The Orenburg region is a land of amazing diversity of natural conditions.

Almost the entire western part of the region belongs to the General Syrt (Syrt in Kazakh means a high place). The highest point is Mount Bear forehead (Arapova mountain) - 405 m. There are many sharp or flat-topped "cones" - shikhans on the Common Syrt. The slopes of the valleys are cut by gullies and ravines.

In the extreme north-west of the region, the Bugulma-Belebeevskaya Upland adjoins the General Syrt. In the south-west, it borders on the plain of the Caspian lowland.

In the Cis-Ural part, the Common Syrt takes on the appearance of low mountains, among which the Goat Mountains up to 487 m high and the Small Nakas Range with heights from 500 to 667 m stand out.

Along the Ural River, high jagged rocks of the Guberlinsky Mountains stretch from the village. Ilyinka to the village. Akkermanovka. They rise above sea level by 400 - 430 m.

All the way through the Guberlinsky mountains, picturesque mountain rivers flow into the channel of the Urals: on the right - Guberlya with Chebakla, Kinderlya (Kinoplyanka), and on the left - Aytuarka and Alimbet.

After the confluence of the Alimbet, the banks of the Urals gradually become gentle. Behind the rocky mountains. Hills stretched along the left and right banks. The farther to the west, the gentler the hills. Below the mouth of the Burli, the left bank becomes low and flat - a wide strip of near-ural left-bank terraces begins, which stretches to the Ilek, interrupted only at the mouth of the Berdyanka. And low mountain ranges and hills approach the right bank: Mayachnaya, Verblyuzhka, Alabaital, Giryal, Krasnaya Gora, Alabaster (Orenburg region).

Below Orenburg, having accepted Sakmara, the Urals, keeping the western direction, gradually deviate to the south. From the north, it is crowded by the steep cliffs of the General Syrt, composed of dense red sandstones. The highest of them - Mount Goryun (278 m) - is located near the village of Rychkovki (Orenburg region).

In front of Ilek, the riverbed splits into two branches, called Strife, forming a wooded island.

In the confluence of the Irtek, chalk mountains approach the Ural channel, forming high ravines overgrown with oak, birch, and elm. Below the chalk mountains, the Utva flows into the Urals on the left. Further, past the village of Early, the Urals go to the territory of Kazakhstan.

The eastern part of the region lies to the east of the Ural River valley and is represented by the Ural-Tobolsk plateau, the Orsk plain and, in the extreme east, the Turgai dining country. This area is a wide soft-undulating elevated plain. The average heights here range from 300 to 350m. There are separate "mountains" - Mt. Kosshoka (417m), shallow lakes ("steppe saucers") - Svetlinsky lakes are often found.

The Ilek plateau is located in the south of the region. The slopes of this plateau are gentle and often turn into small hills. The highest point of this plateau is Bazarbay (331m).

Most of the rocks, minerals and minerals of igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic origin known to science are distributed on the territory of the Orenburg region. The oldest rocks of the Orenburg region - gneisses from the right bank of the Kumak, according to the radiological analysis of zircons, have an age of about 1.5 - 1.7 billion years. Starting from this time boundary, the geological history of the earth's crust of the Orenburg region can be traced by the rocks that come to the surface.

In the Precambrian and especially in the Paleozoic, the geological development of the western and eastern parts of the Orenburg region followed different paths. In the Paleozoic, the west was part of the ancient Russian platform, where magmatism was almost not manifested, and tectonic movements were mainly of a slow epeirogenic nature.

The east of the region, starting from the meridian of Kondurovka, in the Paleozoic was part of the Ural paleogeosynclines, where at first (at the end of the Ordovician-Silurian) linear trenches of the type of modern rifts were formed as a result of splits in the earth's crust. The largest among these structures was the Magnitogorsk trough.

At the end of the Paleozoic, the geocyclinal stage of the development of the Urals ended, the Ural geosyncline turned into a young (Epihercynian) platform, which closed with the Russian platform. Therefore, in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic for almost two hundred million years, tectonic movements in the west and east of the Orenburg region were of a slow platform character, and magmatism did not manifest itself at all.

