Geographical position
Central Forest reserve is situated in the centre of the European part of Russia, in the southwestern part of the Valdai Hills in the region of the Main (Caspian-Baltic) watershed of the Russian plain (Tver region, Nelidovo and Andreapol districts). The reserve territory is the plane with some low hills. Altitude is between 230 m and 280 m above the sea level. The highest ridge of the moraine hills is in the southern part of the reserve. It is the watershed of headwater tributary of Volga and Zapanaya Dvina.
Relief and geological rocks
Reserve area is the watershed plain with low hills, covered with bogs, with slight declivity to the northwest. The western part of the carbon plato is composed of ledge rocks - serpukhov’s limestones. Ledge rocks are covered by heavy (up to 20 m – 25 m) quaternary sediments. In places where limestones are bedded close to the surface, there are karst topography (sluggies at the Katin Mokh peatbog).
Quaternary sediments at the reserve area are the complicated combination of glacial, interglacial and postglacial rocks of different origin and structure. Glacial sediments, bedded on the
depth of 0,3 m – 2 m, are consist of carbonate as well as non-carbonate boulder rocks, usually middle-loamy and heavy-loamy, and also sandy and loamy-sandy formations. All major falls are filled with silt-clayey interglacial and Holocene peatbog-lacustrine sediments up to 7 m thickness. Moraine is covered with pulverulent light brown loams, seldom – with sands, loamy sands and stratiform sandy-clayey formations, sometimes with stratums of buried peats. Wide distribution of surface low permeability loams on the watershed plain leads to overwetting of soil and development of surface swamping.
River network and hydrological regime
Rivers of the reserve have a low deep recessed beds, limited catchment and feebly drain the territory.
The major rivers of the reserve – Zhukopa, Tudovka and Tud’ma - flows into the Volga. River Mezha flows into the Zapanaya Dvina.
Hydrological network is weakly developed: river valleys are narrow, shallow, V-shaped.
Soil and subsoil water are bedded close to the surface and even in dry years are not deeper than 3, 0 m – 3, 5 m. But their level differs depending on weather and relief. There can be two or even more isolated horizons of subsoil water due to polynomial of the quaternary covers. The perched groundwater is hold by the covering loam or peat horizon, and subsoil water occurs at the different horizons of moraine.
Chemistry of soil and subsoil water differs depending on ways of reduction and mineralization of organic, and type of water supply (atmospheric, in-soil flow etc).
Hydrological regime of the reserve area is greatly influenced by peatbogs especially the major ones – “Katin Mokh” and “Staroselsky Mokh”. Swamping of the forests take place, but it is very slow. In places where there is no abrupt flood of soil water, forest can withstand swamping for along time, and even advance to the peatbog on the high and more drained places.
Climate
The territory of reserve is situated on the border of the Western European and Eastern European regions of continental area of temperate climate.
In this area prevail air currents of Atlantic origin, but from the North often come the cold masses of arctic air. Annual average temperature is 3, 6 ° C, absolute maximum is 38 ° C, absolute minimum is – 48 ° C. There are annually in average 700 mm of precipitations, and most of them are in the warm season. The total amount of precipitation is much more then the total vaporization, which leads to the positive balance of dampness. The southern winds prevail in the reserve. Annual average wind speed is 3, 2 m/s. In the reserve prevail the days with variable and continuous nebulosity.
The annual number of hours of sun shining is 1200 on average, which is 45 % from total amount of sunny hours for this latitude.
Gossen-Walter climadiagram
Frost-free period in the reserve is 114 days on average, in different years – from 92 to 126 days. Stable snow cover forms around 20-th of November and destroys around 10-th of April.
There are annually more then 130 days on average with snow cover. The most thick snow cover is at the end of February.
In the first half of April, mean daily temperature increases above 0 ° C. On 10-th – 20-th of April fields become free of snow, but the frost-free period begins at the end of May. In April-May, relative air humidity is minimal. In summer, the weather is relatively stable, although even at the end of May – beginning of June can be frost.
In summer, there are many precipitations, mostly cloudbursts with thunderstorms. Average monthly temperature of the warmest month (July) is 16 ° C. In autumn, the temperature decreases more fluently then increases in spring. Night frosts are usual in September, but sometimes happen in the end of August. Winter begins in the end of November. It is characterized by moderate frosts. Average monthly temperature of the coldest month (January) is around – 10 ° C.
The reserve natural complex is typical for the Southern taiga sub zone. It is the standard of primary ecosystem cover of wide area with moraine relief of the central part of Russian plane. Here remains the unique (the only in Europe) historically formed complex of the southern taiga spruce forests, not broken by felling. It dominates in the structure of plant cover (47 %). Nearly 40 % of forests are birch and aspen, formed because of seral process (windfalls, forest fires). 10 % of the reserve is covered with pine forests, which present swamp association with low-productive wood. Black-alder forests (1 – 2 %) are situated along the rivers and streams. Around 6 % of the reserve area is covered with sphagnous peatbogs. In the forests of the reserve there are large areas of windfall, caused by hurricanes. The greatest wood fall was caused by the hurricane in 1987.
Zones of the territory
The total area of the preserved territory is 705 sq. km.
To function as a biosphere reserve according to recommendations of the Seville strategy, accepted in Spain in 1995, the territory was divided to special zones.
Core area is the territory of the reserve itself with all its functions, regime and activities. The core area is 244, 5 sq. km. Buffer zone (130 sq. km) has a cluster structure: 1 km line along the external border of the core, state sanctuaries and nature monuments, capercailye lecks, badger diggings etc. The function if the buffer zone is to decrease the anthropogenic press on the core. Transition area (330, 5 sq. km) – the zone of rational land tenure, corresponds to transitional zone in UNESCO recommendations. Here any economical activity do not consumptive of the nature resources and conducive to sustainable socio-economical development of the region is allowed.
;void(0);)
;void(0);)
;void(0);)
;void(0);)