The Aldan Highlands, or Aldan Plateau ( rus, Алданское нагорье, r=Aldanskoye Nagorye; sah, Алдан үрдэлэ) 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 E ...

Far Eastern Federal District The Far Eastern Federal District (russian: Дальневосто́чный федера́льный о́круг, ''Dalnevostochny federalny okrug'') is the largest of the eight federal districts of Russia but the least populated, with a p ...

, Russia. Aldan town and Tommot are located in the northern area of the highlands and

Chulman Chulman (russian: Чульман) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Neryungrinsky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located from Neryungri, the administrative center of the district,''Registry of the Administrative-Territ ...

in the south.

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 Olyokma Nature Reserve is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

located on the northwestern side, partly within the neighboring

Lena Plateau The Lena Plateau, also known as Prilensky Plateau ( rus, Приленское плато, ''Prilenskoye Plato''; sah, Өлүөнэтээҕи хаптал хайалаах сир), is one of the great plateaus of Siberia. Administratively it is m ...

History

The area of the Aldan and the Yudoma-Maya highlands, between the basins of the Aldan River and the Yudoma, was uncharted territory well until the 1930s. It was first surveyed in 1934 by geologist Yuri Bilibin (1901—1952) together with mining engineer Evgeny Bobin (1897—1941) in the course of an expedition sent by the government of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...

. Bilibin and Bobin made a thorough topographic survey of the mountainous region leading separate research parties.

Geography

The Aldan Highlands are located at the southern end of the Sakha Republic, between the

Aldan River The Aldan (russian: Алдан) is the second-longest, right tributary of the Lena in the Sakha Republic in eastern Siberia.Uchur River, a right tributary of the Aldan. The Aldan partly crosses the uplands in the north, in the same manner as the Amga River in the west. The highlands are limited by the

Stanovoy Range The Stanovoy Range (russian: Станово́й хребе́т, ''Stanovoy khrebet''; sah, Сир кура; ), is a mountain range located in the Sakha Republic and Amur Oblast, Far Eastern Federal District. It is also known as Sükebayatur a ...

to the southwest, and by its

Toko-Stanovik The Toko-Stanovik (russian: Токинский Становик, ''Tokinsky Stanovik'') is a range of mountains in the Russian Far East. Administratively it belongs partly to Amur Oblast, the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) and Khabarovsk Krai of the Ru ...

subrange to the south and southeast. In the west the

Olyokma River , image = Olyokma river.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = View of the river , pushpin_map = Russia Sakha Republic , pushpin_map_size = , pushpin_map_caption= Location in the Sakha Republic, Ru ...

marks the limit, beyond which lies the Olyokma-Chara Plateau. The

Dzhugdzhur Range The Dzhugdzhur Mountains (russian: Джугджу́р) or Jugjur Mountains, meaning 'big bulge' in Evenki, are a mountain range along the western shores of the Sea of Okhotsk in the far east of Siberia. The mountains are quite deserted, the ...

rises to the east of the highlands.URSS 1,000,000 scale Operational Navigation Chart; Sheet D-7
/ref>URSS 1,000,000 scale Operational Navigation Chart; Sheet D-8
/ref> The highest point of the Aldan Highlands is Mount Ningam (Гора Нингам), a high peak located in the southern part, rising above the basin of the Gonam River, a left tributary of the Uchur. The same mountain is high according to other sources.

Subranges

The system of the Aldan Highlands comprises a number of subranges where mountains are generally of middle height and their relief usually smooth. The highest point is an unnamed summit. The ranges within the uplands include the following: *Western Yangi Range, highest point Mount Evota * Sunnagyn Range (Aldan-Uchur), highest point *Ket-Kap Range, highest point *Tommot Range, highest point

Hydrography

Besides the Aldan and the Amga, the rivers of the highlands include the

Buotama , image = Круиз Якутск - Ленские столбы - Тикси - Якутск, 2017 (047).jpg , image_size = , image_caption = View of the river , pushpin_map = Russia Sakha Republic , pu ...

, the

Amedichi The Amedichi (russian: Амедичи; sah, Амедичи, ''Amediçi'') is a river of Sakha Republic, Russia, a left tributary of the Aldan. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . See also *List of rivers of Russia References {{reflist E ...

, the Elkon, the

Ulu An ulu ( iu, ᐅᓗ, plural: ''uluit'', 'woman's knife') is an all-purpose knife traditionally used by Inuit, Iñupiat, Yupik, and Aleut women. It is utilized in applications as diverse as skinning and cleaning animals, cutting a child's hair, cu ...

, the Bolshoy Nimnyr, the Yungyuele, the

Timpton , image = Поездка в Нерюнгринский район, 2017 (365).jpg , image_caption = View of a bend in the river , source1_location = Stanovoy Range , source1_coordinates = , source1_elevation = ...

and the

Tuolba The Tuolba (russian: Туолба) is a river of Sakha Republic, eastern Russia. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . Its source is in the Aldan Highlands and it is a right tributary of the Lena, The Tuolba runs through the village of Alexe ...

.Алданское нагорье
/ Great Russian Encyclopedia; in 35 vol.] / Ch. ed. Yu.S. Osipov,

Great Russian Encyclopedia The ''Great Russian Encyclopedia'' (GRE; russian: Большая российская энциклопедия, БРЭ, transliterated as ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya entsiklopediya'' or academically as ''Bolšaja rossijskaja enciklopedija'') is a ...

, 2004—2017.

Geology

The highlands are composed of

Archean The Archean Eon ( , also spelled Archaean or Archæan) is the second of four geologic eons of Earth's history, representing the time from . The Archean was preceded by the Hadean Eon and followed by the Proterozoic. The Earth during the Arc ...

crystalline

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

s and

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

es. The Aldan Highlands coincide geographically with the Aldan Shield, a geological region that is an exposed part of the Siberian Craton. Together with the Anabar Shield further to the northwest, the Aldan Shield is one of the main features of the

craton A craton (, , or ; from grc-gre, κράτος "strength") is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere, which consists of Earth's two topmost layers, the crust and the uppermost mantle. Having often survived cycles of merging and ...

.Archean crustal evolution of the Aldan Shield, Siberia: Geochemical and Isotopic Constraints
/ref>

Flora

The mountains of the highlands are covered by

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 fur ...

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, sp ...

up to elevations between 1,100 and 1,300 m and by rocky

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

at higher altitudes.

References

External links

Rare birds of the Aldan highlands (South Yakutia)
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