The Delyun-Uran Range (russian: Делюн-Уранский хребет, translit=Delyun-Uranskiy khrebet) is a mountain range in

Irkutsk Oblast Irkutsk Oblast (russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast; bua, Эрхүү можо, Erkhüü mojo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and ...

and Buryatia,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

, part of the

Stanovoy Highlands The Stanovoy Highlands ( rus, Станово́е наго́рье) or Stanovoy Uplands is a mountain range in the Transbaikal region of Siberia, Russia. Geography The Stanovoy Highlands are a mountainous area between the Patom Highlands to the n ...

. The nearest airport is

Bodaybo Airport Bodaybo Airport is a regional airport built in Bodaybo, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, during World War II for the Alaska-Siberian (ALSIB) air route used to ferry American Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An A ...

Google Earth

History

This remote mountain area was first explored by

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activ ...

and

Ivan Polyakov Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulga ...

during the 1866 Olyokma-

Vitim Vitim (russian: Витим) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. Modern localities *Vitim, Sakha Republic, an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Lensky District of the Sakha Republic * Vitim, Republic of Buryatia, a ...

expedition of the East Siberian branch of the

Imperial Russian Geographical Society The Russian Geographical Society (russian: Ру́сское географи́ческое о́бщество «РГО»), or RGO, is a learned society based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It promotes geography, exploration and nature protection wi ...

. Kropotkin named the range after the area of conspicuous

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade' ...

of the Vitim river in the gorge where it crosses the range northwards (Делюн-Уранский порог). He described the range as a "desolate, gloomy place". The Vitim Nature Reserve was established in the eastern part of the range and neighboring mountainous areas in 1982.

Geography

This mountain range is located in the

Baikal Rift Zone The Baikal Rift Zone is a series of continental rifts centered beneath Lake Baikal in southeastern Russia. Current strain in the rifts tends to be extending with some shear movement. A series of basins form along the zone for more than , creating ...

and it is part of the Baikal-Stanovoy Region. The Delyun-Uran is the northernmost subrange of the

. It runs roughly parallel to the Northern Muya Range just north of it. The range stretches from southwest to northeast for about 350 km from the Churo River, a tributary of the upper course of the

Upper Angara The Upper Angara (, ''Verkhnyaya Angara''; , ''Deede Angar'') is a river in Buryatia, Siberia to the northeast of Lake Baikal. the third longest river in the Baikal basin. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . The Baikal–Amur Mainline ru ...

river, to lake Nichatka. The

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to c ...

s of the

Vitim River The Vitim (russian: Витим; evn, Витым, ; sah, Виитим, ; Buryat and mn, Витим, ''Vitim'') is a major tributary of the Lena. Its source is east of Lake Baikal, at the confluence of rivers Vitimkan from the west and China ...

are located in the eastern section, dividing the upper course of the Vitim from its lower basin. The western section of the range is in Buryatia and the eastern in Irkutsk Oblast. A small part at the eastern end is in

Zabaykalsky Krai Zabaykalsky Krai ( rus, Забайкальский край, r=Zabaikal'skii krai, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲskʲɪj kraj, lit. " Transbaikal krai"; bua, Yбэр Байгалай хизаар, Uber Baigalai Xizaar) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai ...

. The

crosses the range in its northeastern part. The highest point of the range is a high peak located between the

sources and the Mamakan uppermost reaches. A rare, exposed

argillite :''"Argillite" may also refer to Argillite, Kentucky.'' Argillite () is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed predominantly of indurated clay particles. Argillaceous rocks are basically lithified muds and oozes. They contain variable amo ...

outcrop is found in the range.

Hydrography

River

, flowing into

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, I ...

, originates in the slopes of the range. The Mamakan cuts across the range.

Lake Oron Lake Oron ( rus, озеро Орон, r=Ozero Oron) is a lake in eastern Irkutsk Oblast ( Bodaybinsky District), Russia. Geography It is located in the Kodar Mountains, to the south of the southern slopes of the Delyun-Uran Range. Lake Oron i ...

is located south of the eastern section of the range.

Flora

The slopes of the range are mainly covered with mountain

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, spruces ...

, with pre-alpine woodland and

mountain tundra Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets ...

at higher elevations.Baikal Nature - Делюн-Уранский хребет
/ref>

References

External links

Делюн-Уранский хребетСеверо-Муйский и Делюн-Уранский хребты - Tourism''Additions to the Lichen Biota of SE Siberia''Северо-Муйский и Делюн-Уранский хребты
Stanovoy Highlands Mountain ranges of Russia Mountains of Buryatia Mountains of Irkutsk Oblast {{IrkutskOblast-geo-stub