The Pokutian Plateau is much lower than the Podolian. Only in isolated places does it attain a height of 370 — 380 m. and becomes constantly lower toward the east. But north of Chernivtzi (Czernowitz) it rises to a height which we look for in vain in all the rest of the Ukrainian plateau group. The wooded hill-group of the Berdo Horodishche here reaches 515 m., the greatest height above sea level to be found between the Carpathians and the Ural. In the east, Berdo Horodishche passes over into the chain of hills of Khotin, which attains a height of 460 m. and marks the eastern end of the Pocutia. The southeastern long and wide Bessarabian section of the plateau is divided into far-reaching narrow marshes by the flat valleys of the Prut and Reut Rivers. The Prut-Dniester river divide attains a height of 420 m. (Megura hill) in the headwater region of the Reut south of the city of Bilzi. The southeastern part of the Bessarabian plateau consists of very numerous low marshes, which lie between flat valleys. The plateau becomes constantly lower and flatter and passes imperceptibly over into the Pontian Steppe-plain.
The third member of the Ukrainian plateau group is the Rostoche. Looking from the summit of the castle mountain of Lemberg, famous for its beautiful prospect, we see, just behind the broad valley of the Poltva River, a chain of high wooded hills which stretch toward the northeast. They form the spurs of the Rostoche.
The Rostoche, called also the Lemberg-Lublin Ridge, lies, a profusely cut, hilly, narrow plateau, which is bounded on the one side by the San and Vistula Plain, on the other side by the low country of the Buh. Toward the southwest the Rostoche has a steep rim, which, as a matter of fact, is rather insignificant-looking; toward the east it resolves itself into parallel hill-ridges, which gradually become lower and between which lie marshy valleys.
The southern part of the Rostoche, which merges with the Podolian Plateau near Lemberg and extends to the broad, sandy and marshy glacial river valley of Tanva toward the northwest, is a plateau transformed into an erosive hill-country. The highest hills attain a height of 400 m. The river valleys are in general flat; only along the steep borders of the plateau are they cut deep. The steep western border is very picturesque, with its deep gorges and loess walls. Many vigorous springs appear here, among them the well-known Parashka spring, from which a heavy column of water rises from time to time.
The oldest rock layer of the Rostoche is the chalk-marl. Above it lie, in almost undisturbed horizontal layers, miocene limestone, sandstone, clay, sand, Diluvial loam, while sand and broken stone with many boulders, which are of unmistakable northern origin and were transported by glaciers and streams of the ice period as far as the southern part of the Rostoche, form a heavy cover everywhere. The ground is not very fertile, sand and marl soil being particularly wide-spread.
The northern part of the Rostoche, beyond the Tanva valley, is a broad, slightly undulating plateau, which, in its highest part, reaches a height of only 340 m. The western edge of the plateau is distinct and steep and declines in places 100 m. to the low country of the Vistula. Toward the north the plateau surface declines very gradually and merges almost imperceptibly into the plain of the Pidlassye. The river valleys, as those of the Buh, Vepr, are broad, flat and marshy.
The geological constitution of the northern Rostoche is almost entirely similar to that of the southern part. Its soil cover, too, is not very fertile, and only great woods have survived, especially in the districts of the old morainic sand and loam. Only in the neighborhood of the Pidlassye does the soil become more fertile. For the configuration of surface of the Rostoche, the recent post-glacial raising of the ground has also been of great significance, altho here it was not nearly so intensive as in Podolia.