the favorable economic and geographical position serves as an additional stimulating factor for the development of the regional economy.

The relief of the territory of the Ural Federal District is made up of the Ural Mountains located in the west, to the east is the vast West Siberian Plain. The Ural mountain system is elongated in the meridional direction south of the shores of the Kara Sea, divided into the Polar Ural, Subpolar Ural, Northern Ural, Middle Ural and Southern Ural . Its length is more than 2000 km, and its width is from 40 to 150 km. The Ural mountainous country consists of a main watershed ridge and several side ridges.

The Ural Federal District has rich reserves of various mineral resources, which have a huge impact on the industrial specialization of the region and the level of its development. The main share of mineral reserves consists of fuel resources (oil, natural gas, coal, oil shale, peat) and deposits of ferrous and non-ferrous metal ores (manganese, iron, silver, copper, zinc, gold, lead, nickel). In the group of fuel resources of the Ural Federal District, hydrocarbon resources are of great importance. About 65-70% of Russian oil reserves and 85-90% of natural gas reserves are concentrated here.

The main deposits of iron ores and non-ferrous ores are concentrated within the Ural Mountains. There are no rich iron ore deposits left in the Urals, so the region’s needs for iron ores are not fully satisfied through its own mining. For more than 40 years, the development of low-grade ores of the Kachkanar and Bakal deposits, in which 3/4 of the Ural iron ore reserves are concentrated, has been carried out. These ores will contain 15-17% iron and 0.14-0.17% vanadium. The extraction of these ores is profitable due to their complex composition.

Copper ore reserves are concentrated along the meridional axis of the Ural Mountains, which includes the Krasnouralskoye, Kirovgradskoye, Degtyarskoye, Levikhinskoye deposits. Copper is also contained as an associated component of iron ore deposits. The Satka magnesite deposit in the Chelyabinsk region, where the Magnezit plant operates, is unique.

Significant reserves of aluminum raw materials (bauxite) are concentrated in the North Ural bauxite basin (Krasnaya Shapochka, Severnoye, Sosvinskoye and other deposits), which was discovered in 1931. The content of aluminum oxide Al 2 O 3 in the ore reaches 52-53%. Due to exhaustion upper layers In the development of deposits, the proportion of deeper horizons being developed underground is increasing.

The climatic conditions on the territory of the Ural Federal District are very diverse, while a significant part of it is characterized by extreme natural and climatic conditions. For example, the northern part of the Tyumen region belongs to the regions of the Far North. There are various natural zones on the territory of the district: Arctic tundra to Far North gives way to tundra and forest-tundra to the south, then taiga, forest-steppe and steppe in the south.

Most of the district's rivers belong to the basins of the Arctic Ocean (Pechora, Usa, Tobol, Iset, Tura rivers) and the Caspian Sea (Chusovaya, Ural rivers). The Urals are a land of lakes. There are more than three thousand of them in the Chelyabinsk region. Groundwater is also of great importance. At the same time, water resources are distributed unevenly, which leads to their insufficiency. First of all, this applies to the industrial areas of the Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions.

Land resources The districts are represented by tundra soils containing up to 5% humus (tundra gley soils, tundra podburs, etc.). Common in forest-tundra permafrost and associated permafrost landforms, as well as swamps and lakes. The taiga zone contains soddy-podzolic soils. In the forest-steppe and steppe, gray forest soils and leached and podzolized chernozems containing 2-16% humus are common. Agricultural land is concentrated in the Kurgan and southern parts of the Tyumen regions. These regions have the best conditions for farming. In the northern regions, livestock farming is more common, since agricultural land is represented mainly by pastures and hayfields.

Biological resources are represented mainly by large forests. The taiga zone is an object of global importance, serving as the “green lungs” of the planet. The type of prevailing vegetation is associated with latitudinal changes in natural zones. In the north, pine, cedar, larch, fir, and spruce (coniferous forests) predominate; in the south, in the forest-steppe - birch and aspen; in the swamps - alder, birch, willow.

8. Labor resources and labor potential of the Ural region

Population is the object of study of many sciences - socio-economic geography, regional economics, population geography, geo-urban studies, demography, etc. This suggests that demographic processes are an almost ideal object for studying dynamic processes in the economy and society.

An integrated approach to the study of the population is implemented by demography, which is the science of general and specific patterns of population reproduction. Within the framework of socio-economic geography, the geography of population and settlement has been successfully developing over a long period. At the intersection of geography and demography, geodemography arose, which, in our opinion, is a science that studies the totality of connections between historically and regionally defined demographic processes and structures with the settlement system, territorial production system, social infrastructure, and lifestyle of the population. The main conceptual categories of geodemography are population and demographic situation. The population is the totality of people living in a certain territory, which is most often defined by the boundaries of a populated area (settlement). The demographic situation is understood as a certain state of the population in relation to the geographical, historical and economic conditions in which it finds itself.

For a general description of the demographic situation, two main attributive characteristics of the population are sufficient: its quantitative composition (aggregate) and territorial affiliation. For a more in-depth analysis, data on these parameters is clearly not enough, since it is more advantageous to analyze the demographic situation within the country, its regions and settlements to compare the population size, the relationship between gender, age, socio-professional and ethno-confessional groups, the direction of migration, etc. In addition to stating the quantitative parameters of the population, it is very important to determine the causes and factors of change that unequally influence the self-preservation of the population and the replacement of generations.

