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Poland Topography
The average elevation of Poland is 173 meters, and only
3
percent of Polish territory, along the southern border, is
higher
than 500 meters. The highest elevation is Mount Rysy,
which rises
2,499 meters in the Tatra Range of the Carpathians, 95
kilometers
south of Kraków. About 60 square kilometers along the Gulf
of
Gdansk are below sea level. Poland is traditionally
divided into
five topographic zones from north to south
(see
fig. 12).
The
largest, the central lowlands, is narrow in the west, then
expands to the north and south as it extends eastward.
Along the
eastern border, this zone reaches from the far northeast
to
within 200 kilometers of the southern border. The terrain
in the
central lowlands is quite flat, and earlier glacial lakes
have
been filled by sediment. The region is cut by several
major
rivers, including the Oder (Odra), which defines the
Silesian
Lowlands in the southwest, and the Vistula (Wisla), which
defines
the lowland areas of east-central Poland.
To the south of the lowlands are the lesser Poland
uplands, a
belt varying in width from ninety to 200 kilometers,
formed by
the gently sloping foothills of the Sudeten and Carpathian
mountain ranges and the uplands that connect the ranges in
southcentral Poland. The topography of this region is divided
transversely into higher and lower elevations, reflecting
its
underlying geological structure. In the western section,
the
Silesia-Kraków Upthrust contains rich coal deposits.
The third topographic area is located on either side of
Poland's southern border and is formed by the Sudeten and
Carpathian ranges. Within Poland, neither of these ranges
is
forbidding enough to prevent substantial habitation; the
Carpathians are especially densely populated. The rugged
form of
the Sudeten range derives from the geological shifts that
formed
the later Carpathian uplift. The highest elevation in the
Sudeten
is 1,602 meters, in the Karkonosze Mountains. The
Carpathians in
Poland, formed as a discrete topographical unit in the
relatively
recent Tertiary Era, are the highest and most picturesque
mountains in the country. They are the northernmost edge
of a
much larger range that extends into Czechsolvakia,
Ukraine,
Hungary, and Romania. Within Poland the range includes two
major
basins, the Oswiecim (Auschwitz) and Sandomierz, which are
rich
in several minerals and natural gas
(see Fuels and Energy
, ch.
3).
To the north of the central lowlands, the lake region
includes the only primeval forests remaining in Europe and
much
of Poland's shrinking unspoiled natural habitat. Glacial
action
in this region formed lakes and low hills in the otherwise
flat
terrain adjacent to Lithuania and the Baltic Sea. Small
lakes dot
the entire northern half of Poland, and the glacial
formations
that characterize the lake region extend as much as 200
kilometers inland in western Poland. Wide river valleys
divide
the lake region into three parts. In the northwest,
Pomerania is
located south of the Baltic coastal region and north of
the Warta
and Notec rivers. Masuria occupies the remainder of
northern
Poland and features a string of larger lakes. Most of
Poland's
9,300 lakes that are more than one hectare in area are
located in
the northern part of the lake region, where they occupy
about 10
percent of the surface area.
The Baltic coastal plains are a low-lying region formed
of
sediments deposited by the sea. The coastline was shaped
by the
action of the rising sea after the Scandinavian ice sheet
retreated. The two major inlets in the smooth coast are
the
Pomeranian Bay on the German border in the far northwest
and the
Gulf of Gdansk in the east. The Oder River empties into
the
former, and the Vistula forms a large delta at the head of
the
latter. Sandbars with large dunes form lagoons and coastal
lakes
along much of the coast.
Data as of October 1992
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