Altai Mountains

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Altay.
Coordinates 49N 89E

Altai Mountains
Altai Mountains.jpg
Map of the Altai mountain range
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese ?????
Traditional Chinese ?????
[show]Transcriptions
Mongolian name
Mongolian ?????? ?????Altain nur
Russian name
Russian ?????
Romanization Altay
Kazakh name
Kazakh ????? ???????Altay tawlari????? ???????
Uyghur name
Uyghur Altay Taghliri?????? ???????
The Altai Mountains (also spelled Altay Mountains; Altai ????? ??????, Altay
tuular; Mongolian ?????
????
?????? , Altai-yin niru?u (Chakhar) ?????? ?????, Altain nur (Khalkha);
Kazakh ????? ???????, Altay tawlari, ????? ??????? Russian ????????? ????,
Altajskije gory; Chinese; ?????, A'erti Shanmi, Xiao'erjing ????????? ???????;
Dungan ???? ?????) are a mountain range in Central and East Asia, where Russia,
China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan come together, and are where the rivers Irtysh and
Ob have their headwaters. The northwest end of the range is at 52 N and between
84 and 90 E (where it merges with the Sayan Mountains to the east), and extends
southeast from there to about 45 N and 99 E, where it gradually becomes lower and
merges into the high plateau of the Gobi Desert.

The name Altai means Gold Mountain in Mongolian; alt (gold) and tai (suffix with;
the mountain with gold) and also in its Chinese name, derived from the Mongol name
(Chinese ??; literally Gold Mountain). In Turkic languages altin means gold and dag
means mountain. The controversial and now discredited Altaic language family takes
its name from this mountain range.[1][2]

Contents [hide]
1 Geography
2 Fauna
3 History and prehistory
4 World Heritage site
5 Geology
5.1 Seismic activity
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 External links
Geography[edit]
For the area north of the Altai, see Geography of South-Central Siberia.

Lake Kucherla in the Altai Mountains

Belukha mountain

Belukhathe highest mountain in Altay and Siberia

Altay Mountains, Kazakhstan
In the north of the region is the Sailughem Mountains, also known as Kolyvan Altai,
which stretch northeast from 49 N and 86 E towards the western extremity of the
Sayan Mountains in 51 60' N and 89 E. Their mean elevation is 1,500 to 1,750 m.
The snow-line runs at 2,000 m on the northern side and at 2,400 m on the southern,
and above it the rugged peaks tower some 1,000 m higher. Mountain passes across the
range are few and difficult, the chief being the Ulan-daban at 2,827 m (2,879 m
according to Kozlov), and the Chapchan-daban, at 3,217 m, in the south and north
respectively. On the east and southeast this range is flanked by the great plateau
of Mongolia, the transition being effected gradually by means of several minor
plateaus, such as Ukok (2,380 m) with Pazyryk Valley, Chuya (1,830 m), Kendykty
(2,500 m), Kak (2,520 m), (2,590 m), and (2,410 m).[3]

This region is studded with large lakes, e.g. Uvs 720 m above sea level, Khyargas,
Dorgon and Khar 1,170 m, and traversed by various mountain ranges, of which the
principal are the Tannu-Ola Mountains, running roughly parallel with the Sayan
Mountains as far east as the Kosso-gol, and the Khan Khkhii mountains, also
stretching west and east.[3]

The north western and northern slopes of the Sailughem Mountains are extremely
steep and difficult to access. On this side lies the highest summit of the range,
the double-headed Belukha, whose summits reach 4,506 and 4,440 m respectively, and
give origin to several glaciers (30 square kilometers in aggregate area, as of
1911).[3] Altaians call it Kadyn Bazhy, but is also called Uch-Sumer.[4] The second
highest peak of the range is in Mongolian part named Khiten Peak. This massive
peak reaches 4374 m. Numerous spurs, striking in all directions from the Sailughem
mountains, fill up the space between that range and the lowlands of Tomsk. Such are
the Chuya Alps, having an average elevation of 2,700 m, with summits from 3,500 to
3,700 m, and at least ten glaciers on their northern slope; the Katun Alps, which
have a mean elevation of about 3,000 m and are mostly snow-clad; the Kholzun range;
the Korgon 1,900 to 2,300 m, Talitskand Selitsk ranges; the Tigeretsk Alps.[3]