The main demographic indicators characterizing the population are the population structure, population size, dynamics of natural and mechanical growth, ethno-confessional structure and the size of labor resources. In population geography, a broader set of characteristics of population characteristics is used:

1. Demographic: gender, age, civil status (legal and civil status), marital status.

2. Economic: profession, qualifications, attitude to work (economically active or passive), length of service, sources of livelihood.

3. Cultural: nationality, native language, religion, education, residence in a city or village.

4. Social: official position, citizenship, participation in political organizations, class affiliation.

5. Biological: race, blood type, height, weight and other anthropological characteristics.

6. Geographic: place of residence and place of birth, etc.

The structure of the population represents the differentiation of individuals according to various characteristics, on the basis of which typological groups are formed, the main feature of which is plurality. The main ones are the gender and age structure, as well as the marriage and family structure of the population. The distribution of people forming a population according to the values ​​of one characteristic is the composition of the population. It can be represented by two or several gradations of a characteristic (groups), for example, the distribution of the population by sex.

The sex and age structure is the distribution of the population by sex and age. The marriage and family structure of the population includes two opposing processes - marriage and divorce. These demographic structures have a direct impact on the processes of natural (fertility and mortality) and mechanical (migration) population growth, as well as on the quality of labor resources. The size of a territory's labor resources is determined by the number of people of working age.

The population size is greatly influenced by the processes of natural and mechanical growth. Absolute population represents the number of people living in a given territory at a given point in time. It is calculated based on the results of population censuses or current population statistics. Natural increase is calculated as the difference between the number of births and deaths. Mechanical growth is calculated similarly, based on the number of arrivals and departures. Changes in population size over a certain period are determined by the magnitude of natural and mechanical growth. A negative value of these values ​​indicates population decline.

For each administrative-territorial unit, two population groups are defined: permanent and existing. The permanent population is rather a legal category, since it takes into account the population for which this settlement is the place of usual residence. This is determined by the fact of registration in a certain residential premises. The current population is a spatial category, since it represents a collection of people located at a certain moment in the territory of a settlement or region. Currently, the ethno-confessional structure, which represents the distribution of the population according to national and religious characteristics, is of great importance for our country.

Russia, and especially the Ural Federal District, is gradually turning into a center of labor migration of the population. This is facilitated by the gradual growth of the economy, which needs labor, as well as the emerging improvement in migration policy. These processes lead both to an increase in the transit of cultures and to the realization that the involvement of migrants as a labor force should not lead to interethnic conflicts with the indigenous population. This is only possible when migrants are distributed to those sectors of the economy that are most in need of labor. Currently it is industry and construction. Therefore, in Russia, as a multinational country, ethno-unification processes will intensify: consolidation and assimilation.

Moving on to characterize the demographic situation in the Ural Federal District, it should be noted that it is subject to all-Russian depopulation trends. This was reflected in an increase in the proportion of the population of older ages, an excess of women over men, a decrease in the number of children in the total population and a decrease in general structure economically employed population, qualified technical specialists. The demographic situation in the Ural Federal District was formed under the influence of several factors - the cycle of waves of migration movement from the West to the Urals, natural increase, etc. Therefore, the nature of the demographic situation in each region is individual. Since the Urals is one of the most highly urbanized regions, the demographic situation is subject to the patterns inherent in urban settlements, not rural ones.

The population of the Ural Federal District, in accordance with depopulation trends, continues to decline and currently amounts to more than 12 million people. Natural growth is negative and amounts to more than –5%. Population decline is typical for the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan and Tyumen regions. In the Tyumen North, in the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs, reverse situation. These regions have positive population growth, which is largely determined by the dominance of the young age structure, when the population is of reproductive age.

The Ural Federal District is characterized to a certain extent by multinationality. Russians make up the majority of the population (both in cities and rural areas). Also significant specific gravity Bashkir and Tatar population. Quite large groups of people are Ukrainians and Germans, the majority of whom were forcibly resettled to the Urals by deportation during the Stalinist period. IN Tyumen region, a third of small peoples North of Russia - Khanty, Mansi, Nenets and Selkup. The main problem is preserving the foundations of their economic existence, since many territories traditionally used for reindeer pastures have been degraded as a result of the activities of the oil and gas complex. This requires making mutually beneficial decisions both for the representatives of these peoples themselves and for the authorities.

In terms of confessions, the believing population of the Ural Federal District professes two major world religions - Christianity (mainly Orthodoxy, although in large regional centers there are quite influential Catholic and Protestant communities) and Islam. Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians are Orthodox; Tatars and Bashkirs profess Islam.

The basis of the federal district's labor resources is the population of working age, which is distinguished by high professional training. Due to the high share of industry in production volume, the majority of the population in the region is employed in it, but due to the market transformation of society, the employment structure has changed. A new socio-professional group of entrepreneurs has emerged, the number of people employed in industry and construction has decreased (there is currently a shortage of workers), and the share of people employed in the service sector, trade and transport has increased.

Complex processes The conversion of military-industrial complex enterprises led to a reduction in demand for technical specialists, which led to an increase in hidden unemployment and mass layoffs. This affected the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions to a greater extent, where the concentration of military-industrial complex enterprises is very high.

