A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Test in grade 8 on the topic "Ural"
1. What was the name of the Ural Mountains among ancient authors?
A. Stone; B. Earth belt;
V. Riphean; G. Ice.
2. What is the highest peak of the Urals:
A. Narodnaya; B. Pay-Er;
V. Yamantau; G. Magnetic.
3. The length of the Urals from north to south:
A. 5000km; B. more than 2000 km;
W. 500km; G. more than 5000 km.
4.More precipitation falls:
A. on the western slopes; B. on the eastern slopes;
5.Ural is located between:
A. Russian Plain and North Caucasus; B. Russian Plain and West Siberian Plain;
V. Russian Plain and Central Siberian Plateau;
6. Most of the deposits are located on the eastern slope:
A. Oil and natural gas; B. metal ores;
B. table and potassium salts;
7. The oldest gold mining site in the Urals:
A. Kochkanarskoye; B. Berezovskoe;
8. What mineral is called "mountain flax"?
A. Mica; B. Asbest;
B. Marble; G. Graphite.
9. The slopes are covered with dark coniferous spruce-fir forests:
A. Polar Urals; B. Middle Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
A. Ufa; B. Chusovaya;
V. Tobol; G. Kama.
11. What are the largest cities in the Urals in terms of population:
A. Orenburg, Zlatoust, Magnitogorsk; B. Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg, Ufa;
V. Nizhny Tagil, Pervouralsk, Troitsk, Berezniki, Kungur.
12. In the polar part of the Urals live:
A. Chipmunk and brown bear; B. Squirrel and lynx;
B. Arctic fox and snowy owl; G. saiga and viper.
13. Phenomenal natural formations - obelisks and pillars are found on the territory:
A. Northern Urals; B. Polar Urals;
V. Southern Urals;
14. The left tributary of the Kama River is:
A. Belaya; B. Shchuchya;
V. Pechora; G. Chusovaya.
15. The name "Ural" first appears in the works of a Russian scientist:
A.D.I. Mendeleev; B.A.P. Karpinsky;
V.V.N. Tatishchev;
16. What is the name of a stony placer and a heap of stones on the slopes and flat tops of mountains:
A. Snezhnik; B. Kurum;
V. Gorst.
17. When were the first saltworks established in the village of Sol-Kamskoye by the Kalinnikov merchants?
A. in the 14th century; B. in the 16th century;
V. in the 15th century.
18. Along which meridian do the Ural mountains stretch?
A. 60 0 east; B. 60 0 w.d.;
B. 50 0 east; G.65 0 E
19. Name the river in which the wounded V.I. drowned. Chapaev:
A. Belaya; B. Kama;
V. Pechora; G.Ural.
20. On the right bank of which river is the famous Kungur ice cave located?
A. Ufa; B. Kama;
V. Sylva; G. Vishera.
Answers: 1.A 2.A 3.B 4.5.A 6.B 7.B 8.B 9.B 10.G 11.B12.B 13.A 14.A,G 15.B 16.B 17.V 18.A 19.D 20.V
Where are the Ural Mountains located? and got the best answer
Answer from Vakhit Shavaliyev[guru]
The Ural Mountains are located in Eurasia. The conditional border between Europe and Asia runs along the eastern foot of the Ural Mountains.
The Ural Mountains are a mountain system between the East European and West Siberian plains. The length is more than 2000 (with Pai-Khoi and Mugodzhary - more than 2500) km, the width is from 40 to 150 km.
In a narrow strip, almost meridional, for more than 2000 km, the Ural Mountains stretch from the Arctic seas to the sultry steppes of Kazakhstan.
The territory of the Urals is located between the great rivers Volga - Kama and Ob - Irtysh. From west to east, the Urals are conditionally divided into three parts.
The first part is the Western Urals, or Cis-Urals, Cis-Urals. Here the western foothills of the Ural Mountains gradually pass into the Russian Plain.
The second part is the Ural Range, or the Ural Mountains. The Ural Range from north to south is divided into Polar, Subpolar, Northern, Middle and Southern.
The third part is the Trans-Urals. The eastern slope of the Ural Range breaks off with a ledge into the West Siberian Lowland.
The Ural Range, stretching for more than 2,000 km, begins beyond the Arctic Circle, and its southern spurs end in Central Asia. It crosses the tundra, taiga, forest-steppe and steppe. Here are the sources of the rivers of the Volga and Ob basins.
Answer from IFRA[guru]
Mountain system between the East European and West Siberian plains.
Answer from Yergey Sviridov[guru]
In Russia. Between Asia and Europe.
Answer from Author[guru]
Between the Alps and the Carpathians Not far from Elbrus there is also Everest not far
Answer from Ildar Akhmadullin[active]
... look at the globe of Russia ...
Answer from Striped giraffe Alik[guru]
You won't believe... In the Urals.
Answer from Ivan Krotov[newbie]
In the Urals
Answer from Irina Petrak[active]
in Eurasia in the Urals!!!
Answer from Alisher begmatov[newbie]
between Asia and Europe
Answer from 3 answers[guru]
Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: where are the Ural Mountains?
1 in what tales of Bazhov is it told about sysert? 2 where is the copper mountain and what do you know about it that gives tanya
1. In what tales of Bazhov is it told about Sysert?
Sysert is mentioned in the following tales.
"On the Chusovaya River"
On the western slope of the Ural Mountains, many mountain rivers and streams run down, which make up the main nutrient branches of the basin of the high-water Kama River. Among them, without a doubt, in terms of originality and beauty, the first place belongs to the Chusovaya River, which dug its rocky bed through rocks and mountains at a distance of several hundred miles. This mountain beauty presents almost insurmountable obstacles for navigation, and therefore it is especially interesting for us to get acquainted with how a simple Russian peasant, who does not even know how to read and write, overcomes this obstacle. Chusovaya takes its beginning a little south of Yekaterinburg, first flows to the north, and then slowly turns to the north-west, until it flows into the Kama River about twenty versts above the city of Perm.
The floating part of Chusovaya, that is, the one along which navigation is possible, stretches for 600 versts. The middle part of this current, which occupies 400 versts, makes up the most picturesque strip of Chusovaya and ends just at the place where the Ural railway passes through the river. Here Chusovaya finally runs out of the “stones,” as the barge haulers call the mountains, and then it flows along a low-lying plain, where the banks only sometimes rise in high mounds, and, as an exception, they come across those terrible coastal rocks that barge haulers call fighters. The most beautiful part of Chusovaya together and the most dangerous for floating barges: not only barges "fight" among the fighters, but dozens of people die.
Throughout its length, Chusovaya is a completely deserted river, where coastal villages are some kind of exception. True, there are several large factories on Chusovaya, which, of course, enliven the river, but there are too few of them; then there remain the piers from which the barges leave; but the marinas come to life barely for one month a year, during the spring rafting, and for the rest of the time they just fall asleep ...
Meanwhile, Chusovaya was and still is of great importance for the Urals, because more than six million poods of various cargoes are rafted along it every year, up to twenty-five thousand people gather at the Chusovskaya piers alone every spring.
A few years ago, I happened to sail almost the entire Chusovaya with a spring caravan, about which I want to tell you.
In the last days of April, when the snow had already melted in open places and the first pale greenery appeared, I drove along the most terrible road to one of the upper Chusovoy piers. On Chusovaya there was still ice, loose and rusty; blackened snow lay in the forest, but spring was already felt in the air, and waves of warm spring light poured from the sky, forcing the green tendrils of young grass to pour out from under last year's leaves and the branches of birches, mountain ash and bird cherry to swell. Spring in the Urals, as in other northern or mountainous places, comes quickly, all at once, so that, in fact, perhaps there is no such spring as happens in the south: the transition from winter to summer is too abrupt, as is the transition from summer to winter.
At first I did not recognize the familiar pier, which I had visited several times in summer and winter. The usually quiet village, with fifty huts clinging to the steep bank, now looked like a living anthill, where thousands of black dots swarm. In the air here and there was heard "Dubinushka":
Oh, dumbass, let's go!
Razgreen, let's hold on ...
The streets were crowded with barge haulers, so that the carriage could only get through at a walk. Now behind the village, on a low promontory, there were a dozen and a half almost completely finished barges, all that remained was to caul the grooves here and there (holes between the boards) and fill them with pitch. This work was not difficult, and the completely finished barges were only waiting for the moment when the ice broke on the river in order to float to the free spring water.
To Yermolai Antipych, - I said to my coachman.
My wagon stopped at a low, one-story house with large windows overlooking the river. I always loved this low log house, which was so warm and cozy, and between the fuchsias and geraniums that stood on the windows, every time I flashed a pink, smiling face of a little girl, Lyubenka. I must say that we were great friends, and Lyubenka greeted me loudly every time with one phrase: "Dad, dad! The city man has arrived!" Lyubenka was a little over six years old, and she had never been anywhere except her pier, which is why I got the name "city man" from her.
But how? You have even been to Moscow and St. Petersburg,” the girl said, looking at me with distrustful bright eyes. - Of course, the city, but I'm a village ...
The first time Lyubenka heard that I had been to Moscow and St. Petersburg, for a long time she did not want to believe such a miracle: no one from the piers had ever traveled such a distance. Moscow and Petersburg can only be seen in picture books. Only when Yermolai Antipych convinced the little daughter that I really was so far away did Lyubenka finally believe and call me a city person. However, from the expression of her eyes, I sometimes noticed that she doubted her city man and gave him a small examination.
Dad is not at home, - said Lyubenka this time. - It's on the shore where the barges are being built...
The city man is tired, Lyubenka, and wants tea.
Now I'll tell Marfa.
Lyubenka had no mother, who died three years ago, and the grouchy, old Marfa ran the whole house. Yermolai Antipych's house was divided into four small, cozy rooms, of which one was occupied by Yermolai Antipych's office, Lyubenka lived in the other, and the last two bore the loud name of the living room and dining room, although they could be called differently, because in the dining room, for example, there was the owner's bed, and in the living room - his long desk.
By the way, you have arrived, ”Lubenka said, while I kneaded my broken legs in the living room.
Yes so... The river will move soon, it will be a lot of fun. The barks will run past us. Then we will send our caravan ... How! .. They will shoot from the cannon on the shore ... I'm afraid when they shoot from the cannon ...
