Russia. Country of northern continent.

Russia. Country of northern continent. 

 Alternative titles: Urals, Uralsky Gory, Uralsky Mountains

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 The Ural Mountains, also called the Ural, Russian, Uralsky Gory, or the Ural, mountain range form a rugged spine in west-central Russia and a major part of the traditional geographic range between Europe and Asia.  Some 1,550 miles (2,500 km) from the Ural River bend to the south, the severely eroded Pe-Khoy Ridge, which forms a 250-mile (400-km) finger-like extension to the northern tip of the Urals, is a mountain (Uralian) orogenic  They form the major part of the belt, which extends for 2,175 miles (3,500 km) from Arles.  At the northernmost tip of Samudranovaya Zemlya.

 

 Ural Mountains.

 Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc.

 The Mughlazar Hills, which are themselves part of the Uralian orogenic belt, are a broad, arrow-shaped southern extension in northwestern Kazakhstan that forms the divide between the Caspian and Aral valleys.  The north–south route of the Urals is relatively narrow, ranging in width from about 20 to 90 miles (32 to 145 km), but it cuts across vast latitudinal landscape areas of the Eurasian landmass, from arctic wastelands to semi-deserts.  The Urals are also part of a highly developed industrial complex that is closely linked to the mineral-rich Siberian region and is home to people delving deeper into history.

 

 Ural Mountains

 Ural Mountains, west-central Russia.

 Moscow, Russia to Ugraland

 

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 physical features

 natural geography

 The Urals are divided into five sections.  The most northerly Urals span a distance of about 240 miles (400 km) from Mount Konstantinov Kamen in the northeast to the Khulga River in the southeast;  Most of the mountains rise to 3,300–3,600 feet (1,000–1,100 m) above sea level, although the highest peak, Mount Payer, reaches 4,829 feet (1,472 m).  The next stretch, the Netherlands-Polar Ural, extends more than 140 miles (225 km) south of the Shugoor River.  This section contains the highest peaks of the entire range, including Mount Narodnaya (6,217 ft [1,895 m]) and Mount Karpinsk (6,161 ft [1,878 m]).  These first two sections are generally alpine and scattered by glaciers and heavily marked by permafrost.

 

 Narodnaya, Mt.

 Narodnaya Mountains in the Ural Mountains in west-central Russia.

 © mcsem/shutterstock.com

 come further south, the Northern Urals, which extend for more than 340 miles (550 km) to the south;  Most of the mountain rises to 3,300 feet (1,000 m), and the highest peak, Mount Telpos-ise, rises to 5,305 feet (1,617 m).  Many of the 'peaks' are flattened, remnants of ancient peneplains (large area eroded surface and little relief) uplifted by geologically recent tectonic movements.  In the north, extensive weathering has resulted in the formation of vast "sea of ​​stone" on the mountain's slopes and summits.  The Comcentral Ural  extends for more than 200 miles (320 km) to the Ufa River, rarely exceeding 1,600 feet (500 m), although the highest peak, Mount Shredny Besag, rises to 3,261 feet (994 m).  .  The crests are smooth, with distinct residual outgrowths.  The last section, the Southern Urals, extends for about 340 miles (550 km) along the west flank of the Ural River and consists of several parallel ridges that rise to 3,900 feet (1,200 m) and finally Mount Yamantau, 5,380 feet (1,640 m).  meters);  This section ends in the broad uplands (less than 2,000 feet [600 m]) of the Mughaljhar Hills.

 

 Nargush Range, Southern Ural Mountains, Russia.

 tas/sovphoto

 The rock's composition helps shape the topography: high ranges and low, broad-topped ridges are composed of quartzites, schists, and gabbro, which are all weather-resistant.  Buttes are frequent, and there are north-south pools of limestone, almost all consisting of river basins.  The karst topography is highly developed on the western slopes of the Urals, with numerous caves, gorges and underground streams.  On the other hand, the eastern slopes have less karst formations;  Instead, the rocky outlines rise above the flat surfaces.  The broad foothills reduce in the east to the Penplain adjacent to the Central and Southern Urals.

