The Ural Mountains are a ridge on the border of Europe and Asia, as well as a natural border within, to the east of which are Siberia and the Far East, and to the west - the European part of the country.
BELT MOUNTAINS
In the old days, for travelers approaching the Urals from the east or west, these mountains really seemed like a belt that tightly intercepted the plain, dividing it into the Cis-Urals and the Trans-Urals.
The Ural Mountains are a mountain range on the border of Europe and Asia, stretching from north to south. In geography, it is customary to divide these mountains according to the nature of the relief, natural conditions and other features into Pai-Khoi, the Polar Urals, and the Subpolar.
Northern, Middle, Southern Urals and Mugod-zhary. It is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of the Ural Mountains and the Urals: in a broader sense, the territory of the Urals includes the regions adjacent to the mountain system - the Urals, Cis-Urals and Trans-Urals.
The relief of the Ural Mountains is the main watershed range and several side ranges separated by wide depressions. In the Far North - glaciers and snowfields, in the middle part - mountains with smoothed peaks.
The Ural Mountains are old, they are about 300 million years old, they are noticeably eroded. The highest peak - Mount Narodnaya - is about two kilometers high.
The watershed of large rivers runs along the mountain range: the Ural rivers belong mainly to the basin of the Caspian Sea (Kama with Chusovaya and Belaya, Ural). The Pechora, Tobol, and others belong to the system of one of the largest rivers in Siberia, the Ob. There are many lakes on the eastern slope of the Urals.
The landscapes of the Ural Mountains are predominantly forested, there is a noticeable difference in the nature of vegetation on different sides of the mountains: on the western slope - mainly dark coniferous, spruce-fir forests (in the Southern Urals - mixed and broad-leaved forests in places), on the eastern slope - light coniferous pine-larch forests. In the south - forest-steppe and steppe (mostly plowed).
The Ural Mountains have long been of interest to geographers, including from the point of view of their unique location. In the era of Ancient Rome, these mountains seemed to scientists so far away that they were seriously called Riphean, or Ripean: literally translated from Latin - “coastal”, and in an expanded sense - “mountains at the edge of the earth”. They received the name Hyperborean (from the Greek “extreme northern”) on behalf of the mythical country of Hyperborea, it was used for a thousand years, until in 1459 the Fra Mauro world map appeared, on which the “edge of the world” was already shifted beyond the Urals.
It is believed that the mountains were discovered by the Novgorodians in 1096, during one of the campaigns to Pechora and Ugra by a squad of Novgorod ushkuins engaged in fur trade, trade and collection of yasak. At that time, the mountains did not receive any name. At the beginning of the XV century. Russian settlements appear on the upper Kama - Anfalovsky town and Sol-Kama.
The first known name of these mountains is contained in documents at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries, where they are called Stone: this is how any large rock or cliff was called in Ancient Rus'. On the "Big Drawing" - the first map of the Russian state, compiled in the second half of the 16th century. - Ural is designated as Big Stone. In the XVI-XVIII centuries. the name Belt appears, reflecting the geographical position of the mountains between two plains. There are such variants of names as Big Stone, Big Belt, Stone Belt, Big Belt Stone.
The name "Ural" was originally used only for the territory of the Southern Urals and was taken from the Bashkir language, which meant "height" or "hill". By the middle of the XVIII century. the name "Ural Mountains" is already applied to the entire mountain system.
ALL MENDELEEV'S TABLE
Such a figurative expression is resorted to whenever it is required to give a short and colorful description of the natural resources of the Ural Mountains.
The antiquity of the Ural Mountains created unique conditions for the development of minerals: as a result of prolonged destruction by erosion, the deposits literally came to the surface. The combination of energy sources and raw materials predetermined the development of the Urals as a mining region.
Iron, copper, chromium and nickel ores, potash salts, asbestos, coal, precious and semi-precious stones - Ural gems - have been mined here since ancient times. Since the middle of the XX century. oil and gas fields are being developed.
Russia has long been developing the lands adjacent to the Ural Mountains, occupying the Komi-Permyak towns, annexing the Udmurt and Bashkir territories: in the middle of the 16th century. after the defeat of the Kazan Khanate, most of Bashkiria and the Kama part of Udmurtia voluntarily became part of Russia. A special role in securing Russia in the Urals was played by the Ural Cossacks, who received the highest permission to engage in free arable farming here. The merchants Stroganovs laid the foundation for the purposeful development of the wealth of the Ural Mountains, having received from Tsar Ivan IV a charter on the Ural lands "and what lies in them."