In the Ural Federal District, intraregional differentiation in unemployment levels is clearly expressed. The highest unemployment rate is observed in the Kurgan region, which is characterized by specialization in mechanical engineering and metalworking, and the lowest in the Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrugs.

The main and determining factor in the demand for labor is the dynamics of industrial functioning. At the same time, the disproportion between supply and demand in the labor market is clearly expressed. There remains a demand for labor in industry and construction, but there is an excess of female labor in the labor market, as well as graduates of educational institutions without professional experience who have received vocational training in low-demand specialties. The level of female employment is higher in towns and cities, which have a diverse social and industrial infrastructure. Here, women's labor is more in demand in the service sector due to its rapid development.

The regional settlement system of the Urals was formed over a long period of more than three hundred years, therefore its modern specificity is a reflection of the historical characteristics of the settlement and economic development of the region. Initially developing on an industrial basis, at the present stage the regional settlement system is characterized by an increased proportion of urban settlements. This is due to the earlier occurrence of urbanization processes in the Urals compared to other regions of the country. Therefore, the existing territorial-urban structure of the region is the most mature. The calculations show that per 10 thousand km2 of the Ural Federal District there are on average 1.1 urban settlements, incl. 0.44 cities. In the Middle Urals, these indicators are several times higher than the general district ones and amount to 7.4 and 2.4, respectively, which confirms the highly urbanized nature of the regional settlement system.

The Urals, as an old industrial region, is characterized by the presence of several formed territorial group settlement systems of various functional and hierarchical ranks. The lowest level of them are the so-called “grassroots” settlement systems, usually formed on the basis of municipal districts, urban districts and their centers. Under favorable conditions (the system-forming center has the potential to fully involve “satellite” settlements and more remote territories into its sphere of influence, and a well-developed transport system) “grassroots” settlement systems are transformed into local systems resettlement (LSR). They include hierarchically mutually subordinate settlements, which are united by intersettlement socio-economic and technical-production relationships. Each LSR has the following territorial features:

1. Territorial unity and a developed transport network linking together settlements;

2. Production-technological and social-labor relationships with the system-forming city and individual settlements;

3. The presence within the group of administrative, cultural and everyday connections that create conditions for the socio-cultural development of the system;

4. Sharing of various types of infrastructure (transport, industrial, social, etc.).

During further development By concentrating the socio-economic potential, LSRs can transform into larger clusters of urban settlements - urban agglomerations. They are compact spatial groupings of urban and rural settlements, which are united between themselves and the “core” city by production, labor, cultural, social and recreational connections. As a rule, local settlement systems occupy a larger territory than urban agglomerations and are characterized by less intense interactions with settlement systems remote from the “core” city.

The primary unit in settlement systems is a settlement (settlement) - a permanently or seasonally inhabited place of human settlement, characterized by spatial limitation and territorial community. Settlements can have different spatial forms, size, functional purpose, administrative status, occupation of residents and technical level.

A populated area is not only a place of settlement of people, but also a territory for the location of social infrastructure facilities, enterprises and institutions of the production and non-production sphere.

In modern Russian regulations (Administrative Code, Housing Code, Town Planning Code, The federal law“On the general principles of local self-government”, etc.) there is no division into cities, towns, etc. Only two forms of settlements are identified - urban and rural.

Urban settlements– settlements performing the following economic functions (one or more):

1) industrial;

2) transport;

3) organizational, economic, cultural, political and administrative;

4) organizations of recreation and treatment (resorts).

To determine urban settlements, a set of characteristics is used: population size, the structure of its employment, the economic and cultural significance of the settlement, taking into account the local characteristics of different countries and regions.

Urban settlements are divided into two main forms: cities and urban-type settlements (UGT). In geography and statistics, urban settlement is usually understood as an administratively formalized type of grassroots urban settlement, occupying an intermediate position between a rural settlement and a city. Urban settlements are divided into three main groups of villages: workers, resorts, and summer cottages.

Worker's settlements include settlements at large factories, mines, power plants, construction sites, hydraulic structures and other facilities with at least 3 thousand inhabitants, including at least 85% of workers, employees and members of their families. At least 2 thousand people live in resort villages (settlements located in areas of medicinal value). The number of people who come to these villages annually for treatment and recreation should be at least 50% of their permanent population. Dacha villages are settlements that are places summer holiday townspeople; in them no more than 25% of the adult population is engaged in agriculture.

Rural settlements include small settlements whose residents are engaged in geographically dispersed activities: villages, hamlets, settlements, hamlets, villages, auls, etc.

“Agricultural” and “rural non-agricultural” settlements are concepts that specify the production orientation of settlements rural type. In the first case, these are settlements whose residents are predominantly engaged in agricultural work, in the second – settlements whose residents are employed outside the sphere of agriculture and participate in the implementation of other geographically dispersed functions (forestry, transport maintenance, exploitation of recreational resources, etc.) .

The Ural Federal District is one of the most highly urbanized in the country, because... approximately 75% of the county's population lives in cities. Only two cities have more than a million inhabitants. These are Yekaterinburg (1266 thousand) and Chelyabinsk (1083 thousand). In the Sverdlovsk region, 81% of the population live in cities and towns, in the Chelyabinsk region - 75%. The population density of the Urals is low and is only 7 people. per 1 km 2. The spatial distribution of the population is characterized by unevenness. The Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions are the most densely populated. The Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrugs are sparsely populated.