 Geology

 The Urals date from structural upheavals in the Hercynian orogeny  (about 250 million years ago).  About 280 million years ago a high mountain region arose, which eroded into a peninsula.  New mountains were formed as a result of alpine folding, the most notable upheaval being that of the Netherlands-Polar Urals.  Situated in the watershed area, is the Ural-Tau Anticlinorium (a rock formation of arches and cisterns, which themselves form an arch), the largest in the Urals and in the Southern Urals to its west.Bashkir Anticlinorium.  Both are composed of layers (sometimes four miles thick) of ancient metamorphic (heat-converting) rocks—gneiss (metamorphic rocks separated into thin plates), quartzites and schist—that are between 570 and 395 million years old.

 The western slopes of the Urals are composed of Middle Paleozoic sedimentary rocks (sandstone and limestone) that are about 350 million years old.  In many places it descends into terraces in the Cis-Ural depressions (west of the Urals), in which much of the erosive material was carried during the late Paleozoic (about 300 million years ago).  Extensive karst (a completely eroded limestone area) and gypsum have been found, along with large caves and underground streams.  On the eastern slope, volcanic layers alternate with sedimentary layers, all dating from the Middle Paleozoic period.  These rocks make up the Tagil-Magnitogorsk Synclinorium (a group of rock arches and troughs that themselves form a trough), the largest of the Urals.  In the Central and Southern Urals, the eastern slopes merge into broad flat foothills, with frequent outcrops of granite and often butts of imaginary shape.  To the north is buried under loose, easily pulverized deposits of the Peneplain, the West Siberian Plain.

 drainage

 The rivers flowing down from the Urals either fall into the Arctic Ocean or the Caspian Sea.  The Pechora River, which drains the western slopes of the Polar, Netherlands-Polar and part of the Northern Urals, empties into the Barents Sea.  Its largest tributaries are the Ilych, Shugugor and Usa.  Almost all the rivers on the eastern slope belong to the Ob river system, emptying into the Kara Sea.  The largest are Tobol, Iset, Tura, Tavda, Severnaya (Northern) Sosva and Leipin.  The Kama (a tributary of the Volga) and the Ural rivers belong to the Caspian Sea's drainage basin.  The Kama collects water from a large area of ​​the western slope: Visra, Chusovaya and Belaya all drain into it.  The Ural River, along with its tributary the Sakmara, flows along the Southern Urals.

 

 Pechora River

 The Pechora River flows through the taiga of northwestern Russia.

 I. Puntakov-Novosti/Sovphoto

 The location and character of the rivers and lakes of the Urals are closely related to topography and climate.  In their upper reaches many rivers flow slowly through the mountains in wide, longitudinal pools.  Later they turn in a latitudinal direction, cutting through ridges in narrow valleys, and descending into plains, especially in the northern and southern Urals.  The main watershed does not always coincide with the highest ridges.  The Chusovaya and Ufa rivers of the Central and Southern Urals, which later join the Volga drainage basin, have their sources on the eastern slope.

 Rivers on the western slope carry more water than on the east, especially in the North and Netherland-Polar Urals;  The slowest rate of flow is on the eastern slopes of the Southern Urals, reflecting rapid evaporation as well as low rainfall.  During winter the rivers remain frozen for five months in the south and seven months in the north.

 There are many lakes, especially on the eastern slopes of the Southern and Central Urals.  The largest are Uvildi, Itkul, Turgoyak and Tavatuy.  There are several small karst lakes on the western slope.  Lakes in the Polar Urals are found in glacial basins, the deepest of them being Bolshoy Shuchy Lake at 446 feet (136 m) deep.  Medicinal muds are common in many lakes, such as Moltayevo, and spas and sanatoriums have been established.