Stratigraphy. Most of the major divisions of the stratigraphic scale are represented in natural monuments. These are the most important geological sights. Representation of all, including small, stratigraphic units in natural landmarks is a matter of the future.

Late Proterozoic formations in the area are represented mainly by metamorphic rocks - gneisses, quartzites, crystalline schists, eclogites, which were formed as a result of the metamorphism of sedimentary and effusive rocks: sandstones, gravelstones, mudstones, siliceous rocks, volcanic rocks of acidic and basic compositions, intrusive bodies of ultrabasic composition. The basement of the Russian platform is dominated by gneisses and granite-gneisses. The base of the sedimentary cover of this platform is overlain by partially metamorphosed sandstones, gravelstones, conglomerates, and mudstones. The thickness of Proterozoic deposits on the platform is up to 855 m, in the folded Urals up to 3000 m. Proterozoic rocks outcrop on the Sarinsky plateau, in the meridional strip passing through Adamovka and the latitudinal section of the Kumak valley above the mouth of the Dzharly, in the upper reaches of the Buruktala river. Metamorphic rocks, especially quartzites and quartz-micaceous schists, form remarkable weathering remnants in the Guberli and Kumak valleys.

Paleozoic group. Represented by all systems, outcrops of its rocks occupy about 70% of the territory of the region, only in the southeastern framing of the Volga-Ural anteclise and in the Caspian syntheclise, Paleozoic rocks are buried by Mesozoic and Cenozoic deposits.

Cambrian system It is represented by micaceous-quartz sandstones, basaltoids and their tuffs, lenses of archaeocyate limestones. Outcrops of the Cambrian were found only in the Kuvandyk region on the watershed of Katraly and Sakmara, on the interfluve of the Blyava and Kuraganka, in the upper reaches of the Muldakai. The thickness of the Cambrian deposits is up to 1000 m. Individual archeocytic reefs are natural monuments of federal significance.

Ordovician system represented by sandstones, siltstones, argillaceous and siliceous shales and basaltoids. They leave at the village of Kidryasovo, in the upper reaches of Kuraganka and Kinderli, near the village of Blyavtamak, in the Kvarkensky district in the Suunduk basin, in the Svetlinsky district to the east of the Shalkar-Ega-Kara lake and in the upper reaches of the Tobol. The thickness of the Ordovician deposits is up to 2400 m. In the Cis-Ural trough and on the Sol-Iletsk dome, Ordovician deposits (sandstones, mudstones with thin limestone interlayers) are uncovered by deep boreholes. From the Ordovician deposits, natural monuments contain stratotypes of the Kidryasovskaya and Bauluskaya suites.

Silurian system they form basaltoids of the Dergaish Formation with a thickness of up to 2600 m and siliceous shales of the Sakmara Formation with a thickness of up to 200 m. These rocks come out on the Shaitantau Ridge, near the village of Churaevo, in the territory of the city of Kuvandyk, east of the city of Mednogorsk, in the Guberli and Dergaish basins; in the Gaisky district along the Sukh.Guberle, at the Orskie gates; in Adamovsky and Svetlinsky districts. Silurian limestones with intercalations of mudstones and sandstones were uncovered by deep boreholes in Cis-Ural foredeep. The siliceous rocks of the Sakmara Formation are most widely represented in natural monuments, and the Dergaish basaltoids are also represented.

Places of maximum accumulation Devonian deposits were the Magnitogorsk and East Ural troughs. Effusives of rapidly changing composition from basalts to rhyolites dominated. Pyrite ore deposits formed together with acid effusives. The maximum of volcanism is associated with the Eifelian. Volcanics are accompanied by siliceous, including jasper, as well as argillaceous-siliceous rocks, sandstones, and rare lenses of reef limestones. The total thickness of Devonian deposits in the Magnitogorsk trough reaches 8000 m. The Magnitogorsk trough across its strike is crossed by the Suunduk and Kumak rivers, along these rivers and their tributaries the best outcrops of Devonian volcanic rocks are exposed, most of these outcrops are geological monuments of nature. In the Mednogorsk region, Devonian volcanics form a strip from Mednogorsk to the village of Utyagulovo. Volcanics of the Utyagulovskaya Formation of the Eifelian Stage, as well as several limestone reefs of the Devonian, are represented in geological monuments of nature.

