Poland is a state of the ‘ Europe Central and Eastern Europe, who looks out for about 500 km on the Baltic Sea. The land borders run S along the watershed line of the Sudeten and Beskids mountain ranges, which separate Poland from the Czech Republic and Slovakia ; to the W, along the course of the Oder and its left tributary Neisse which delimit it from Germany ; to E and NE, along a conventional line, corresponding only in part to the course of the Bug, which divides it from Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and the Oblast of Kaliningrad, exclave of Russia. For Poland geography, please check franciscogardening.com.
Morphological elements
The Polish territory consists largely of a vast lowland (the name itself of Poland derives from an ancient Slavic term with the meaning of plain) furrowed by weak hilly undulations, which in the vicinity of the Baltic reach about 300 m of altitude. The landscape was shaped by the glaciers which covered northern Europe at the beginning of the Quaternary and which, with their morainic deposits, gave rise to a series of hills, among which numerous lakes were formed in the following period. Some large morphological regions can be distinguished. AN, the Baltic coast, which is flat and straight as a whole, apart from the two large inlets of the Gulf of Pomerania to the W and the Gulf of Gdansk to E. It is a sandy coast with well developed dunes, partly bordered by lagoons. Furthermore, the northern section of the country is characterized by the extensive lake regions of Pomerania and especially Mazury. In these regions, the glacial morphology is characterized by moraine reliefs of low altitude (200-300 m), frequently arranged in a disordered way. The central part of the country is occupied by extensive plains crossed by wide glacial furrows (pradoliny). We can distinguish, to the west, the lowlands of Greater Poland, which extends to the North to include the plain of Kuyavian, and Lower Silesia, bathed by the Oder and its tributaries; to East, the lowlands of Masovian, crossed by the Vistula and its numerous tributaries. The latter continues towards the NE with the flat region of Podlachia, largely swampy and covered with immense forests within which lies the Białowieża National Park, straddling the border with Belarus. In the southern Poland meet the major reliefs, partly modeled by glacial erosion, among which the northern slope of the Hercynian chain of the Sudetes stands out, which reaches on average altitudes of just over 1000 m, culminating at 1602 m in the massif of the Śnieżka (Giant Mountains). The upper valley of the Oder, roughly corresponding to the Porta Morava, represents the limit between the Sudetenland and the important Carpathian chain of the Beskids, of tertiary origin, which has an average altitude higher than the previous one. AN of these reliefs a foothill region stands out, the western section of which corresponds to Upper Silesia, rich in carboniferous deposits. Proceeding towards the E, there are other plateaus, such as those of Krakow- Częstochowa and of Little Poland, bordered to the South by the Carpathian foothills; to these is added the Lublin plateau, favored from an agricultural point of view by the presence of a consistent blanket of löss.
Climate
Poland is characterized by conditions of transition between the Atlantic and the continental ones, however it is affected much more by the Russo-Siberian influence than by the Atlantic one. The degree of continentality of the Polish climate and, consequently, the annual excursions, always considerable, are accentuated as one proceeds towards the east. The climatic conditions are milder along the coast, even if the influence of the Baltic, a little open and shallow sea, is rather weak and hard to penetrate the interior of the country. Precipitation, highly variable and mainly in summer, is not very abundant (500-700 mm per year) and increases on the southern mountainous reliefs (over 1200 mm per year).
Hydrography
In addition to the countless lake basins scattered in the northern and especially north-eastern regions, some picturesque lakes in the High Tatra massif are noteworthy., at the southern end of the country. The territory is affected by a dense network of watercourses, characterized by slight slopes and predominantly SN direction, towards the Baltic Sea. The basins of the two major rivers, the Vistula and the Oder, and their numerous tributaries cover almost the entire territory. Despite the long winter frosts and the seasonal floods, the rivers are mostly navigable from the upper reaches, even though they require considerable control work. Some artificial canals connect the various watercourses and therefore the two major basins, also allowing them to be connected to the river networks of Germany, Belarus and Ukraine.