Due to the loss of population in many urban-type settlements and smaller rural settlements of the Urals, the outgoing population is being replaced by migrants from the North Caucasus and Eastern countries: China and Vietnam. This is due to the fact that it is easier to adapt here. This process is especially more pronounced in the Sverdlovsk region, where the process of cultural transit is intensifying. The dynamics and consequences of this process remain incomprehensible and unclear.

9. Economy, structure and organization of the economy of the Urals:

general characteristics

The development of human society is always accompanied by economic relationships of various kinds. The increasing complexity of the structure of society changes the character economic ties, therefore, throughout human history, they replaced each other Various types economic activity. Researchers have identified several types of economic activity that are characteristic of the economy at different stages of its development:

1. traditional farming. Within this type of economic activity, knowledge and skills are passed on from generation to generation (agricultural peasant farming);

2. market system. By building a balance between supply and demand, it is determined which goods to produce, how and for whom;

3. planned system. Economic activities are strictly regulated by directives from the center (capital);

4. mixed system. It represents an optimal combination of planned and market mechanisms (China, USA).

The organization of economic activity in society is based on various approaches, among which the main ones are systemic, formational and civilizational.

From point of view systematic approach industrial enterprises are separate production, technological and socio-economic complexes that are part of the national economic system.

Within civilizational approach social development is associated with the achievement of a certain stage of development, which is characterized by the achieved level of material and spiritual culture. Researchers distinguish two types of civilizations: geographical (mountain, river, sea, ocean) and economic (agrarian, industrial, post-industrial).

Formational approach is one of the most developed in domestic science. The core of this approach is the concept of socio-economic formation, which represents a society at a certain stage of its development. Each formation is based on a certain method of production - a historically determined method of creating material wealth. Therefore, in the process of material production, two sides are distinguished - productive forces and production relations.

Productive forces represent the material content of social production. The components of the productive forces are:

a) means of production - tools and objects of labor;

b) tools of labor - machines, apparatus, instruments with the help of which a person acts on the substance of nature, on the subject of labor;

c) objects of labor - the object of application of human forces, as well as everything towards which his labor is directed, from which the finished product is obtained (raw materials, fuel, semi-finished products, etc.);

d) labor force (person) – personal factor of production;

d) technology.

Production relations are based on relationships between people in the process of production and distribution of material goods. Highlighted the following types industrial relations:

a) organizational and technical (dictated by the specifics of production);

b) political-economic (based on the presence of property and rights to it);

c) organizational and technological.

The distribution of productive forces is spatial form social division of labor, which is expressed in the spatial distribution of industrial enterprises on the territory of an economic region, administrative-territorial unit of the country, etc. In the process of locating industrial production, not only economic but also social problems are solved: the development of social infrastructure, the creation of conditions for attracting investment, new jobs and a comfortable living environment.

To designate the geographical location of the production of material goods, the concept of factors and principles of distribution of productive forces is used.

Factors of distribution of productive forces– technological and technical-economic features of production that influence its location.

The location of industrial enterprises is directly influenced by a relatively limited range of factors, including natural-economic (raw materials, geographic environment, labor resources and consumption density), technical-economic (scientific and technological progress and rational forms of organization of production), economic-political and transport factors.

They are closely related to each other and jointly influence the location of enterprises in a particular industry, although they differ in economic and geographical essence. When we are talking, for example, about raw materials, fuel, energy and water factors, the question inevitably arises about the specific location, as well as the size and efficiency of using sources of raw materials, fuel, energy and water resources. A similar question arises when considering the consumer factor and the labor factor, with the only difference that in this case we are talking about fairly large areas.

Principles of allocation of productive forces- these are the initial scientific provisions used by the state in its economic policy. The following placement principles are distinguished:

1. bringing production closer to sources of raw materials, fuel, energy and areas of consumption;

2. rational territorial division of labor with the most effective specialization of economic regions;

3. international division of labor based on economic integration.

The main links in technical and production chains are enterprises, industries and the inter-industry complexes they form.

An enterprise is an independent economic entity with the right of a legal entity, created in the manner prescribed by law, intended to perform work and provide services in order to meet public needs and make a profit. The enterprise has the following characteristics: 1) economic independence; 2) completeness of the technological chain for the production of their products; 3) resource requirements typical for this type of enterprise.

The enterprise independently carries out its activities, manages its products, the profit received, the remainder after paying taxes and other obligatory payments. The main goal of the enterprise is to obtain maximum and stable profits from the sale of products and services in a competitive global market to meet the public needs and interests of members of the workforce and property owners.

There are several organizational and legal forms of enterprises (commercial organizations), which are determined Civil Code RF. In accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, legal entities can be created in the following forms:

a) Business partnerships and societies , which recognize commercial organizations with authorized capital divided into shares (contributions) of founders (participants).

Forms of business partnerships:

General partnership- a partnership whose participants (general partners) in accordance with the agreement are engaged in entrepreneurial activities on behalf of the partnership and are liable for obligations with the property belonging to them.

Limited partnership (limited partnership)- a partnership in which, along with the participants who carry out entrepreneurial activities on behalf of the partnership and are liable for the obligations of the partnership with their property, there are one or more participants - investors (limited partners) who bear the risk of losses associated with the activities of the partnership within the limits of the amounts of contributions made by them and do not take part in the partnership’s business activities.