And when, Lyubenka, will Chusovaya start moving?
They are waiting from hour to hour ... The rafter Ilya drank tea with us yesterday and said that it would be soon. The barges are ready, the barge haulers have gathered... Yes...
The little hostess told me the latest port news, which, for the most part, revolved around the same alloy.
The snows are deep now,” Lyubenka said seriously, “Ilya is afraid that a friendly spring will strike ... Many baroques will be killed in high water.
The girl conveyed only what she herself heard from others, and spoke in the language that they speak only on Chusovaya: “the barge will be killed,” and not broken, because for the rafter Ilya, the bark is not a dead vessel, but a living being: “a friendly spring will strike "," the snow fell deep, "" the river will move," etc.
As soon as Marfa had time to bring in the boiling samovar, the voices of Yermolai Antipych and the rafter Ilya were heard in the hall.
We have a city man, dad, - Lyubenka reported, jumping out to meet her father.
We are glad to have guests, - answered Yermolai Antipych, appearing at the door.
Hello, Ermolai Antipych, - I greeted, shaking the owner's hand. - How are you doing?
What are we doing: we live with Lyubenka like teals in a swamp. Are you joining us for an alloy?
Yes, I would like to sail on a caravan to Perm ...
Well, good deed: there is a place. Here I am, and I will hand you over from hand to hand to Ilya... Where are you, Ilya?
I’m just now, Yermolai Antipych, ”Ilya answered from the hallway,“ I dragged dirt on my boots from the street, I need to wipe it off, otherwise I’ll exhaust your whole room ...
Yes, go, nothing: the dirt is not fat, - it has dried up, lagged behind ...
No, this is no longer the order! How can you... Yes, the young lady will not let me into the upper room another time.
Ilya, the rafter, finally entered the chamber, prayed in the front corner for the icon, and, shaking his brace-cut hair, bowed on all three sides, although there was no one in the chamber except the three of us. He was a small, wizened old man with a dark goatee beard that crawled out over a blue, homespun caftan with a wedge: Ilya's thin, yellowish face did not differ in anything special, with the exception of deeply sunken, unusually lively gray eyes, which looked at everything with a cutting, narrowed look. Ilya's short, crooked legs stepped slowly and firmly, as if some hero was walking; a hunched back and outstretched, long arms made his figure very ugly at first glance, but only those workers who work without sparing themselves have such backs and arms.
Well, you’re living a great life, ”Ilya said, spreading his legs wide and thrusting one hand into the red woolen belt with which his blue caftan was intercepted.
Hello, Ilya ... Sit down, so you will be a guest.
We sat quietly at tea for an hour; the conversation went on all the time about Chusovaya: when it starts to move, and how high the water will be today, may the friendly spring not strike, etc. - according to the proverb: whoever hurts, he talks about it. Such conversations in Yermolai Antipych's apartment probably took place lately day after day, but they did not bother anyone, just as it does not bother a musician to talk about music, a hunter about hunting, an actor about the theater. Even Lyubenka did not find these conversations boring and inserted her childish word into them in a thin voice. Ilya loved to "drink tea" and drank glass after glass as long as there was water in the samovar, moreover, like a mouse, he gnawed off his piece of sugar and constantly shook the crumbs from it into his saucer; old Martha was always angry with the old man for his "appetite" for tea, because after the masters she liked to indulge herself near the samovar, and then, if you please, put another one for herself.
What does he only drink in, this your Ilya? grumbled Martha, angrily removing the empty samovar from the table. - Dorval to the master's tea, glad to drink a bucket.
Now we are going ashore, - Yermolai Antipych suggested, turning to me. - You, I suppose, do not know how barges are built?
Here Ilya will tell you everything, as if on his fingers ...
We went out. The entire coast of Chusovaya was crowded with barge haulers; on the promontory, where there were shops and completely ready barges, people were stirring like a living heap of ants. It was half a verst from Yermolai Antipych's house to the cape, and we walked all the time between the living walls. For the time of rafting on the Chusovoy piers, people are recruited from all sides: from the nearest counties of the Perm province, from Vyatka, Ufa and even Kazan. Some barge haulers come for rafting for a whole thousand miles. Such a long journey into the spring thaw requires five weeks and is extremely difficult to respond to barge haulers: faces baked in the sun with cracked skin, instead of clothes - some tatters, bast shoes on their feet, behind their shoulders - a tattered dirty knapsack, in their hands - a long stick, - By these signs, you can immediately distinguish barge haulers from distant bridges from workers from the pier and nearby factories.
There was a lot of haulers, - Ilya said, when we began to descend under the steep bank. - The starlings will fly in first, and after them the haulers ...
We went down the clay path to the very cape, where along the shore there were about a dozen completely finished barges.
Here are our vessels, ”Ilya lovingly remarked, tapping with his fist on the side of one of the barges, which was still being caulked. - So with their spouts they look into the river ...
The rafter Ilya and barge haulers in general treat the barge as a living creature that has its own advantages and disadvantages, desires and even whims. One barge "likes to turn its bow to the right", another "swirls on the move and presses the stern to the shore", the third "famously spreads the river stream", but "naughty under the fighters", etc. An experienced rafter, like Ilya, at first glance sees the advantages and disadvantages of each barge, while to me they seemed exactly the same ...
The next day I was walking near the barges, when a general cry went up all over the bank: "The water has gone to profit ..." Crowds of people rushed to the river. Somewhere in the distance there was a faint, muffled noise.
This water goes, - explained Ilya. - It's, apparently, the time for our nurse Chusova to open up ... Look like ice is puffed up! Now it's moving...
The water came quickly; the ice fell behind the coast and gave several cracks. The noise increased, as if a huge animal was crawling along the river, with suppressed hissing and whistling. Soon all the ice stirred and several fresh polynyas formed, as if the ice floes had been torn apart by some strong hand.
The water was drained from the Revdinsky pond, - Yermolai Antipych explained. - Chusovaya sometimes stands for a long time, and spring water can escape under the ice. To break the ice, water is drained from the Revdinsky pond.
The Revdinsky plant is located in the upper reaches of the Chusovaya, and its huge pond serves as the main supply of water for rafting on the river. A huge shaft is usually produced, which stretches along the river for two hundred versts; this is the high water along which the spring caravans are rafted.
An hour later, the picture of the pier changed completely, as if everything around came to life at once with a loud voice and a cheerful spring noise. Ice floes of various shapes floated along the river in a long line: some were yellow from spring ice, others were definitely eaten away by worms. On inversions, they collided and climbed one on top of the other, forming ice jams; the ice pressed especially hard on the cape where the barges were; ice floes, as if alive, crawled out onto the sand and crumbled here as sparkling ice crystals and white snow powder. A stream of cold blew in the air, and the forest standing on Chusovaya made a muffled noise. From somewhere came crows, which, with restless cawing, flew from ice floe to ice floe.
Well, now we have the hottest work, just have time to get better, - said Yermolai Antipych. - Tomorrow we need to lower all the barges into the water and load them in three days. Every hour is precious! After all, each barge needs to be loaded with a load of fifteen thousand pounds ... Some wharves have their own harbors, well, they manage to load them in advance, but we have to load directly in the river.
The whole pier took on a completely festive look. Everyone dressed up in the best dress anyone had. The pristan peasants dressed up in new cotton shirts and new caftans, bright sundresses and red kerchiefs were full of broadcloths. Only there was nothing to dress up for barge haulers who came to the pier from afar. They probably became even harder from this someone else's holiday.
Oh, rather alloy, - said the gray-haired old man, looking at the river.
And what, grandfather, are you in a hurry?
Yes, how not to hurry, dear ... What is the time now? The day was in vain, - in winter the week is hungry ... How can it be? The arable land does not wait for our brother while we wallow along the piers ... Soon there will be Yeremey the harnesser ... Only a lazy plow in the field does not leave for Yeremey ...
Yeremey the harness, that is, May 1, in the life of a plowman is a great day; they discover the summer peasant suffering, on which depends the earnings of the whole year. That is why the newcomer barge haulers-peasants are in a hurry to return home as soon as possible.
The next day there was a "splash" of baroques. Up to two thousand barge haulers gathered on the cape. From the barges to the water were "slugs", that is, thick logs smeared with tar; along these slugs the barge was pushed into the water. There was a lot of screaming and fuss at such an important event. On the one hand, the barge was pushed against by "chegens", that is, wooden stakes, and on the other hand, they were held by thick ropes and tackle. A hundred-voiced “Dubinushka” hung in the air, all faces were animated, a loud echo rolled far down the river and echoed resoundingly on the opposite bank. Yermolai Antipych had been here since early morning, because it was necessary to be in time everywhere, to foresee everything, to give the necessary orders everywhere. The cry of the workers and the friendly burlatskaya song on the log - all this for the first time made a deafening impression, like on a huge fire, where people completely lost their heads and tore themselves in vain in an aimless fuss.
The barge is jammed! .. - a cry of a dozen voices is heard near the pushed barge. - Cheer up your right shoulder ... Evmen, set off the tackle! .. Come on already, dear ones! ..
The rafter Ilya shouted louder than the others, in one shirt running along the barge, which was "stuck", that is, stopped during the descent along the slug. Dozens of voices argue and shout at the top of their lungs; everyone intervenes with his advice, and no one wants to listen. "Left shoulder stuck!" - "No, it's stuck!" - "The gate must be set up, Ilya!" The barge has been moved from the platform on which it was built to the slug, but does not go any further.
Slugs need to be lubricated, timid ...
The matter ended with Ilya cursing all uninvited advisers, he himself climbed under the barge and examined where it was stuck. Several wedges were brought up, and the barge slowly slid down the slug, foaming the water with a wide shaft. Rare ice floes floated along the river, which seemed to be in a hurry to swim away as soon as possible from the general turmoil.
The barge, launched into the water, was immediately brought on a rope to the stores with metals. Several gangways were thrown from shore to side; several hundred barge haulers were already waiting in line to start loading. I climbed up to the fore deck to see how the barge work would go. A healthy peasant with a red beard was in charge all the while the gangplank was being set up; old man Ilya came up to me and, wiping his sweaty forehead with a handkerchief, sat down on some kind of log.
Is this an alloyer? I asked, pointing to the red-haired man.
