The Tunguska Plateau ( rus, Тунгусское плато) is a mountain

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

. It is a part of 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 ...

. The plateau is located in largely uninhabited area, the village of

Noginsk Noginsk (russian: Ноги́нск) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Noginsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located east of the Moscow Ring Road on the Klyazma River. Population: History Fo ...

was abandoned in 2006. The Tunguska Plateau is named after the historical name of the

Evenks The Evenks (also spelled Ewenki or Evenki based on their endonym )Autonym: (); russian: Эвенки (); (); formerly known as Tungus or Tunguz; mn, Хамниган () or Aiwenji () are a Tungusic people of North Asia. In Russia, the Even ...

Geography

The Tunguska Plateau is located in central Krasnoyarsk Krai. To the north it is limited by the

Kureika River The Kureyka (russian: Курейка; also ''Lyuma'', ''Numa'') is a major right tributary of the Yenisey in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. The Kureyka basin is very sparsely populated. The village of Kureyka used to have a museum dedicated to Joseph ...

and to the south by the

Stony Tunguska River The Podkamennaya Tunguska (russian: Подкаменная Тунгуска, literally ''Tunguska under the stones''; evn, Дулгу Катэнӈа, Ket: Ӄо’ль) also known as ''Middle Tunguska'' or ''Stony Tunguska'', is a river in Krasnoy ...

.Geographic Encyclopedia - Tunguska Plateau
(in Russian) To the north and northeast rise the

Putorana Mountains The Putorana Plateau () or the Putorana Mountains is a mountainous area in the Russian Federation. It is a large massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movem ...

and to the east the border with the

Syverma Plateau The Syverma Plateau ( rus, плато Сыверма) is a mountain plateau in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, Russia. It is a part of the Central Siberian Plateau. The plateau is located in largely uninhabited area. Geography The Syverma Plateau is ...

is not clearly defined. To the west the Tunguska Plateau descends quite abruptly towards the

Yenisei 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, ...

valley and to the southeast rises the

Angara Range The Angara Range (russian: Ангарский кряж) is a mountain range in Krasnoyarsk Krai and Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, part of the Central Siberian Plateau.Google Earth There are large iron ore deposits in the area of the Angara Range. Geo ...

. The largest river having its sources in the plateau is the Bakhta, a right tributary of the Yenisei. Other rivers river flowing from it are: Erachimo, Nimde, Kochumdek, Tutonchana, Degali and Uchami (tributaries of the Lower Tunguska); and Stolbovaya and Kondroma (right tributaries of the Stony Tunguska).

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 ...

The average height of the Tunguska Plateau surface is between and . The slopes of the mountains are often stepped and river valleys tend to form deep canyons in some areas. The

Lower Tunguska River The Nizhnyaya Tunguska ( rus, Ни́жняя Тунгу́ска, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪjə tʊnˈɡuskə, meaning "Lower Tunguska") is a river in Siberia, Russia, that flows through the Irkutsk Oblast and the Krasnoyarsk Krai. The river is a right tribut ...

crosses the plateau and divides it roughly into two halves. The highest point is a high unnamed summit in the southern half of the northern part.

Geology

Geologically the Tunguska Plateau is made up of

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 ' ...

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

s with

volcanic rock Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic r ...

intrusion In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

s —mainly

trap rock Trap rock, also known as either trapp or trap, is any dark-colored, fine-grained, non-granitic intrusive or extrusive igneous rock. Types of trap rock include basalt, peridotite, diabase, and gabbro.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A ...

and

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock cont ...

Flora and climate

The plateau is part of the

East Siberian taiga The East Siberian taiga ecoregion, in the Taiga and boreal forests biome, is a very large biogeographic region in eastern Russia. Setting This vast ecoregion is located in the heart of Siberia, stretching over 20° of latitude and 50° of longitu ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

. It is entirely covered by somewhat sparse and undersized

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 ...

, except on the highest summits where only

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 ...

grows. There are swamps in the river valleys.Тунгусское плато,

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 30 vols. / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M, 1969-1978. The Tunguska Plateau is located in the

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 ...

zone and the soil never thaws at great depths.Олег Фейгин, Никола Тесла: Наследие великого изобретателя, p. 126 The climate prevailing in the Tunguska Plateau is

subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of humid continental regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Cairngorms. Generally, ...

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'' ( ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Soil Cover of the North of Central SiberiaEvolution of the West Siberian BasinClimate Changes in SiberiaOnyoko and Erachimo rivers
Central Siberian Plateau Landforms of Krasnoyarsk Krai