Chersky Ridge, Russia - description, history and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:42

The territory of North-Eastern Siberia is huge. It includes everything that is located to the east of the great Lena River, together with the basins of the Indigirka, Yana, Alazeya and Kolyma, which carry their waters to the Arctic Ocean. Its total area is equal to half the territory of all of Europe, but there are more mountains here. The ridges, connecting and intertwining into knots, stretch for several thousand kilometers.

Among this mountainous area is one of the largest mountains in Russia - the Chersky Range, which will be discussed in this article.

A Brief History of Northeast Siberia Research

Once upon a time, these Siberian mountains were crossed by Cossack explorers moving from one river basin to another. This huge mountain wall, located behind Baikal and Lena, blocked the way to the Daurian steppes and to the greatest ocean.

Many have studied this mountainous country, butfor two centuries, no one has made a complete description and mapped. For a long time, until the very beginning of the 20th century, it remained a “blank spot”. Only one person, along and across proceeding from it, conducted scientific research and approached the solution of this amazing country almost on the eve of his death. It was Yan Dementievich Chersky (a native of Lithuania), exiled to Siberia after participating in the 1863 Polish uprising. In honor of the researcher, one of the ridges of North-Eastern Siberia, Chersky, got its name.

Chersky Ya. D. spent 8 years in Omsk, and during these years he independently and quite deeply studied the geography, biology and geology of this largest region. After the work carried out by him, the Geographical Society (Siberian Department) achieved the transfer of the scientist to Irkutsk, for his further participation in a deeper study of Siberia. In 1885, he was called by the Russian Academy of Sciences to St. Petersburg, from where he was sent to Lake Baikal to study the geology of the surroundings of the unique natural reservoir. Then, in the Kolyma, Chersky was engaged in the development of places where the fossil remains of mammoths were found, and since 1891 he took part in an expedition that explored the subpolar regions of the river basins. Yana, Kolyma and Indigirka.

In 1892, June 25, during the expedition, ID Chersky died. He was buried opposite the mouth of the river. Omolon (right tributary of the Kolyma). His wife Mavra continued her research, after which she submitted all the materials to the Academy of Sciences.

ID Chersky made a huge contribution to the study of the geography and geology of the Siberian territories of Russia. The Chersky Ridge rightfully bears the namethis great explorer.

Geographic location of North-Eastern Siberia

This vast territory extends eastward from the valley of the Lena and Aldan rivers (lower course), from the Verkhoyansky ridge to the shores of the Bering Sea. And in the south and north it is washed by the seas of the Pacific and Arctic oceans. Its area on the map captures both the eastern and western hemispheres. The easternmost point of Eurasia and, accordingly, Russia is located on the Chukotka Peninsula.

Such a unique geographical location was predetermined for this area by harsh natural conditions with bright, contrasting and unique physical and geographical processes.

This part of Russia is characterized by rather tangible relief contrasts: mountain systems of medium heights prevail to a greater extent, there are highlands, plateaus and lowlands.

General information about the ridge

The Chersky Ridge was discovered and described in detail by S. V. Obruchev in 1926.

The largest rivers of the territory: Indigirka and its tributaries - Settlements and Moma; Kolyma (its upper reaches). Settlements located on the Indigirka: Belaya Gora, Oymyakon, Chokurdakh, Ust-Khonuu, Nera. Settlements in the upper reaches of the Kolyma: Seimchan, Zyryanka, Verkhnekolymsk.

Airports: in Magadan, in Yakutsk.

Where is the Chersky Range?

In essence, the Chersky Ridge is not a ridge, but rather an extended mountain system. It is located on the northeastpart of the territory of Russia, between the rift Momo-Selennyakh depression in the northeast and the Yano-Oymyakon highlands (southwestern part). The rift system, together with the ridges to the north of it, is sometimes also included in the ridge. Administratively, this territory belongs to Yakutia (Republic of Sakha) and the Magadan Region.

The main ranges of the system: Kurundya (height - 1919 meters), Hadaranya (up to 2185 meters), Dogdo (2272 meters), Tac-Khayakhtakh (2356 meters), Chibagalakhsky (2449 m), Chemalginsky (2547 meters), Borong (2681 meters), Silyapsky (heights up to 2703 m) and Ulakhan-Chistai (up to 3003 m).

Chersky Ridge is one of the last largest geographic objects marked on the geographic map of Russia. It was discovered in 1926 by S. V. Obruchev and named, as noted above, after the geographer-researcher Chersky I. D.

