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Moldavian Plateau (Template:Lang-ro) is a geographic area spanning NE Romania, most of Moldova (except the south), and most of the Chernivtsi Oblast of Ukraine.
Limits
Moldavian Plateau is bounded (in the clockwise order):
- to the west by the Eastern Carpathian Mountains (Template:Lang-ro),
- to north and north-east by the Podolian Plateau (Template:Lang-ro),
- to the east by the Pontic Plain (Template:Lang-ro),
- to the south-east by the Budjak Plain (Template:Lang-ro), (3,210 km^2 in Moldova)
- to the south by the Romanian Plain, aslo known as Bărăgan Plain (Template:Lang-ro), and
- to the south-west by the Vrancea Hills (Template:Lang-ro), part of the Curvature Subcarpatians (Template:Lang-ro)
Moldavian Plateau composes over 2/3 of the territory of the medieval Principality of Moldavia, with Eastern Carpathian Mountains and the Bugeac Plain representing the remaining part. This fact is the origin of the name of the plateau. This geographic area (incl. Eastern Carpathians and the Budjak Plain) is also called (esp. by historians) the Carpathian-Dniester-Pontic region, or the Carpathian-Dniester region, since it is bounded by the Carpathians to the west, by the river Dniester to the north and east, and by the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus) and the Danube to the south-east and south.
Genesis
Moldavian Plateau was formed at the end of the Neozoic through sediments, over an old continental platform, the East European Platform. Afterwards, the settled sediments, which were brought in by rivers from the Carpathian Mountains, were modeled by the elements giving the plateau its current aspect. The materials that formed the sediments are gravel and sand. Hardened, they formed gritstones. All over the plateau, the latter are interspersed with clays, or bad-lands, which produce landslides.
The slope of the relief follows the direction of the rivers: from NW to SE. Along them, the altitude decreases from 700 m to under 200 m. The strata are disposed in North-South and NW-SE allined layers, producing assymetric valleys and ridges. Among the latter are the steep edge of the Bârlad Plateau (Template:Lang-ro), know as the Iaşi Ridge (Template:Lang-ro), the edge of the Central Moldavian Plateau (Template:Lang-ro), known as the Corneşti Hills, and the edge of the Dniester Hills, known as the Dniester Ridge.
The relief in the valleys of the rivers and creeks is well conspicuous, such that the valleys have large terraces and holms. The Siret Passage (Template:Lang-ro), ramified in the north with the Moldova Valley, and Suceava Valley cuts the main part of the plateau from the Moldavian Subcarpathians. The Prut Passage cuts the Plateau into half in the NS direction. The Dniester Passage bounds it from the Podolian Plateau and the Pontic Plain. Its ramification Răut Passage separates the main part of the Moldavian Plateau from the Dniester Hills
Composition
Moldavian Plateau comprises several distinct regions:
- Bukovinian Subcarpathians in the NW
- Moldavian Subcarpathians in the W and SW, has altutudes of up to 1000 m, but also includes depressions
- Suceava Plateau (Template:Lang-ro), situated in the NW, has altitudes that exceed 700 m and long ridges
- Dniester Hills (Template:Lang-ro), also known as Northern Moldavian Plateau (Podişul Moldovei de Nord), situated in the N and NE, ridges along the Dniester River and has elevations of cca. 300 m
- Moldavian Plain (Template:Lang-ro), in the center-north has elevations of cca. 200 m
- Jijia Plain, west of the river Prut,
- Middle Prut Valley, east of the river Prut, creeks tributary to the Prut, 2,930 km^2
- Bălţi steppe, east of the river Prut, creeks tributary to the Dniester, 1,920 km^2
- Bârlad Plateau (Template:Lang-ro), situated in the south-center occasionally has heights over 500 m, but is generally sloped from north at 400 m to the south at 200 m.