At the beginning of the XVIII century. large-scale factory construction began in the Urals, caused by the needs of both the country's economic development and the needs of the military departments. Under Peter I, copper-smelting and iron foundries were built here, and subsequently large industrial centers were formed around them: Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Perm, Nizhny Tagil, Zlatoust. Gradually, the Ural Mountains found themselves in the center of the largest mining region in Russia, along with Moscow and St. Petersburg.
In the era of the USSR, the Urals became one of the industrial centers of the country, the most famous enterprises are the Ural Heavy Machine Building Plant (Uralmash), the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ), the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant (Magnitogorsk). During the Great Patriotic War, industrial production was exported to the Urals from the territories of the USSR occupied by the Germans.
In recent decades, the industrial significance of the Ural Mountains has noticeably decreased: many deposits are almost exhausted, the level of environmental pollution is quite high.
The bulk of the local population lives on the territory of the Ural economic region and in the Republic of Bashkortostan. In the more northern regions, belonging to the Northwestern and Western Siberian economic regions, the population is extremely rare.
During the industrial development of the Ural Mountains, as well as the plowing of the surrounding lands, hunting and deforestation, the habitats of many animals were destroyed, and many species of animals and birds disappeared, among them - a wild horse, saiga, bustard, little bustard. Herds of deer, which used to graze throughout the Urals, now migrated deep into the tundra. However, the measures taken to protect and reproduce the fauna of the Urals managed to preserve the brown bear, wolf, wolverine, fox, sable, ermine, and lynx in the reserves. Where it has not yet been possible to restore populations of local species, acclimatization of imported individuals is being successfully carried out: for example, in the Ilmensky Reserve - sika deer, beaver, maral, raccoon dog, American mink.
SIGHTS OF THE URAL MOUNTAINS
Natural:
■ Pechoro-Ilychsky, Visimsky, Basegi, South Ural, Shulgan-Tash, Orenburg steppe, Bashkirsky reserves, Ilmensky mineralogical reserve.
■ Divya, Arakaevskaya, Sugomakskaya, Kungurskaya ice and Kapova caves.
■ Rocky outcrops of the Seven Brothers.
■ Chertovo Settlement and Stone Tents.
■ Bashkir National Park, Yugyd Va National Park (Komi Republic).
■ Hoffmann Glacier (Saber Ridge).
■ Azov Mountain.
■ Alikaev Stone.
■ Deer Brooks Nature Park.
■ Blue Mountains pass.
■ Revun rapids (Iset river).
■ Zhigalan waterfalls (River Zhigalan).
■ Aleksandrovskaya Sopka.
■ Taganay National Park.
■ Ustinovskiy Canyon.
■ Gumerovskoye gorge.
■ Red Key spring.
■ Sterlitamak shikhans.
■ Krasnaya Krucha.
■ The Sterlitamak shikhans in Bashkiria are ancient coral reefs that formed at the bottom of the Perm Sea. This amazing place is located near the city of Sterlitamak and consists of several high cone-shaped hills. A unique geological monument, whose age is more than 230 million years.
■ The peoples of the Urals still use the names of the Urals in their languages: Mansi - Ner, Khanty - Kev, Komi - Iz, Nenets - Pe or Igarka Pe. In all languages it means the same thing - "stone". Among the Russians who have long lived in the north of the Urals, a tradition has also been preserved to call these mountains Kamen.
■ The bowls of the St. Petersburg Hermitage were made from Ural malachite and jasper, as well as the interior decoration and the altar of the St. Petersburg Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.
■ Scientists have not yet found an explanation for the mysterious natural phenomenon: the Ural lakes Uvildy, Bolshoy Kisegach and Turgoyak have unusually clear water. In neighboring lakes, it is completely muddy.
■ The top of Mount Kachkanar is a collection of bizarrely shaped rocks, many of which have their own names. The most famous of them is Camel Rock.
■ In the past, the richest deposits of high-quality iron ore in the mountains of Magnitnaya, Vysoka and Blagodat, known throughout the world and listed in all textbooks on geology, are now either hidden or turned into quarries hundreds of meters deep.