 Climate of the Ural Mountains

 The climate is of a continental type, marked by temperature extremes that become increasingly apparent both from north to south and from west to east.  The Pe-Khoy Range and the Polar Ural enjoy moderate influence from the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans, especially in winter.  The Mughaljhar Hills and the southern Urals carry the summer winds of hot, dry air from Central Asia.  Winds are for the most part westerly and bring rain from the Atlantic Ocean.  Despite the low elevation, mountains exert a considerable influence on moisture distribution, and the western slopes receive more moisture than the eastern.  Precipitation is as high as 40 inches (1,000 mm), especially on the western slopes of the Netherlands-Polar and Northern Urals.  Rainfall decreases to about 18 inches (460 mm) to the north and south.  The eastern slope has less moisture (about 12 inches [300 mm]) and snow.  Annual snow depth averages 35 inches (890 mm) on the western slope and 18 inches (460 mm) on the eastern.  The maximum rainfall in summer thanks to the cool, dry air of the Siberian Anticyclone is powerful in winter.  The eastern slopes are particularly cold, and winter in the Urals lasts longer than summer.  The average temperature in January is -6 °F (-21 °C) in the north, and 5 °F (-15 °C) in the south.  Average temperatures in July vary greatly, between 50 °F (10 °C) in the north and 72 °F (22 °C) in the south.

 vegetation

 The Urals pass through several vegetated areas, the northern tundra giving way to vast mixed forests, while still the south is steppe, ending in the semi-desert around the Muglazhar hills.  Feather grass and meadows predominate on chernozem (black earth) and dark chestnut soil (a typical steppe soil).  Other typical growths are clover, fescue (a pasture grass), and timothy (a grass grown for hay).  To the south of the Ural River, the steppes give way to wormwood and semi-desert growth on light chestnut soils (again typical steppe soils), which are highly saline in places.

 The forest landscapes of the Urals are diverse.  The more humid western foothills of the Southern Urals are mostly covered with mixed forests that grow on a gray mountain-forest type of soil.  There, broad-leaved species such as oak, short-leaf linden and elm are mixed with Siberian fir and Siberian spruce.  The broadleaf forest extends up to 2,100 feet (640 m), with conifers visible above.  There are no broad-leaf trees on the eastern slope except linden, and there are splendid pine forests with some larch.

 

 Ural Mountains

 A train passing through the Central Ural Mountains in Russia.

 © Igor Bekirov / Fotolia

 To the north, in the Middle Urals, boreal forests (taiga) mountains of spruce, fir, fir and larch grow on podzolic soils.  In more northern regions, dark conifers are common, and in the Northern Urals, Siberian fir is widespread.  There the forest climbs 2,800 feet (850 m) or more, above which is a narrow strip of larch and birch, leading up to the mountain tundra _Nether-Polar and Polar Ural forests yield 1,300 feet (400 m) in the mountain tundra.  ) at a lower altitude.  While moss tundra is typically found on the more humid western slope, lichen tundra is common on the eastern.  There are many sphagnum moss swamps on both slopes.  On the Pe-Khoy ridge only brushwood and moss-lichen tundra grow.

 animal life

 

 Visit the landscape of Shulgan Tash Nature Reserve in the Ural Mountains, home to the endangered Burjian honeybee and the Ural bear

 Learn about the bees and brown bears of the Ural Mountains.

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 There are no exclusively mountain animals in the Urals, mainly due to the low altitude and easy accessibility, and the fauna is slightly different from the surrounding areas of Eastern Europe and Western Siberia.  The most valuable animal of the tundra is the arctic fox.  Ob lemmings, snowy owls, tundra partridges and reindeer are other residents, although the latter are few.  Many wild ducks, geese and swans breed there in the summer.  But the richest and most diverse fauna in the Urals, including brown bears, lynx, wolverines and elk, are found in the wild.  Some of the valuable furs are: sable (in the north), ermine, fox, marten (in the south), Siberian mongoose and squirrel.  The taiga has birds such as the wood grouse, black grouse, capercaillie (another member of the grouse family), cuckoo and hazel hen (a woodland grouse).  The mixed, broad-leaved forests of the western slopes of the Southern Urals are home to roo deer, badger and polecat, as well as many birds of the European part of Russia, such as the nightingale and the oriole.  The most common animals of steppe and semi-desert regions are rodents, which include susliks (a type of ground squirrel), jerboa (a social, nocturnal, jumping rodent), and other agricultural pests.  Reptiles include the common adder and the grass snake.  The rivers and lakes of the Northern Urals are abundant in fish, the most valuable being nelma (a species related to whitefish), common salmon, grayling and sea trout.  To the south, in densely populated and industrialized areas, animal life is less plentiful.

