Draft:Greater Poland Lakeland

Geography of Greater Poland Lakeland

Region	North European Plain

The Greater Poland Lakeland is a geographical macroregion in central-western Poland, part of the South Baltic Lakelands. Its boundaries are defined by the Toruń-Eberswalde Urstromtal to the north, currently occupied by the Vistula, Noteć, and Warta rivers, and by the Warsaw-Berlin Urstromtal to the south, occupied by the Warta and Obra rivers.

Two meridionally aligned features — the Poznań Gorge of the Warta RiverPoznań Gorge of the Warta River and the more easterly trough of the Gopło Lakes and the Noteć River —divide the macroregion into three distinct high plains (from west to east):

• Poznań Lakeland
• Gniezno Lakeland
• Kujawy Lakeland

Additionally, the following are also distinguished:

• Chodzież Lakeland

and:

• Inowrocław Plain on the north
• Września Plain

The absolute altitudes here are significantly lower than in the neighboring Lubusz Lakeland. The highest peak, Gontyniec near Chodzież, reaches 192 meters above sea level. Of the over a thousand lakes in the region, the largest is Lake Gopło, covering approximately 21.8 square kilometers.

A distinctive feature of the climate of the Greater Poland Lakeland is its low annual precipitation (450–500 mm/year), which results in water shortages and a process known as steppe formation. An additional factor contributing to the region's drying is the impact of open-pit mining in the Konin Lignite Basin, operated by ZE PAK. This affects both the plant cover and fauna. The forests are characterized by the absence of beeches, while herbaceous plants include numerous steppe species. Similarly, the animal world has seen the appearance of species typical of this biotope, such as the great bustard.