■ The ethnographic appearance of the Urals was created by three streams of settlers: Russian Old Believers who fled here in the 17th-18th centuries, peasants transferred to the Ural factories from the European part of Russia (mainly from the modern Tula and Ryazan regions) and Ukrainians, attracted as an additional labor force at the beginning 19th century
■ In 1996, the Yugyd Va National Park, together with the Pechoro-Ilychsky Reserve, with which the park borders in the south, was included in the list of UNESCO World Natural Heritage Sites under the name “Virgin Komi Forests”.
■ Alikaev Stone - a 50-meter rock on the Ufa River. The second name of the rock is Maryin cliff. The TV movie “Shadows Disappear at Noon” was filmed here, about life in the Ural outback. It was from the Alikaev stone, according to the plot of the film, that the Menshikov brothers threw off the chairman of the collective farm, Marya Krasnaya. Since then, the stone has a second name - Maryin cliff.
■ The Zhigalan waterfalls on the Zhigalan River, on the eastern slope of the Kvarkush ridge, form a 550 m long cascade. With a river length of about 8 km, the elevation difference from source to mouth is almost 630 m.
■ Sugomak cave is the only cave in the Ural Mountains, 123 m long, formed in marble rock. There are only a few such caves on the territory of Russia.
■ The Krasny Klyuch spring is the most powerful water source in Russia and the second largest in the world after the Fontaine de Vaucluse vault spring. The water flow of the Red Key spring is 14.88 m3/sec. Landmark of Bashkiria in the status of a hydrological monument of nature of federal significance.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Location: between the East European and West Siberian plains.
Geographical division: Pai-Khoi ridge. Polar Urals (from Konstantinov Kamen to the headwaters of the Khulga River), Subpolar Urals (the section between the Khulga and Shchugor rivers), Northern Urals (Voy) (from the Shchugor River to Kosvinsky Kamen and Mount Oslyanka), Middle Urals (Shor) (from Mt. Oslyanka to the Ufa River) and the Southern Urals (the southern part of the mountains below the city of Orsk), Mugodzhary ().
Economic regions: Ural, Volga, North-Western, West Siberian.
Administrative affiliation: Russian Federation (Perm, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Orenburg, Arkhangelsk and Tyumen regions, Udmurt Republic, Republic of Bashkortostan, Republic of Komi), Kazakhstan (Aktobe region).
Large cities: Yekaterinburg - 1,428,262 people. (2015), Chelyabinsk - 1,182,221 people. (2015), Ufa - 1,096,702 people. (2014), Perm - 1,036,476 people. (2015), Izhevsk - 642,024 people. (2015), Orenburg - 561,279 people. (2015), Magnitogorsk - 417,057 people. (2015), Nizhny Tagil - 356,744 people. (2015), Kurgan - 326,405 people. (2015).
Languages: Russian, Bashkir, Udmurt, Komi-Permyak, Kazakh.
Ethnic composition: Russians, Bashkirs, Udmurts, Komi, Kazakhs.
Religions: Orthodoxy, Islam, traditional beliefs.
Monetary unit: ruble, tenge.
Rivers: the Caspian Sea basin (Kama with Chusovaya and Belaya, Ural), the Arctic Ocean basin (Pechora with Usa; Tobol, Iset, Tura belong to the Ob system).
Lakes: Tavatui, Argazi, Uvildy, Turgoyak, Big Pike.
CLIMATE
Continental.
Average January temperature: from -20°C (Polar Urals) to -15°C (Southern Urals).
Average temperature in July: from + 9°С (Polar Urals) to +20°С (Southern Urals).
Average annual precipitation: Subpolar and Northern Urals - 1000 mm, Southern Urals - 650-750 mm.
Relative humidity: 60-70%.
ECONOMY
Minerals: iron, copper, chromium, nickel, potassium salts, asbestos, coal, oil.
Industry: mining, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, heavy engineering, chemical and petrochemical, fertilizers, electrical engineering.
Hydroelectric power industry: Pavlovskaya, Yuma-guzinskaya, Shirokovskaya, Iriklinskaya HPPs.
Forestry.
Agriculture: crop production (wheat, rye, garden crops), animal husbandry (cattle, pig breeding).
Traditional crafts: artistic processing of Ural gems, knitting of Orenburg downy shawls.
Service sector: tourism, transport, trade.
I love my native Ural Mountains very much! And so I created a whole section dedicated to this region of Russia. It contains both my personal materials, from various hikes in the Ural mountains, and simply encyclopedic materials about each individual region of the Ural mountains. This section is a guide to the Ural mountains and will be very useful for tourists, travelers and just nature lovers. Sights of the Urals, numerous photographs, description of the region.
