Minusinsk Basin or Khakass-Minusinsk Basin (russian: Минусинская (Хакасско-Минусинская) котловина, ''Minusinskaya (Chakassko-Minusinskaya) kotlovina'') is in

Khakassia Khakassia (russian: Хакасия; kjh, Хакасия, Хакас Чирі, ''Khakasiya'', ''Khakas Çiri''), officially the Republic of Khakassia (russian: Республика Хакасия, r=Respublika Khakasiya, ; kjh, Хакас Рес ...

and

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai ( rus, Красноя́рский край, r=Krasnoyarskiy kray, p=krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), with its administrative center in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Siber ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

located among mountains of South

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

Geography

It is bounded on the west by

Kuznetsk Alatau Kuznetsk Alatau (russian: Кузнецкий Алатау) is a mountain range in southern Siberia, Russia. The range rises in the Altai-Sayan region of the South Siberian Mountains, northwest of Mongolia. The Siberian Railway skirts the norther ...

, and east by the

Sayan Mountains The Sayan Mountains (russian: Саяны ''Sajany''; mn, Соёны нуруу, ''Soyonï nurû''; otk, 𐰚𐰇𐰏𐰢𐰤, Kögmen) are a mountain range in southern Siberia, Russia (Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tuva Republic ...

. See

Geography of South-Central Siberia South Central Siberia is a geographical region north of the point where Russia, China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia come together. Regions of Asia North Asia The Four Corners At approximately , the borders of Russia, China, Mongolia and Kaza ...

. Elevation varies between 200–700 m, constituting a

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

with sparse hillocks and cut by

valleys A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

."Minusinsk Basin"
an article from the ''

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

'' "Minusinsk Basin"
The

Yenisey River The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...

and its major tributaries

Abakan Abakan (russian: Абака́н, p=ɐbɐˈkan; Khakas: , ''Ağban''/, ''Abaxan'') is the capital city of the Republic of Khakassia, Russia, located in the central part of Minusinsk Depression, at the confluence of the Yenisei and Abakan Rivers. A ...

, Oia (Russian: ''Оя'' ) and

Tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

flow through the valley. Its major towns are

Minusinsk Minusinsk (russian: Минуси́нск; kjh, Минсуғ) is a historical types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Population: 44,500 (1973). Geography Minusinsk marks the center of the Minusinsk Hollow ...

and

. The hollow has a large number of

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s, including

saltwater Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water, ...

ones. The depression is an important agricultural area; it also has

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

deposits ( Minusinsk Coal Basin).

References

Depressions of Russia Landforms of Khakassia Geography of Siberia Geography of Central Asia Landforms of Krasnoyarsk Krai {{Khakassia-geo-stub