Central Siberian Plateau

The Central Siberian Plateau (Russian: Среднесибирское плоскогорье, romanized: Srednesibirskoye ploskogorye; Yakut: Орто Сибиир хаптал хайалаах сирэ) is a vast mountainous area in Siberia, one of the Great Russian Regions.

Central Siberian Plateau
Среднесиби́рское плоского́рье
View of the Lower Tunguska River on the Central Siberian Plateau
Location in Russia
LocationKrasnoyarsk Krai
Sakha Republic
Irkutsk Oblast
Coordinates64°N 103°E
Part ofSiberia
Elevation1,678 meters (5,505 ft) (highest)[1]
Length2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi)
Width2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi)
Area3,500,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi)

Geography

The plateau occupies a great part of central Siberia between the Yenisei and Lena rivers. It is located in the Siberian Platform and extends over an area of 3,500,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi), between the Yenisei in the west and the Central Yakutian Lowland in the east. To the south it is bound by the Altai Mountains, Salair Ridge, Kuznetsk Alatau, the Eastern and Western Sayan Mountains and other mountains of Tuva, as well as the Baikal and Transbaikal mountains. To the north of the plateau lie the North Siberian Lowland and to the east the plateau gives way to the Central Yakutian Lowland and the Lena Plateau.[2]

The surface of the Central Siberian Plateau is characterized by the alternation of wide plateaus and ridges, some of the latter sharply jagged. The Central Siberian Plateau covers one-third of Siberia.[3]

Landscape of the Putorana Nature Reserve.
Gold on arsenopyrite as found in the Yenisei Range.

Subplateaus and subranges

The system of the Central Siberian Plateau comprises a number of smaller plateaus and subranges, including, among others, the following:[2]


Climate

The climate is continental with short warm summers and long and severely cold winters. Most of the territory is covered with conifer forests (larch is especially abundant). The plateau's major river is the Lower Tunguska. Known geologically as the Siberian Traps, mineral resources here are very rich and include coal, iron ore, gold, platinum, diamonds and natural gas.

See also

References
  1. Russia. Topographic map R-45,46; M 1: 1 000 000
  2. Среднесибирское плоскогорье (Central Siberian Plateau) / Great Russian Encyclopedia; in 35 vol.] / Ch. ed. Yu.S. Osipov . - M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 2004—2017.
  3. "The Central Siberian Plateau". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2007-07-13.


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