No, I'm a rafter, and the red-haired man is a water-piper ... I call him Vavil. As soon as the barge was lowered into the water, then the weir should take it upon itself - the whole barge is his. A leak where it seems, the tow will come out of the grooves, water has accumulated on the barge - all this is observed by a water pourer ...
So, the real owner on the barge is a water dispenser, and not a rafter?
Water dispenser, master ... Without his request, no one can enter the barge or get off, because he is responsible for everything. And the rafter is something else: now I have to look after the load, so that they are loaded correctly, otherwise you’ll just kill the barge; then I have to present the barge intact to the very place ... That's my business ...
As soon as the gangway was ready, barge haulers with heavy burdens in their hands moved to the barge in an endless file. Ilya's barge, as the best rafter, was loaded with high-quality iron, that is, the most valuable material that can lose a lot if it gets into the water. Barge haulers, like ants, dragged bundles of various shapes onto the barge; amidst the clatter of hundreds of hauler feet and the sharp clang of loaded iron, it was difficult to hear a human voice. Ilya barely had time to dispose of where and how to put the brought iron; soon regular layings of sheet iron formed near the sides and in the middle of the barge ... The barge slowly sank deeper and deeper: Ilya constantly coped with the measure of draft and estimated the part of the sides that had sunk into the water with the help of a wooden basting, divided into inches.
In general, the work was in full swing. The red, sweaty faces of the barge haulers, grunting and tired movements testified to the hard work that fell to their lot. For an unaccustomed person, two hours of such work is harder than a whole working day somewhere in the arable land; to drag an iron strip weighing 3-4 pounds - you need strength, and then skill. Accustomed to such a load, the barge haulers just chuckled, and the peasants, who were on the rafting for the first time, were simply exhausted. Almost a whole science exists on how it is easier to lift such and such a grade of iron, how it is easier to drag it to the barge and how to put it back. An inexperienced worker will first in vain rub his hands on iron until he bleeds, and then he will learn how and what to do.
Now we have porridge brewed for three whole days, ”Yermolai Antipych said when he came to see how Ilya’s barge was being loaded. We will work day and night.
And when to sleep?
Barge haulers will work in shifts; while one shift is working, the other is resting. And we, apparently, are already like that ... If you take a nap for an hour or two a day, you are lucky, otherwise you will wear out sleep on your feet. No, every minute is precious. Let's send a caravan, then we'll have time to rest. Why sleep: there is no time to eat ... Martha brought me lunch to the store; so I ate something on the go: they tear you in all directions.
The load continued for three days, and the work was in full swing at night, by the light of huge fires on the shore. The picture of the pier on such a night was amazing, as if it were a robber's den, where at night they tried to seize what could not be taken during the day.
For me personally, these three days dragged on very slowly, as for a person completely superfluous in this bustle of work. Even walking around and watching the barges being loaded was rather boring, because the same pictures, scenes and conversations were repeated over and over. But on the other hand, on the pier itself, where barge haulers teemed with swarms, there was something to see and hear, and I spent whole days among ragged and hungry people. Someone just was not in this motley, always noisy crowd! People gathered from four provinces, and each brought with him his own dialect, tailoring of dresses, his own peculiarities in habits and character. But there was something in common in this diverse crowd: everyone was gathered here by one force, whose name is need. Tanned faces, rags and rags instead of clothes, and - patches, patches, patches ... It should be noted that only the very last poor people, from the poorest villages and hamlets, go to the spring Chusovoy rafting: random misfortunes - such as crop failure, drought, fire, animal death and various other peasant misfortunes - they forced the strongest workers in the family to leave the village and sometimes wander for a thousand miles.
When Yermolai Antipych said that he would have no time to dine these days, at first I did not believe - you never know what is said for a red word - but then I had to believe, because he came home only for two hours a day, and everything else spent time around shops. Thus, Lyubenka and I remained alone and talked for a long time because there was nothing to do, especially in the evenings. It’s so warm and cozy in the room, the samovar grumbles so friendly on the table, various buns and crackers look out of the bread basket so appetizingly - I really didn’t even want to believe that right here, now behind the wall, the most bitter poverty is spreading in a wide wave, which is happy with any moldy crust. Those little conveniences that you usually don’t notice now seemed to me an extraordinary luxury, for which I was simply ashamed: to sit in a warm comfortable room, to have an excellent dinner, tea, a newspaper, warm clothes, when hundreds of people are starving and freezing, when there is, maybe , patients who have nothing to even buy simple rye bread; no, to be warmly dressed, to have a warm room, a good table - this is really the greatest happiness, which people, in most cases, do not know how to appreciate, just as healthy people do not know how to appreciate their health ...
And you know what, - Lyubenka once said when we were sitting at evening tea. “Sometimes I think to myself, will our pier barges really make it to St. Petersburg?”
Probably half will sail to St. Petersburg.
And I can’t believe it: some kind of pristansky barge will suddenly be in St. Petersburg!
Yes, and will go, in all likelihood, for firewood and fences. The honor is not particularly great.
Lyubenka, who never left her pier, formed the most fantastic conception of the capital, as of some kind of magical city, where the streets consist entirely of five-story houses, at night from gas lamps it is as bright as day, at every step there are brilliant shops, at every step Wealthy carriages with well-dressed ladies and men rush along the bridge in a whirlwind, and nowhere is there even the slightest shadow of anything resembling poverty or misery.
In the evenings, when Lyubenka had long been asleep with her dreams of St. Petersburg, I opened the window and admired for a long time the magnificent picture rolling with a dull roar of Chusovaya, a continuous forest that immediately rose like a green jagged wall on the other side, distant mountains, slightly shrouded in misty haze . The whole pier fell asleep at night with a deadly deep sleep, which was disturbed only by the rare barking of chained dogs and the dull noise that came from the side of the loaded barges. From there, along with the cold and damp stream of air rising from the river, the resinous smoke of burning fires was drawn. The river was completely cleared of ice, and only occasionally belated ice floes showed up on it as white spots; probably they were sailing from some brisk mountain tributary. Once, when I was sitting in this way at the window and admiring the sleeping pier, a flock of mallard ducks swept through the air with noise and whistle. She could be heard sinking into the water at the opposite bank, and black dots furrowed the dark river stream for a long time, leaving a long, doubled trail behind them. The river had opened up, and now no less troublesome work was going on along the entire course than on the piers: mallards, pintails, goldeneyes, teals and other representatives of the duck breed hurriedly made nests in various secluded places, so that in a few weeks they could swim out to Chusovaya with a whole brood of tiny yellow ducklings. The corncrake was already creaking in the rising sedge, and along the sandbanks one could see waders and snipes running all day long.
Those white nights, which usually happen in the Urals, began; the sky is completely transparent, and a quivering, trembling light pours from the bottomless blue sky, which covers everything with matte silver - the forest, the mountains, and the water.
While the load was going on, the water on Chusovaya subsided almost to the previous level - the shaft released from the Revdinsky pond passed. Spring Chus caravans set off down this rampart, which stretches along the river for two hundred versts; for this second, most important flood, water from the Revdinsky pond is released sometimes within two days. The water in the river rises several arshins; but caravans can sail down only at a certain height of such a flood: it must be above the summer water level on Chusovaya from 2 1/4 to 3 arshins. If the water is lower, then the caravans are in danger of becoming shallow; if higher, the barges run the risk of crashing near the fighters. It is understandable, therefore, with what impatience at the piers they are waiting for the second shaft: the entire success of the rafting depends on it ...
Water is coming ... Water! .. - it flashed along the street early in the morning, when I was still sleeping.
The whole marina gathered on the shore. The most ancient, half-blind old men and old women crawled out in order to see at least with one eye how the caravan would "roll off" from the pier. Ice drift and caravan dump - two great holidays at the pier for the old and the small. Everything that is alive and has even the slightest ability to move, everything up to last man crawls ashore; crippled and crippled people appear from somewhere: one had his leg crushed under the load of a heavy iron scream, another had his arm cut with tackle, the third did not control either his arms or legs from rheumatism, obtained while filming the shallowed barges. For these unfortunate invalids of the Chusovoy rafting, every ice drift and dump only once again reminds of their misfortune, but they still jostle on the shore: "If you want to chat with barge haulers for an hour, it’s easier on your soul." Summer and winter are long, they still have time to sit and lie down in the huts.
Nona water is the most measured, - Ilya said, examining his completely finished barge. - Let's go a little.
Don't think ahead, Ilya, - the red-haired waterpipe stopped, generally distinguished by a very "doubtful" character and incredulity.
Ilya's barge was called a "kazenka" because a caravan clerk was sailing on it, and for this occasion a small cabin was arranged on the deck, near which an "eye" rose, that is, a high mast with a multi-colored feather at the top, something like a peacock's tail. At all piers, the same treasuries are arranged; with them there is a special category of barge haulers, known as "inert". The inert ones are selected from the best barge haulers and flaunt throughout the caravan in kumach shirts and in hats with multi-colored ribbons: it is by these ribbons that the inert ones of different marinas are distinguished. The inert boats got their name from the inert boat, on which they travel from barge to barge with various orders from the clerk ...
I, too, was offered accommodation on the treasury, in the clerk's cabin, and as soon as the water turned to profit, all my belongings from Yermolai Antipych's apartment went into the cabin.
Are you not a coward? - Yermolai Antipych asked me at parting.
So far, nothing, but I can’t vouch for the future ...
Remember only one thing, - the kind old man advised, - there is no need to hurry ... The people are stupid: a fighter touched a barge, - everyone was in the boat; But where can sixty people fit in one? They drown each other ... And you look at the rafter: what he will do, then you do.
I could only thank you for the good advice.
Yermolai Antipych and Lyubenka escorted me to the very treasury, where Ilya busied himself with barge haulers and inert ones. All the barges were ready to set off and stretched out along the coast in one line. The water kept coming and going noisily; boards, logs and fresh wood chips, caught in the water along the upper piers, rushed along the river. The barge haulers had long since settled down in the barges and dragged their knapsacks under the decks; it would take four days to sail along the river, it was necessary to stock up for the whole time bread, crackers and some welding, just in case. The work ahead was hard, and it was especially necessary for the weary barge hauler to sip something hot in order not to completely exhaust himself ...
Well, Ilya, it's time to back off, - Yermolai Antipych decided, looking at his watch. - No matter how the caravan runs from above ... How much water does it cost?
