the peninsula is located in the far northwest of russia, almost completely inside the arctic circle and is washed by the barents sea in the north and the white sea in the east and southeast. geologically, the peninsula occupies the northeastern edge of the baltic shield. the western border of the peninsula stretches along the meridian from the kola bay through the valley of the kola river, lake imandra, and the niva river to the kandalaksha gulf, although some sources push it all the way west to russia's border with finland. under a more restrictive definition, the peninsula covers an area of about . the northern coast is steep and high, while the southern coast is flat. the western part of the peninsula is covered by two mountain ranges: the khibiny mountains and the lovozero massif; the former contains the highest point of the peninsula—mount chasnachorr, the height of which is . the keyvy drainage divide lies in the central part. the mountainous reliefs of the murman and kandalaksha coasts stretch from southeast to northwest, mirroring the peninsula's main orographic features.