Mountain plateau: geographical location, coordinates, description

The mountain plateau is the mountain system of Eastern Siberia. It stretched from the south-west to the north-east for 700 km. The width of the mountain system is more than 200 km. The western part approaches the shores of Lake Baikal, and the eastern part of the summit reaches the upper reaches of the river. Olekma. Sharp high-mountain ranges (3 000 m), which alternate with intermountain hollows (within 800-1 000 m above sea level), just so you can see the Stony Highlands. The coordinates of this mountain system are 56 ° 05'00 "north latitude, 114 ° 30'00" east longitude. On the map of Russia, it is located on the territory of Buryatia (the center of Asia).

Ridges

The mountain system is divided into 7 ridges, located from west to east in this direction:

• South Muysky ridge with the highest point of the city of Muysky Gigant (3,067 m).
• North-Muysky ridge - the maximum height - 2 537 m.
• The Upper Angarsk Range. The highest peak is 2 641 m.
• The Kodar ridge is a continuation of the North-Muysk range. The maximum height is the peak of the BAM (3,072 m).
• The Udokan Ridge with a maximum height of 2,561 m.
• The Kalarsky Range is the continuation of Udokan. The prevailing heights are less than those of the other ridges of the uplands. The maximum peak is the town of Skalisty Golets, with a height of 2,519 m.
• The Lower Kola Range is a branch of the Kalarsky Range. It is located to the south.

All 7 ridges of the Stanovoy Highland are represented by peaked peaks, rocky ridges with goltsovymi terraces. These are the so-called alpine forms of relief.

Mountain hollows

Between the ranges described above, there are large mountain hollows:

• The Muisko-Kuandinskaya depression is located between the South Muya and the North-Muya ranges.
• The Upper Angarsk basin. It was located between the North-Muisky and Verkhneangarskiy ridges.
• Charskaya hollow. It is located between the ranges of Kalarsky, Kodar and Udokan.

All the data of the Baikal-type basin are located at a height of no more than one thousand meters.

Mountain plateau: characteristic

The basis of the Stanovaya upland is the crystalline and metamorphic rocks of the Archean and Proterozoic periods. Intermontane depressions are composed of sequences of Cenozoic deposits. Also everywhere, throughout the uplands, perennial frozen rocks are common.

The relief-forming process of this mountain system continues to this day. Factors confirming this: high seismic activity of the region, strong terrain dismemberment and ubiquitous permafrost zones.

Minerals

Like other formations of this type, the Stanovye Highlands are "strewn" with various kinds of mineral deposits. Within the Kodar range, large deposits of coal and copper were discovered. Copper ores are mined at Kalarsky . There are also deposits of gold and fluorite. In the valley of the Chara River (the Kodar ridge) a lilac mineral is produced - charoite, which is used as an ornamental jewelery stone. The extraction of these minerals is one of the main branches of the economy of this region.

Climatic features

The climate of this region is affected by the height and geographical location of the Stanovoi Plateau. In its limits there is a sharply continental type. The climate differs only on the peaks and in the basins. In general, the summer - warm, but short (on the ridges lasts a maximum of 2 months, in the basins for 3 weeks longer). But the winter in this area is long and very cold. The average annual precipitation is from 300 mm within the basins, 1000 mm at the tops. It is worth noting that most of them are in mid-July and August. In the basins in summer the temperature does not rise above +19 ° C, and at an altitude of 1.5 thousand m - +13 ° C. In winter, the thermometer shows -30 ... -34 ° С. In the valleys it is much colder, here this figure can be reduced to -40 ° C.

Features of the region

On the tops of the high mountain ranges there are glaciers and other forms of such relief: the carrion, the moraine ridges, the trough valleys. There are many lakes and rivers in the intermontane depressions, which are fed by thawed waters.

For the natural zoning of the Stanovoi Range, high-altitude zonation is characteristic. Deciduous forests are widespread on the foothills and slopes of ridges, which at an altitude of 1,200-1,600 m are replaced by birch and deciduous crooked forests. High-altitude areas are represented by mountain taiga, pre-lowland light forests and stony loaches. Intermountain depressions are filled with floodplain meadows, often swampy, and pine and pine-deciduous forests grow on thick sandy strata.

If you look at the map where the Stanovye Highlands is located, then administratively this region belongs to the Republic of Buryatia, Irkutsk and Chita regions.

Using

The area of the Stanovoi Range is well studied and developed. To a greater extent, this became possible due to the appearance of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The route cuts through all 7 mountain ranges of the uplands. The most difficult for the construction of the highway was the North Muysky Range. The construction of the road passed intermittently for 26 years. Inside the ridge, the longest railway tunnel of the Russian Federation, Severomuisk, has been punched. Its length is more than 15.3 thousand meters. On both sides of the highway there are railway stations and settlements.