The Yana-Oymyakon Highlands ( rus, Яно-Оймяконское нагорье; sah, Дьааҥы хаптал хайалара), also known as Oymyakon Highlands ( rus, Оймяконское нагорье),Soviet General Topographic Maps P-54-V,VI are 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 Eas ...

Khabarovsk Krai Khabarovsk Krai ( rus, Хабаровский край, r=Khabarovsky kray, p=xɐˈbarəfskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia. It is geographically located in the Russian Far East and is a part of the Far Eastern Federal District ...

and Magadan Oblast,

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. The area is named after the main features of the highlands.

Kigilyakh Kigilyakh or kisiliyakh ( rus, кигиляхи; sah, киһилээх, meaning "stone person") are tall, pillar-like natural rock formations looking like tall monoliths standing more or less isolated. Usually they are composed of granite or ...

s are found in some places of the plateaus. These are rock formations that are valued in

Yakut culture The Yakuts, or the Sakha ( sah, саха, ; , ), are a Turkic ethnic group who mainly live in the Republic of Sakha in the Russian Federation, with some extending to the Amur, Magadan, Sakhalin regions, and the Taymyr and Evenk Distric ...

.Кисиляхи
/ref>

Geography

The Yana-Oymyakon Highlands are a mountain region of the

East Siberian System The East Siberian Mountains or East Siberian Highlands ( rus, Восточно-Сибирское нагорье) are one of the largest mountain systems of the Russian Federation. They are located between the Central Yakutian Lowland and the Ber ...

located between the southern reaches of the

Verkhoyansk Range The Verkhoyansk Range (russian: Верхоянский хребет, ''Verkhojanskiy Khrebet''; sah, Үөһээ Дьааҥы сис хайата, ''Üöhee Chaangy sis khaĭata'') is a mountain range in the Sakha Republic, Russia near the settle ...

to the west, the

Suntar-Khayata Range Suntar-Khayata Range (russian: Сунтар-Хаята, sah, Сунтаар Хайата) is a granite mountain range rising along the border of the Sakha Republic in the north with Amur Oblast and Khabarovsk Krai in the south. The R504 Kolyma H ...

to the southwest and the Chersky mountain range to the northeast. The main highland features are the vast

Yana Plateau The Yana Plateau ( rus, Янское плоскогорье, sah, Дьааҥы хаптал хайалара) is a mountain plateau in the Sakha Republic, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia.Google Earth The plateau lies in an uninhabited area ...

in the northwest, the

Elgi Plateau The Elgi Plateau ( rus, Эльгинское плоскогорье;Soviet General Topographic Maps P-54-V,VI sah, Эльгэ хаптал хайалаах сир) is a plateau in the Sakha Republic, Far Eastern Federal District, Russian Federa ...

in the middle and the

Oymyakon Plateau The Oymyakon Plateau ( rus, Оймяконское плоскогорье, sah, Өймөкөөн үрдэлэ) is a mountain plateau in the Sakha Republic, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia. The plateau is in the area of the famous Oymyako ...

in the southeast. The highlands include the

Kuydusun Kuydusun (russian: Куйдусун) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Borogonsky 2-y Rural Okrug of Oymyakonsky District in the Sakha Republic, Russia, located from Ust-Nera, the administrative center An administrative center is a seat ...

and Agalkin

intermontane basin Intermontane is a physiographic adjective formed from the prefix " inter-" (''signifying among, between, amid, during, within, mutual, reciprocal'') and the adjective "montane" (inhabiting, or growing in mountainous regions, especially cool, moi ...

s, as well as mountain chains of moderate altitude, such as the Nelgesin and Tirekhtyakh ranges.Geographical Atlas of Russia. - Federal Agency for Geodesy and Cartography , AST, 2010. - pp. 118-119 The average height of the plateau surface is between and in the upper course of 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 ...

to the northwest, and to the southeast between and in the Oymyakon plateau. Individual peaks of the ranges rise up to .

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 whole zone is characterized by harsh, cold winters and is very sparsely populated. The main towns are

Oymyakon Oymyakon, ; sah, Өймөкөөн, ''Öymököön'', is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Oymyakonsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located in the Yana-Oymyakon Highlands, along the Indigirka River, northwest of Tomtor on the Koly ...

and

Verkhoyansk Verkhoyansk ( rus, Верхоянск, p=vʲɪrxɐˈjansk; sah, Верхоянскай, ''Verkhoyanskay'') is a town in Verkhoyansky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located on the Yana River in the Arctic Circle, from Batagay, the ad ...

, the latter close to the northwestern end of the highland area.

Hydrography

The upper course of the Yana River flows through the northwestern part of the Yana-Oymyakon Highlands with its following tributaries:

Bytantay The Bytantay (russian: Бытантай; sah, Бытантай) is a river in the Republic of Sakha in Russia. It is a left hand tributary of the Yana, and is long, with a drainage basin of . Course The river begins in the eastern flank of th ...

Dulgalakh The Dulgalakh ( rus, Дулгалах; sah, Дулҕалаах, ''Dulğalaax'') is a river in Yakutia, the left, western source river of the Yana. Its length is and its basin size . Course The Dulgalakh rises on the central Verkhoyansk Range, so ...

, Sartang, Adycha,

Borulakh The Borulakh ( rus, Борулах; sah, Боруулаах, ''Boruulaax'') is a river in the Republic of Sakha in Russia. It is a left hand tributary of the Adycha, of the Yana basin. It is long, with a drainage basin of . The river is not na ...

Nelgese The Nelgese ( rus, Нельгесе; sah, Нэльгэһэ, ''Nelgehe'') is a river in the Republic of Sakha in Russia. It is a left hand tributary of the Adycha, of the Yana basin. It is long, with a drainage basin of . The river flows acros ...

Derbeke The Derbeke ( rus, Дербеке; sah, Дэрбэкэ) is a river in the Republic of Sakha in Russia. It is a left hand tributary of the Adycha, of the Yana basin. It is long, with a drainage basin of . It is an excellent river for boating, ...

and

Charky The Charky (russian: Чаркы; sah, Чаркы), also known as Muolakaan (Муолакаан), is a river in the Republic of Sakha in Russia. It is a right hand tributary of the Adycha, of the Yana basin. It is long, with a drainage basin of ...

, among others. The Delinya River, a right tributary of the

Tompo The Tompo (russian: Томпо) is a river in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia, a right tributary of the Aldan, part of the Lena basin. River Tompo gives its name to the Tompo District. It flows across desolate regions, Topolinoye being the ...

—part 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 ...

basin, flows from the central part of the highlands, 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 i ...

flows in the southeastern part with its tributaries

Tuora-Yuryakh The Khastakh or Tuora-Yuryakh (russian: Хастах; sah, Хаастаах, ''Xaastaax'') is a river in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. It is one of the two tributaries giving origin to the Indigirka. The river has a length of and a dr ...

, Kyuente, Elgi, and other minor ones.

Flora

Forests of

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 ...

generally cover the lower slopes of the mountain ranges and there are

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

areas in some places on the southern slopes. The mountaintops are covered with

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 ...

Willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

s and poplars may grow in the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

s of the

s.Эльгинское плоскогорье

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 ...

Юкагирского плоскогорья,

Яно-Оймяконское нагорье

References

{{Reflist

External links

Physiogeography of the Russian Far East
Mountain ranges of Magadan Oblast Mountain ranges of the Sakha Republic Geography of Khabarovsk Krai East Siberian Mountains ru:Яно-Оймяконское нагорье sah:Дьааҥы хаптал хайалара