Forms of business entities:

Limited Liability Company – a company established by one or several persons, the authorized capital of which is divided into certain shares; LLC participants are not liable for its obligations and bear the risk of losses associated with the activities of the company to the extent of the value of their contributions.

Public corporation - its participants may alienate their shares without the consent of other shareholders,

Closed Joint Stock Company, shares of which can be distributed only among its founders or other predetermined circle of persons.

b) Production cooperatives (artels). These are recognized as voluntary associations of citizens on the basis of membership for joint production or economic activities.

c) State and municipal enterprises.

Unitary enterprise A commercial organization is recognized that is not endowed with the right of ownership to the property assigned to it by the owner, which is indivisible and cannot be distributed among contributions (shares, shares), including among employees of the enterprise. State or municipal enterprises can be created in the form of unitary enterprises.

d) organizational forms of industrial enterprises.

Many people know about the Ural region. But usually all knowledge is limited to the name.

However, in recent centuries the Urals has played one of the leading roles in the development of the country.

Today we’ll talk about the Urals, give a detailed description of the region, and identify its features and problems.

Characteristics of the Ural economic region

The position of the Urals can be briefly described. It is located in an advantageous region in terms of economics. Nearby are areas with reserves of raw materials, on the other side are areas of greatest production and consumption.

It is also economically beneficial to maintain trade relations with Asian countries. Therefore, in Russia the Urals rank second in economic importance.

The area of ​​the Urals is 824,000 km².

Regions and districts that are part of:

Geographical position

The Ural region is located not only on the border between Europe and Asia. It also lies between the two main plains of Eurasia. The north of the region is occupied by mountains. And in the south flows the Ural River, flowing into the Caspian Sea.

List of economic regions with which the Ural region borders:

• West Siberian;
• Povolzhsky;
• Northern;
• Volgo-Vyatsky.

In the south there is the border with Kazakhstan.

Largest cities

Yekaterinburg is the so-called capital of the Ural region. Located in the Sverdlovsk region.

Ekaterinburg

Other major cities:

• Chelyabinsk;
• Permian;
• Orenburg;
• Orsk;
• Sterlitamak;
• Mound.

The population of these cities is over 250 thousand people. They are located mainly in the center of the region.

Climate

The Urals are remote from the seas and oceans, so its climate is continental. The region is characterized by sharp temperature changes, sometimes even within a day.

This is due to constantly alternating warm and cold air currents. The wind from the Arctic often brings frost, and the dry southern wind brings warmth. The movement of winds from the west is hindered by the Ural Mountains.

average temperature in winter it varies from -17℃ to -20℃. Average temperature in summer period– +19℃. There is a lot of precipitation, especially in mountainous regions.

The Urals are located in the following climatic zones:

• arctic;
• subarctic;

Minerals of the Southern Urals

The Southern Urals are famous for their huge reserves of minerals; real wealth is concentrated there. What fossils there are in the depths of the Southern Urals can be seen in the picture.

There are also many gems:

• ruby;
• sapphire;
• amethyst;
• topaz;
• jasper;
• tourmaline.

In addition, there are large reserves of raw materials and fuel resources.

Features of nature

The Urals stretch from north to south, so the nature in each of its regions is different.

The Ural Mountains represent not only a feature of the region's topography. They also play an important role in nature, acting as a barrier to some plant species.

This means that the plant world of the Trans-Urals differs from the plant world of the Cis-Urals.

Soils

The Urals are characterized by a variety of soils. This is again explained by the large latitudinal extent.

In the north of the region there is a tundra-gley layer of soil. To the south there are soddy-podzolic soils, and gley-podzolic soils are also found. Black soils appear in the south of the Urals. At the same latitude, behind the Ural ridge, there are larger quantities of leached chernozems. There are also patches of gray forest soils.

In the mountainous regions of the Urals, almost all soils are similar. The most common types there are:

• brown-taiga;
• gray forest;
• podzolic.

Forest resources

Forests in the Ural region are very rich.

The most common trees are:

• birch;
• larch;
• pine;
• cedar;
• fir.

The excellent raw material base of the Urals allows for the development of certain types of wood.

Population of the Urals

Population – 12,356,229 people. Average density– 25 people per 1 km². The main place of settlement is the Middle Urals. Closer to the north the density decreases.

Peoples living in the Urals:

• Russians;
• Bashkirs;
• Udmurts;
• Komi-Permyaks;
• Tatars and others.

Inland waters

There are a lot of rivers and lakes in the Ural region.

The most large river- Ural.

Economic use of the Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains are among the oldest in the world. Over time, external conditions gradually destroyed their original appearance. And now they character traits are that minerals are located on the surface.

This is the main use of the Ural Mountains.

Industry of the Urals

Industry in the Ural region is very well developed. The Urals is one of the best industrial regions.

The region is home to many enterprises producing various products.

Problems of the Urals of Russia

As in any other industrial region, the issue of environmental pollution is acute in the Urals.

Basic ecological problems Ural:

• water and air pollution from industrial waste;
• destruction of the soil layer;
• deforestation;
• chemical pollution;
• Nuclear pollution.