Several secondary plateaus of lower elevations are also distinguished by

geographers, The Katun Valley begins as a wild gorge on the south-west slope of
Belukha; then, after a big bend, the river (600 km long) pierces the Katun Alps,
and enters a wider valley, lying at an elevation of 600 to 1,100 m, which it
follows until it emerges from the Altai highlands to join the Biya in a most
picturesque region. The Katun and the Biya together form the Ob.[3]

The next valley is that of the Charysh, which has the Korgon and Tigeretsk Alps on
one side and the Talitsk and Bashalatsk Alps on the other. This, too, is very
fertile. The Altai, seen from this valley, presents the most romantic scenes,
including the small but deep Kolyvan Lake (altitude 360 m), which is surrounded by
fantastic granite domes and towers.[3]

Farther west the valleys of the Uba, the Ulba and the Bukhtarma open south-
westwards towards the Irtysh. The lower part of the first, like the lower valley of
the Charysh, is thickly populated; in the valley of the Ulba is the Riddersk mine,
at the foot of the Ivanovsk Peak (2,060 m), clothed with alpine meadows. The valley
of the Bukhtarma, which has a length of 320 km, also has its origin at the foot of
the Belukha and the Kuitun peaks, and as it falls some 1,500 m in about 300 km,
from an alpine plateau at an elevation of 1,900 m to the Bukhtarma fortress (345
m), it offers the most striking contrasts of landscape and vegetation. Its upper
parts abound in glaciers, the best known of which is the Berel, which comes down
from the Byelukha. On the northern side of the range which separates the upper
Bukhtarma from the upper Katun is the Katun glacier, which after two ice-falls
widens out to 700 to 900 metres. From a grotto in this glacier bursts tumultuously
the Katun river.[3]
The middle and lower parts of the Bukhtarma valley have been colonized since the
18th century by runaway Russian peasants, serfs, and religious schismatics
(Raskolniks), who created a free republic there on Chinese territory; and after
this part of the valley was annexed to Russia in 1869, it was rapidly colonized.
The high valleys farther north, on the same western face of the Sailughem range,
are but little known, their only visitors being Kyrgyz shepherds.[3]

Those of Bashkaus, Chulyshman, and Chulcha, all three leading to the alpine lake of
Teletskoye (length, 80 km; maximum width, 5 km; elevation, 520 m; area, 230.8
square kilometers; maximum depth, 310 m; mean depth, 200 m), are inhabited by
Telengit people. The shores of the lake rise almost sheer to over 1,800 m. From
this lake issues the Biya, which joins the Katun at Biysk, and then meanders
through the prairies of the north-west of the Altai.[3]

Farther north the Altai highlands are continued in the Kuznetsk district, which has
a slightly different geological aspect, but still belongs to the Altai system. But
the Abakan River, which rises on the western shoulder of the Sayan mountains,
belongs to the system of the Yenisei. The Kuznetsk Ala-tau range, on the left bank
of the Abakan, runs north-east into the government of Yeniseisk, while a complexus
of mountains (Chukchut, Salair, Abakan) fills up the country northwards towards the
Trans-Siberian Railway and westwards towards the Ob.[3]

The Ek-tagh or Mongolian Altai, which separates the Khovd basin on the north from
the Irtysh basin on the south, is a true border-range, in that it rises in a steep
and lofty escarpment from the Dzungarian depression (470900 m), but descends on
the north by a relatively short slope to the plateau (1,150 to 1,680 m) of north-
western Mongolia. East of 94 E the range is continued by a double series of
mountain chains, all of which exhibit less sharply marked orographical features and
are at considerably lower elevations. The slopes of the constituent chains of the
system are inhabited principally by nomadic Kyrgyz.[3]

The five highest mountains of the Altai are

Belukha, 4,506 m (14,783 ft), KazakhstanRussia

Khiten Peak , 4,374 m (14,350 ft), ChinaMongolia
Mnkh Khairkhan , 4,204 m (13,793 ft), Mongolia
Sutai Mountain , 4,220 m (13,850 ft), Mongolia
Tsambagarav , 4,195 m (13,763 ft), Mongolia

Markakol reserve, Altay Mountains, Kazakhstan

Katun River in the Altai Mountains