The Polar Ural is the northernmost part of the Ural Mountains. Mount Konstantinov Stone is considered the northern border of the region, and the Lyapin (Khulga) River is the border with the Subpolar Urals in the south. The area is about 25,000 km.
The Subpolar Urals is a mountain system in Russia. Its northern border starts from the sources of the Lyapin (Khulga) River 65 40 's. sh., and in the south the border passes through Mount Telposiz 64 s. sh. Geographical objects of the Subpolar Urals.
The Northern Urals are part of the Ural Mountains. It starts from the Kosvinsky Stone and the adjacent Konzhakovsky Stone (59 ° N) in the south to the northern slopes of the Telposis massif
The Middle Urals is the lowest region of the Ural Mountains, lying between 56° and 59°N. sh. Mount Yurma, which lies in the Chelyabinsk region, is considered the southern border, and the Kosvinsky stone mountains and its neighbor, the Konzhakovsky stone, are considered the northern border.
The widest part of the Ural Mountains. It is located on the territory of two states: Russia and Kazakhstan. The southern outskirts of the Southern Urals (Mugodzhary) lie on the territory of the Aktobe region of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The largest rivers of the Urals. In the Urals there are a large number of rivers suitable for rafting - navigable rivers. The most popular routes along the Ural rivers. Photo, description of the most interesting rivers.
Mansi - the people that make up the indigenous population of the Northern Urals. This is a Finno-Ugric people, they are direct descendants of the Hungarians (they belong to the Ugric group: Hungarians, Mansi, Khanty).
Walking through the forests of the Urals, we come across a wide variety of different plants that catch our eye with bright colors. But without a special botanical education, we often do not know at all what kind of plants they are.
Hike to the Dyatlov Pass in June 2016. My spontaneous trip to the pass, the way it was. How to get to the Dyatlov Pass by car and on foot? Detailed report.
The trip to the Kvarkush plateau took place on August 12-13, 2014. We drove to the ridge from the eastern side, through Severouralsk and the Main Ural Range, which lies on the border between the Perm Territory and the Sverdlovsk Region.
This trip to the mountain Shunut-Stone turned out in October 2010. We went on Thursday. The weather was very good, sunny. However, it was already October outside - and it was pretty cool. There have already been frosts.
In June 2011 we went to the main mountain and the main ridge of the Sverdlovsk region - Konzhakovsky stone. Konzhak is a favorite place for climbing for many tourists both from Yekaterinburg and from all over Russia.
The trip to the Taganay Ridge turned out to be pretty good for us. We visited the Otkliknoy ridge and Mount Kruglitsa. We looked at the South Ural taiga, in which there is a lot of linden, probably instead of Siberian cedar.
We took a bus to the city of Kachkanar. It was still early morning, more precisely, even night. We waited until dawn at the bus station. We had no idea how to get to Mount Kachkanar - and therefore we began to ask the workers of the bus station.
Mount Bolshoi Iremel is located on the border of Bashkiria and the Chelyabinsk region. This was around the end of July/beginning of August 2011. There were 10 of us, 2 cars.
At the end of August 2011, we managed to break out to the north of our region - to the Main Ural Ridge (GUH). It is located strictly on the border of the Sverdlovsk Region with the Perm Territory and is stretched from south to north.
The Ural Mountains are among the oldest mountains in the world. They have a relatively low height, the highest point - Mount Narodnaya - only 1895 m above sea level. The low height of such a huge mountain system is due to the age of the mountains. During its existence, previously high mountains were destroyed, forming heaps of stone placers - kurums. But once upon a time, the Ural Mountains, in their grandeur, were in no way inferior to any Sayan Mountains, or even, perhaps, the Himalayas themselves!
The surroundings of the ridges are covered with taiga forests, at altitudes above 800 m the forest-tundra belt begins, at altitudes above 850-900 - tundra. In the Southern Urals, the mountains are covered with steppe and are small in size. In the Far North - tundra. The tundra areas of the mountain have been an excellent place for reindeer walking for centuries by the local indigenous people of this region. The mountain tundra belt, suitable for reindeer walking, reaches the central part of the Northern Urals - the Kvarkush plateau. Below Kvarkush, mountain tundra is relatively rare.
