The Yana-Indigirka Lowland (russian: Яно-Индигирская низменность; sah, Дьааҥы - Индигир намтала) is a large, low

alluvial plain An alluvial plain is a largely flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A floodplain is part of the process, being the sma ...

located in northern

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 ...

Far Eastern Federal District The Far Eastern Federal District (russian: Дальневосто́чный федера́льный о́круг, ''Dalnevostochny federalny okrug'') is the largest of the federal districts of Russia, eight federal districts of Russia but t ...

, Russia. Administratively most of the territory of the lowland is part of 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). There are inhabited centers of population in the lowlands such as Chokurdakh, Olenegorsk and

Nizhneyansk Nizhneyansk (russian: Нижнея́нск; sah, Нижнеянскай, translit=Nijneyanskay) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Ust-Yansky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located from Deputatsky, the administrative ...

, but these are very few and scattered.

Geography

The

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of ...

is named after the

Yana River The Yana ( rus, Я́на, p=ˈjanə; sah, Дьааҥы, ''Caañı'') is a river in Sakha in Russia, located between the Lena to the west and the Indigirka to the east. Course It is long, and its drainage basin covers . Including its longest ...

in the west and the

Indigirka River The Indigirka ( rus, Индиги́рка, r=; sah, Индигиир, translit=Indigiir) is a river in the Sakha Republic in Russia between the Yana to the west and the Kolyma to the east. It is long. The area of its basin is . History The is ...

in the east and is crossed by both rivers in their middle and lower courses. The area is mostly flat and very marshy, its northern limits extending for over from the Buor Khaya Gulf of the

Laptev Sea The Laptev Sea ( rus, мо́ре Ла́птевых, r=more Laptevykh; sah, Лаптевтар байҕаллара, translit=Laptevtar baỹğallara) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the northern coast of Siberia, th ...

in the west to the delta of river Indigirka in the

East Siberian Sea The East Siberian Sea ( rus, Восто́чно-Сиби́рское мо́ре, r=Vostochno-Sibirskoye more) is a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean. It is located between the Arctic Cape to the north, the coast of Siberia to the south, the New Si ...

in the east. It is limited by the

Kyundyulyun The Kyundyulyun ( rus, Кюндюлюн or Горы Кюндюлюн; sah, Күндүлүн) is a mountain range in the Sakha Republic, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia. The nearest airport is Ust-Kuyga Airport, located in Ust-Yansky Distri ...

, the northern end of the

Selennyakh Range The Selennyakh Range (russian: Селенняхский хребет, ''Selennyakhsky Khrebet''; sah, Силээннээх) is a range of mountains in far North-eastern Russia. Administratively the range is part of the Sakha Republic of the Russ ...

and the

Polousny Range The Polousny Range ( rus, Полоусный кряж; sah, Полоуснай томтороот) is a mountain range in the Sakha Republic, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia.Полоусный кряж (Polousny Range) / Great Soviet Encyc ...

in the south.Рельеф и геологическое строение
(Relief and geological structure) The Yana-Indigirka Lowland is roughly crescent-shaped, reaching a maximum width in its central part of . The average height of the plain is between and above sea level. There is an immense number of lakes dotting the lowlands, the largest of which are

Lake Bustakh Lake Bustakh (; sah, Буустаах) is a large freshwater lake in Ust-Yansky District, Sakha Republic, Russia. Lake Bustakh freezes up in late September and stays icebound until June. It is rich in fish. Geography With an area of it is on ...

with an area of , as well as

Orotko Orotko (russian: Оротко; sah, Оротко) is a freshwater lake in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. Orotko is one of the largest lakes in the Ust-Yansky District. The nearest inhabited place is Tumat, located about to the southeas ...

and

Soluntakh Soluntakh (russian: Солунтах; sah, Солунтах, ''Soluntax'') is a freshwater lake in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. It is one of the largest lakes in the Allaikhovsky District. The region where Soluntakh lies is uninhabited. ...

. The Yana-Indigirka Lowland also includes the lower course of the

Omoloy River The Omoloy (russian: Омолой sah, Омолой) is a river in Siberia, flowing into the Laptev Sea east of the river Lena. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . Administratively the basin of the Omoloy is part of the Sakha (Yakutia) adm ...

at the western end, the vast delta of river Yana, as well as the

Byoryolyokh The Byoryolyokh (russian: Бёрёлёх,Allaikha lower course tributaries of the Indigirka in the east. Other important rivers of the lowland are the Chondon, with its tributaries

Nuchcha The Nuchcha or Nuuchcha (russian: Нучча; sah, Нуучча) is a river in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. It is the longest tributary of the Chondon. The river has a length of and a drainage basin area of . The Nuchcha flows north ...

and Buor-Yuryakh, the San-Yuryakh, Sellyakh, Muksunuokha,

Kyuyol-Yuryakh The Kyuyol-Yuryakh (russian: Кюёль-Юрях; sah, Күөл-үрэх, ''Küöl-ürex'') is a river in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. It has a length of and a drainage basin area of . The river flows north of the Arctic Circle, acro ...

