Maanselkä

Maanselkä is an extensive chain of smooth hills forming a watershed that separates the rivers flowing into the Baltic Sea from those flowing into the White Sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located in northeastern Finland, in the eastern parts of North Ostrobothnia and Lapland, by the Russian border. In Russia the southern part of the range is in Karelia and the northern in Murmansk Oblast. To the northwest the drainage divide extends further into northern Norway.[2]

The hills are low and rounded. The highest point is Mt Sokusti, a 718 meters (2,356 ft) high summit in Saariselkä, on the Finnish side.[6] The highest point of Karelia, the 576 meters (1,890 ft) high Nuorunen, is located in the Russian side of the hill region.[7] There are many lakes in the intermontane basins, as well as rivers with poorly drained valleys and swampy forests. The highest elevations are treeless and barren, with some mountain tundra vegetation.[5]

Geologically Maanselkä is part of the central zone of the Baltic Shield. There are numerous traces of the erosional activity of ancient glaciers across the hills, such as lateral moraines and outwash plains.[5]

View of Nuorunen, the highest point of Karelia.

Sallatunturi panorama, Kandalakshsky District.

• Highest points of Russian Federal subjects
• List of mountains and hills of Russia

• Media related to Maanselkä at Wikimedia Commons
• Studies on the vegetational history of the Kuusamo district (North East Finland) during the Late-quaternary period.
• Vuokrataanko tunturi Neuvostoliitosta? Kylmän sodan Kuusamossa heräsi ennakkoluuloton hanke - Suomalaiset halusivat vuokrata tunturin ja tehdä alueelle viisumivapaan matkailukohteen.