For the most part it consists of tundra, with frequent marshes and small lakes.
Nordenskiold's Vega-expeditionens Vetenskapliga Iakttagelser (5 vols., Stockholm, 2872-87) may be consulted for the mammals of the tundra region and marine fauna.
The country is dotted over with large and small lakes, generally salt or alkaline, and intersected by streams, and the soil is boggy and covered with tussocks of grass, thus resembling the Siberian tundra and the Pamirs.
Grasses grow luxuriantly in the river bottoms and wherever the tundra moss is destroyed to give them footing.
The types of vegetation (tropical forests, sclerophyllous forest, temperate forests, tundra, &c.) thus briefly outlined are groups of Schimpers climatic formations.