Significant areas are composed of Devonian volcanic rocks in the Svetlinsky region. In the platform west of the Orenburg region, limestones with interlayers of sandstones were deposited in the Devonian; sandstones predominate in the lower section. The thickness of platform deposits is up to 600 m.

Carboniferous system represented in the Magnitogorsk trough by rocks of the Tournaisian and Visean stages. Effusive rocks ranging from basaltoids to rhyolites are widespread over large areas. Sedimentary rocks are widely developed in the Magnitogorsk trough and in other tectonic zones of the Urals in local graben-synclines: limestones, sandstones, clays, interlayers of coal. In the zone of the forward folds of the Urals, strata of terrigenous-carbonate flysch and thick layers of conglomerates are formed.

The thickness of Carboniferous deposits in the east of the region is up to 3500 m. In the west of the region, limestone strata with sandstone interlayers were formed. The thickness of platform deposits is up to 800 m. The best outcrops of coal rocks, some of which are protected as well as natural monuments, can be observed in the basin of the Iriklinskoye reservoir and in the basins of the Dzhusa and Alimbet.

Outputs Permian deposits established only to the west of Kuvandyk, where they formed significant areas in the Ural valley and on the Common Syrt. Limestones predominate among the deposits of the Lower Permian (Asselian, Sakmarian, and Artinsk stages). As they approach the folded Urals, they are replaced by sandstones and clays. The Kungurian stage contains a thickness of rock and potassium salts, anhydrites, and gypsum reaching a kilometer thick. The Upper Permian deposits consist mainly of terrigenous rocks (sandstones, conglomerates, mudstones), among which red-colored sandstones of the Tatarian stage most often come to the surface. Only in the Kazanian stage are layers of marine sediments - limestones and dolomites, salts, anhydrites and gypsum. The thickness of Permian deposits is up to 5800 m. Most types of Permian deposits are demonstrated in natural monuments, among which is the well-known stratotype of the Sakmarian stage.

deposits mesozoic are platform based. The place of their maximum accumulation was the Caspian syneclise and Mesozoic erosion-tectonic depressions within the young epi-Hercynian platform (Orsk, Tanalyk-Baimak and Akkerman depressions).

Triassic continental deposits- sandstones and conglomerates, siltstones and clays, widespread in the west of the Orenburg region. They have the coarsest clastic composition up to boulder conglomerates and the maximum thickness (up to 1500 m) in the Cis-Ural trough (Mountains Nakas, Carmen, Mayachnaya, etc.). Almost the entire section of the Triassic system is demonstrated in natural monuments, including the stratotypes of the Blumenthal, Donguz and Bukobai formations.

Continental coal-bearing sands and clays jurassic system(lower and middle sections) occur in the Caspian syneclise and its framing, in the Cis-Ural foredeep, in subsidence troughs above salt diapirs, as well as in the Orskaya, Akkermanovskaya and Tanelyk-Baimakskaya depressions. Marine deposits of the Upper Jurassic - opoka-like rocks, limestones, belemnite-ammonite shells, clays, oil shale, phosphorite interlayers occur only in the western and southwestern regions of the region. The place of their maximum distribution is the Caspian syneclise and supra-salt dome troughs. The thickness of Jurassic deposits is up to 500 m. Jurassic marine and continental deposits are widely represented in geological monuments of nature, among them the long-known Vetlyansky Yars, Mount Khanskaya, sections along Bolshaya Peschanka, etc.

Sediment distribution fields Cretaceous system approximately the same as for the deposits of the Lower-Middle Jurassic. These are glauconite-quartz and quartz sands with phosphorites, clays, sandstones, marls, writing chalk, layers and lenses of brown iron ore. In the east of the Orenburg region, the maximum formation of weathering crusts falls on the Cretaceous period. The thickness of the deposits is up to 400 m. Formations of the Cretaceous period, especially the weathering crust, are represented in geological monuments of nature.

