Altai Mountains

Altay Mountains

synonym

Altai Mountain generally refers to the Altai Mountains

Altai Mountains (Russian: a Γ_jua й; English: Altai Mountains), with a northwest southeast trend, slants across the borders of China, Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia, stretching for more than 2000 km; Altai Mountains in China are the south slope of the middle part, with a mountain body of more than 500 km long and a sea level of 1000-3000 M. The height of the main ridge is more than 3000 meters, and the highest peak in the north is Youyi peak, with an altitude of 4374 meters.

The forest line is generally at the height of 1800-1900 meters, covering an area of 1611457 hectares, of which 1002000 hectares belong to the special protection area, rich in forest and mineral resources. The annual average temperature is 0 ℃. In July, the average temperature below the snow line is 15-17 ℃. In winter, the lowest temperature reaches minus 62 ℃. The average annual precipitation is 500-700 mm.

"Altay" means "six months" in Kazakh. From the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, there were more than 50000 people panning for gold in the mountains. The Altaic language family gets its name from the Altaic mountains.

In 1998, the Altay Mountains of the Altay Republic, located in Siberia, Russia, were listed on the world heritage list as a natural heritage by the World Heritage Committee.

World Natural Heritage

Name of heritage: golden mountains of Altai

Selected time: 1998

Selection basis: Natural Heritage (x)

Location: N51 29 50 E87 42 40 (alteskizapovodnik and lake deletskiye buffer zone,

Altaisky Zapovednik andBuffer zone of Teletskoye Lake）

N49 40 00 E86 00 00 (catonskizapovodnik and belukha Lake buffer zone,

Katunsky Zapovednik and Buffer zone around Belukha Mountain）

N49 22 00 E87 30 00 (ukok quiet zone on the ukok plateau)

Heritage number: 768

Heritage Description:

Altay Mountain is located in the Republic of Altay in Siberia of Russia, which is divided into four parts, some of which are bordered by Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia respectively. Gorno altesck, the capital of Altay, is the nearest big city. The city has an international airport and a transportation network composed of Railways and highways extending in all directions. However, it is not easy to get close to the Jinshan Altay Mountains. Those particularly remote places can only be reached by helicopter, on foot or on horseback.

Jinshan Altai mountain is located in Siberia of Russia, which is divided into four parts, some of which are bordered by Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia respectively. The capital of Altay is the nearest big city. The city has an international airport and a transportation network composed of Railways and highways extending in all directions. However, it is not easy to get close to the Jinshan Altay Mountains. Those particularly remote places can only be reached by helicopter, on foot or on horseback.

In 1998, according to the selection criteria of Natural Heritage (x), Jinshan of Altay Mountain was approved as a natural heritage by UNESCO World Heritage Committee and listed in the world heritage list.

World Heritage Committee evaluation:

Jinshan Altai mountain, located in the south of Siberia, is the main mountain range in the West Siberian geographical and ecological region, and also the source of one of the longest rivers in the world, the EBI Bay. It covers an area of 1 611 457 hectares and is listed in the world heritage list as follows: alteskizapovodnik and lake deletskiye buffer zone, katonskizapovodnik and lake belukha buffer zone, and Wuguo resting area on the Wuguo plateau. This area shows the world the complete vegetation of the middle Siberian elevation. It includes treeless steppe, forest steppe ecotone, mixed forest, subalpine vegetation, alpine tundra and so on. It is also an important habitat for endangered species such as snow leopards.

Geology and geomorphology

The Altai mountains of Central Asia, stretching about 2000 kilometers from Gobi (desert) to West Siberia, straddle parts of China, Mongolia, Russia and Kazakhstan in a northwest southeast direction.

There are modern glaciers; the mountains in the West are the widest, narrower to the southeast, and lower in height; from the northeast of China's border line, the mountains gradually decrease to about 3000-3500 meters from the northwest to the southeast.

In front of the mountain, there is a large fault in the northwest, which gradually descends to the Erqis Valley in the southwest, showing four steps, and the mountain outline is massive and layered; only in the high mountain area, there are ice erosion terrain and modern glaciers, which is the distribution center of modern glaciers in the northernmost part of China; except for the fault basin along the NW trending fault, there is no large longitudinal valley; Altai mountain is a typical fault block mountain.

