The Patom Highlands ( rus, Патомское нагорье) are a mountainous area in
Eastern Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, 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 ...
, Russia. Administratively most of the territory of the uplands is part of
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 Nizh ...
, with a smaller section in northern
Transbaikal 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) t ...
.
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 ...
There are large deposits of gold in
Bodaybo
Bodaybo ( rus, Бодайбо, p=bədɐjˈbo) is a town and the administrative center of Bodaybinsky District in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. It is located from Irkutsk, the administrative center of the oblast.
Geography
The town is located in the ...
and
Artyomovsky. Besides these two towns, other inhabited localities of the mountain region are:
Mama
Mama(s) or Mamma or Momma may refer to:
Roles
*Mother, a female parent
* Mama-san, in Japan and East Asia, a woman in a position of authority
*Mamas, a name for female associates of the Hells Angels
Places
*Mama, Russia, an urban-type settlement ...
,
Perevoz,
Kropotkin
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activist ...
,
Svetly and
Bolshoy Patom
The Bolshoy Patom (russian: Большой Патом), "Big Patom", is a river in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. It is the 11th longest tributary of the Lena with a length of and a drainage basin area of . ,
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 ...
.
History
In 1912 there was a massacre of striking workers of the Lena Goldfields, located in the Patom Highlands between the Lena and Vitim rivers. Strikers were protesting about harsh working conditions. Soldiers of the
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
intervened and fired upon protesters, causing hundreds of casualties. The incident provoked wide outrage across pre-revolutionary Russia when
Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky, ; Reforms of Russian orthography, original spelling: ( – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the Russian Provisional Government and the short-lived Russian Republic for three months ...
reported it in the
Duma
A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions.
The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...
.
The name of the highlands was first proposed by
Peter Kropotkin
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...
in 1868.
Geography
The Patom Highlands are bound by rivers
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 ...
,
Vitim
Vitim (russian: Витим) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia.
Modern localities
*Vitim, Sakha Republic, an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Lensky District of the Sakha Republic
* Vitim, Republic of Buryatia, a ...
and
Chara. To the north the valley of the Lena separates the highlands from 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 ...
and to the southwest the Vitim River, a right tributary of the Lena, separates it from the
Stanovoy and
North Baikal Highlands
The North Baikal Highlands ( rus, Северо-Байкальское нагорье; bua, Хойто-Байгалай хадалиг газар) . To the south rises the
Kropotkin Range
Kropotkin Range (russian: Хребет Кропоткина) is a mountain range in Bodaybinsky District, Irkutsk Oblast, Russian Federation. The settlements of Kropotkin, Irkutsk Oblast, Kropotkin and Artyomovsky, Irkutsk Oblast, Artyomovsky are ...
and beyond it the valley of the Vitim. To the east flows the Chara River, a left tributary of the
Olyokma River
, 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 ...
of the Lena basin, which separates the highland area from the
Olyokma-Chara Plateau
The Olyokma-Chara Plateau ( rus, Олёкмо-Чарское плоскогорье; sah, Өлүөхүмэ-Чаара хаптал хайалаах сир) is a mountainous area in the Sakha Republic and Irkutsk Oblast, Far Eastern Federal Di ...
. To the southeast the Patom Highlands connect with the
Kodar Range
The Kodar Mountains ( rus, Кода́р) are a mountain range in the Transbaikal region of Siberia, Russia. The name Kodar is derived from "khada", an Evenki word for rock.
The range is part of the Udokan Ore Region that includes the Kalar and ...
of
Transbaikalia
Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykalye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal in Far Eastern Russia.
The steppe and ...
.
[Патомское нагорье](_blank)
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 ...
, (in Russian)[Small encyclopedia of Transbaikalia - Patom Highlands](_blank)
(in Russian)
the river valleys cutting across the highlands are usually deep. Many rivers have their sources in the highlands, including some right tributaries of the Vitim, left tributaries of the Chara, such as the
Zhuya
The Zhuya (russian: Жуя) is a river in Irkutsk Oblast, East Siberia, Russian Federation. It is the second largest tributary of the Chara river in terms of length and area of its basin. The river is long and has a drainage basin of . The area ...
and Malba, and right tributaries of Lena, such as the
Big Patom and Little Patom Rivers. The average height of the mountainous area is between and . The highest point is a high unnamed summit located at in the southeastern end, southeast of Lake
Nichatka
Nichatka (russian: Ничатка; evn, нича) is a fresh water body in the Kalarsky District, Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia. The lake has an area of . The name of the lake comes from the Evenki language word for "fish".
Nichatka is located to the ...
in the Transbaikal Krai zone.
Golets Longdor is a high peak located at .
The
Patom crater is a cone of crushed limestone blocks located on the slopes of the Patom Highlands.
Climate and flora
The climate prevailing in the upland is extreme
continental
Continental may refer to:
Places
* Continent, the major landmasses of Earth
* Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US
* Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US
Arts and entertainment
* ''Continental'' (al ...
and cold. The average annual temperature is . In January the temperature goes down to and in July the temperature reaches a maximum of .
World Climate
/ref>
There are 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 ...
forests of conifers, mostly 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 ...
, in the slopes of the mountains up to to , often mixed with 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 ...
. At higher altitudes these give way to thickets of dwarf Siberian pine up to a height of . Further up the mountaintops are covered with stony 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 ...
.
See also
*Lena Goldfields massacre
The Lena Massacre or Lena Execution (russian: Ленский расстрел, ''Lenskiy rasstrel'') refers to the shooting of goldfield workers on strike in northeast Siberia near the Lena River on .
The strike had been provoked by exceptio ...
*Lena Gold Mining Partnership
In 1855, two merchants, Pavel Basnin and Petr Katyshevtsev, members of the top guild and honorary citizens of Irkutsk, founded the Lena Gold Mining Partnership. By the beginning of the 1870s, Evzel Gintsburg and the Meyer & Co trading house ha ...
References
External links
*
''Patom Highlands''- Encyclopedia of Transbaikalia
{{Authority control
South Siberian Mountains
Mountains of Russia
Landforms of Irkutsk Oblast
Landforms of Zabaykalsky Krai