Cenozoic group

Paleogene system. On the Sarinsky plateau there are flasks, tripoli, calcareous rocks and glauconite-quartz sands, pebbles. Lenses of "perforated quartzites" form hills (Medvezhiy Lob, etc.). In the Oligocene, in the supra-salt-domed subsidence troughs in the Cis-Ural trough, the formation of a coal-bearing stratum of sands and clays began. In the east of the region, alluvial pebbles and sands, as well as lacustrine kaolin clays, were formed. The thickness of Paleogene deposits in some places exceeds 100 m. Coal-bearing deposits are represented in the Tulgan quarry and along the Bukobai river, perforated quartzites in the west of the region form remarkable shikhan hills (Medvezhiy Lob, etc.).

Maximum power (up to 60-110 m) neogene deposits are represented in the west of the region in the buried valleys of the Urals, Sakmara, Samara and other rivers. These deposits are composed of sands, pebbles and clays. Some of them are of marine (lagoon-estuary) origin. In the east, and partially in the west of the region, a sequence of heavy red-gray clays of the Aral Formation was formed in the Miocene. Most of the Neogene rocks are demonstrated in natural monuments.

Quaternary deposits make up pebbles, sands and clays of floodplain and floodplain river terraces. At the end of the period, the slopes and interfluves were almost everywhere covered with a thin layer (from 0.5 to 2-3 m) of brown-brown deluvial loams and sandy loams, which became the main soil-forming rock of the Orenburg region. Some sections of the Quaternary deposits, among them sections of alluvial fans of dens, are geological landmarks.

Magmatism. Intrusive rocks come to the surface only in the east of the region, forming massifs of various sizes - batholiths, stocks, dikes and veins. Among them, ultrabasic rocks stand out - dunites, peridotites, pyroxentia, serpentinites of the Riphean, Ordovician, Silurian and Carboniferous ages; granites, gabbro, diorites, granosyenites and spanites, divided into several complexes according to composition and age. The main of these complexes are Devonian (Ashchebutaksky), Carboniferous (Magnitogorsky) and Late Paleozoic (Adamovsky). All these complexes are represented in natural monuments. All these complexes are represented in natural monuments.

Tectonics. The Orenburg region covers the southeastern part of the East European Russian) platform: the northeastern part of the Caspian syneclise, significant parts of the Volga-Ural anteclise and Cis-Ural foredeep, and all structural elements of the folded part of the Southern Urals. (fig.1)

Within the Volga-Ural anteclise in the north-west of the region, the southern end of the Tatar arch, the East Orenburg arch uplift, the Buzuluk depression and the Sol-Iletsk arch are distinguished. The surface of the platform foundation is divided into ledges, where the foundation lies at a depth of 2400-3600 m, and depressions, with the foundation at depths from 4000 m to 6000 m.

The northern boundary of the Caspian syneclise is drawn along the right slope of the Ural and Ilek valleys. Only the lateral part of the depression enters the territory of the region, which is complicated by a series of latitudinal faults. These faults form blocks along which stepwise subsidence of the Precambrian basement occurs in a southerly direction.

The western boundary of the Cis-Ural trough, if drawn along the top of the Artinskian, runs along the Oktyabrskoe-Akbulak meridian, and the eastern boundary of the trough runs submeridionally through Kondurovka station. The surface of the Precambrian basement plunges within the trough up to 16400 m. The most abrupt changes in the depths of the basement coincide with the valleys of the Sakmara, Ural and Ilek rivers. This is due to the basement faults, which have a sublatitudinal direction.

Three structural meridional zones are distinguished within the trough: western, central, and eastern. The western zone is a meridional flexure 6-10 km wide, a strip of buried Assel-Sakmarian-Artinsk reefs is confined to the flexure. The central zone is characterized by the development of deep-water (depression) facies of the Assel, Sakmarian and Artinsk stages and the maximum thickness of salts and gypsum of the Kungurian stage. In the eastern zone, the Early Permian sediments are dominated by molasse and flysch accumulations.

