Lake Varsh
Lake Varsh is a freshwater lake, shared by Mezensky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug in Russia, just below the Arctic Circle. It is one of the biggest lakes in Arkhangelsk Oblast and the biggest one in Mezensky District. The area of the lake is, and the area of its basin is.
Lake Varsh is the biggest of the system of glacial lakes at the border between Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug at the western edge of the Timan Ridge. The system also includes Lake Pocha, Lake Bormat and Lake Zhadobo, Lake Koras and Lake Atyozero and others. The whole system of the lakes drains into the Varchushka River, a right tributary of the Pyoza, and thus belongs to the drainage basin of the Mezen and the basin of the White Sea.
The lake consists of two round bays of approximately the same area, connected in the middle by a straight; the border between Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug crosses the southern bay west to east, so that the major part of the lake belongs to the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
Lake Varsh is surrounded by coniferous forest, almost all of the shore is occupied by swamps. The lake and immediate vicinities of the lake are not populated, The nearest settlement is the village of Safonovo on the Pyoza, several dozens kilometers south-west from the lake. Lake Varsh is popular for fishing.
