The Olyokma-Chara Plateau ( rus, Олёкмо-Чарское плоскогорье; sah, Өлүөхүмэ-Чаара хаптал хайалаах сир) is a mountainous area 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 E ...

and

Irkutsk Oblast Irkutsk Oblast (russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast; bua, Эрхүү можо, Erkhüü mojo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and N ...

Far Eastern Federal District The Far Eastern Federal District (russian: Дальневосто́чный федера́льный о́круг, ''Dalnevostochny federalny okrug'') is the largest of the eight federal districts of Russia but the least populated, with a p ...

, Russia.

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 ...

A small section is in

Kalarsky District Kalarsky District (russian: Каларский район) is an administrativeRegistry of the Administrative-Territorial Units and the Inhabited Localities and municipalLaw #316-ZZK district (raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of adm ...

, northernmost

Zabaykalsky Krai Zabaykalsky Krai ( rus, Забайкальский край, r=Zabaikal'skii krai, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲskʲɪj kraj, lit. " Transbaikal krai"; bua, Yбэр Байгалай хизаар, Uber Baigalai Xizaar) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai ...

.''Олёкмо-Чарское нагорье'', Small Encyclopedia of Transbaikalia
/ref>

Charoite Charoite is a rare silicate mineral, first described in 1978. It was believed to be named after the Chara River, but due to the river being 70 km away from its discovery place, now it is believed to be named after the Russian word ''chary'', ...

, a rare mineral, is found in the Murun Massif area of the plateau, rising between rivers Chara and Tokko.

Geography

The Olyokma-Chara Plateau is located to the south of the

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

, at the southwestern end of the Sakha Republic in

Olyokminsky District Olyokminsky District (russian: Олёкминский улу́с; sah, Өлүөхүмэ улууһа, ''Ölüökhüme uluuha'') is an administrativeConstitution of the Sakha Republic and municipalLaw #172-Z #351-III district (raion, or ''ulus''), ...

, and the eastern end of Irkutsk Oblast,

Bodaybinsky District Bodaybinsky District (russian: Бодайбинский райо́н) is an administrative district, one of the thirty-three in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.Charter of Irkutsk Oblast Municipally, it is incorporated as Bodaybinsky Municipal District.Law ...

. The plateau is bound by the

Chara River , image = 2000 Charoite 613.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = View of the river and piece of charoite , pushpin_map = Russia Sakha Republic , pushpin_map_size = , pushpin_map_caption= Location ...

, a left tributary of the

Olyokma , image = Olyokma river.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = View of the river , pushpin_map = Russia Sakha Republic , pushpin_map_size = , pushpin_map_caption= Location in the Sakha Republic, Ru ...

river to the west and the Olyokma, a left tributary of the Lena, to the east. The Tokko River, the largest tributary of the Chara, crosses the uplands from south to north. To the south rises the

Udokan Range The Udokan Range (russian: хребет Удокан) is a mountain range in Sakha Republic (Yakutia) and Zabaykalsky Krai, Russian Federation. The nearest town is Chara.Google Earth There is copper mining in the range at the Udokan mine, part ...

of the

Stanovoy Highlands The Stanovoy Highlands ( rus, Станово́е наго́рье) or Stanovoy Uplands is a mountain range in the Transbaikal region of Siberia, Russia. Geography The Stanovoy Highlands are a mountainous area between the Patom Highlands to the n ...

and to the north the

Lena Plateau The Lena Plateau, also known as Prilensky Plateau ( rus, Приленское плато, ''Prilenskoye Plato''; sah, Өлүөнэтээҕи хаптал хайалаах сир), is one of the great plateaus of Siberia. Administratively it is m ...

. To the east rise the

Aldan Highlands The Aldan Highlands, or Aldan Plateau ( rus, Алданское нагорье, r=Aldanskoye Nagorye; sah, Алдан үрдэлэ) are a mountainous area in the Sakha Republic, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia. Aldan town and Tommot are l ...

and to the west the

Patom Highlands The Patom Highlands ( rus, Патомское нагорье) are a mountainous area in Eastern Siberia, Russia. Administratively most of the territory of the uplands is part of Irkutsk Oblast, with a smaller section in northern Transbaikal Krai. ...

. The size of the plateau is roughly from north to south, and from east to west. There are vestiges of ancient

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betw ...

throughout the plateau area.Физическая география СССР - Ландшафтные области гор Южной Сибири - Байкальско-Становая область
/ref> The heights of the Olyokma-Chara Plateau are moderate, the average elevations are between and , although higher in the southern fringes. Mountains tend to be flat-topped, the highest point is Murun, a high summit.URSS 1,000,000 scale Operational Navigation Chart; Sheet D-7
/ref>
/ Great Russian Encyclopedia; in 35 vol.] / Ch. ed. Yu.S. Osipov,

Great Russian Encyclopedia The ''Great Russian Encyclopedia'' (GRE; russian: Большая российская энциклопедия, БРЭ, transliterated as ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya entsiklopediya'' or academically as ''Bolšaja rossijskaja enciklopedija'') is a u ...

, 2004—2017. The plateau is largely uninhabited. The settlement of Torgo,

, was abandoned in 2010.

Geology

Part of the Olyokma-Chara Plateau falls within the

Aldan Shield Aldan Shield (russian: Алданский щит) is a shield in Siberia. It is an exposed basement of the Siberian Craton. Together with the Anabar Shield further to the northwest, the Aldan Shield is one of the main features of the craton. T ...

geological region. The plateau is composed of the Lower

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

s in its northern part, and in the southern by

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...

metamorphic Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causin ...

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

s, with

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

intrusions.

Flora

The mountains of the highlands are covered by

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...

taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruce ...

in the lower and middle slopes.

Siberian pine ''Pinus sibirica'', or Siberian pine, in the family Pinaceae is a species of pine tree that occurs in Siberia from 58°E in the Ural Mountains east to 126°E in the Stanovoy Range in southern Sakha Republic, and from Igarka at 68°N in the lower ...

scrub and

mountain tundra Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets ...

grow at higher altitudes.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Fishing in the Tokko River (South Yakutia)Charoite from the Murunskii Massif, Chara and Tokko Rivers Confluence
Mountain ranges of Russia Mountain ranges of the Sakha Republic Mountains of Irkutsk Oblast Mountains of Zabaykalsky Krai South Siberian Mountains ru:Олёкмо-Чарское плоскогорье sah:Өлүөхүмэ-Чаара хаптал хайалаах сир

Geography

Geology

Flora

See also

References

External links