Ladoga Lake - the largest in Europe. From it flows the Neva River, which flows into the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea.
The basin of the lake has a glacial origin. About 12 thousand years ago, it finally freed from ice. And now, in the lake, seals continue to live, to which its natural conditions have come to its liking.
The area of Ladoga with islands more than 18 thousand square meters. km. The vast expanses of the lake resemble the sea. In its open part, there are no banks visible, and strong winds often turn it into a raging element, more insidious than some of the seas. The greatest length of Ladoga Lake is 219 km, and the average width is about 83 km. The average depth is 50 m.
In the Ladoga Lake, large rivers flow their waters: Svir, Vuoksa and Volkhov, several dozen middle rivers and more than a hundred small rivers. One Neva flows out of the lake.
The shores of Ladoga are varied. In the north, they are tall, rocky and steep, with complex outlines: they are riddled with numerous bays and peninsulas that go far into the lake. Here, the greatest depths, reaching 230 meters, are also concentrated. The northern shores and islands of Ladoga have long served as a mining site for building and decorative stone. Particularly intensive Ladoga granite was developed during the construction of St. Petersburg. For 150 years it was the main material for the monumental construction of the northern capital. From Ladoga granite, for example, the famous atlantes of the Hermitage, the foundation of St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Palace Bridge across the Neva, the foundation of the monument "Millennium of Russia" in Novgorod are made.
The southern shores are low, swampy, they have smooth outlines, almost not dissected. The coastal part of the lake is flat-bottomed with depths of no more than 50 meters. There are three wide, shallowly exposed gulfs, called the lips - Svirskaya, Volkhovskaya and Shlisselburgskaya. The shrubbery plots alternate with pine forests, sandy beaches, pebble placers and boulders. To the southern shores are the limestone layers. Flowing through the cracks water dissolves them and forms voids and caves, then it is knocked out of the rock mass in the form of keys.
On Lake Ladoga - an abundance of islands, the number of which exceeds 650. They are distributed unevenly, most of it is concentrated near the northern coast. In the middle of the lake there are two archipelagoes of the islands - Valaam group (more than 50) and Mantissini (about 40).
The lake is characterized by low mineralization and the water of the Ladoga is quite transparent. In winter, in warm years, the lake does not freeze completely, and the open central part of the lake remains ice-free. The thickness of the ice on the lake varies from 50 to 110 cm, depending on the severity of winter. The ice reaches its maximum thickness at the end of March and beginning of April. The lake begins to open in April at the southern shore and in the skerries of the northern part. If strong northern winds blow, then the mass of ice is sent to Shlisselburgskaya Bay, and from there to the Neva River. Then on it passes the second - Ladoga - ice drift.