Nemoral (NEM)

The nemoral environmental zone covers the lowlands and undulating plains of South Scandinavia and the north-west of the Russian Plain including the Baltic countries.The growing season lasts in average 196 days (190-204), the sum of temperatures above +10° is in average 2717°C (2561°-2898 °).

Nemoral map

This is rather low. The most characteristic in the Nemoral zone are well developed forms of glacial accumulation (moraine and fluvioglacial) and mixed and evergreen coniferous forests.  

This zone in Sweden and Finland lie on the Archaean and Proterozoic structures of the Baltic Shield, other segments are on the mantle of the ancient Russian Platform.

Nemoral climate

The underlying rocks are mostly Acidic and intermediate Pre-Cambrian intrusions in the Swedish segment; Acidic and intermediate Pre-Cambrian intrusions and Archaean deposits in the Finish segment, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian (as from north to south) in the Estonian segment, Devonian rocks in the Russian and Belarusian segments, and Cretaceous in the south of Belarusian segment.

The geological structures in the Baltics and Belarus belong to the ancient Russian platform; the depth of the surface of crystalline basement varies from 0 m in the north to 2000 m in the south-west. Devonian deposits dominate most of this area, bu they change to Cretaceous in the south-east and to Permian, Triassic and Jurassic deposits in the south-west.  

The dominating Quaternary sediments are moraine in Sweden, lacustrin and lacustrin-glacial in Finland, moraine, lacustrin and lacustrin-glacial in Estonia and North-West Russia, lacustrin and lacustrin-glacial, fluvioglacial and moraine in Belarus. The Quaternary deposits in the southern Baltics and Belarus are associated with the last Pleistocene glaciations. They are are lacustrin-glacial in the north-west, fluvioglacial in the south-east, and moraines of Gothiglacial and Würm II stages in the rest of the zone.

The land cover of this zone is Taiga forest wetlands and bogs. Most of the natural forests have been converted into agricultural lands or into production forests (in particular in Scandinavia). The main arable crops are barley and wheat. Bogs and large floodplain marches are very common.The agricultural use is dominated by dairy farming ad cattle farming. Forestry is an important form of land use.

Nemoral soil/vegetation