According to encyclopedias, the Ural Mountains are a system dividing Eastern European and West Siberian Plain. Its length exceeds 2000 km, and according to some sources, it is even more than 2500 km (if you take into account the Mugodzhary ridges in the south and Pai-Khoi in the north). The width of the mountain system is 40-200 km.

general characteristics

The Ural Mountains are considered one of the most ancient on our planet. This is why they are lower than the Andes or Tibet. The age of the Urals is more than 600 million years. During this rather long period, under the influence of rains, winds and landslides, the ridges managed to collapse significantly. The geographical position of the Urals is very specific, both from political and economic points vision. But more on that below. This area is very rich in mineral resources; there are deposits of copper, titanium, magnesium, oil, coal, bauxite, etc. In total, scientists estimate about sixty important ores and minerals.

History of discovery

According to official history, the Ural Mountains were discovered in ancient times. At the same time, scientists refer to written mentions of them in Greek texts. They speak of the Riphean (or Riphean), Imaus and Hyperborean mountains. Today it is impossible to establish which part of the Urals they were talking about scientists of Rome and ancient Greece, because their stories are richly intertwined with various fairy tales, legends, and even outright fables. They themselves had never been to these places, but heard about them from third parties. However, if you believe the legends of the peoples living in the Urals, then people settled this territory long before the emergence of ancient Greece. Later, Arab sources will tell about the country of Yugra, where the Yura people live. Scientists also include descriptions of countries such as Bulgaria, Visa, Yadzhudzhia, Majudzhiya, etc. in the Urals. All Arab sources say that these territories are inhabited by very ferocious people, so they are closed to travelers. In addition, they mention the harsh climate of these countries, which can also be interpreted in favor of the Urals. However, despite these facts, Arab merchants flocked here like flies to honey, and this is explained by the abundance of furs, as well as salt. These goods can be called the main currency of the Middle Ages; they were valued no less than precious stones and gold. Russian sources claim that, starting from the 12th-13th centuries, our pioneers appeared in these places, who gave the local mountains the name Kamen. And starting from the 17th century, with the light hand of V. Tatishchev, the name Ural was assigned to them.

Europe or Asia

Now let's look at the features of the geographical location of the Urals. This ridge is the conventional border of Europe and Asia, the two largest structures of the earth's crust, as well as the largest freshwater basins. The geographical position of the Urals is truly unique; it can be compared to the Great Wall of China, only this wall was erected by nature itself. It divided peoples with opposing cultures: Eastern and Western mentalities. Although in this case it is difficult to determine what comes first. Either the “stone curtain” allowed two cultures to develop separately, protecting them from each other, or both peoples previously had a common history and philosophical values, and later the European part of the continent was influenced from the outside, and everything changed radically. All values ​​were turned upside down: white became black, and black became white... In this case, this ancient ridge saved the eastern peoples from external enemy for the time being. However, in the world of globalization, no stone barrier can stop the “democratic values” and liberalism imposed European culture. What does the advertisement say? If you don’t use Tide powder, then are we coming to you?.. As you can see, the unique geographical location of the Urals has not only political and economic implications, but also cultural ones.

Cradle of Nations

The Ural region today is considered second after the Central region in terms of the number of cities, population, and economic power. The geographical position of the Urals contributed to the fact that it became a natural border for numerous migration waves. Thus, Russian pioneers, moving east, tried to look for low areas with convenient passages into the “ Stone belt", and the steppe peoples from the Asian part of the continent, rushing to the west and encountering this natural barrier, were forced to go around it from the south. And many of them even settled at the foot of the Ural Mountains. This explains the ethnic diversity of the region. The Urals became the cradle for many nationalities. It was from here that peoples dispersed throughout Northern Eurasia. Today, it is dominated by Russian population- 80%, however, the Ural region is also home to Bashkirs, Tatars, Udmurts, Chuvashs, Mordovians, Maris, Komi-Permyaks, etc.

Let's take a look at the map

The Urals is unique, since it is located on the border of the economically developed (European) part of the continent and the raw materials (eastern) part. As a result, this region has become entangled in a web of automobile and railways, pipelines and power lines. All these transport routes connect the Urals with the Volga, Volga-Vyatka and West Siberian regions of our Motherland, as well as with Kazakhstan. It should be understood that the territory of the Ural Mountains and the Ural region do not exactly coincide. Let's figure out what this means. Thus, the mountain ranges of the Subpolar and Polar regions were not included in its composition, which cannot be said about the foothill plains of the Cis-Urals (this is the eastern edge of the East European Plain) and Trans-Urals ( western edge West Siberian Lowland).

All-Russian forge

The Urals are considered one of the oldest regions of our planet. And this is no coincidence, because deposits of semi-precious and precious stones, alexandrite and aquamarine, garnets and sapphires, emeralds and rubies, topazes and malachite and jasper have been discovered here. The eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains, which are represented by igneous rocks, are very rich in various ore minerals. Thus, thanks to open deposits of non-ferrous and ferrous metal ores, the industry of the Urals was founded and developed here. Copper, iron, chrome, nickel, cobalt, aluminum, zinc ores, platinum, gold - this is not a complete list of the natural storehouse concentrated in these mountains. It should be noted that geographically the Ural Ridge is usually divided into five parts. Let's look briefly at each of them.