 The vigorous economic growth and increase in population that occurred in the Urals in the 20th century substantially changed the landscape of the range and the abundance of wildlife.  Conservation measures during the Soviet period included the establishment of national natures such as Pechoro-Ilich in the Northern Urals, Besgi and Visim in the Central Urals, and Ilmen and Bashkirs in the Southern Urals.

 people of the Ural Mountains

 Human habitation of the Urals dates back to the distant past.  The Nenets (Samoyd) people are a people of the Pe-Khoy region, and their language belongs to the Samoyedic group of languages, which is widespread throughout northern Siberia.  Further south live Komi , Mansi, and Khanty, speaking languages ​​belonging to the Ugric group of Jofino-Ugric languages.  Most of the 'indigenous' groups, the Bashkirs, long settled in the Southern Urals, speak a language belonging to the 'Turkic' group.  Some Kazakhs live in the Mughalzar hills of Kazakhstan.  Most of these formerly nomadic peoples are now settled.  The Nenets, Komi, Mansi and Khanty are virtually the only inhabitants of the highest parts of the Urals, especially in the north, where they have preserved their traditional way of life – reindeer rearing, hunting and fishing.  Bashkirs are excellent horse breeders.  However, indigenous peoples now make up only one fifth of the total population of the Urals;  The great majority are Russian.

 

 Yekaterinburg

 Yekaterinburg, Russia.

 Nucl0id

 The Russian population is concentrated mainly in the Central and Southern Urals, and most people live in cities—especially Katerinburg (formerly Sverdlovsk), Chelyabinsk, Perm and Ufa, and work in industries.  Those areas grew rapidly during World War II, when many industrial plants were relocated from the western Soviet Union to prevent their destruction by the Germans.  The agricultural population is predominant in the steppe region of the Southern Urals, where there are favorable conditions for wheat, potatoes and other crops.

 

 Chelyabinsk: South Ural State University

 South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia.

 © Stoyanov Alexey / Shutterstock

 

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 Economy

 The Urals are extremely rich in mineral resources, with variations on the eastern and western slopes according to geologic composition.  Ore deposits, for example, especially magnetite, predominate on the eastern slope, where contact (surfaces where two different rock types join) deposits are found, such as in Mount Blagodat, as well as magmatic deposits (  Formed from liquid rock), such as Kachnaar.  Some ore deposits, such as the magnetite ore in Magnitogorsk, are depleted or almost exhausted.  Sedimentary deposits are of lesser importance.  Some ores contain alloying metals— vanadium , a grey-white resistant element, and titanium—as impurities.  The largest copper ore deposits are in Ge and Sibe, and nickel ores are found in Ufale.  There are also large deposits of bauxite, chromite, gold and platinum.

 The non-metallic mineral resources of the eastern slope are asbestos, talc, fireclay and abrasives.  Gemstones and semi-precious stones have long been known: these include sapphire, topaz and emerald.  In the Western deposits there are beds of potassium salts on the upper Kama River and deposits of petroleum and natural gas in the Ishimbe and Krasnokamsk regions.  Bituminous coal and lignite are mined on both slopes.  The largest deposit is the Pechora bituminous coalfield in the north.

 The Urals' vast forests are also of great economic importance: they not only produce valuable timber, but they also regulate the flow of rivers and shelter many valuable fur animals.  Agriculture is important mainly in the eastern steppe region of the Southern Urals.  Most of the land there is plowed for agriculture, and large areas are cultivated for wheat, buckwheat, millet, potatoes and vegetables.