It forms "three mountains with two basins" with Tianshan Mountains, Kunlun Mountains, Tarim Basin and Junggar basin.

The jagged mountains separate the water of large rivers such as the Ob River (which flows northward into the Arctic Ocean) and its main tributary, the Irtysh River, from those flowing into the vast central Asian basin. The river originated in mountainous area is controlled by the fault and flows into the Irtysh River to the northwest. It becomes the upper reaches of the EBI River and is the only river flowing into the Arctic Ocean in China. The vertical distribution of mountain vegetation is obvious. The steppe belt is below 1100 meters; the forest belt is between 1100 and 2300 meters, where Siberian pine, Siberian fir and spruce grow; the mountain meadow belt and subalpine meadow belt are above 2300 meters, which are good pastures in summer. There is a small amount of agriculture in the low mountain basin. The mountain area is rich in nonferrous metals (including gold deposits).

geology

It belongs to the Altay geosynclinal fold belt in geological structure. The mountain first appeared in the Caledonian movement, formed a basic outline at the end of Variscan movement, and then the mountain was basically flattened into a peneplain; the Himalayan movement made the mountain follow the NW trending fault, and the fault block displacement rose, which formed the present appearance of Altay Mountain. An earthquake of magnitude 8 occurred in 1931. It is accompanied by a nearly north-south fault, extending 40-60 km.

The hills in the northern part of the Altay Mountains separate them from the West Siberian plain, and the northeast part of the Altay Mountains connects with the West Sayan mountains. Altai Mountain in Mongolia rises to become nayramdalin peak (4374m), then extends to the southeast and then to the East. The Altai mountain of Gobi starts about 483km southwest of Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, occupying the south of the country and towering over the Gobi sea.

landforms

The Altai mountains are round, with moraines widely distributed on the hillsides. The U-shaped valleys cover the U-shaped valleys. The ancient ice buckets are arranged in layers, and the yangbeishi, lateral moraines, middle moraines, and final moraines are clearly visible. Altai Mountain has multi-level planation surface, which is generally recognized as grade 4. According to statistics in 2010, the altitudes were 2900-3000m, 2600-2700m, 1800-2000m and 1400-1600m respectively. The geomorphic vertical zoning is obvious, from high to low: Modern ice and snow action zone, above 3200m above sea level, with Youyi peak and Kuitun peak as the center, developing valley glacier, iceberg glacier and suspended glacier. In addition, there are modern glaciers in the upper source of akturgun and akuligun rivers around akekuli Lake; frost action zone, 2400-3200m (Statistics in 2010), clear ancient ice erosion terrain, snow up to 8 months, mainly cold weathering; erosion zone, 1500-2400m, mainly water cutting; dry denudation zone, below 1500m. Kanas comprehensive natural landscape reserve is located at the edge of the belt.

From high to low, the soil is mainly composed of ice marsh soil, alpine meadow soil, subalpine meadow soil, grass ash soil, gray forest soil, chernozem, chestnut soil, brown calcareous soil, etc.

Climatic characteristics

The regional climate is very continental. Due to the influence of Asian anticyclone, i.e. high pressure region, winter is long and cold. In January, the temperature ranges from - 14 ℃ in the hills to - 32 ℃ in the sheltered valleys in the East, while in the Chuhe grassland, the temperature can drop sharply to - 60 ℃. Occasionally there are one or two permafrost zones, which cover a vast area of northern Siberia. In July, the temperature is warm and even hot - 24 ℃ during the day, sometimes as high as 40 ℃ on low slopes - but in most parts of the Highlands, summer is short and cool. In the west, especially in the Highlands between 1524-1981 meters, the precipitation is high, about 20-40 inches, and the annual precipitation can reach 80 ml. If we continue to move eastward, the total precipitation will be reduced to 1 / 3, and there will be no snow at all in some areas. Glaciers cover the flanks of the highest peak. There are about 1500 glaciers, covering the highest peak

Chinese PinYin : A Er Tai Shan