Geography of Belarus
Belarus is a landlocked, generally flat country (the average elevation is 162 meters (531 ft) above sea level) without natural borders, that occupies an area of 207,600 square kilometers (80,200 sq mi).
[3][a] Its neighbors are Russia to the east and northeast, Latvia to the north, Lithuania to the northwest, Poland to the west, and Ukraine to the south.
[4] Belarus's level terrain is broken up by the Belarusian Ridge (Byelaruskaya Hrada), a swathe of elevated territory of individual highlands, that runs diagonally through the country from west-southwest to east-northeast.
[3] Its highest point is the 346-meter (1,135 ft) Mount Dzyarzhynskaya, named after Felix Dzerzhinsky, head of Cheka.
[3] Northern Belarus has a hilly landscape with many lakes and gently sloping ridges created by glacial debris.
[3] In the south, about one-third of the republic's territory around the Pripiac River is taken up by the low-lying swampy plain of Palyessye, shared with Ukraine, Poland, and Russia.
[3]On March 29, 2024, an information sign - a monument - was opened in the extreme eastern point of Belarus, Khotimsk.
[5] Belarus's 3,000 streams and 4,000 lakes are major features of the landscape and are used for floating timber, shipping, and power generation.
[3] Major rivers are the west-flowing Western Dvina and Nyoman, and the south-flowing Dnieper with its tributaries, the Berezina, Sozh, and Prypyat.
[3] The Prypyat river has served as a bridge between the Dnieper, flowing to Ukraine, and the Vistula in Poland since the period of Kievan Rus'.
Districts with the highest percentage of area covered by forests are Rasony and Lielčycy, in the extreme northern and southern parts of Belarus respectively.
[3] Because of the proximity of the Baltic Sea (257 kilometers or 160 miles at the closest point), the country has a temperate continental climate.
[10][11] In the north, conifers predominate in forests that also include birch and alder; farther south, other deciduous trees grow.
Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park is a preserved part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Białowieża Forest in Belarus since 1992.
Belarus has a large number of potash deposits – all formed during the Famennian stage of the Late Devonian epoch – with commercial reserves of 10 billion metric tonnes.
[15] Large halite (salt) deposits were formed during Frasnian and Famennian stages of the Late Devonian epoch.
[15] There are known phosphorite ore deposits near Mstsislaw, and in Labkovičy (Krychaw Raion) in eastern Belarus (Mogilev Region).
Although the country has no deposits of high-ranked coal, the amount of lower-ranked lignite is estimated at 553 million tonnes.
[15] Belarus has two big iron deposits – Akolaŭskaje (Okolovskoye; in Stowbtsy Raion), with 175 million tonnes of ore, and Navasiolkaŭskaje (Novosyolkovskoye; in Karelichy District), but neither is used.
[15] Many marl and chalk deposits are mined, with large amounts being used to produce cement in Krychaw, Kastsyukovichy and Vawkavysk.
