Altai mountains

Golden Mountains of Altai

Altai, southern Siberia, is the main mountain of the biogeographic region of western Siberia where originate the main rivers of this region - the Ob and Irtysh. The site includes three distinct areas: the Altaisky Zapovednik and a buffer zone around Lake Teletskoye, the Katunsky Zapovednik and a buffer zone around Mount Belukha and the Ukok Quiet Zone on the Ukok plateau.

The site covers a total of 1,611,457 ha. This region represents the most complete sequence of plant upland areas in central Siberia: steppe, forest-steppe, mixed forest, subalpine vegetation and alpine vegetation. The site is also an important habitat for endangered species, including the snow leopard.

The Altai mountain range, which stretches south from Siberia about 2000 km, is a geologically complex mountain system of Central Asia which lies mainly in the Republic of Altai and Kazakhstan2. It also extends to the southeast Mongolia and China by the Mongolian Altai (where it ends in the Gobi) and has a small extension in China in the Xinjiang province. It is bounded on the northwest by the Kolyvan mountains (in the Altai Krai), the Kuznetsk Alatau (at the edge of the basin of the same name) and Salair plateau north. The Grand is bounded by the Altai Mountains Sayan northeast, the Tannu-Ola chain to the east and the Russian-Mongolian Altai in the south. Its western part of Altai ore, principally in Kazakhstan.

The landscapes of Altai are very diverse, made of high mountains, sharp rocks, small mountains, plains, valleys, steppes of dry grass, wood of conifers and impassable taiga thickets, lakes and mineral springs, rapids and waterfalls.

We meet three types of relief: the ancient reliefs peneplain, the Alpine mountain reliefs of glacial formation and mid-mountain reliefs. The old peneplains come in the form of mountain ranges with high very jagged peaks whose slopes are transformed by erosion. These reliefs represent one third of the surface of the Altai and are found mainly in the south and southwest, as the high plateau of the Kouïten Oukok-Ououl (4374 meters), the Chulyshman River Plateau (3 148 meters), and Oulagan plateau which culminates at 3345 meters. There are also areas of peneplain in the mid mountain: Korgon Mountains (2490 meters), Tiguirek Mountains (2299 meters), mountains of Terekta (2927 meters), etc. and in the low mountain.


Panoramic view of chuya alps with the upper lake of Chavla
Alpine reliefs rise above the old peneplain and are found in the highest areas of Katun Mountains (4506 meters), the chuya alps (4173 meters), the Kurai Mountains (3446 meters ) Saïliouguem of Mountains (3502 meters), Tchikhatchov of Mountains (4029 meters), the Chapchal (3507 meters) with Chapchal-Daba Pass (3217 m), the southern Altai (3871 meters) Sarym of-Sakty Mountains. Alpine reliefs are less extensive than the high peaks of the old peneplain. They culminate for most of them between 4000 and 4500 meters.

 They are steep and heavily marked by erosion of all forms including wind erosion. They are formed peaks (including pyramid-shaped peaks cabin), glacial cirques, glacial valleys with lakes and valleys, moraine heights, with subsidence and landslides.

The mountainous reliefs have peaks between 800 and 1 800 2 000 meters and occupy half of the territory of Altai.

The Altai is the second chain Siberia by altitude. Several massive reach 3 000-4 000 meters, their tops are covered with eternal snow, and there are a large number of glaciers. The highest point is Mount Belukha, located at the end of the ridge Katun, at 4506 m. It is the second highest peak of Siberia and the Asian part of Russia, the first being the Klyuchevskaya Sopka in Kamchatka (4835 m).

The area is dotted with lakes such as Oubsa-ni, 720 m altitude, Kirghiz-ni, Durga-ni-ni and Kobdo (1170 m), and crossed chains of various mountains, the main ones the Tannu-Ola, the Khan-Khu.