Geographical location of the Polar Urals

This part of the mountain range is located on the territory of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the Komi Republic. The border of the regions runs along the main watershed, which is separated by the Ob (in the east) and Pechora (in the west) basins. The flow of the northern slopes falls on the Baydaratskaya Bay of the Arctic Ocean. The Polar Urals are dominated by ridges with a height of 800-1200 m, and individual peaks (Mount Payer) reach 1500 m. Actually, this area originates from the low peak of Konstantinov Kamen (only 492 m). In the southern direction, the mountains increase significantly - up to 1350 m. The maximum heights are concentrated in the southern part (about 65° N), here the Narodnaya peak rises (1894 m) - this is the highest high point all of the Urals.

From the same latitude it expands significantly - up to 125 km - and breaks up into 5-6 parallel ridges. In the south of this area, the Sablya mountain range (1425 m) extended far to the west in the direction of Pechora.

Subpolar Urals

This area begins from the Sablya massif and ends with the Konzhakovsky Kamen peak, whose height is 1569 m. This entire section stretches strictly along the meridian 59° N. sh., which determines its geographical location. The Subpolar Urals consists mainly of two longitudinal ridges. The eastern one is a watershed, it is known as the Belt Stone. The western ridge is famous for the double-headed mountain Telpos-Iz, or Stone of the Winds. Its height is 1617 m. Alpine peaks are not common in the Subpolar Urals; most of the peaks have a dome shape.

Geographical location of the Middle Urals

This area is characterized by the lowest peaks. It lies between 59 and 56 degrees northern latitude. The strictly meridional strike of the mountain belt here gives way to a southeastern one. Together with the South, the Middle Urals forms a giant arc, which faces the convex side east direction, and goes around the Ufa Plateau (the eastern ledge of the Russian Platform). Its northern border is considered to be the Konzhakovsky Kamen and Kosvinsky Kamen mountains, and its southern border is Mount Yuta (Chelyabinsk region). On average, their height does not exceed 800 meters. From the west, the hilly Cis-Ural region adjoins the mountains of the Middle Urals. Climatically, this region is more favorable for humans than the Subpolar. Summers are longer and warmer here. The average temperature in July in the foothills is 16-18°. The foothills of the mountains in the north are covered with southern taiga, and in the south with forest-steppe.

Southern Urals

The peculiarity of this region is that the mountains here have grown significantly again. For example, the peak of Iremel rises to 1582 m, and the height of Yamanatau is 1640 m. The geographical position of the Southern Urals is as follows: the ridge originates from the peak of Yurma in the north and extends to a latitudinal area in the south. The Uraltau watershed ridge is shifted eastward. The mid-mountain type of relief prevails here. In the east, the axial part passes into the Trans-Ural, lower and flattened plain. The climate here is warmer than in the middle part. Summer is dry with dry winds. The average temperature in July in the foothills is 20-22°.

Finally

The specificity of the geographic location of the Urals is that it is located at the border of the Asian and European parts of our country. In addition, the peculiarities of the geological development of this ridge affected the exceptional wealth of its mineral resources. And the great extent, altitudinal zone, difference between the eastern and western parts of the Urals, different directions of economic development of this region determined the enormous diversity of economic and natural landscapes district.

Ural economic region located at the junction of the European and Asian parts of Russia. He borders with the Northern, Volga-Vyatka, Volga and West Siberian economic regions. In the south it borders with Kazakhstan. The Urals is a land region, but along the Ural, Kama, Volga rivers and canals it has exit to the Caspian, Azov and Black Sea. Developed here transport network: transit railways and car roads, as well as oil and gas pipelines. Transport network connects The Urals with the European part of Russia and Siberia.

The territory of the Urals includes Ural mountain system , stretching from north to south for more than 2 thousand km. with a width from 40 to 150 km (Fig. 2).

Rice. 2. Ural Mountains ()

According to the nature of the relief and landscapes allocate Polar, Subpolar, Northern, Middle and Southern Urals. The main territory is medium-high ridges and ridges from 800 to 1200 m in height. Only a few peaks reach an altitude of 1500 m above sea level. Highest peak- Mount Narodnaya (1895 m), which is located in the Northern Urals (Fig. 3). In the literature there are two variants of accents: Narodnaya and Narodnaya. The first is justified by the presence of the Naroda River at the foot of the mountain, and the second dates back to 20-30 years. last century, when people sought to dedicate names to symbols of the state.

Rice. 3. Mount Narodnaya ()

Mountain ranges stretch parallel in the meridian direction. The ridges are separated by longitudinal mountain depressions in which rivers flow. The mountains are composed of sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks. Karst and many caves are developed on the western slopes. One of the most famous is the Kungur Ice Cave.

Karst- a set of processes and phenomena associated with the activity of water and expressed in the dissolution of rocks such as gypsum, limestone, dolomite, rock salt, and the formation of voids in them (Fig. 4).

Natural conditions unfavorable. The Ural mountain range influenced climate region. It changes in three directions: from north to south, from west to east and from the foot of the mountains to the peaks. The Ural Mountains are a climatic barrier to the transfer of moist air masses from west to east, i.e. from the Atlantic. Despite the insignificant height of the mountains, they prevent the spread of air masses to the east. Thus, the Urals region receives more precipitation than the Trans-Urals region, and permafrost is also observed in the north of the Ural Mountains.

By diversity mineral resources The Urals have no equal among the economic regions of Russia (Fig. 5).

