Peninsula in Murmanskaya oblast, NW European Russia, forming the NE extension of Scandinavia; length, 400 km/250 mi; width, 240 km/150 mi; separates the Barents Sea (N) from the White Sea (S); numerous rivers and small lakes; NE is tundra-covered while the SW is forested; road and rail transport confined to the W; rich mineral deposits.
The Kola Peninsula (Кольский полуостров, Kol'skij poluostrov in Russian) is a peninsula in the far north of Russia, part of the Murmansk Oblast. The west border of the Kola Peninsula stretches along a meridian from the Kola Gulf through the Imandra Lake, Kola Lake, and the Niva River to the Kandalaksha Gulf.
The peninsula covers an area of about 100 000 square km. In the west part of the peninsula there are two mountain ranges: the Khibiny Mountains, and the Lovozero Tundra (up to 1120 m in height).
Because the last ice age removed the top sediment layer of the soil, the Kola Peninsula is on the surface extremely rich in various ores and minerals, including apatites, alumina sources, iron ore, mica, ceramic raw, titanium ore, phlogopite, and vermiculite, as well as ores of less-common and colored metals.
Despite its northern location, the Kola Peninsula has a relatively mild climate, because of the influence of warm Atlantic currents.
The Kola Peninsula has many fast-moving rivers with rapids.
Apart from the Russian Pomors, the peninsula is also home to the Sami (Lappish) peoples, who were forced to settle in the town of Lovozero during the Communist years, and who now herd reindeer across much of the region.
After the decline of Kola, an ancient settlement which gives its name to the peninsula, the major port of the region has been Murmansk.
The Kola Peninsula as a whole suffered major ecological damage, mostly as a result of pollution from the military (particularly naval) production, as well as from industrial mining of apatite. There are currently about 250 nuclear reactors produced by the Soviet military which are no longer in use but still generate radiation and leak radioactive waste on the peninsula.
Trivia
The Kola Peninsula is one of the key locations in the book Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident, and Antony Horowitz's Skeleton Key.
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