The Central Siberian Plateau (; ) is a vast mountainous area in Siberia, one of the

Great Russian Regions The Great Russian Regions are eight geomorphological regions of the Russian Federation displaying characteristic forms of relief. Seven of them are parts of Siberia, located east of the Ural Mountains. Geography * Central Siberian Plateau, ...

Geography

The plateau occupies a great part of central

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

between the

Yenisei The Yenisey or Yenisei ( ; , ) is the fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course through Lake Baikal and the Krasnoyarsk Dam b ...

and

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

rivers. It is located in the

Siberian Platform Siberia, also known as Siberian Craton, Angaraland (or simply Angara) and Angarida, is an ancient craton in the heart of Siberia. Today forming the Central Siberian Plateau, it formed an independent landmass prior to its fusion into Pangea during ...

and extends over an area of , between the

in the west and the

Central Yakutian Lowland The Central Yakutian LowlandJohn Kimble (ed.), ''Cryosols: Permafrost-Affected Soils'' or the Central Yakutian Lowlands (; ), also known as the Central Yakut Plain or the Vilyuy Lowland, is a low alluvial plain in Siberia, Russia. Administrati ...

in the east. To the south it is bound by the

Altai Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The ...

Salair Ridge Salair Ridge (pronounced ''sah-lah-EER''; is a plateau-type highland in Altai Krai, Kemerovo Oblast and Novosibirsk Oblast, Russian Federation. There are ski resorts in the mountains. The Salair National Park is a protected area in the wester ...

Kuznetsk Alatau Kuznetsk Alatau () is a mountain range in southern Siberia, Russia. The range rises in the Altai-Sayan region of the South Siberian Mountains, northwest of Mongolia. The Siberian Railway skirts the northern limit of the range. Geography ...

, the Eastern and Western

Sayan Mountains The Sayan Mountains (, ; ) are a mountain range in southern Siberia spanning southeastern Russia (Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tuva and Khakassia) and northern Mongolia. Before the rapid expansion of the Tsardom of Russia, the mou ...

and other mountains of

Tuva Tuva (; ) or Tyva (; ), officially the Republic of Tyva,; , is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. Tuva lies at the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders the Federal subjects of Russia, federal sub ...

, as well as the

North Baikal Highlands The North Baikal Highlands (; )
''

Baikal Mountains The Baikal Mountains or Baikal Range (, ''Baykalskiy khrebet''; , ''Baigalai dabaan'') are a mountain range that rises steeply over the northwestern shore of Lake Baikal in southern Siberia, Russia. The highest peak in the range is 2,572 m high ...

. To the north of the plateau lie the

North Siberian Lowland The North Siberian Lowland (; ), also known as Taymyr Lowland (), is a plain with a relatively flat relief separating the Byrranga Mountains of the Taymyr Peninsula in the north from the Central Siberian Plateau in the south. To the southeast ...

and to the east the plateau gives way to the

and the

Lena Plateau The Lena Plateau, also known as Prilensky Plateau (; ), is one of the great plateaus of Siberia. Administratively it is mostly within the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), with a small sector in the Irkutsk Oblast, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia. T ...

.Среднесибирское плоскогорье (Central Siberian Plateau)
/ Great Russian Encyclopedia; in 35 vol.] / Ch. ed. Yu.S. Osipov . - M .:

Great Russian Encyclopedia The ''Great Russian Encyclopedia'' (''GRE''; , БРЭ, transliterated as ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya entsiklopediya'' or academically as ''Bol'šaja rossijskaja ènciklopedija'') is a universal Russian encyclopedia, completed in 36 volumes, publishe ...

, 2004—2017. 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.

Subplateaus and subranges

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

Putorana Plateau The Putorana Plateau () or the Putorana Mountains is a mountainous area in Russia. It is a large massif or plateau crossed by mountain ranges. The nearest large settlement is Norilsk, where foreign travel is closed city#Post-Soviet, restricted. ...

, the northwesternmost, highest point Mount Kamen (highest of the plateau system) *

Anabar Plateau The Anabar Plateau () is a mountain plateau in Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Siberia, Russia. The plateau is in a latitude dominated by permafrost. The permafrost thickness under the Anabar Plateau reaches . Geography The A ...

at the northern end, highest point *

Vilyuy Plateau The Vilyuy Plateau () is a mountain plateau in Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Siberia, Russia. It is a part of the Central Siberian Plateau and it is made up mainly of the upper course section of the Vilyuy River. Permafrost ...

, highest point *

Syverma Plateau The Syverma Plateau () is a mountain plateau in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, Russia. It is a part of the Central Siberian Plateau. The plateau is located in largely uninhabited area. Geography The Syverma Plateau is located in central Krasnoyarsk ...

, highest point Nakson, *

Tunguska Plateau The Tunguska Plateau () is a mountain plateau in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia, Russia. It is a part of the Central Siberian Plateau. The plateau is located in a largely uninhabited area. This area (the village of Noginsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Noginsk) ...

, highest point *

Lena-Angara Plateau The Lena-Angara Plateau (), is a plateau in Siberia. Administratively it is in the Irkutsk Oblast, Russian Federation. The plateau is named after the Lena and Angara rivers, of which it forms the watershed. Rivers on the plateau flow mostly in ...

, highest point Namai, *

Yenisei Range The Yenisey Range () is a range of mountains in Siberia. Administratively the range is part of the Krasnoyarsk Krai of the Russian Federation. The nearest town is Severo-Yeniseysk. The mountains have granite intrusions that are associated with g ...

, highest point *

Angara Range The Angara Range () is a mountain range in Krasnoyarsk Krai and Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, part of the Central Siberian Plateau.Google Earth There are large iron ore deposits in the area of the Angara Range. Geography The Angara Range is made up o ...

, highest point

Climate

The climate is

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

with short warm summers and long and severely cold winters. Most of the territory is covered with

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

forests (

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, where they are found in lowland forests in the high la ...

is especially abundant). The plateau's major river is the

Lower Tunguska The Nizhnyaya Tunguska ( rus, Ни́жняя Тунгу́ска, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪjə tʊnˈɡuskə, meaning "Lower Tunguska") is a river in Siberia, Russia, that flows through the Irkutsk Oblast and the Krasnoyarsk Krai. The river is a right tributa ...

. Known geologically as the

Siberian Traps The Siberian Traps () are a large region of volcanic rock, known as a large igneous province, in Siberia, Russia. The massive eruptive event that formed the trap rock, traps is one of the largest known Volcano, volcanic events in the last years ...

mineral resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

here are very rich and include

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

s and

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

References

External links

*
The Demise of the Siberian Plume№1 Travel Guide
{{siberia-geo-stub

Geography

Subplateaus and subranges

Climate

See also

References

External links