Any geographic description of the Soviet Union is replete with superlatives. Its inventory of land and water contained Europe's highest mountain and longest river, the world's largest and deepest lakes, the world's lowest basins, purest waters and saltiest seas, broadest tablelands, driest deserts, and wettest swamps, most expansive grassland plains and most extensive forests. Desert scenes from Soviet Central Asia resembled the Australian outback. The Crimean coast on the Black Sea was the Soviet Riviera, and the mountains rimming the southern boundary were as imposing as the Swiss Alps.