The tectonic structure of the Ural folded system (Ural paleogeosyncline) reflects a pronounced meridional zonality, according to which seven structural megazones are distinguished from west to east.

In the West Ural zone of external folding, the rocks are folded into a system of narrow folds. All of them are oriented from north and northwest to south and southeast and have steeper western and gentler eastern wings. A feature of the West Ural zone is the complete absence of manifestations of magmatism in the Paleozoic sections. This zone, according to its formation features, is closer to the Cis-Ural trough than to the Ural paleogeosyncline.

In all other tectonic megazones of the folded Urals, Paleozoic magmatism is extremely widespread. In troughs, this is mainly effusive magmatism; in uplifts, it is granitic-intrusive. The main industrial megazone and the place of maximum accumulation of volcanic products in the Urals is the Magnitogorsk trough. The axial, most submerged part of this trough, which coincides with the meridional segment of the Urals (Iriklinskoe reservoir), from the surface is composed mainly of limestones and terrigenous rocks of the Lower Carboniferous. In the rest of the territory of the Magnitogorsk trough, of the structures subordinate to it, anticlinoria of volcanic origin (Irendyksky, Ashchebutaksky, etc.) occupy a leading place.

To the west of the Magnitogorsk trough, until recently, the Central Ural uplift was distinguished, the axis of which was the Ural-Tau anticlinorium, composed of Precambrian metamorphic rocks. Recently, a number of researchers (Smirnova, Cherkasov, Meshcheryakova, Tishchenko, Chentsov, 1989; Vidyukov et al., 1997) began to attribute the Orenburg part of the Central Ural uplift to the Magnitogorsk trough, considering the Uraltau anticlinorium as a median massif in the trough. This is a well-founded point of view, because. the volcanic formations and structures of the Mednogorsk region, which were part of the Central Ural uplift, differ little from the same formations and structures of the Gai region of the Magnitogorsk trough.

To the east of the Magnitogorsk trough is the East Ural uplift. This is a structure with the maximum distribution of large granite intrusions (Sundukskaya, Kanadinskaya, Adamovskaya, Karabutakskaya, Kotansinskaya, Dzhabygasaiskaya and other intrusions). Distinguished to the east - the East Ural trough, the Trans-Ural uplift and the Kustanai trough in geological formations are not as pronounced as the Magnitogorsk trough and the East Ural uplift. There is an opinion about the complete or partial subordination of these structures to the East Ural uplift.

The following large geomorphological structures stand out in the relief: the plains of the Cis-Urals, the Ural Mountains, the Trans-Ural peneplain and the plains of the Turgai plateau. The main river is the Ural with tributaries. The region is located mainly in the steppe zone, forests occupy about 4% of the territory. The territory of the region is 124 thousand km2 (0.7% of the territory of the Russian Federation). The population is 2224 thousand people, urban - 61%. Population density - 18 people. per 1 km2.

The Orenburg region was formed on December 7, 1934. From December 26, 1938 to December 4, 1957, it was called the Chkalov region. The distance from the regional center of Orenburg to Moscow is 1478 km. Included in the Volga Federal District.

It occupies a vast territory in the southeastern outskirts of the European part of Russia. The total length of the borders of the region is about 3700 km. The territory of the region is stretched from west to east for 750 km. The extreme northern and southern points of the region are 435 km apart in latitude, while at the narrowest point the distance between the northern and southern borders of the region is only 50 km. The southern border of the region for about 1670 km is the border between Kazakhstan and Russia. Almost the entire northern border of the region falls on Bashkiria, only in the extreme northwest Tatarstan adjoins the region, and in the northeast - the Chelyabinsk region. In the west it borders on the Samara region, and the extreme western point joins the Saratov region. The region is located in two parts of the world, Europe and Asia. Historically, the border between them within the region is drawn along the Ural River. However, the physical-geographical boundary runs along the eastern foot of the Ural Range, Mukhodzhar and the Emba River.