Eleven quarters, Yermolai Antipych...
Get off, Ilya, get off!
Yermolai Antipych and Lyubenka were the last to leave our barge. The barge haulers stood up to the diabolical ones, the water-pipe threw down the gangplank. The day was sunny, bright, the whole coast was covered with the first pale greenery, the birds that had arrived in the forest were flooding ...
* Diarrhea, or potes, - huge logs that replace the steering wheel.
Ilya pulled his felt hat deeply over his head, looked back at the shore strewn with people, and commanded:
Give me the tackle!
There was a fuss on the shore, and a thick rope splashed heavily into the water; the barge seemed to shudder and began to separate from the shore.
Nose to the left, well done! - Ilya shouted, and the nose pots flopped heavily into the water, opening it into two wide, foaming waves.
A fire flashed on the shore, and the first cannon shot boomed along the river, followed by another, and a third ... White smoke soared upwards, as if an armful of fluff had been thrown into the air. The whole coast with houses, hundreds of people, with shops and firing cannons seemed to float back from us, up the river. One barge rolled off after another, starting to rake in the water with difficulty. I stood at the stern and looked for a long time at the drifting shore, where a white dot flickered in the air: it was Lyubenka waving her handkerchief to the city man.
The river soon made a sharp turn, and the pier was completely out of sight. The barge sailed along steep green banks exactly between two walls; the water foamed and murmured under the nose of the barge and hit the shore with a foaming wave... The Chusovaya was unrecognizable... The river just "played", as barge haulers say about the spring flood; A better name is hard to come by. Even in the reaches, that is, in places where in summer the water stands quietly, quietly, like a mirror, a mighty wave now rolled in a wide current, which, at sharp turns, turned into a rabid beast. Maidans formed near the concave part of the coast, that is, rows of strong waves that crashed with noise near the sides of the barge and climbed ashore with a wild roar, greedily sucking on the coastal stones.
Support the stern, well done! .. - Ilya shouted, waving his hand. - Support the stern... The stern...
The potes with a dull noise fell into the water, and the barge shuddered from the tramp of barge feet. Now she was really alive, one huge whole, blindly obeying one will. The individual faces of the barge haulers merged into one continuous mass, as if a gray wave was moving across the deck, and the swashbucklers drilled and foamed the water like huge wooden hands.
For a long time I admired the rafter Ilya, who was now standing on his bench in his blue caftan and red sash, like a real commander: at one movement of his hands, like feathers, potes flew in the hands of barge haulers, and the barge slowly turned its bow in the direction it should have turned . The former Ilya, who drank tea with us at Yermolai Antipych's, seemed to be completely gone, but there was a completely different person, on whom the fate of not only the barge, but also all barge haulers depended. A calm expression on his face, a confident look in narrowed gray eyes, a firm voice - in a word, Ilya was immediately reborn.
Well, sir, is our Chusovaya playing well? - Ilya asked me when the barge sailed out onto a wide stretch.
Never mind...
But the pebbles will come up, there she will already comfort us, my dear ... The sky will seem like a sheepskin out of habit!
With each step forward, an endless ribbon of majestic mountain panorama unfolded before my eyes. The mountains changed, protruding into the river with huge rocks several tens of sazhens high. Usually such rocks stood on the sharp turns of the river, on its concave bank, so that the water jet carried the barge directly onto such a rock, onto the soldier. Here, on these exposed cliffs, one could see the results of the destructive action of water. For millennia, the river eroded stone mountains step by step, exposing huge stone walls, as if created by the hands of some giants, and not by blind elemental force. There are too many such fighting places on Chusovaya to describe each separately; the most dangerous fighters have their own names, while the less dangerous ones are simply called fighting places ...
As now I see one such fighting place. The river rolled on comparatively low banks, the mountains were left behind; the barge floated on the free stream easily and freely. A thick spruce forest was green on the shore; individual trees approached the river itself and stretched their shaggy branches far above the water ...
I peered ahead for a long time - the river rolled along the same green banks as before, only a dull noise was heard ahead. "These are probably the bunnies playing," I thought, trying to make out the dangerous place. In a minute the whole matter was explained; the road to the river was blocked by a low rocky mountain, and the river formed a steep bend under it, almost at a right angle. The water here was terribly seething and foaming, and a foamy bed of large waves rose far up the river. Soon the barge hit the "bunnies", it was picked up by a strong jet and quickly carried forward, right onto a rocky hill. The turn was so sharp that for a moment I considered the danger inevitable, especially since the barge was flying like an arrow along the "bunnies" right on the stones. The task was to pass along the opposite bank; the stern muddied the water, touching the shore, the bow was turned towards the jet, with which it was also beaten back to the shore. One moment, and the barge flew like a bird under a stone, leaving the playing "bunnies" behind.
In the third year, three barges were killed here, ”Ilya said, when the barge again calmly sailed along a wide and smooth reach.
It was necessary to see how barge haulers worked near the "bunnies". There was no sound on the barge, everything froze, and Ilya’s team barely had time to break, as the potes began to frantically row the water, dispersing a foamy wide wave across the entire river.
Barge haulers work nicely, - I noticed Ilya.
Nothing... Take a look at our piers... kindly-expensive. All the power is in them, and the newcomers - they only get in the way. Look how the porters are throwing up some filthy stuff... A toy, not a job!
Soon the Boundary Duck, - said Ilya. - And there, right up to Kyn, we will all run in stones ...
Landmark Duck, like a pier, a very beautiful village, one and a half hundred yards; there is an old chapel on the shore, on the arrow between Utka and Chusovaya there is a beautiful caravan office and a very good harbor where barges are built and loaded. Strong huts, located according to the plan, several two-story houses, shops - all this gives the Landmark Duck a prosperous and contented look ...
There they are, pebbles, ”Ilya said, throwing his head back. - Look up, and you will lose your hat ...
At the very top of these stone palaces, rickety wooden crosses blacken. This is the only monument that barge haulers leave over their dead comrades, buried somewhere on the opposite bank, where a willow bristles with its lowered branches.
And many barge haulers die on the raft? - I ask Ilya.
Anything happens, sir... Another fusion God will carry all the caravans mercifully; it just rarely happens. A man of heels - a dozen still die from the barques ... There were also such springs that all a hundred people drowned. A lot of our brother, barge haulers, along Chusovaya are buried on the shore.
Soon we actually saw what the crosses on the rocks were talking about. Below the village of Permyakova, when our barge began to go around a steep cape, there was a general cry:
The dead barge!.. The barge was killed!..
Ilya, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand, stared into the distance. Half a verst away from us, some formless mass was floating from under the fighter, which it was difficult to mistake for a barge. It was evident that something large was floating along the river, with boards sticking out and people running around.
Oh! She scooped up water with her left shoulder, hearty, ”Ilya said, continuing to watch the dead barge. - Look at the people, how they swarm in the water, like cockroaches!
Closer was the stern of a sinking barge with diarrhea hanging helplessly in the air; the wrecked barge sank lower and lower into the water, quietly turning in the current, stern first. Black dots flickered in the water: they were barge haulers from a broken barge. The inert boat floated along the rock without people, filled to the brim with water. Probably, in the confusion, the workers threw themselves into it, and the boat capsized from unbearable weight.
Oh, rubbish business ... No matter how she blocked the river for us, - Ilya fussed. - Look how clever it was: so a dead cow and floats along the river ... Hit, brothers, your nose to the left! Strike hard, much, well done! .. Strike, my dears! .. Nose to the left! .. Nose to the left!
The fighter approached us and quickly grew into a large limestone rock, resting against the river with a sharp ridge. On this crest, probably, the unfortunate barge hit. On the shore, the workers who had come up senselessly ran, some sat and stared blankly at the wrecked barge floating past. Some gray-haired old man in a red shirt was running along the shore towards us, waving his arms and shouting something loudly. It was impossible to hear anything over the noise of the waves and the creak of the tees.
Hit the stern-on-horse!! - Ilya shouted furiously when our barge flew towards the fighter like an arrow. - Relatives, do not give out!
It is difficult to convey the solemn moment that had come: a deathly silence reigned on the barge, barge haulers unanimously picked up the team, and the potes flew like feathers. There are already a few fathoms left before the fighter, you can clearly see every notch on him; the water, like mad, rushes about and rumbles at its foot ... We were separated from the fighter by some half an arshin, when the barge slowly turned its bow from him and the danger passed. The water bubbled all around, as if in a cauldron, the waves climbed on board like a hungry pack of wolves.
Sabbat-nose-off! Ilya commanded, taking off his hat to cross himself.
The barge was on free water and quietly sailed on, past the crowded people on the shore. All were wet, many without hats; something was shouting after us, but it was hard to hear their cries. Immediately someone was pumped out on a stretched caftan. One could only see how his head dangled helplessly and his bare, whitened feet twitched.
Two choked, - Ilya remarked briefly.
On the shore, under the tall bushes, one could see two figures lying motionless, covered with a holey zipun. A blue face with wet hair flashed, a convulsively clenched hand - and nothing more. Who are these victims of the alloy? In what village will two families mourn the dear dead, perhaps the only breadwinners? What kind of children were orphaned in just a quarter of an hour? It was sad and hard to look at this too ordinary picture for Chusovaya... - a nameless forest bird.
We soon caught up with the "killed" barge, it was quietly sailing near the shore; the deck was torn off, and matting coolies peeped out from under it. All cargo was wet.
You see, how distorted, - said Ilya. - You don’t know what to apply to ... He hit the fighter with his left shoulder, and the diarrheal nasal blew off. Oh ho ho!
More peace, - said Ilya.
The inert ones returned to the barge with nothing. They could not make further searches, because their own barge was not waiting, and the dead man did not need anyone's help. All the same, in a crazy wave somewhere they will throw ashore, on a sandbank, and there good people will pick it up and bury it.
A little higher than the Kynovskaya pier, a small mountain river Serebryanka flows into Chusovaya, and twenty versts below the Serebryanka River on Chusovaya stands the Kynovsky plant, or, as barge haulers call it, simply Kyn. Is not Russian word, but passed to us from the Permian language: in Permian "kynu" means "cold". And indeed, it is difficult to imagine anything more homeless and deafer than Kyn. Imagine a deep gorge, as if deliberately carved out of stone; a small river rolls along the bottom of this gorge, and factory houses, a factory factory, metal shops are located along its banks. In the depths, a strip of the factory pond turns blue, and several blast furnaces smoke; closer - a white stone church, a factory office and several other houses with iron roofs.
