Vologda Oblast - Geography

Geography

Vologda Oblast borders with Arkhangelsk Oblast in the north, Kirov Oblast in the east, Kostroma Oblast in the southeast, Yaroslavl Oblast in the south, Tver and Novgorod Oblasts in the southwest, Leningrad Oblast in the west, and the Republic of Karelia in the northwest.

Vologda Oblast is located on the East European Plain, and most of it represents forested hilly landscape. The southwest of the oblast, along the Sheksna and the Mologa, is flat. The northwestern part is mostly of glacial origin, with the Andoma Hills, the Veps Hills, and a number of minor hill chains. In the east of the oblast, the valleys of the Vaga, the Sukhona, and the Yug are cut through the hills. The southeast of the oblast is occupied by the Northern Ridge, which is located south of the valley of the Sukhona.

Much of the area of the oblast is occupied by coniferous forest (taiga) and by swamps.

The area of Vologda Oblast is split between the basins of the White Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Caspian Sea. In the northeast of the oblast, in Vologodsky district, there is a point which is a triple divide of the river basins of the Neva (Baltic Sea), the Volga (Caspian Sea), and the Onega (White Sea), and thus the basins of the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, and the endorheic basins of the interior of Eurasia. This is one of the very few such triple divides in the world and the only one in Russia. The southwestern shore of Lake Onega, one of the biggest freshwater lakes in Europe, belongs to Vologda Oblast, and the tributaries of Lake Onega, the biggest of which are the Vytegra River and the Andoma River, belong to the river basin of the Neva and thus drain to the Baltic Sea. Also, minor areas in the west of the oblast drain into the Oyat River which is a right tributary of the Svir and belongs to the basin of the Neva. The western part of the oblast drains into the Rybinsk Reservoir of the Volga. The biggest tributaries of the reservoir are the Mologa, the Suda, the Sogozha, and the Sheksna. Lake Beloye, one of the biggest lakes in the oblast, is the source of the Sheksna. Some areas in the south of the oblast drain into tributaries of the Volga, including the Unzha. Lake Vozhe in the northwest of the Oblast, with its main tributary, the Vozhega, drains in the Onega River in the White Sea basin. The rest of the oblast, including Lake Kubenskoye, another major lake in the oblast, belongs to the river basin of the Northern Dvina. The Northern Dvina is formed in the northeast of the oblast from merging of the Sukhona and the Yug. The Sukhona forms the major waterway of Vologda Oblast. Another major tributary of the Norther Dvina, which has its source in Vologda Oblast, is the Vaga.

Two areas in Vologda Oblast have been designated as protected natural areas of federal significance. These are Russky Sever National Park in the center of the oblast and Darwin Nature Reserve in the southwest of the oblast (shared with Yaroslavl Oblast).