- Central Moldavian Plateau (Template:Lang-ro), situated in the center and SE, has elevations that in the N-S direction decrease in altitude from 400 m to under 200 m.
- Bugeac Plain, the last continuation of the Pontic steppe.
Climate
Clima acestui podiş este temperat-continentală de tranziţie. Totuşi, altitudinea a impus etajarea elementelor climatice; acestea se includ etajului colinar jos, cu valori de temperatură cuprinse între 10 şi 8 °C şi de precipitaţii de 500 – 700 mm/an şi etajului colinar înalt, cu temperaturi de 8-6°C şi precipitaţii de 700-1000 mm/an.
Sectorul predominat de influenţă climatică este continental (de ariditate) cu frecvenţa crivăţului, iarna. În Podişul Sucevei şi pe Dealurile Nistrului se fac resimţite influenţele climatice scandinavo-baltice, cu circulaţia maselor de aer polare, iarna.
Waters
Râurile sunt afluente Siretului, Prutului sau Nistrului.
Prutul are ca principal afluent Jijia. Prin Câmpia Jijiei se scurge spre Jijia, Bahluiul.
Siretul traversează şi cu excepţia subcarpaţilor limitează Podişul Moldovei si culege râuri ce îl străbat complet sau parţial: Suceava, Moldova, şi Bârladul (complet) şi Bistriţa şi Trotuşul (parţial).
Lipsa precipitaţiilor a dus la amenajarea unor iazuri şi heleştee în Câmpia Jijiei şi în Stepa Bălţului ce servesc ca rezervă de apă şi pentru piscicultură; L. Dracşani este cel mai întins între acestea.
Alte lacuri sunt cele de baraj antropic pe râurile Siret şi Prut (L. Stânca-Costeşti, L. Dubăsari). Limanurile fluviatile au mare răspândire, mai ales, în Culoarul Siretului.
Natural resourses
Acest podiş deţine resurse de hidrocarburi (petrol şi gaze asociate acestuia) ce sunt extrase din partea de SV. În partea de NV se găsesc cele mai importante rezerve de caolin ale României, extrase şi utilizate pentru producerea porţelanului. Alte argile, pietrişuri şi nisipuri sunt utilizate din Podişul Moldovei.
Solurile reprezintă a importantă resursă; se cultivă in şi cânepa în Podişul Sucevei, cereale şi viţă-de-vie în Câmpia Jijiei, Stepa Bălţului, Podişul Bârladului şi Podişul Moldovei Cnetrale. În Culoarul Siretului se cultivă cartoful şi sfecla de zahăr.
Forţa apelor este pusă în valoare de hidrocentralele de pe Siret, Nistru şi cea de pe Prut.
Masa lemnoasă este valorificată în Podişul Sucevei, mai bine împădurit.
Soil
Partea superficială terestră se succede de la clasa molisolurilor cu tipul cernoziom levigat (în Câmpia Jijiei şi Stepa Bălţului), la clasa argiluvilsolurilor cu tipurile cenuşiu şi brun–roşcat.
Vegetation
Asociaţiile vegetale aparţin silvostepei, puternic transformată de culturile agricole. Spre jumătatea nordică şi estică a regiunii silvostepa este înlocuită cu pâlcuri de pădure de stejar dar şi de păduri de fag.
Animals
Caracteristică pădurilor sunt mamifere precum căprioara, mistreţul, lupul, vulpea, pisica sălbatică, râsul/linxul, viezurele, iepurele. Între păsări se remarcă găinuşa de alun, ciocănitoarea, cucul, fazanul, prepeliţa, şoimul, bufniţa, iar între peşti mreana şi bibanul.
Hasards
Numeroase sunt hazardele unităţii: viiturile de primăvară, viscolele iernii, frecventele alunecări de teren, degradarea solurilor, seceta etc. Omul contribuie la declanşarea şi sporirea acestora prin defrişări, desţeleniri, păşunat excesiv, poluarea aerului, poluarea apelor etc.