 Due to its wealth of mineral resources, the major industries in the Urals are mining, metallurgy, machine building, and chemicals.  Of national importance are metallurgical plants in Magnitogorsk and Chelyabinsk;  chemical plants in Perm, Ufa, and Orenburg;  and large-scale engineering in Yekaterinburg.

 After World War II, the Soviet Union established a plutonium-producing facility in the Southern Urals, now Ozarsk, Russia.  It produced its first plutonium in 1949 and continued production until 1990.  During the first decade of its operation, the plant dumped large amounts of radioactive waste into the Techa River and the nearby Karachay Lake.  Several serious accidents at the plant resulted in the release of additional radioactive material into the environment;  For example, in 1957 the explosion of a storage tank resulted in the contamination of 9,000 square miles (23,000 sq km).  As a result, residents of this area have faced rising rates of cancer and other major health problems.

 study and exploration

 In ancient times, the existence of the Ripian and Hyperborean mountains on the eastern edge of Europe was considered more mythical than real.

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 FAST FACTS

  2-Min Summary  Facts & Stats

 Kazakhstan, also spelled Kazakstan, officially Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakh Qazaqstan Respublikasï, country of Central Asia. It is bounded on the northwest and north by Russia, on the east by China, and on the south by Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, the Aral Sea, and Turkmenistan; the Caspian Sea bounds Kazakhstan to the southwest. Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia and the ninth largest in the world. Between its most distant points, Kazakhstan measures about 1,820 miles (2,930 kilometres) east to west and 960 miles north to south. While Kazakhstan was not considered by authorities in the former Soviet Union to be a part of Central Asia, it does have physical and cultural geographic characteristics similar to those of the other Central Asian countries. The capital is Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana, Aqmola, and Tselinograd), in the north-central part of the country. Kazakhstan, formerly a constituent (union) republic of the U.S.S.R., declared independence on December 16, 1991.

 

 Kazakhstan

 

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 Head Of State And Government: 

 President: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, assisted by Prime Minister: Alikhan SmailovCapital: Nur-Sultan2Population: (2021 est.) 19,005,000Currency Exchange Rate: 1 USD equals 437.586 Kazakhstani tengeForm Of Government: unitary republic with a Parliament consisting of two houses (Senate [491] and House of Representatives [107])

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 Kazakhstan’s great mineral resources and arable lands have long aroused the envy of outsiders, and the resulting exploitation has generated environmental and political problems. The forced settlement of the nomadic Kazakhs in the Soviet period, combined with large-scale Slavic in-migration, strikingly altered the Kazakh way of life and led to considerable settlement and urbanization in Kazakhstan. The Kazakhs’ traditional customs uneasily coexist alongside incursions of the modern world.

 

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 Land

 Relief

 Lowlands make up one-third of Kazakhstan’s huge expanse, hilly plateaus and plains account for nearly half, and low mountainous regions about one-fifth. Kazakhstan’s highest point, Mount Khan-Tengri (Han-t’eng-ko-li Peak) at 22,949 feet (6,995 metres), in the Tien Shan range on the border between Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and China, contrasts with the flat or rolling terrain of most of the republic. The western and southwestern parts of the republic are dominated by the low-lying Caspian Depression, which at its lowest point lies some 95 feet below sea level. South of the Caspian Depression are the Ustyurt Plateau and the Tupqaraghan (formerly Mangyshlak) Peninsula jutting into the Caspian Sea. Vast amounts of sand form the Greater Barsuki and Aral Karakum deserts near the Aral Sea, the broad Betpaqdala Desert of the interior, and the Muyunkum and Kyzylkum deserts in the south. Most of these desert regions support slight vegetative cover fed by subterranean groundwater.

 Depressions filled by salt lakes whose water has largely evaporated dot the undulating uplands of central Kazakhstan. In the north the mountains reach about 5,000 feet, and there are similar high areas among the Ulutau Mountains in the west and the Chingiz-Tau Range in the east. In the east and southeast, massifs (enormous blocks of crystalline rock) are furrowed by valleys. The Altai mountain complex to the east sends three ridges into the republic, and, farther south, the Tarbagatay Range is an offshoot of the Naryn-Kolbin complex. Another range, the Dzungarian Alatau, penetrates the country to the south of the depression containing Lake Balkhash. The Tien Shan peaks rise along the southern frontier with Kyrgyzstan.

