The Dzhugdzhur Mountains (russian: Джугджу́р) or Jugjur Mountains, meaning 'big bulge' in Evenki, are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...

along the western shores of the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...

in the far east of

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

. The mountains are quite deserted, the one exception being the

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

mines that have operated in the range since the 1920s.

Geography

To the east the range is bound by the northwest coast of the

. To the northwest the range limits with the Yudoma-Maya Highlands, to the southwest with the Stanovoy Range, to the south with the Dzhagdy Range and to the northeast with the

Kolyma Mountains The Kolyma Mountains or Kolyma Upland ( rus, Колымское нагорье, r=Kolymskoye Nagorye) is a system of mountain ranges in northeastern Siberia, lying mostly within the Magadan Oblast, along the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk in the ...

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 ...

Geology

The range was formed by an asymmetrical fold. The southwestern half of the mountains is composed of

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 ...

and

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

from the

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of th ...

, while the northeast contains

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

shale and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

as well as

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

and

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pala ...

igneous rock.

Ecology and Climate

The coastal stretch of the range is populated by Japanese stone pine and Dahurian larch. Parts of the range occupied by the Okhotsk-Manchurian taiga ecoregion contain swathes of Jezo spruce up to elevations of 1,300 m. The climate is wet and cold, with wet rainy summers and severe winters.

Popular culture

* "Mikhail", (also known as "Misha") most commonly known as Heavy Weapons Guy or The Heavy, from the 2007 FPS video game Team Fortress 2 lives in a remote log mansion in the Dzhugdzhur Mountains with his mother and three sisters.

References

Landforms of the Russian Far East Mountain ranges of Khabarovsk Krai East Siberian Mountains {{KhabarovskKrai-geo-stub