North Baikal Highlands

The North Baikal Highlands (; )
''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' in 30 vols. — Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M. Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.(in Russian) are a mountainous area in Eastern Siberia, Russia. Administratively the territory of the uplands is part of Buryatia and Irkutsk Oblast.Google Earth

The nearest airport is Mama Airport.

History

Between 1855 and 1858 Ivan Kryzhin (d. 1884) took part in the Eastern Siberian expedition led by Russian astronomer and traveler Ludwig Schwarz. In 1857 he mapped the Kirenga River and, while exploring its right tributary, the Cherepanikha, Kryzhin discovered the formerly unknown Akitkan Range rising above the area of its source.

Between 1909 and 1911 the North Baikal Highlands were explored by Russian geologist Pavel Preobrazhensky (1874 - 1944). He surveyed the river valleys of the area, all of them tributaries of the Lena basin, including the Chechuy, Chaya, the Chuya, Kirenga and its right tributaries, as well as the Mama.Физическая география СССР - Байкальско-Становая область
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Preobrazhensky's trip very nearly ended in tragedy when his boat crashed and capsized while navigating down the Chaya River. Badly injured and shaken, Pavel and his team almost lost their lives and their valuable equipment sank. Despite the difficulties, Preobrazhensky managed to map the area cutting across several places and outlining the entire North Baikal Highlands. His data revealed that it was a complex system of distinct high massifs, gathered either in small irregular groups or in short ridges, that were separated from each other by deep and narrow valleys. In the western part of the North Baikal mountainous land he mapped for the first time a stretch of the Akitkan Range.

Geography

The North Baikal Highlands are separated from the Patom Highlands to the northeast by river Vitim, a tributary of the Lena. The highlands stretch southwards to the Upper Angara Range and southeastwards to the Delyun-Uran Range. To the northwest begins the Central Siberian Plateau and to the east the Delyun-Uran Range of the Stanovoy Highlands. The average altitudes range between and with narrow valleys in between that coincide with tectonic faults across the highlands.

The highest point is high Golets Inyaptuk in the southern part,Физическая география СССР
/ref> located at in the Buryatian zone of the highlands. There are clear traces of ancient glaciation in the uppermost parts of the ranges.

The main subranges are:
* Synnyr Massif (Сынныр), highest point
* Akitkan Range (хребет Акиткан), highest point
* Ungdar Range (хребет Унгдар), highest point
*Upper Angara Range (Верхнеангарский хребет), highest point

Hydrography

The rivers of the North Baikal Highlands belong to the Baikal and Lena basins. Their valleys are deep. The main ones are the long Chuya, the long Chaya, the long Chechuy, the long Minya, the long Mogol, the long Okunayka, the long Kutima, the long Tyya, the long Domugda and the long Cherepakhina. The highland area is marked by permafrost.

Flora

There are taiga forests of conifers, mostly larch, in the slopes of the mountains. At higher altitudes there is mountain tundra. Further up the mountaintops are either flat or topped by golets-type bare rocky summits.

See also

*List of mountains and hills of Russia

References

External links

*{{Commons category-inline
Petrogenesis and age of felsic volcanics of the North-Baikal volcanic-plutonic beltProminent Geologists - VSEGEI Portrait GalleryHistory of Exploration
(in Russian)
Mountains of Russia
Landforms of Irkutsk Oblast
Landforms of Buryatia
South Siberian Mountains