Khroma The Khroma (russian: Хрома) is a river in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) of the Russian Federation. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . Course The source of the Khroma is at the confluence of the Tamteken and the Nemalak-Arangas, flowi ...

—with the Uryung-Ulakh, the

Sundrun The Sundrun (russian: Сундрун) is a river in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) of the Russian Federation. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . Course It has its sources in the Ulakhan-Sis Range and flows roughly northeastwards across the ...

, Dyagarin,

Bogdashkina The Bogdashkina (russian: Богдашкина) is a river in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. It has a length of and a drainage basin area of . The river flows north of the Arctic Circle, across desolate territories of the Allaikhovsky ...

and Gusinaya, among other smaller rivers and streams.Yana-Indigirka Lowland - Russian Academic Dictionary
/ref> The large rivers meander and widen in the plain, reaching widths between and .Indigirka
/

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 ...

in 35 vols. / Ch. ed. Yu.S. Osipov . - M, 2004—2017. The Yana-Indigirka Lowland is part of the wider Yana-Kolyma system of lowlands, which includes the

Aby Lowland The Aby Lowland (russian: Абыйская низменность; sah, Абый Намтала, translit=Abıy Namtala) is a low alluvial plain located in the Sakha Republic, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia. Administratively most of the te ...

to the south of the Polousny Range and the Kolyma Lowland in the eastern side.Oleg Leonidovič Kryžanovskij, ''A Checklist of the Ground-beetles of Russia and Adjacent Lands.'' p. 16 There are residual ridges of bedrock, up to high, rising above the lowland, the northernmost of which is the

Kondakov Plateau The Kondakov Plateau ( rus, Кондаковское плоскогорье; sah, Кондаков хаптал хайалаах сирэ) is a mountain plateau in the Sakha Republic, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia. The town of Chokurdakh i ...

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 ...

Soil

The lowlands have a

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 ...

ground, composed of various kinds of marine, river and lake sediments with a high content of fossil ice owing to the prevalence of

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 ...

. The features of the local relief include alas depressions with lakes and swamps, as well as polygonal soils. Along the banks of rivers, seas and lakes there are

baydzharakh Baydzharakh (russian: Байджарах; Yakut: ) is a term based in the Yakut language, referring to a roughly cone-shaped natural rock formation. They are usually composed of siltstone, silty peat or loam. Description Baydzharakhs form owing ...

mounds.

Climate

The climate of the lowland is severe, with long, bitter winters. The vast plain is wholly frozen, under ice and snow, between early October and the end of May or early June, according to the year. Once the ice melts large areas become flooded and some islands and sandbanks completely disappear underwater. After the floods dwindle a period of summer/early autumn low water begins until the winter frost sets in. The average temperature in January is by the seashore and inland. In July the average temperature reaches by the seashore, but stays a chilly inland.

Flora and fauna

At the northern limits, above the 69th parallel, the lowland seashores are covered with moss, lichen and shrub

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 ...

. In the southern part there are

forest tundra A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

zones, especially along river valleys, the forest cover consisting of thinly scattered

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 ...

. There are

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

herds in the Yana-Indigirka Lowland, as well as

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

and

arctic fox The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in co ...

, among other animals. the waters of rivers and lakes are rich in various species of fish, such as Siberian vendace, chir,

muksun The muksun ''(Coregonus muksun)'' is a type of whitefish widespread in the Siberian Arctic waters. It is mostly found in the freshened areas of the Kara and Laptev Seas and up the major rivers, as well as in Lake Taymyr. Like all whitefishes, i ...

nelma ''Stenodus nelma'', known alternatively as the nelma, sheefish, siifish, inconnu or connie, is a commercial species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is widespread in the Arctic rivers from the Kola Peninsula (White Sea basin) ...

and

omul The omul, ''Coregonus migratorius'', also known as Baikal omul (russian: байкальский омуль), is a whitefish species of the salmon family endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia. It is considered a delicacy and is the object o ...

References

External links

Wetlands in Russia - Vol.4
{{Authority control East Siberian Lowland