This Kyn is sitting here for us, ”Ilya explained, pointing to the back of his head.
Why?
Yes, so ... You see how Chusovaya is arching here, the kynovskaya pier is in the very bend and stands, well, in a jet it blows our barges right to the pier, to the kynovskaya barges. And lower, it’s too much: either you’ll kill yourself on the Kynov barks, or on the bust ... Choose any and the best. Here barge haulers will fill their foreheads to the full! Well, darlings, take a walk, nose to the right! ..
We passed under Kyn safely, although the barge haulers got a fair amount. One could be surprised at their endurance, but meanwhile, two more days of travel seemed to be ahead - this was in a happy case, of course.
In a day, all eighteen hours at the diarrhea will stand, - Ilya said about barge haulers.
Yes, this is horse work! ..
What will you do! The river won't wait for us...
And when to rest?
But soon there will be rest: we will grapple under Oslyanka. There is such a pier, lower than the Kyn, well, there will be a grip behind it ... We will stand by the coast for six hours, let the water catch up with us, And people also need to rest ...
I was looking forward to the grip. Even earlier, I heard a lot of different stories about such grips on spring rafting: how the grip was pulled out, for which the tackle was wound, how this grip or flint burnt out, how people were killed and maimed by bursting tackle, etc. Stopping a barge with fifteen thousand pounds of cargo on such a fast river as the Chusovaya is not an easy task.
Vavilo, we need to prepare the tackle, ”Ilya said, when we sailed through Oslyanka, the last pier where barges are loaded. - You should catch it before dark.
Indeed, the sun was already beginning to set, and long shadows stretched along the river from the rocks and the forest. Night here comes with amazing speed, and along with the dusk of the night comes a piercing spring cold, which creeps onto the river from deep lairs where unmelted snow still lies.
Vavilo's waterpipe, a taciturn, stern peasant, silently went over the back deck and silently began to put in order the tackle, that is, a thick rope, rolled up in regular rings. The latter is very important so that during the grip the tackle does not get confused, but unfolds freely.
Done, - Vavilo answered, standing near the flint.
Inert, get in the boat! Ilya commanded.
Six selected stagnant men went into the boat and took with them half of the unwound tackle.
Here, well done, as the barge runs out over the cape, there is a bend, - Ilya explained to the inert ones, - and in the bend, on the left bank, there is a seasoned stump ... Here for him and fasten the tackle!
The barka rounded the cape, and a wide stretch flashed ahead, with the bend that Ilya spoke of. The water here did not rush as furiously as before, and the barge went noticeably quieter. In order to delay her further, Ilya ordered to "keep up the stern", and the barge went astern almost near the very shore. There are two cedars on the shore, and a seasoned stump, about which Ilya spoke. The boat with the scythes separated from the barge and rushed towards the shore like an arrow. Having somehow stuck to the shore, the inert ones jumped out of the boat at once and dragged the tackle dragging along the ground to the cedars. The barka had already sailed past them at that time, and Vavilo quickly lowered the unwound tackle into the water so that it would not be pulled out of the hands of the inert ones.
Ready! came from the shore.
Attach tackle! Ilya commanded.
The water pourer threw a prepared loop over the flint and pulled the rope over its free end. The barge shuddered, as if someone had seized it by the bottom with a mighty hand. The tackle slapped heavily on the water several times, and then quickly stretched and trembled like a string. The boat almost came to a complete halt.
Grass tackle! Ilya shouted.
Vavilo let go a few revolutions, the tackle again flopped heavily into the water, and the flint and flint began to smoke. It was as if the barca made an attempt to free herself from the bridle that held her and again went forward.
Tackle grass!.. Tackle grass! Ilya shouted.
Thick smoke poured from the flint and flint in white puffs, but it was immediately flooded with water. The rigging was tightened again, but now the barge had already lost half of the speed acquired from moving along the river, and it was as if she herself had approached the shore.
Fasten the tackle tightly, - Ilya commanded.
The tackle was wrapped around the flint in a dead loop, and the barge stopped.
Ilya thanked the barge haulers for their friendly work and congratulated them on the happy grip.
Thank you, Ilya Maksimych! Dozens of voices responded. - Keeping your head...
A gangway was thrown ashore, and barge haulers filed off the barge in single file.
Soon, bright fires blazed on the shore. Dozens of barge haulers crowded around them, like Chinese shadows on the screen of a magic lantern. Who cooked porridge in a cast-iron pot, who warmed their frozen hands by the fire, who chewed a dry black crust, exposing their back to the fire, who simply pushed between other people to stretch their swollen legs from standing. Some were sitting, others were going to bed. Right there, near the fire, he curls up, puts his fist under his head, and sleeps in such a sweet dream that the rich probably never sleep on their down jackets and spring mattresses.
And the short spring night was already hanging over Chusovaya, with its soft dusk, cold and feverishly burning stars. Again the fuss of ducks was heard, and somewhere in the swamp the corncrake creaked endlessly ...
Early in the morning, when I was still sleeping, the barge rolled away and "ran" forward. Through a dream, Ilya's command reached me: "bow to the right", "support the stern", but I slept like a log. The tramp of burlak feet on the deck, the sound of water near the sides and the floundering of diarrhea somehow completely merged with chaotic night dreams: it seemed that the barge was flying straight at the fighter, then the desperate cry of drowning people was heard, then an ominous, dead silence ensued ...
On the water, as many have probably observed, appetite especially develops, and then the deepest sleep overcomes. I continued to lie on my bench, wrapped in a blanket, when exactly something scribbled along the bottom of the barge. But it was nothing: probably, the barge touched the edge of the underwater rock, and then calmly sailed forward again. I was sleeping when a strong jolt made me jump up. A dull rustle was heard, as if a barge was rolling over dry peas.
It's okay, they hurt a little on the rim, ”my companion explained, lighting a cigarette. - Now it's not dangerous ... The barge almost completely ran out of the stones; if we get stranded somewhere, it's not a big deal. Below Kamasina, there will be work...
Yes, lower than Kumysh ... Have you heard about the fighter Molokov?
Well, it's worth a look.
When we were talking like that, the rustle was repeated several times, and then the barge at once crashed into something soft and stopped. Only the water gurgled muffledly near the sides, and the diaphoretic ones continued to beat right and left in vain. I went on deck. The barge ran aground.
Rubbish business, - Ilya said, going down from the bench.
Barge haulers stood impassively on the deck and waited for what the rafter would say.
What are we going to do now? I asked.
But it is necessary, after all, to get off the breast.
Obviously, we ran out of the mountains. In front and on the sides spread a wide plain, where in the midst of the forest fields flashed in regular squares, winters turned green, and somewhere far, far away, on a steep bank, a village could be seen. Blackened, loose ice floes slowly floated along the river; on the opposite bank stood, squinting, a shallow barge.
Where is the ice coming from? I asked Ilya.
Yes, from Koiva, master, - reluctantly answered the old man, who was now not up to me. - There is such a river, it’s called Koiva, well, ice comes out of it ... Look, he’ll cut the barge.
How is that?
And so: an ice floe after an ice floe will begin to cut through the barge, well, and they will cut through the side ... Oh, what a sin it was! There has never been a brisket in this very place, and then suddenly a brisket.
What about the village ahead?
Yes, this is Kamasino ... Oh, what a sin you came out! .. ah! ..
The village of Kamasino serves as a sharp edge for Chusovaya: here it finally runs out of the mountains, ahead of it is an undulating plain covered with forest, arable land and water meadows. In the distance one could see the railway bridge thrown across the Chusovaya on high stone abutments. Here Chusovaya is crossed by the recently built Ural Mining Railway. There are a number of dangerous shoals near Kamasin, because the river here overflows very widely in the low banks.
Well, brothers, how are we going to take off the barge? - Ilya asked, referring to the barge haulers.
The barge haulers shifted and did not answer. Ilya grunted impatiently, threw his leather mittens on the deck and turned to the inert ones.
Release your captivity... Let's first try to unwittingly take off, maybe we'll get off the breast.
Captivity is called a huge log, hewn on both sides; it looks like a huge board, several inches thick. There are usually two such captivity for each barge, and they swim near the sides, somewhat protecting the sides from hitting the fighters.
Five minutes later, the inert ones were ready, that is, they took off their caftans and boots and remained in their shirts. One of them, a healthy peasant with a blond beard, rolled up his pants and, holding on to the side of the barge, got into captivity.
Ah, it’s cold,” he said, tasting the cold water with his bare foot, “the water is burning ...
Well, well, don't talk! Ilya shouted. - Vavilo, untie bondage, and you, Sergey, go to the end.
A young guy in a red shirt shook his hair, crossed himself and at once jumped over the side into captivity.
Prepare chegen, please!
It's done, - the peasant with a blond beard answered, measuring the bottom with a short stake, which is called "chegen" by barge haulers. "It will be a quarter to five," he said...
Apparently, there is nothing to do, you have to go into the water, - Ilya decided. - Bondage does not take ... Well, which of the thugs is not afraid of water? Well, younger guys, undress and get to work!
Inert and about ten young barge haulers took off their bast shoes, zipuns and remained in the same shirts. It was necessary to go down into the water under the left shoulder in order to move it with chegens. Working in cold spring water is hard and extremely dangerous. Barge haulers do not like her, but she has to climb into the water, because time does not wait. Several barques have already sailed past us. It was enviable to look at them when their barge lay on the sand like a turtle.
Well, brothers, chegeni left shoulder! - Ilya commanded, running along the front deck. - And you, as the vile ones will strike, - he shouted to the inert ones in captivity, - turn the captivity ... Yes, at once, brothers! All together...
About fifteen haulers lined up under the left shoulder of the barge and picked it up with their chegens.
Some were up to their chests. Faces turned blue, many teeth chattered from the cold. The situation was the most ugly ... What was it worth to catch a cold in this icy water and lose not only health, but also life. From such filming, many barge haulers go to the grave or remain crippled for life.
When captivity was prepared, and barge haulers were standing at the diapers, Ilya himself tightened the "Dubinushka".
