Suomenselkä

The Suomenselkä is a series of end moraines in western Finland, which is one of the major watersheds in the country.

It begins south of Kristinestad at Sideby and continues inland for hundreds of kilometers parallel to the shoreline Österbottens up to Oulujärvi in the north continued. It limits the Finnish Lakeland and therefore the catchment area of the rivers Vuoksi and Kymi River to the west; the rivers on its eastern slope draining into the Gulf of Bothnia. Unlike the Salpausselkä, the other major watershed of the country, the Suomenselkä does not form a prominent ridge, but arises rather than extensive hills, which fall partly reaches a width of dozens of kilometers. Consequently, the Suomenselkä is conceived as a large landscape.

The Suomenselkä is one of the most sparsely populated land of Finland. The harsh climatic conditions and extensive moorlands have made ​​it impossible always been an intensive land use. Today there are in the field some of the most pristine forests in Finland, where rare species such as the Porcupine Caribou live.

• Geography (Finland )