One of the largest mountain systems of the mainland, stretching for 4500 kilometers, with a total area of more than one and a half million square kilometers - the mountains of Southern Siberia. Hidden in the depths of Asia, starting from the plains of the west and stretching to the Pacific coast, these chains form a watershed between the great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean and the equally famous reservoirs of the Far East that give their waters to the Pacific.
The mountain belt of Southern Siberia has a significant height above sea level and is clearly divided into landscape zones. More than 60% is occupied by mountain taiga. The relief of the surface along its entire length is extremely rugged, with huge amplitudes of heights, which is the reason for the wide variety of terrain and contrasts in natural and climatic conditions.
Geology
Mountains of Southern Siberia were formed not at once. First, tectonic uplifts occurred in the Baikal region and in the Eastern Sayan Mountains, this is evidenced by the Precambrian and Lower Paleozoic rocks. Altai, the Western Sayan and the Salair Range formed in the Paleozoic. Later than all, already in the Mesozoic, Eastern Transbaikalia rose. Mountain building continues to this day, as evidenced by annual earthquakes and movements of the earth's crust in the form of slow subsidence or uplifts. The mountains of Southern Siberia were also formed under the influence of Quaternary glaciation. Glaciers covered not only all massifs with a thick layer, but also extended far into the plains of the southwest. It was the glaciers that dissected the ridges and formed rocky niches, due to which the ridges became narrow and sharp, the slopes became steep, the gorges became deep.
Climate and landforms
Throughout the entire length of the territory, the mountains of Southern Siberia have negative average annual temperatures, that is, long winters with very heavy frosts. On the western slopes, summer is rainy, the snow cover is the most powerful - up to three meters. For this reason, the mountains of Southern Siberia in these places are covered with damp taiga (fir, cedar), there are many swamps and magnificent meadows. On the eastern slopes and in the basins, there is much less precipitation, the summer is hot and very dry, and the landscapes are mostly steppe. Among all the ridges, the mountains of Southern Siberia rise beyond the snow borders only in Altai, in the Eastern Sayan Mountains and in the Stanovoy Upland - only there are glaciers. There are especially many of them in Altai - 900 square kilometers of glaciation.
The birthplace of the great rivers
It is there that all the great Siberian rivers originate: the Ob, Irtysh, Yenisei, Lena, Amur. At first they flow in narrow picturesque valleys between steep impregnable rocks. The current is incredibly fast - the slopes of the channel reach several tens of metersper kilometer of movement. At the bottom of almost all rivers, glaciers left traces in the form of curly rocks, "ram's foreheads", crossbars and moraines. The mountains of Southern Siberia, the map of which is studied even at school, formed lakes of exceptional beauty in their hollows and circuses. There are many of them, and some are more beautiful than others. For example, cascading Multinsky in Altai, Teletskoye - a local pearl, and amazing Aya. Grandiose and magnificent is the cleanest lake in the world - Baikal. Beautiful Markakol, Ulug-Khol, Todzha.