Composition, description of the ridge

On the western part of the mountain system (interfluve near Indigirka and Yana) there are the following ranges: Kurundya (up to 1919 m), Hadaranya (up to 2185 m), Dogdo (up to 2272 m), Tas-Khayakhtakh (up to 2356 m), Chibagalakhsky (up to 2449 m), Chemalginsky (up to 2547 m), Silyapsky (2703 meters), Borong (2681 m) and others., Cherge (2332 m) and others.

The height of the Chersky Ridge at its highest point (Mount Pobeda) is 3003 meters (3147 meters according to old data).

The relief of the peaks of the mountains is quite calm and even. Most of the mountain system is characterized by alpine relief, and depressionstectonic - hilly-flat. The Momo-Selennyakh depression is the largest in the area.

In total, there are 372 glaciers in these mountains, of which the longest (9000 meters) is named after Chersky. Due to the fact that the snow has a loose structure, avalanches often occur here. The rivers flow through deep gorges with sheer edges. Deciduous forests can be found only on the lower parts of the slopes and in the valleys, more often thickets of Siberian dwarf pine grow here.

Education, geology, minerals

The ridge formed during the Mesozoic folding, split during the Alpine folding into separate blocks, some of which sank (called grabens), and some rose (horsts). Mountains of medium height prevail here.

The peaks of the Chersky ridge (Chibagalakhsky, Ulakhan-Chistai, etc.), rising up to 2500 meters, are distinguished by alpine relief and have rather long glaciers. The axial part of the mountain system is composed of highly metamorphosed carbonate rocks of the Paleozoic age, and the marginal part is composed of strata (marine and continental) of the Permian age of the Triassic and Jurassic periods. These are mainly sandstones, shales and siltstones. In many places, these rocks have powerful intrusions of granitoids, where there are deposits of tin, gold, coal and brown coal, and other minerals. The Chersky Ridge is another treasure trove of the earth's interior.

Climaticconditions

The climate of the regions of the Chersky Ridge is sharply continental - rather severe. According to the observations of the meteorological station Suntar Khayata (founded in 1956), located at an altitude of 2070 meters, it is warmer on the glaciers of this mountain junction than in the basins between the mountains. This feature is especially noticeable in winter: the temperature at the tops of the ridges ranges from -34 to -40 °C, and in lower areas it reaches -60 °C.

The summer season here is short and cool, with frequent snowfalls and frosts. July temperatures rise on average from 3°C in the highlands to 13°C in the valleys. About 75% of the total annual precipitation falls in summer (up to 700 mm per year). Permafrost is everywhere.

Attractions

The territories and environs of the Chersky ridge have unique natural attractions:

Momsky Natural National Park (covers the extinct volcano Balagan-Taas and Mount Pobeda);
Buordah massif (the most popular tourist route passes here).

In the city of Yakutsk there are wonderful museums: the culture and history of the peoples of the North, the national music of the Yakut (khomus), mammoth, national art. The laboratory of the Permafrost Institute and the preserved mine of Shergin are also interesting to visit. In this underground pantry, for the first time in the world, the minus temperature of rocks at great depths was measured. This proved that permafrost exists.

Interestingfacts

In the process of the very first studies by the geographer Chersky, and not only by him, the highest peak of the mountain system went unnoticed. It was discovered only in 1945 with the help of aerial photography of the mountain junction, which was carried out in the upper reaches of the Indigirka, Okhota and Yudoma rivers. At that time, it was considered that its height above sea level was 3147 meters. It is curious that the mountain located in the center of the Gulag was originally named after Lavrenty Beria. Subsequently, its name was changed to Pobeda Peak. Climbers first conquered it in 1966.
The surviving records of the researcher Chersky contain an indication that there are some inaccuracies in the location of mountain ranges on the geographic map of Eastern Siberia in Russia. But scientists did not immediately take into account such conclusions, and for 35 years, until the death of Chersky, all the ridges were depicted incorrectly - their direction was meridional, and instead of some of the peaks, either lowlands or plateaus were shown. The geologist S. V. Obruchev studied the maps and diaries of I. D. Chersky more carefully in the 20s of the 20th century. The son of the famous geographer and geologist, academician V. A., who worked on Novaya Zemlya and Svalbard. Obruchev, in 1926 he went to the area of that very mysterious "white spot" with an expedition.

Conclusion

M. Stadukhin traveled for many years in this amazing mountainous country called the Chersky Range, V. Poyarkov passed through it to the Amur, and I. Moskvitin went to the great Pacific Ocean. For a long time, G. Sarychev also paved the way along it, and F. Wrangel in 1820 passed through it from Yakutsk to Srednekolymsk. Many explorers and travelers have studied these mountainous places, but not all of them have been able to fully reveal the secrets of this distant northern land.

Only Ya. D. Chersky managed to more fully and accurately explore and describe the geography of this mysterious mountain system.