Other mountain ranges include the Scandinavian range in Norway and Sweden, the Tatras in Slovakia, the coastal ranges of Slovenia and Croatia, and the Carpathians in Romania. Further east, the Caucasus range stretches northward from the Black Sea and forms a natural boundary between Europe and Asia. One major geological region of Europe consists of a belt of sedimentary materials that sweeps in an arc from southeast England and southWest France into Belgium and the Netherlands and on into Germany, Poland, and western Russia. These sedimentary rocks, covered in places by a layer of till, form the Great European Plain. Some of the best soils of Europe are found here particularly along the southern margin, which is rich in loess.
Most European streams flow outward from the core of the continent.
The Alps are the location of the headwaters of major rivers such as the Rhone, the Rhine, the Danube, and the Po. The radial drainage pattern lends itself to the interconnection of rivers by canals. Europe s largest freshwater lake is Lake Ladoga in northWest Russia.