Rice. 5. Economic map of the Urals. ()

The Urals have long been the country's largest mining and metallurgical base. There are 15 thousand deposits of various minerals here. The main wealth of the Urals is the ores of ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Ore raw materials predominate in the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions, in the eastern foothills and Trans-Urals. 2/3 of the iron ore reserves of the Urals are contained in the Kachkanar deposit. Oil fields are concentrated in the Perm region, Udmurtia, Bashkiria and Orenburg region. In the Orenburg region there is the largest in the European part of the country gas condensate field. Copper ores - in Krasnouralsk, Revda (Sverdlovsk region), Karabash (Chelyabinsk region), Mednogorsk (Orenburg region). Small coal reserves are located in the Chelyabinsk basin, and brown coal is located in Kopeisk. The Urals has large reserves of potassium and table salts in the Verkhnekamsk basin. The region is also rich in precious metals: gold, silver, platinum. More than 5 thousand minerals were discovered here. In the Ilmensky Nature Reserve, 5% of all minerals on Earth are concentrated on an area of ​​303 km2.

40% of the Urals territory is covered with forest. Forest performs recreational and sanitary functions. Northern forests are mainly for industrial use. The Perm region, Sverdlovsk region, Bashkiria and Udmurtia are rich in forests. The structure of land is dominated by cultivated lands and arable lands. Soils Almost everywhere they are depleted as a result of human impact.

Rice. 6. Nature of the Perm region ()

The Urals are also rich in rivers (Fig. 6). There are 69 thousand of them, but the region is unevenly provided with water resources. Most of the rivers are located on the western slope of the Urals. Rivers They originate in the mountains, but in the upper reaches they are shallow. The most important educational tourism centers, historical and architectural monuments - cities such as Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Solikamsk, Izhevsk. Here are some interesting natural objects: Kungur Ice Cave (5.6 km long, consisting of 58 ice grottoes and a huge number of lakes (Fig. 7)), Kapova Cave (Republic of Bashkiria, with ancient wall paintings), as well as the Chusovaya River - one of the most beautiful rivers in Russia ( Fig. 8).

Rice. 7. Kungur Ice Cave ()

Rice. 8. Chusovaya River ()

Many of the Urals' resources have been exploited for more than 300 years, so it is not surprising that they are depleted. However, talking about the impoverishment of the Ural economic region premature. The fact is that the region is poorly studied geologically, the subsoil has been explored to a depth of 600-800 m, but it is possible to carry out geological exploration wide in the north and south of the region.

Celebrities of Udmurtia - Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov

Kalashnikov Mikhail Timofeevich - design engineer small arms, creator of the world-famous AK-47 (Fig. 9).

Rice. 9. M. Kalashnikov with an AK-47 assault rifle ()

In 1947, the Kalashnikov assault rifle was adopted for service. Mikhail Timofeevich was born on November 10, 1919 in the village. Kurya Altai Territory. He was the 17th child in a large family. In 1948, Mikhail Timofeevich was sent to the Izhevsk Machine-Building Plant to organize the production of the first batch of his AK-47 assault rifle (Fig. 10).

Rice. 10. M.T. Kalashnikov ()

In 2004, it opened in the city of Izhevsk (the capital of Udmurtia) small arms museum named after M.T. Kalashnikov. The museum is based on a large collection of military and civilian weapons of Russian and foreign production, weapons accessories and personal belongings of Mikhail Timofeevich. Mikhail Timofeevich died on December 23, 2013 in the city of Izhevsk.

The Urals - the border between Europe and Asia

The border between Europe and Asia is most often drawn along the eastern base of the Ural Mountains and Mugodzhar, the Emba River, north shore Caspian Sea, along the Kuma-Manych depression and the Kerch Strait (Fig. 11).

Rice. 11. Obelisk in Yekaterinburg ()

General length The border across the territory of Russia is 5524 km, of which along the Ural ridge - 2 thousand km, and along the Caspian Sea - 990 km. Another option for defining the border of Europe is often used - along the watershed of the Ural Range, the Ural River and the watershed of the Caucasus Range.

Lake Turgoyak

Lake Turgoyak is one of the most beautiful and cleanest lakes in the Urals. It is located in a mountain basin near the city of Miass, Chelyabinsk region (Fig. 12).

Rice. 12. Lake Turgoyak ()

The lake is recognized as a natural monument. It is deep - its average depth is 19 m, and the maximum reaches 36.5 m. Lake Turgoyak is famous for its very high transparency, which reaches 10-17 m. Turgoyak water is close to Baikal water. The bottom of the lake is rocky - from pebbles to cobblestones. The shores of the lake are high and steep. Only a few small streams flow into the lake. The main source of nutrition is groundwater. Interestingly, the water level in the lake fluctuates. There are several archaeological sites on the shores of Lake Turgoyak.

Bibliography

1. Customs E.A. Geography of Russia: economy and regions: 9th grade, textbook for students of general education institutions. - M.: Ventana-Graf, 2011.

2. Fromberg A.E. Economic and social geography. - 2011, 416 p.

3. Atlas of economic geography, grade 9. - Bustard, 2012.

Homework

1. Tell us about the geographical location of the Urals.

2. Tell us about the relief and climate of the Urals.

3. Tell us about the mineral and water resources of the Urals.