Dnister Lowland

Dnister Lowland [Дністровська низовина; Dnistrovska nyzovyna]. The northwestern part of Subcarpathia, lying along the upper Dnister River between the Stryvihor River in the west and the mouth of the Svicha River in the east. This is a Zandrian-alluvial plain with an elevation of 260–300 m. The extensive swamps, particularly in the western part (the Sambir Swamp is 35 km long) are the result of the slight gradient of the Dnister (0.5 m/10 km). Although some countermeasures have been taken, floods are frequent. Hence, there is relatively little cultivated land (30 percent, in the western part) and forest (7 percent) but much pasture and hayfields (56 percent). The population density is about 60 people per square kilometer. The villages are built on the higher terraces. The cities and towns—Sambir, Drohobych, Stryi, Rudky, Komarno, and Mykolaiv (Lviv oblast)—are located near the borders of the plain.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]