In the west and east of the region, the relief is characterized by leveled interfluves and gentle slopes with low remnant ridges, and in the central part, in the interfluve of the B. Ik and Sakmara, it is a lowland. The highest point of the region on the Small Nakas Ridge in the Tulgansky district has a mark of 667.8 m, the lowest point is the edge of the river. Ural at the village of Early in the Tashlinsky district - 39.7 m above sea level.

The following large geomorphological structures stand out in the relief: the plains of the Cis-Urals, the Ural Mountains, the Trans-Ural peneplain and the plains of the Turgai plateau.

The main river is the Ural with tributaries. The region is located mainly in the steppe zone, forests occupy about 4% of the territory. The territory of the region is 124 thousand km2 (0.7% of the territory of the Russian Federation). The population is 2224 thousand people, urban - 61%. Population density - 18 people. per 1 km2. Live: Russians, Tatars, Ukrainians, Kazakhs, Mordovians, Bashkirs, Germans, Chuvashs, Belarusians.

In total there are 12 cities in the republic. The largest of them are: Orenburg, Orsk, Novotroitsk, Buzuluk, Buguruslan.

In ancient times nomadic tribes of Bashkirs and Kazakhs lived on the territory of the region. In the XIII century. these lands were conquered by the Mongol-Tatars and included in the Golden Horde. The penetration of Russians into the Orenburg steppes is associated with the beginning of the process of joining the territory of Kazakhstan to Russia in the 18th century. Here the Orenburg Cossack army was formed, which served as a border guard on the southeastern borders of the Russian Empire. In 1773-1775. the region was one of the main bases of the rebel army of E. Pugachev. By the end of the XVIII century. the process of settling the Orenburg lands by Russians intensified, and this territory became firmly part of Russia.

Orenburg was originally founded in 1735 as a fortress at the confluence of the river. Or in the river. Yaik (modern Ural River). In 1740 the city was founded in a new place - on Krasnaya Gora (downstream along the Yaik River) with the preservation of the former name; the old city was called the Orsk fortress (modern city of Orsk). In 1743 the city was moved for the third time, to the West, to the site of the Berd fortress (founded in 1737). The city on Krasnaya Gora continued to exist under the name Krasnogorsk fortress (now the village of Krasnogor, Saraktash region). In the 18th - 1st half of the 19th centuries. Orenburg is the main fortress of the Orenburg military border line (abolished in 1862). From 1744 the center of the Orenburg province, from 1782 - the Ufa governorship, at the same time the residence of the head of the Orenburg region; in 1796-1802 and since 1865 again the provincial center. Since 1748 the military and administrative center of the Orenburg Cossack army. From October 5, 1773 to March 23, 1774, it was besieged by the army of Yemelyan Pugachev. In 1850-81 Orenburg was the center of the general government; until 1868 there were institutions in charge of border affairs, the administration of the Kazakhs of the Small Zhuz; since 1868 the seat of the governor of the Turgai region. It was a major center of Russian trade with Kazakhstan and Central Asia; in Orenburg there was the Exchange Yard (built in 1749-54) and Gostiny Dvor, border customs (abolished in 1868). Industry (mainly flour-grinding, lard-making, leather-processing, and oil-pressing) began to develop with the construction of the Samara-Orenburg railway in 1877. In 1905, the Orenburg-Tashkent railway was built and the main railways and repair shops were opened. The city became a major trade and distribution center for livestock and meat (in 1894 city central slaughterhouses were opened, and from 1880 the export of fresh and frozen meat began), the so-called. Siberian ghee, lard, leather, wool, goat down; sawmilling and woodworking industries are developing. In 1920-25 Orenburg - the capital of the Kirghiz ASSR, since 1934 - the center of the Orenburg region. In 1938-57 it was named Chkalov. Orenburg was a place of political exile; poets T.G. Shevchenko, A. I. Pleshcheev, composer A. A. Alyabiev.

