Kolozero

Kolozero is a fresh lake in the very center of the Kola p-ova, stretching 4 kilometers from Olenegorsk along the St. Petersburg-Murmansk railway. The nearby woodland is swamped. There are mountainous areas with elevations up to 250 meters high. The lake is connected by the Kola River flowing in the northeast with the Barents Sea.

In the north, the Vezhe river flows into Kolozero. In addition, many unnamed streams flow from the local mountains into it. Small ducts connect the lake with Sukhim, Pike, Kahozer, Bear and Dry lakes.

Kolozero occupies the 12th place in the area in the Murmansk region (66 square kilometers). The shape is elongated, uneven. Lots of bays and capes. A significant part of the Colozera basin is occupied by Kolozerskaya Bay – a large bay in the southwest. The largest islands reach a kilometer in length.

For the first time about the lake is mentioned in the early XVII century, when there was a fishing grounds of the Sami.

At a distance of about a kilometer are the villages of Pulosero and Lapland.

The ecological condition of the lake leaves much to be desired. It belongs to category 1 in terms of pollution. A 1999 study showed a manganese content exceeding the norm by 20 times.

The lake is polluted by sewage from Olenegorsk, on the territory of which there is a mining and processing plant.