Polar Urals

Polar Urals

 

the part of the Ural Mountains extending from the upper reaches of the Khulga River (Ob’ River basin) to Mount Konstantinov Kamen’. The Polar Urals are 380 km long and 40–100 km wide and have a maximum elevation of 1,499 m (Mount Paier). They are composed primarily of quartz-ites, schists, and igneous and sedimentary rocks. Traces of mountain and valley glaciation (cirques, troughs, and moraines) have been preserved. Modern glaciers include the Institute of Geography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Dolgushin glaciers.

The Polar Urals have many lakes, of which the deepest is Bol’shoe Shchuch’e Lake. The southern slopes (elevations 300–400 m) are covered with sparse taiga growth of larch and spruce with some birch. At higher elevations and in the more northern parts, there are mountain and moss-lichen tundras, rocks, and rock streams.