What did the guys subdue, Ali wanted to drink ...
Burlaki picked up.
Oh, dubi-inushka let's go!
The green one will go on her own, she will go on her own ... Let's pull! ..
The bar is coming! Ilya shouted, measuring the water with a long pole. - Another manenchko! .. Nose to the left, well done! .. - shouted Ilya. - Support the stern ... stern! stern!
The barge, like a turtle, turned the stern, extremely heavily drilling the sand with its nose, which formed a whole mountain under the left shoulder.
Cheer up your left shoulder!! Ilya shouted. - Well done, cheer up! .. Oh, well done! .. One more time! ..
The barge has gone... The barka has gone!! shouted dozens of voices, and barge haulers with chegens, like cats, began to climb the sides.
The barge was already on the free water and quietly swam stern forward, "turned around", as barge haulers say.
Well, thank God, - Ilya said, - thanks, guys! .. A glass of vodka for my brother! ..
After such an ice bath, vodka was a necessity to warm up a little. Some barge haulers had nothing to change their wet shirts, and they put their sermyags directly on them.
At the diarrheic one, they will warm up at a little time, ”Ilya explained. - A sort of sin came out ... Go ahead!
Why don't you have a fire on the barge, Ilya? I said. - If only the barge haulers would warm up ...
Well, no, sir, if you go from ice water to fire, then you are finished ... We even know this quite well! Which barge hauler, if he doesn’t endure it like that, but sticks himself to the fire, is now gone. That's right!.. It's always like that. Who will lose their arms, who will have their legs, and who will die completely.
Yes, it’s good to say when everything is dry on you, but what does it feel like for them, who stand on the deck in the wet ...
What to do, they'll be patient... After all, it's not the first time... Here at Molokov's and at the Robber's, everyone will warm up, sweat will break out. Oh, you, think, what a sin! .. And?!
We sailed past the village of Kamasino, under the railway bridge, and then soon the small village of Kumysh appeared. This last village is remarkable in that below it are the most dangerous fighters in the entire Chusovaya - Molokov and Robber. Many baroques beat against them, especially in high water. Chusovaya goes here in low banks, in a wide flood, far flooding meadows; Molokov and the Robber are, as it were, the last and most terrible obstacle with which the old Ural once again blocks the path of the mountain beauty Chusova.
Under Molokovo, Chusovaya makes a turn, and in the halt of this turn, where the barge is blown away by the jet, stands a terrible fighter. From afar, the stone itself does not represent anything particularly terrible: it is a large rock that has turned towards the water with its sloping edge. It is on this slope that the water runs high up to the very fighter, and then with a terrible roar and groan it runs back into the river, forming a real hell of foaming waves under the fighter. Even from a distance you can hear how the river roars near Molokovo, and closer you only see that all the water here turns into a continuous stream of white foam, as if milk is boiling under the fighter. Hence the name of the fighter himself - Molokov.
Hats off! - Ilya commanded, when our barge with deathly silence began to approach the fighter. - Do your best, folks!
Of course, barge haulers have nothing to ask for work, they themselves are aware of the importance of the coming moment and will spare no effort to make the barge fly like a bird under the most terrible fighter.
Our barge was picked up by a jet and carried with terrible speed straight at the fighter.
The river narrows towards the fighter, and you feel how a mighty elemental force picks up the barge and rushes with increasing speed to a terrible stone ledge.
Here we are in a strip of foaming water, which, like mad, climbs with gray ridges on the sides of our barge ... Here is the formidable Molokov himself ... He seems to be growing every second and quickly approaching us. The consciousness of one's own movement is somehow lost in this chaos of sounds, the head is spinning, and it seems that the shores are running past the barge, and an inexorable, boiling abyss awaits ahead. But a few sazhens to Molokovo ... there is water dust in the air ... One more second, and we will be crushed in a terrible whirlpool ... At the most critical moment, when the common death seems inevitable, Ilya's command is heard, the diarrhea fell into the water at once , and the barge quickly passed under the fighter, some two arshins from the fatal ledge.
We are saved. I can't believe the danger passed so quickly. And the Robber is waiting ahead, but now he is no longer scary to us, because the barge is sailing along suvodi.
Take a walk, well done! - Ilya shouts cheerfully, patting his leather mittens.
Under the Robber, the barge passed safely. Everyone's heart was relieved. Laughter and cheerful conversation are heard. Someone hums a song under his breath. There is a forest on the shore, beyond the fields, hedges, and there a tiny nameless village is stuck on the high bank, on the very Jura and looks merrily downhill, where the kolomenkas run under a steep line.
Are there other places on Chusovaya like Molokov and Robber? I asked Elijah.
There are no such people, but there are some around... The rafting worker with Druzhny, the Stove with Vysoky: they have only one music, perhaps. Nothing, good, funny fighters!..
If in the mountainous part of Chusovaya one can meet broken barges, then below Kamasin, shallow barges began to come across. In some places they were removed from the woods, as we were at Kamasin, others were completely dried up and stood half in the water without any signs of life. The workers left, and only weirs guarded the cargo.
The rest of our path, except for historical memories, did not represent anything special. There were several villages that flaunted on a high bank, and there - either meadows or forests. All the way from Kamasin to Perm, almost at a distance of three hundred miles, there is only one village, these are the Upper and Lower Chusovskie Gorodoki, which for the present have only historical interest, as one of the first Russian settlements on Chusovaya.
On the fourth day we safely landed in Perm. Here, on the ship, sitting in a second-class common cabin, I spent a long time sorting through the impression of an anxious journey along Chusovaya. Only after experiencing all the dangers of rafting on a barge, you will truly appreciate all the conveniences of traveling even on the worst steamer.
Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak - On the Chusovaya River, read text
See also Mamin-Sibiryak Dmitry Narkisovich - Prose (stories, poems, novels ...):
BEGINNER
I Children's world, as I said, is expanding in concentric circles, ...
mischievous
Story I Spirka was sitting at the window of his hut, looking towards the Bashkirs...
Cis-Ural marginal foredeep with relatively gentle sedimentation in the western side and more complex in the eastern side;
The zone of the western slope of the Urals with the development of intensely crumpled and thrust-disturbed sedimentary strata of the Lower and Middle Paleozoic;
the Central Ural uplift, where among the sedimentary strata of the Paleozoic and Upper Precambrian, older crystalline rocks of the edge of the East European Platform outcrop in places;
The system of troughs-synclinories of the eastern slope (the largest are Magnitogorsk and Tagil), made mainly by Middle Paleozoic volcanic strata and marine, often deep-sea sediments, as well as deep-seated igneous rocks (gabbroids, granitoids, less often alkaline intrusions) that break through them - the so-called. greenstone belt of the Urals;
Ural-Tobolsk anticlinorium with outcrops of older metamorphic rocks and wide development of granitoids;
East Ural synclinorium, in many respects similar to Tagil-Magnitogorsk.
At the base of the first three zones, according to geophysical data, an ancient, Early Precambrian, basement is confidently traced, composed mainly of metamorphic and igneous rocks and formed as a result of several epochs of folding. The oldest, presumably Archean, rocks come to the surface in the Taratash ledge on the western slope of the Southern Urals. Pre-Ordovician rocks in the basement of the synclinories of the eastern slope of the Urals are unknown. It is assumed that the Paleozoic volcanic strata of synclinoria are based on thick plates of hypermafic and gabbroids, which in some places come to the surface in the massifs of the Platinum-bearing belt and other related belts; these plates, possibly, are outcasts of the ancient oceanic bed of the Ural geosyncline. In the east, in the Ural-Tobolsk anticlinorium, outcrops of Precambrian rocks are rather problematic.
The Paleozoic deposits of the western slope of the Urals are represented by limestones, dolomites, sandstones, formed in conditions of predominantly shallow seas. To the east, deeper sediments of the continental slope are traced in a discontinuous band. Even further east, within the eastern slope of the Urals, the Paleozoic (Ordovician, Silurian) section begins with altered volcanic rocks of basalt composition and jasper, comparable to the rocks of the bottom of modern oceans. In places above the section, there are thick, also altered spilite-natro-liparitic strata with deposits of copper pyrite ores. Younger deposits of the Devonian and partly Silurian are mainly represented by andesite-basalt, andesite-dacitic volcanics and greywackes, corresponding to the stage in the development of the eastern slope of the Urals, when the oceanic crust was replaced by a transitional type crust. Carboniferous deposits (limestones, grey-wackes, acidic and alkaline volcanics) are associated with the latest, continental stage of development of the eastern slope of the Urals. At the same stage, the main mass of Paleozoic, essentially potassium, granites of the Urals, which formed pegmatite veins with rare valuable minerals, also intruded.
In the Late Carboniferous-Permian, sedimentation on the eastern slope of the Urals almost stopped and a folded mountain structure formed here; on the western slope at that time, the Cis-Ural marginal foredeep was formed, filled with a thick (up to 4-5 km) strata of detrital rocks that were carried down from the Urals - molasse. Triassic deposits have been preserved in a number of depressions-grabens, the occurrence of which in the north and east of the Urals was preceded by basalt (trap) magmatism. Younger strata of Mesozoic and Cenozoic platform deposits gently overlap folded structures along the periphery of the Urals.
It is assumed that the Paleozoic structure of the Urals was laid down in the Late Cambrian - Ordovician as a result of the splitting of the Late Precambrian continent and the expansion of its fragments, as a result of which a geosynclinal depression was formed with crust and oceanic-type sediments in its inner part. Subsequently, the expansion was replaced by compression, and the oceanic basin began to gradually close and “overgrow” with the newly formed continental crust; the nature of magmatism and sedimentation changed accordingly. The modern structure of the Urals bears traces of the strongest compression, accompanied by a strong transverse contraction of the geosynclinal depression and the formation of gentle scaly overthrusts - ridges.
The Ural is a whole system of mountain ranges, stretched parallel to one another in the meridional direction. As a rule, there are two or three such parallel ranges, but in some places, with the expansion of the mountain system, their number increases to four or more. So, for example, the Southern Urals is orographically very complex between 55 0 and 54 ° N. sh., where there are at least six ridges. Between the ridges lie vast depressions occupied by river valleys.
