The North Siberian Lowland (russian: Северо-Сибирская низменность; sah, Хотугу Сибиир намтала), also known as Taymyr Lowland (Таймырская низменность), is 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 a relatively flat relief separating the Byrranga Mountains of the Taymyr Peninsula in the north from the

Central Siberian Plateau The Central Siberian Plateau (russian: Среднесибирское плоскогорье, Srednesibirskoye ploskogorye; sah, Орто Сибиир хаптал хайалаах сирэ) is a vast mountainous area in Siberia, one of the Grea ...

in the south.John Kimble (ed.), ''Cryosols: Permafrost-Affected Soils'' To the southeast of the Olenyok basin the lowland merges with the Central Yakutian Lowland. The territory of the lowland is one of the

Great Russian Regions The Great Russian Regions (russian: Ландшафт России) are eight geomorphological areas in the Russian Federation displaying characteristic forms of relief. Seven of them are east of the Urals. Geography * Central Siberian Plateau, ...

. Administratively it is mostly part of the

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 ...

, with a small section in the

Sakha Republic Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eas ...

(Yakutia). The main towns are Dudinka, Norilsk and Khatanga.

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

Geography

The North Siberian Lowland lies between the lower reaches of the

Yenisey 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

Olenyok Olenyok or Olenek may refer to: *Olenyok (river), a river in Russia *Olenyok (rural locality), a rural locality (a ''selo'') in the Sakha Republic, Russia * Olenyok Airport, an airport in the same rural locality * Olenyok Gulf, a gulf in the Laptev ...

rivers in

and

Yakutia Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eas ...

. It is 1,400 km long and up to 600 km wide. This lowland plain features flat-topped ridges approximately 200-300 m high, which rise over broad and heavily swamped degradations with a large number of

thermokarst Thermokarst is a type of terrain characterised by very irregular surfaces of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed as ice-rich permafrost thaws. The land surface type occurs in Arctic areas, and on a smaller scale in mountainous areas such as ...

lakes. Rivers

Pyasina The Pyasina (russian: Пясина) is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. The river is long, and its basin covers . The Pyasina River originates in Lake Pyasino and flows into the Pyasino Gulf of the Kara Sea. There are more than 60,000 ...

, Taymyra, Kheta and

Kotuy The Kotuy () is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is one of the two rivers that form the Khatanga; the other one being the Kheta. The Kotuy is long, and the area of its basin is . It freezes up in late September or early October and brea ...

flow over the North Siberian Lowland, as well as further east the Khatanga, Popigay,

Kuoyka The Kuoyka or Kuoika (russian: Куойка; sah, Куойка) is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic), Russian Federation. It is a tributary of the Olenyok with a length of and a drainage basin area of . The Kuoyka flows north of the Arctic ...

Beyenchime The Beyenchime (russian: Беенчиме sah, Бэйэнчимэ) is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic), Russia. It is a tributary of the Olenyok with a length of . Its drainage basin area is . The river flows north of the Arctic Circle acr ...

Bur A bur (also spelled burr) is a seed or dry fruit or infructescence that has hooks or teeth. The main function of the bur is to spread the seeds of the bur plant, often through epizoochory. The hooks of the bur are used to catch on to for exam ...

Buolkalakh The Buolkalakh (russian: Буолкалах; sah, Буолкалах) is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic), Russia. It is a tributary of the Olenyok with a length of and a drainage basin area of . It is a lowland river with its mouth very ...

, as well as the

Anabar Anabar may refer to: * Anabar Bay, Laptev Sea * Anabar Constituency, Nauru * Anabar District, Nauru * Anabar District, Russia, Sakha, Russia * Anabar Highway, Russia * Anabar Plateau, Russia * Anabar (river), Sakha, Russia * Anabar Shield Anabar ...

with its tributaries the

Suolama The Suolama (russian: Суолема, ''Suolema''; sah, Суолама) is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai and Yakutia (Sakha Republic), Russia. It is a tributary of the Anabar with a length of . Its drainage basin area is . The river flows north ...

and

Udya The Udya or Udzha (russian: Удя or Уджа; sah, Удьаа) is a river in Yakutia (Sakha Republic), Russia. It is a right tributary of the Anabar with a length of . Its drainage basin area is . The river flows north of the Arctic Circle, ...

, and the Uele. There are many lakes in the North Siberian Lowland, the biggest one is Lake Taymyr. The North Siberian Lowland has deposits of oil, natural gas and coal (Taymyr Basin).

Geology

The North Siberian Lowland is formed by marine and ice-laid deposits, underlaid with

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

s and argillites.

Permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...

is a common phenomenon in this area.

Climate and flora

The climate is subarctic continental with long (7–8 months) cold winters and short cool summers. Average temperature in January is -30 degrees

Celsius The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The ...

in the West and down to -35-37 degrees Celsius in the East. Temperature in July is around 6-10 degrees Celsius. Snow cover stays for approximately 265 days. Precipitation is 250-300 mm per year. Sparse forest in the west consists mainly of Siberian larch. Eastern parts of the lowland are covered with Dahurian larch.

Lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless moun ...

dominates northern parts of the lowland, while southern parts are full of shrubbery vegetation.

References

External links

*
Middle Siberia Geography
(in Russian) {{Authority control

Geography

Geology

Climate and flora

See also

References

External links