The Sub-Ural Plateau () is a low-elevation mountainous plateau mostly in west

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

and some northern parts are in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. It is also known as the Cis-Ural Plateau (). Its southern part is known as the Emba Plateau (),Р.А.Сегедин, ''Рассказ о геологии Актюбинской области и богатствах ее недр, 2002, p. 10. after the

Emba River The Emba ( ''Embı'' or ''Jem'', ) in west Kazakhstan rises in the Mugodzhar Hills and flows across the Sub-Ural Plateau and Caspian Depression into the Caspian Sea. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .Aktobe Region Aktobe Region (; ) is a region of Kazakhstan. The name ''Aktobe'' comes from Kazakh ''aq'' 'white' and ''töbe'' 'hill' or 'top (of something)'; supposedly, Aktobe's initial settlers were able to see white mountains far to the north. The Aktobe ...

, with small northwester part in the

West Kazakhstan Region West Kazakhstan Region (; ) is a region of Kazakhstan. The region has a population of 695,000 as of July 1st, 2024. Its administrative centre is Oral (also known as Uralsk or Ural'sk), a city of about 250,000 inhabitants. The Region was created ...

. In Russia, a small northern part is within the

Orenburg Oblast Orenburg Oblast (also Orenburzhye) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), mainly located in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is the city of Orenburg. From 1938 to 1957, it bore the name Chkalov Oblast in honor of Valery Chkal ...

The plateau is a gently sloping flatland with elevations ranging from 450m in the northeast and 100m in the southwest. It merges into the

Caspian Depression The Caspian Depression or the Caspian Lowland is a low-lying flatland region encompassing the northern part of the Caspian Sea, the largest enclosed body of water on Earth. It is the larger northern part of the wider Aral–Caspian Depressio ...

in the southwestПрикаспийская низменность
''Great Russian Encyclopedia'' and merges with the

Mugalzhar Mugalzhar (), also known as Mugodzhar Hills or Mugodzhar Range (),

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

) in the east. Its natural northern boundary is the valley of the east–west stretch of the

Ural River The Ural, also known as the Yaik , is a river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan in the continental border between Europe and Asia. It originates in the southern Ural Mountains and discharges into the Caspian Sea. At , it is the third-longes ...

. The northern part is dissected by deep valleys and ravines, in the south the watersheds are more flat and the network of ravines is less dense. In terms of vegetation the plateau is split between Eurasian steppe zone and

Gobi The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

-type desert zone.Сафронова И. Н
СРЕДНЕМАСШТАБНАЯ КАРТА РАСТИТЕЛЬНОСТИ СТЕПНОЙ ЧАСТИ ПОДУРАЛЬСКОГО ПЛАТО (АКТЮБИНСКАЯ ОБЛ.)
/ref> The watersheds near the Mugalzhar feature

butte In geomorphology, a butte ( ) is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and table (landform), tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from the French l ...

s (steep-sided flat-topped isolated hills), indicative of the elevations before the area was washed out. Rivers Emba and Ilek flow across it and rivers , Uil, Saghyz and Temir have sources there. The western part of the plateau between the Or-Ilek highland and Khobda river, centered in the city of

Aktobe Aktobe (, ; ) is a major city located on the Ilek River in western Kazakhstan. It serves as the administrative center of the Aktobe Region and is an important cultural, economic, and industrial hub in the region. As of 2023, the city has a popu ...

is commonly known as the Aktobe Sub-Urals (Russian: Aktobinskoye priuralye) and the part south of it, adjacent to the Mugalzhar Range and bounded by the Temir River, is known as the Cis-Mugalzhars (Russian: Predmugalzharye).

References

{{reflist Mountains of Kazakhstan Mountains of Russia Geography of Aktobe Region West Kazakhstan Region Landforms of Orenburg Oblast