 Drainage

 Kazakhstan’s east and southeast possess extensive watercourses: most of the country’s 7,000 streams form part of the inland drainage systems of the Aral and Caspian seas and Lakes Balkhash and Tengiz. The major exceptions are the great Irtysh, Ishim (Esil), and Tobol rivers, which run northwest from the highlands in the southeast and, crossing Russia, ultimately drain into Arctic waters. In the west the major stream, the Ural (Kazakh: Zhayyq) River, flows into the Caspian Sea. In the south the waters of the once-mighty Syr Darya have, since the late 1970s, scarcely reached the Aral Sea at all.

 The torrent of the Irtysh River pours some 988 billion cubic feet (28 billion cubic metres) of water annually into the vast West Siberian catchment area. In the late 1970s Soviet authorities developed extensive plans to tap the Irtysh River for use in irrigating the arid expanses of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, but the scheme was killed in 1986 because of the large investment required and concern for the project’s possible adverse ecological consequences. This left southern and western Kazakhstan, as before, greatly in need of additional water resources. Kazakhstan also suffers from the disastrous depletion and the contamination (by pesticides and chemical fertilizers) of the Syr Darya flow, on which the republic depends greatly for crop irrigation.

 The Caspian Sea, the largest inland body of water in the world, forms Kazakhstan’s border for 1,450 miles of its coastline. Other large bodies of water, all in the eastern half of the country, include Lakes Balkhash, Zaysan, Alaköl, Tengiz, and Seletytengiz (Siletiteniz). Kazakhstan also wraps around the entire northern half of the shrinking Aral Sea, which underwent terrible decline during the second half of the 20th century: as freshwater inflow was diverted for agriculture, the salinity of the sea increased sharply, and the receding shores became the source of salty dust and polluted deposits that ruined the surrounding lands for animal, plant, or human use.

 Climate

 Kazakhstan’s climate is sharply continental, and hot summers alternate with equally extreme winters, especially in the plains and valleys. Temperatures fluctuate widely, with great variations between subregions. Average January temperatures in northern and central regions range from −2 to 3 °F (−19 to −16 °C); in the south, temperatures are milder, ranging from 23 to 29 °F (−5 to −1.4 °C). Average July temperatures in the north reach 68 °F (20 °C), but in the south they rise to 84 °F (29 °C). Temperature extremes of −49 °F (−45 °C) and 113 °F (45 °C) have been recorded. Light precipitation falls, ranging from 8 to 12 inches (200 to 300 millimetres) annually in the northern and central regions to 16 or 20 inches in the southern mountain valleys.

 Soils

 Very fertile soils characterize the lands from far northern Kazakhstan down to the more infertile, alkaline soils of the middle and southern areas. The vast stretches of arable land in the northern plains are the most intensely cultivated and productive. Other cultivated areas fringe the mountains in the south and east; irrigation and reclamation, when feasible, extend along river valleys into the deserts. Nuclear bomb testing conducted during the Soviet period near Semey (Semipalatinsk) contaminated the soils in the vicinity.

 Plant and animal life

 The vegetation on plains and deserts includes wormwood and tamarisk, with feather grass on drier plains. Kazakhstan has very little wooded area, amounting to only about 3 percent of the territory. Many animals, including antelope and elk, inhabit the plains. The wolf, bear, and snow leopard, as well as the commercially important ermine and sable, are found in the hills. Fishermen take sturgeon, herring, and roach from the Caspian Sea. In parts of northeastern and southwestern Kazakhstan, where commercial fishing collapsed as a result of industrial and agricultural pollution, efforts to revive fish populations have shown some success. In 2008 Kazakhstan’s Naurzum and Korgalzhyn state nature reserves were named a UNESCO