The climate in the mountains is continental, temperate continental. Winter at altitudes above 850-900 meters comes early, snow falls already in September and continues to lie all year in the form of small snowfields even at the height of summer - in July. The open uplands are very windy, making the climate more severe. In summer, the sun can warm up to + 30-33 degrees, and in winter there are temperatures down to -57 (Burmantovo village, Ivdelsky district).
The Ural Mountains are located between the West Siberian and East European Plains. Their area is 781,000 sq. kilometers. Many travelers dream of getting to this wonder of nature in order to see with their own eyes all the splendor of the famous mountain range. Also, tourists want to know the name of the highest peak of the Urals in order to climb it or appreciate the full power of the Urals at the foot of this mountain.
Mount Narodnaya is the highest point in the Urals. Its height is 1895 meters. The mountain is located on the territory of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug and belongs to the mountain system called the Subpolar Urals.
origin of name
There are two pronunciations for this name. In the first case, the stress is placed on the first syllable - Folk. The thing is that this mountain is located near the Národa River, whose name sounds in the Komi language as "People-Iz".
But in the days of the USSR, this name was very consonant with popular communist slogans. At every step they talked about the party and the people, so it was decided to rearrange the emphasis on the second syllable, making this peak the socialist heritage of the Soviet people.
In scientific and reference publications, different variants of stress are indicated. A 1958 geography textbook lists a name that correlates with the name of the river. And in the book of 1954 there is evidence that "Narodnaya" is the only correct pronunciation.
Modern scholars believe that the stress should be placed on the first syllable. This is the official pronunciation of the name.
Summit history
In 2016, scientists found that for the first time this peak was marked on maps in 1846 by a geographer from Hungary named Antal Reguli. Antal researched the history of the Mansi peoples, trying to understand the origin of their language. Later, the scientist proved that the Hungarian and Mansi languages have common roots.
Antal Reguli explored the high peak and gave it the original Mansi name Poen-Urr, which means "crown" in translation.
Five years later, an expedition led by E. Hoffmann was sent to this peak. As a result, data were obtained on the geographical position of the mountain and its features.
For a long time, it was believed in scientific circles that this peak was discovered not by Antal Reguli in the 19th century, but by the explorer A. Aleshkov with his expedition in 1927. New data was released only in 2016.
Despite this, Aleshkov's expedition played a very important role. After all, it was he who measured the height of Mount Narodnaya, after which the peak officially became the highest point of the Urals.
It should be noted that when visually assessing the height of mountain peaks, it is difficult to understand which of them is higher. Mount Monarga stands out for its size. It was she who was considered for a long time the highest point of the Urals. But after Aleshkov's research, all the data were carefully checked. In scientific works, it was indicated that not the Monarga, but the People's Peak is a giant mountain. She is 200 meters taller than her neighbor.
Summit climate
Narodnaya Peak is covered with glaciers. It is located in the cold climate zone. Long frosty winters prevail in these parts. The average air temperature during the cold period is -20 degrees Celsius.
Strong snowstorms and freezing rains are frequent guests of these places. In summer, the temperature rarely rises above 10 degrees.
If you want to conquer the top of the Urals, be prepared for harsh climatic conditions. Even experienced travelers will find it difficult to resist the vagaries of nature. Therefore, it is better to take a reliable guide with you.
The best time to climb the mountain is July and August. During this period there are no snowstorms, and the sun is shining.
Geographical position
This giant is located between two mountains, which are named after the famous explorers of the Urals - Didkovsky and Karpinsky. The most picturesque view of Narodnaya opens from the top of Mount Karpinsky.
The majestic stone slopes covered with snow-white glaciers attract the attention of tourists. And the highest point of Mount Narodnaya is shrouded in clouds.
This peak is located in a deserted area. There are no settlements nearby.
Blue Lake is located next to the mountain giant. Travelers who go hiking in the Urals often set up their camps on the banks of this picturesque reservoir. Its height above sea level is quite high - 1133 meters.
Tourism and Peak Narodnaya
Due to the flourishing of tourism in the second half of the 20th century, the Urals became a destination for many Soviet travelers. Mount Narodnaya was no exception.
Every fan of extreme sports in the depths of his soul dreamed of visiting the highest point of the Ural Mountains. Therefore, over time, commemorative plaques began to be located around the top. Students tried to record their feat, so they brought souvenirs and flags to the top of the mountain giant.
In 1998, the Russian Church installed an Orthodox cross on the main peak. A year later, a religious procession took place on the slopes.
So from the wild inhospitable mountain Narodnaya turned into a hospitable giant.