The region's economy combines developed industrial and agricultural production. The main industries are ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, mechanical engineering and metalworking. An important place is occupied by the oil and gas, light and food industries. Copper, nickel, cobalt and gold are mined. One of the largest metallurgical plants in Russia operates in Novotroitsk. Copper is smelted in Mednogorsk, nickel and cobalt are smelted in Orsk. Large factories operate - heavy engineering (Orsk, Buzuluk), electrical products (Mednogorsk), agricultural engineering (Buzuluk). The oil refining and chemical industries are developed (fuel, oils, sulfur, nitrogen fertilizers, rubber products). Large production of building materials. A number of food and light industry enterprises are of national importance. Orenburg downy shawls have long been famous.

Agricultural land covers 87% of the region. The leading crop is spring wheat, in addition to it, rye, millet, sunflower, potatoes, vegetables, watermelons, and melons are grown. A significant place belongs to horticulture. Cattle, pigs, goats (including downy Orenburg breeds), sheep, and poultry are bred.

Main railway lines: Samara - Orenburg, Buguruslan - Ufa, Orsk - Kartaly - Chelyabinsk, Orsk - Magnitogorsk. The network of highways is developed. Air lines connect the center of the region with other major cities of Russia.

An important transport center (3 railway lines, 3 highways, airport) is Orenburg.

The leading industries of the city are mechanical engineering and metalworking. Machine tools, tools, drilling equipment, machines for the food industry, electromechanical and refrigeration equipment, spare parts for tractors and combines are produced. There are large factories of rubber products, petroleum oils and building materials. There are many food industry enterprises (a large meat-packing plant stands out), leather and footwear, clothing and knitwear production is developed. A large factory for silk fabrics and a factory for hand-made and factory dressing of the well-known Orenburg downy shawls.

Russian Civilization

Geographical position. The territory of the region covers the southeastern outskirts of the East European Plain, the southern tip of the Urals and the southern Trans-Urals. The Orenburg region borders in the west and northwest - with the Samara region, in the north - with the Republic of Tatarstan, the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Chelyabinsk region, in the south with the Republic of Kazakhstan (1875 km).

The territory of the region stretches from west to east for 755 km, from north to south in the western part for 320 km, in the central part for 51 km and in the eastern part for 215 km. The total length of the borders is 3,700 km. The area of ​​the Orenburg region is 124 thousand km. This is one of the largest regions of the Russian Federation.

AT In the city of Orenburg, on the left bank of the Ural River, there is the first sign in Russia denoting the border between Europe and Asia (the obelisk "Europe-Asia").

Climate The Orenburg region is sharply continental, which is explained by the significant remoteness of the region from the oceans and seas. An indicator of the continentality of the climate is a large amplitude of fluctuations in average air temperatures, which in the Orenburg region reaches 34-38 degrees Celsius. In this regard, there is a lack of precipitation, the annual amount of which ranges from 450 mm in the northwest to 350 mm in the south and southeast of the region. About 60-70% of the annual precipitation falls on the warm period. Durationthe occurrence of snow cover ranges from 135 days in the south to 154 days in the north of the region. The depth of soil freezing varies from 170 cm in the northwest to 200 cm in the east.

Population.The population of the region, according to Rosstat, is 1,994,762 people. (2016). Population density - 16.13 people / km 2 (2016). Urban population - 60.08% (2015).The region is multinational and non-conflict, historical experience of tolerance of coexistence of different cultural and religious groups of the population has been accumulated.

The Orenburg region is part of the Volga Federal District and is an important industrial and agricultural region of Russia. The Orenburg region has a large diversified industry, in which mining and heavy industries stand out; intensive agriculture. The leading intersectoral complexes are fuel and energy, production of structural materials, machine-building and agro-industrial. The Orenburg region includes 12 cities and 35 rural centers.

Agriculture. Livestock breeding of meat and dairy direction, poultry farming, sheep breeding and goat breeding have been developed in the region. Fur-bearing and beekeeping are represented among other branches of animal husbandry in the region.

The Orenburg region ranks second in the Russian Federation in terms of arable land (more than 6 million hectares). The region mainly grows spring and winter wheat (the Orenburg region ranks first in the Russian Federation in the cultivation of durum wheat), winter triticale, oats, spring barley, cereals, corn, sunflower, peas, soybeans, chickpeas, sugar beet, spring rapeseed, annual and perennial herbs, potatoes, vegetables and gourds.