Patom Highland

a highland in the interfluve of the Vitim and Chara rivers in Irkutsk Oblast, RSFSR. The Patom Highland consists of a system of mountain massifs broken by deep valleys and with elevations of 1,200–1,300 m. The highest portions, with elevations to 1,924 m, are in the southeast. The highland is composed of Proterozoic crystalline schists, limestones, and quartzites; in the north there are Lower Paleozoic rocks. On the slopes to 900–1,100 m there is larch mountain taiga, mixed in places with cedar; higher, there are thickets of dwarf stone pine and shrublike birches. Rocky tundra predominates above 1,200 m. Gold (Bodaibo, Artemovskii) and various building materials are mined.