The orography of the Urals is closely related to its tectonic structure. Most often, ridges and ridges are confined to anticlinal zones, and depressions are confined to synclinal ones. Inverted relief is less common, associated with the presence of rocks more resistant to destruction in synclinal zones than in adjacent anticlinal zones. Such a character has, for example, the Zilair plateau, or the South Ural plateau, within the Zilair synclinorium.
Lower areas are replaced in the Urals by elevated ones - a kind of mountain nodes, in which the mountains reach not only their maximum heights, but also their greatest width. It is remarkable that such knots coincide with the places where the strike of the Ural mountain system changes. The main ones are Subpolar, Middle Ural and South Ural. In the Subpolar node, lying at 65 ° N. sh., Ural deviates from the south-western direction to the south. Here rises the highest peak of the Ural Mountains - Mount Narodnaya (1894 m). The Middle Urals junction is located at about 60°N. sh., where the strike of the Urals changes from south to southeast. Among the peaks of this knot, Mount Konzhakovsky Kamen (1569 m) stands out. The South Ural node is located between 55 0 and 54 0 s. sh. Here, the direction of the Ural ranges becomes south-western instead of south-western, and Iremel (1582 m) and Yamantau (1640 m) attract attention from the peaks.
A common feature of the relief of the Urals is the asymmetry of its western and eastern slopes. The western slope is gentle, passes into the Russian Plain more gradually than the eastern one, which steeply descends towards the West Siberian Plain. The asymmetry of the Urals is due to tectonics, the history of its geological development.
Another orographic feature of the Urals is associated with asymmetry - the displacement of the main watershed ridge separating the rivers of the Russian Plain from the rivers of Western Siberia to the east, closer to the West Siberian Plain. This ridge in different parts of the Urals has different names: Uraltau in the Southern Urals, Belt Stone in the Northern Urals. At the same time, it is not the highest almost everywhere; the largest peaks, as a rule, lie to the west of it. Such a hydrographic asymmetry of the Urals is the result of an increased "aggressiveness" of the rivers of the western slope, caused by a sharper and faster uplift of the Cis-Urals in the Neogene compared to the Trans-Urals.
Even with a cursory glance at the hydrographic pattern of the Urals, the presence of sharp, elbow turns in most rivers on the western slope is striking. In the upper reaches of the river flow in the meridional direction, following the longitudinal intermountain depressions. Then they turn sharply to the west, sawing often high ridges, after which they again flow in the meridional direction or retain the old latitudinal direction. Such sharp turns are well expressed in Pechora, Shchugor, Ilych, Belaya, Aya, Sakmara and many others. It has been established that the rivers saw through the ridges in places where the axes of the folds are lowered. In addition, many of them, apparently, are older than mountain ranges, and their incision proceeded simultaneously with the uplift of the mountains.
A small absolute height determines the predominance of low-mountain and mid-mountain geomorphological landscapes in the Urals. The peaks of many ranges are flat, while some mountains are domed with more or less soft outlines of the slopes. In the Northern and Polar Urals, near the upper border of the forest and above it, where frosty weathering is vigorously manifested, stone seas (turmeric) are widespread. These places are also characterized by upland terraces resulting from solifluction processes and frost weathering.
Alpine landforms are extremely rare in the Ural Mountains. They are known only in the most elevated parts of the Polar and Subpolar Urals. The bulk of modern glaciers of the Urals are connected with the same mountain ranges.
"Lednichki" is not an accidental expression in relation to the glaciers of the Urals. Compared to the glaciers of the Alps and the Caucasus, the Urals look like dwarfs. All of them belong to the cirque and cirque-valley type and are located below the climatic snow boundary. The total number of glaciers in the Urals is 122, and the entire area of glaciation is only slightly more than 25 km2. Most of them are in the polar watershed part of the Urals between 67 0 -68 0 s. sh. Caro-valley glaciers up to 1.5-2.2 km long have been found here. The second glacial region is located in the Subpolar Urals between 64 0 and 65 ° N. sh.
The main part of the glaciers is concentrated on the more humid western slope of the Urals. It is noteworthy that all Ural glaciers lie in cirques of eastern, southeastern, and northeastern exposures. This is explained by the fact that they are inspired, that is, they were formed as a result of the deposition of snowstorm snow in the wind shadow of mountain slopes.
The Russian Plain is bounded in the east by a well-defined natural boundary - the Ural Mountains. These mountains have long been considered to be beyond the border of two parts of the world - Europe and Asia. Despite its low height, the Urals are quite well isolated as a mountainous country, which is greatly facilitated by the presence of low plains to the west and east of it - Russian and West Siberian.
"Ural" is a word of Turkic origin, which means "belt" in translation. Indeed, the Ural Mountains resemble a narrow belt or ribbon stretching across the plains. Northern Eurasia from the shores of the Kara Sea to the steppes of Kazakhstan. The total length of this belt from north to south is about 2000 km (from 68 ° 30 "to 51 ° N), and the width is 40-60 km and only in places more than 100 km. In the northwest through the Pai-Khoi ridge and Vaigach Ural Island passes into the mountains of Novaya Zemlya, so some researchers consider it as part of the Ural-Novaya Zemlya natural country.In the south, the continuation of the Urals are Mugodzhary.
Many Russian and Soviet researchers took part in the study of the Urals. The first of them were P. I. Rychkov and I. I. Lepekhin (second half of the 18th century). In the middle of the XIX century. E. K. Hoffman worked in the Northern and Middle Urals for many years. A great contribution to the knowledge of the landscapes of the Urals was made by Soviet scientists V. A. Varsanofyeva (geologist and geomorphologist) and I. M. Krasheninnikov (geobotanist).
The Urals is the oldest mining region in our country. In its depths there are huge reserves of a wide variety of minerals. Iron, copper, nickel, chromites, aluminum raw materials, platinum, gold, potassium salts, precious stones, asbestos - it is difficult to list everything that the Ural Mountains are rich in. The reason for such wealth is in the peculiar geological history of the Urals, which also determines the relief and many other elements of the landscape of this mountainous country.
Geological structure
The Ural is one of the ancient folded mountains. In its place in the Paleozoic, a geosyncline was located; the seas rarely then left its territory. They changed their boundaries and depth, leaving behind powerful layers of sediments. The Urals experienced several mountain building processes. The Caledonian folding, which manifested itself in the Lower Paleozoic (including the Salair folding in the Cambrian), although it covered a significant territory, was not the main one for the Ural Mountains. The main folding was Hercynian. It began in the Middle Carboniferous in the east of the Urals, and in the Permian it spread to the western slopes.
The most intense was the Hercynian folding in the east of the ridge. It manifested itself here in the formation of strongly compressed, often overturned and recumbent folds, complicated by large thrusts, leading to the appearance of scaly structures. Folding in the east of the Urals was accompanied by deep splits and intrusions of powerful granite intrusions. Some of the intrusions in the Southern and Northern Urals reach enormous sizes - up to 100-120 km long and 50-60 km wide.
Folding was much less vigorous on the western slope. Therefore, simple folds prevail there; overthrusts are rarely observed, there are no intrusions.
Geological structure of the Urals. I - Cenozoic group: 1 - Quaternary system; 2 - Paleogene; II. Mesozoic group: 3 - Cretaceous system; 4 - Triassic system; III. Paleozoic group: 5 - Permian system; 6 - coal system; 7 - Devonian system; 8 - Silurian system; 9 - Ordovician system; 10 - Cambrian system; IV. Precambrian: 11 - Upper Proterozoic (Riphean); 12 - lower and undivided by Proterozoic; 13 - archaea; V. Intrusions of all ages: 14 - granitoids; 15 - medium and basic; 16 - ultrabasic.
Tectonic pressure, which resulted in folding, was directed from east to west. The rigid foundation of the Russian platform prevented the spread of folding in this direction. The folds are most compressed in the area of the Ufimsky plateau, where they are very complex even on the western slope.
After the Hercynian orogeny, folded mountains arose on the site of the Ural geosyncline, and the later tectonic movements here were in the nature of block uplifts and subsidence, which were accompanied in places, in a limited area, by intense folding and faults. In the Triassic-Jurassic, most of the territory of the Urals remained dry land, erosional processing of the mountain relief took place, and coal-bearing strata accumulated on its surface, mainly along the eastern slope of the ridge. In the Neogene-Quaternary time, differentiated tectonic movements were observed in the Urals.
In tectonic terms, the entire Urals is a large meganticlinorium, consisting of a complex system of anticlinoria and synclinoria separated by deep faults. In the cores of anticlinoria, the most ancient rocks emerge - crystalline schists, quartzites and granites of the Proterozoic and Cambrian. In synclinoria, thick strata of Paleozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks are observed. From west to east in the Urals, a change in structural-tectonic zones is clearly traced, and with them a change in rocks that differ from one another in lithology, age and origin. These structural-tectonic zones are as follows: 1) zone of marginal and periclinal troughs; 2) zone of marginal anticlinoria; 3) zone of shale synclinories; 4) zone of the Central Ural anticliporium; 5) zone of Greenstone synclinorpy; 6) zone of the East Ural anticlinorium; 7) zone of the East Ural synclinorium1. The last two zones north of 59° N. sh. submerge, overlapping with Meso-Cenozoic deposits common in the West Siberian Plain.
The meridional zonality in the Urals is also subject to the distribution of minerals. Deposits of oil, coal (Vorkuta), potash salt (Solikamsk), rock salt, gypsum, bauxite (eastern slope) are associated with the Paleozoic sedimentary deposits of the western slope. Platinum deposits and pyrite ores gravitate towards intrusions of basic and ultrabasic rocks. The most famous locations of iron ores - mountains Magnitnaya, Blagodat, High - are associated with intrusions of granites and syenites. In granite intrusions, deposits of native gold and precious stones are concentrated, among which the Ural emerald has received world fame.
Orography and geomorphology
The Ural is a whole system of mountain ranges, stretched parallel to one another in the meridional direction. As a rule, there are two or three such parallel ranges, but in some places, with the expansion of the mountain system, their number increases to four or more. So, for example, the Southern Urals is orographically very complex between 55 and 54 ° N. sh., where there are at least six ridges. Between the ridges lie vast depressions occupied by river valleys.