The Ural Mountains are located on the Eurasian continent and the mountain range of these mountains stretches across the entire country of Russia (more than 2,000 km long) from South to North.
It used to be that in the East of the country, immediately beyond the Ural Mountains, Siberia begins, but later Siberia moved further to the East.
Ural mountains are located on the Eurasian continent, between the East European Plain and the West Siberian Lowland. These mountains stretch from north to south across the territory of Russia and Kazakhstan for 2.5 thousand kilometers.
The Ural Mountains are relatively low. The highest peak - Mount Narodnaya height 1895 m.
Along the Ural Mountains (on their eastern slope) there is a conditional border between Europe and Asia.
I think that any resident of Russia must know for sure that the Ural Mountains are in Russia, even if he lives very far from them - in the Far East, Siberia or Kaliningrad. These are the longest mountains in our country, and probably one of the oldest. The Ural Mountains lie on the continent of Eurasia, and moreover, it is along these mountains that the famous border between the two parts of the world - Europe and Asia - passes. In many places of the Ural Mountains there are even special signs, standing on which a person finds himself with one foot in Asia, and the other in Europe. The most famous city that lies in two parts of the world at once is Magnitogorsk in the Southern Urals.
The Ural Mountains are located on the territory of Russia and along their eastern slopes there is a border between Europe and Asia.
And the mainland itself is called Eurasia, the largest continent on the planet. The mountains stretch from north to south with a strip of 40 to 150 and a length of more than 2000 kilometers. The continuation of the Ural Mountains in the south are the Mugodzhary Mountains in Kazakhstan. The Ural Mountains are one of the oldest mountain systems in the world. They are a real treasure trove of minerals, from various minerals to coal, oil and gas. To preserve the unique natural features, several nature reserves have been established here.
The Ural Mountains stretch approximately 1,500 miles north to south from the Arctic Ocean to central Russia.
The Urals, for the most part, are located in Russia, although the southern part reaches Northern Kazakhstan. Located on the continent of Eurasia. and is considered a kind of border between Europe and Asia.
These mountains are the longest on our territory, so it is logical that they are located in Eurasia, they are located in the northwestern part of Russia. These mountains have a rather large width, it goes from one hundred to two hundred kilometers, and if we talk about the length along the meridian, it is 2600 km. The highest point of these mountains is Narodnaya, its height is 1875 m. Thus, they are not very high mountains.
The Ural Mountains are located on the mainland called Eurasia. Moreover, it is the Ural Mountains that are the border between Europe and Asia. It is clear that the border is rather arbitrary, but generally accepted and clearly visible.
The Ural Mountains are located on the Eurasian continent and divide the mainland into the European and Asian parts (the territory of Russia). Their length is more than 2000 km, and the width is from 40 to 150 km. The highest part of the Ural Mountains is Mount Narodnaya, which has reached a height of 1895 meters.
The Ural Mountains are located on the Eurasian continent in the northern and central parts of the continent.
The Ural Mountains limit the Kara Sea, the Mugodzhary Mountains, the Eastern and Western and Northern Plains.
The mountains have a large length from north to south, the mountains are classified as medium.
Usually in the classroom they are called to the board on which the map hangs and asked to indicate the mountains. Notice the half of the map away from Moscow to the east and point to the brown stripe that looks a bit like a vertical line
Scientists have information that the Ural Mountains appeared 600 million years ago. A. Prokonessky wrote about them for the first time in his work "Arismapey". Unfortunately, the poem itself has not survived to our times. But many scientists of those years referred to it in their writings.
A bit of history
The explorer Ptolemy was the first to map the Ural Mountains. Their detailed description was displayed in his writings by the Arab geographer Imaus. In the Russian state, the historian Tatishchev first mentioned the Ural Mountains. He began by describing their geographical location.
The mountain range stretches between the West Siberian and East European plains. It was Tatishchev who indicated the name of this natural greatness in a geographical report.
After all, he went on an expedition and was sincerely amazed by the wealth of rocks. Communicating with the local population, the scientist borrowed the term "Ural Mountains" from them. Translated from Tatar, the word "Ural" means "stone belt". The first question that comes to mind is: “What is the height of the Ural Mountains?”
Tatishchev concluded that the highest point is Narodnaya Gora. Its height is 1895 meters. The width of the Ural Range as a whole ranges from 40 to 160 kilometers. And the length is recorded over 2000 km. It is noteworthy that once the mountain ranges of the Urals were in no way inferior to the Sayans and the Himalayas!
