Pazardzhik Province - Geography

Geography

The Pazardzhik Province is situated in central part of southern Bulgaria and borders the provinces of Plovdiv, Smolyan, Blagoevgrad and Sofia. The total area of the region is 4,458 km² which is 4% of the national territory. Forests account for more than half of the area (57.1%); the arable land is 35.6%, urban territory is 3.3%, rivers and lakes occupy 2.6%, road infrastructure - 0.6% and quarries and mines - 0,4%.

The northern parts of the region include the middle ridges of the Sredna Gora mountain, to the south the relief flattens and forms the western-most parts of the Upper Thracian Plain and to the south are located the Rhodope Mountains where most of the forests are situated. The highest point of the region is Savov Vrah at an altitude of 2,306 m while the lowest altitude is around 200 m in the plains of the central area. The climate is transcontinental with milder winter than northern Bulgaria in the lowlands but with very low temperatures and high snowfall in the mountain areas. The average annual temperature is 11.3°C.

The province is abundant in water resources, its main waterway is the river Maritsa and its catchment basin includes the Topolnitsa River and Luda Yana River from the north and Stara Reka from the south. There are three main reservoirs all situated in the Rhodope Mountains within the municipal limits of Batak - Batak Reservoir, Golyam Beglik and Shiroka Polyana. A fourth large dam lake, the Dospat Reservoir is only partially in the region. In Sredna Gora to the north is Topolnitsa Reservoir shared with the Sofia Province and a dam near Panagyurishte which is in initial stages of construction.