Climate and vegetation
The surroundings of the Ural Range are abundantly covered with coniferous forests, and at an altitude of over 850 meters the forest-tundra originates, and the tundra belt extends even higher. The southern parts of the mountains are covered with a steppe carpet, but their area is small. Tundra cover prevails in the northern zones of the mountains. This is an excellent pasture and walking area for deer, which is run by the locals.
As for the climate of the Ural Mountains, it is temperate continental. Winter time comes in these places early, snow falls in September. It lies throughout the year. Even in July, small layers of snowflakes are visible on the soil. And the height of the Ural Mountains allows the white blanket to lie all year round.
Despite the fact that in summer the air temperature fluctuates up to +34 degrees, it cannot be called hot. Due to constant winds and relatively low temperatures in winter (-56 degrees), the Ural climate is recognized as harsh.
Water resources and natural resources
A beginner who finds himself in the Urals will be pleasantly surprised by the abundance of local rivers and streams. There are 3327 lakes alone, located on the plain next to the mountains. The deepest reservoir in the Urals is Pike Lake. Its pit holds about 0.79 cubic meters. kilometers of water. And its depth reaches 136 meters!
Travelers note that in all the reservoirs of the Urals, the water is clear and striking in its purity. Only after rain does it become cloudy, when its level rises sharply in the pits. The prevailing heights of the Ural Mountains are 1000-1500 meters. These include the Pechora basin, where coal is mined.
The Ural Mountains are also famous for their minerals: oil, peat, natural gas. This region is a real storehouse of large reserves of copper, nickel and zinc ores. In addition, natural massifs also store precious metals: silver, gold and placers of platinum.
Modern researchers emphasize that the main point of timber extraction is located in the zone of the Southern Urals. Preservation of forests is the main task of the Ural mountain systems. To date, this territory is under protection, since it is here that the famous parks and reserves are located: Serpievsky, Ilmensky, Ashinsky.
Birds and animals of the Urals
Perhaps some readers will be confused by the height of the Ural Mountains and lead to the question: “What is the flora and fauna in these places?” The most common bird species is kites, followed by tits that feed on caterpillar pupae and insect eggs.
Also in the mountain forests of the Urals flutter freely: common cuckoo, jay, starling, jackdaw, chaffinch and hoopoe. It is curious that a small bird, the kinglet, lives in coniferous forests. The locals called her the "Ural hummingbird" due to the fact that her body is smaller than a matchbox. For almost all birds living in these parts, wild berries, fruits and tree seeds are an important food. Birds such as northern pika and black grouse feed on pine needles and cedar seeds.
Endangered species
The average height of the Ural Mountains generally does not exceed 800 meters. This is the lowest part of the massif, which is called the Middle Urals. The number of animals and birds in these places causes alarm among specialists.
They believe that it is difficult to save some species at the moment. These include: muskrat, European mink, imperial eagle, whooper swan, marsh harrier. Therefore, most of them are listed in the Red Book. In the zone of the Ural Mountains, more than 6 species of woodpecker and a rare species of white-tailed eagle have been recorded. Birds of prey live in the steppe zones: kite, falcon and hawk.
Various inhabitants
Foxes and wolves can be found in almost all forests of the Urals. They mainly hunt roe deer, deer and hares. The tundra, in turn, is rich in stoats and arctic foxes. The clever wolverine loves the coniferous broad-leaved forest, while the marten and the formidable brown bear live in the dense taiga.
Some wanderers emphasize that the most common animals live in the zone of the Ural Mountains. However, an interesting flying squirrel lives in the coniferous massif. It is about the same size as a normal squirrel. His coat is yellow with a gray tinge.
The unusualness of the animal lies in the structure of the skeleton: in appearance it resembles a large bat. True, without wings. The flying squirrel feeds on various insects and bird eggs. One can talk endlessly about the Ural landscapes. The flora and fauna here is so diverse!
Perhaps, inquisitive travelers, in addition to the question: “What is the absolute height of the Ural Mountains?”, It will be interesting to see this place with their own eyes - Narodnaya Mountain. It was already mentioned at the beginning of the topic.
The famous hill flaunts clean lakes and circus venues. Also on the mountain there are mysterious glaciers and luxurious alpine meadows. It is best not to limit yourself to correspondence acquaintances, but to actually visit these wonderful places.