The orography of the Urals is closely related to its tectonic structure. Most often, ridges and ridges are confined to anticlinal zones, and depressions are confined to synclinal ones. Inverted relief is less common, associated with the presence of rocks more resistant to destruction in synclinal zones than in adjacent anticlinal zones. Such a character has, for example, the Zilair plateau, or the South Ural plateau, within the Zilair synclinorium.
Lower areas are replaced in the Urals by elevated ones - a kind of mountain nodes, in which the mountains reach not only their maximum heights, but also their greatest width. It is remarkable that such knots coincide with the places where the strike of the Ural mountain system changes. The main ones are Subpolar, Middle Ural and South Ural. In the Subpolar node, which lies at 65 ° N, the Urals deviate from the southwestern direction to the south. Here rises the highest peak of the Ural Mountains - Mount Narodnaya (1894 m). The Middle Urals junction is located at about 60°N. sh., where the strike of the Urals changes from south to south-southeast. Among the peaks of this knot, Mount Konzhakovsky Kamen (1569 m) stands out. The South Ural node is located between 55 and 54 ° N. sh. Here, the direction of the Ural ridges becomes south-western instead of south-western, and Iremel (1582 m) and Yamantau (1640 m) attract attention from the peaks.
A common feature of the relief of the Urals is the asymmetry of its western and eastern slopes. The western slope is gentle, passes into the Russian Plain more gradually than the eastern one, which steeply descends towards the West Siberian Plain. The asymmetry of the Urals is due to tectonics, the history of its geological development.
Another orographic feature of the Urals is associated with asymmetry - the displacement of the main watershed ridge separating the rivers of the Russian Plain from the rivers of Western Siberia to the east, closer to the West Siberian Plain. This ridge in different parts of the Urals has different names: Uraltau in the Southern Urals, Belt Stone in the Northern Urals. At the same time, it is not the highest almost everywhere; the largest peaks, as a rule, lie to the west of it. Such a hydrographic asymmetry of the Urals is the result of an increased "aggressiveness" of the rivers of the western slope, caused by a sharper and faster uplift of the Cis-Urals in the Neogene compared to the Trans-Urals.
Even with a cursory glance at the hydrographic pattern of the Urals, the presence of sharp, elbow turns in most rivers on the western slope is striking. In the upper reaches of the river flow in the meridional direction, following the longitudinal intermountain depressions. Then they turn sharply to the west, sawing often high ridges, after which they again flow in the meridional direction or retain the old latitudinal direction. Such sharp turns are well expressed in Pechora, Shchugor, Ilych, Belaya, Aya, Sakmara and many others. It has been established that the rivers saw through the ridges in places where the axes of the folds are lowered. In addition, many of them, apparently, are older than mountain ranges, and their incision proceeded simultaneously with the uplift of the mountains.
A small absolute height determines the predominance of low-mountain and mid-mountain geomorphological landscapes in the Urals. The peaks of many ranges are flat, while some mountains are domed with more or less soft outlines of the slopes. In the Northern and Polar Urals, near the upper border of the forest and above it, where frosty weathering is vigorously manifested, stone seas (kurums) are widespread. These places are also characterized by upland terraces resulting from solifluction processes and frost weathering.
Alpine landforms are extremely rare in the Ural Mountains. They are known only in the most elevated parts of the Polar and Subpolar Urals. The bulk of modern glaciers of the Urals are connected with the same mountain ranges.
"Lednichki" is not an accidental expression in relation to the glaciers of the Urals. Compared to the glaciers of the Alps and the Caucasus, the Urals look like dwarfs. All of them belong to the cirque and cirque-valley type and are located below the climatic snow boundary. The total number of glaciers in the Urals is 122, and the entire area of glaciation is only slightly more than 25 km2. Most of them are in the polar watershed part of the Urals between 67-68 ° N. sh. Caro-valley glaciers up to 1.5-2.2 km long have been found here. The second glacial region is located in the Subpolar Urals between 64 and 65°N. sh.
The main part of the glaciers is concentrated on the more humid western slope of the Urals. It is noteworthy that all Ural glaciers lie in cirques of eastern, southeastern, and northeastern exposures. This is explained by the fact that they are inspired, that is, they were formed as a result of the deposition of snowstorm snow in the wind shadow of mountain slopes.
The ancient Quaternary glaciation did not differ in great intensity in the Urals either. Reliable traces of it can be traced to the south no further than 61 ° N. sh. Such glacial landforms as kars, cirques and hanging valleys are quite well expressed here. At the same time, the absence of ram foreheads and well-preserved glacier-accumulative forms, such as drumlins, eskers, and terminal moraine ridges, draws attention. The latter suggests that the ice sheet in the Urals was thin and not active everywhere; significant areas, apparently, were occupied by slow-moving firn and ice.
A remarkable feature of the Ural relief is the ancient leveling surfaces. They were first studied in detail by V. A. Varsanofyeva in 1932 in the Northern Urals and later by others in the Middle and Southern Urals. Various researchers in different places of the Urals count from one to seven leveled surfaces. These ancient leveling surfaces serve as convincing proof of the uneven uplift of the Urals in time. The highest of them corresponds to the most ancient cycle of peneplanation, falling on the lower Mesozoic, the youngest, lower surface is of Tertiary age.
IP Gerasimov denies the existence of leveling surfaces of different ages in the Urals. In his opinion, there is only one leveling surface here, which was formed during the Jurassic-Paleogene and then subjected to deformation as a result of the latest tectonic movements and erosional erosion.
It is difficult to agree that for such a long time as the Jurassic-Paleogene, there was only one undisturbed denudation cycle. But I. P. Gerasimov is undoubtedly right, emphasizing the great role of neotectonic movements in the formation of the modern relief of the Urals. After the Cimmerian folding, which did not affect the deep Paleozoic structures, the Urals during the Cretaceous and Paleogene existed as a strongly peneplanated country, on the outskirts of which there were also shallow seas. The modern mountain appearance of the Urals acquired only as a result of tectonic movements that took place in the Neogene and Quaternary period. Where they reached a large scale, now the highest mountains rise, and where tectonic activity was weak, ancient peneplains lie little changed.
Karst landforms are widespread in the Urals. They are characteristic of the western slope and Cis-Urals, where Paleozoic limestones, gypsums and salts karst. The intensity of the manifestation of karst here can be judged by the following example: for the Perm region, 15,000 karst deposits have been described in detail surveyed 1000 km2. sinkholes. The largest in the Urals is the Sumgan Cave (South Ural) 8 km long, the Kungur Ice Cave with numerous grottoes and underground lakes is very famous. Other large caves are Divya in the area of Polyudova Ridge and Kapova on the right bank of the Belaya River.
Climate
The huge length of the Urals from north to south is manifested in the zonal change of its climate types from tundra in the north to steppe in the south. The contrasts between north and south are most pronounced in summer. The average air temperature in July in the north of the Urals is 6-8°, and in the south about 22°. In winter, these differences smooth out, and the average January temperature is equally low both in the north (-20°) and in the south (-15, -16°).
The small height of the mountain belt with its insignificant width cannot cause the formation of its own special climate in the Urals. Here, in a slightly modified form, the climate of the neighboring plains is repeated. But the types of climate in the Urals seem to be shifting to the south. For example, the mountain-tundra climate continues to dominate here at a latitude where the taiga climate is already common in adjacent lowland areas; the mountain-taiga climate is distributed at the latitude of the forest-steppe climate of the plains, etc.
The Urals are stretched across the direction of the prevailing westerly winds. In this regard, its western slope encounters cyclones more often and is better moistened than its eastern one; on average, it receives precipitation 100-150 mm more than the eastern one. So, the annual amount of precipitation in Ki-zel (260 m above sea level) is 688 mm, Ufa (173 m) is 585 mm; on the eastern slope in Sverdlovsk (281 m) it is 438 mm, in Chelyabinsk (228 m) - 361 mm. Very clearly, the differences in the amount of precipitation between the western and eastern slopes can be traced in winter. If on the western slope the Ural taiga is buried in snowdrifts, then on the eastern slope there is little snow all winter. Thus, the average maximum thickness of the snow cover along the line Ust-Shchugor - Saranpaul (to the north of 64 ° N) is as follows: in the Ural part of the Pechora lowland - about 90 cm, at the western foot of the Urals - 120-130 cm, in the watershed part of the western slope Ural - more than 150 cm, on the eastern slope - about 60 cm.
Most precipitation - up to 1000, and according to some sources - up to 1400 mm per year - falls on the western slope of the Subpolar, Polar and northern parts of the Southern Urals. In the extreme north and south of the Ural Mountains, their number decreases, which is associated, as in the Russian Plain, with the weakening of cyclonic activity.
The rugged mountainous relief causes an exceptional variety of local climates. Mountains of unequal height, slopes of different exposure, intermountain valleys and basins - all of them have their own special climate. In winter and during the transitional seasons of the year, cold air rolls down the slopes of the mountains into depressions, where it stagnates, resulting in the phenomenon of temperature inversion, which is very common in the mountains. In the Ivanovsky mine (856 m abs. alt.), in winter the temperature is higher or the same as in Zlatoust, located 400 m below the Ivanovsky mine.
Climatic features in a number of cases determine a pronounced inversion of vegetation. In the Middle Urals, broad-leaved species (holly maple, elm, linden) are found mainly in the middle part of the mountain slopes and avoid the frost-prone lower parts of the mountain slopes and hollows.
Rivers and lakes
The Urals has a developed river network belonging to the basins of the Caspian, Kara and Barents Seas.
The magnitude of the river runoff in the Urals is much greater than in the adjacent Russian and West Siberian plains. Opa increases when moving from the southeast to the northwest of the Urals and from the foothills to the tops of the mountains. The river runoff reaches its maximum in the most humid, western part of the Polar and Subpolar Urals. Here, the average annual runoff module in some places exceeds 40 l / s per 1 km 2 of the area. A significant part of the Mountain Urals, located between 60 and 68 ° N. sh., has a drain module of more than 25 l / s. The runoff module sharply decreases in the southeastern Trans-Urals, where it is only 1-3 l/sec.
In accordance with the distribution of runoff, the river network on the western slope of the Urals is better developed and more abundant than on the eastern slope. The rivers of the Pechora basin and the northern tributaries of the Kama are the most water-bearing, the Ural River is the least water-bearing. According to the calculations of A. O. Kemmerich, the volume of the average annual runoff from the territory of the Urals is 153.8 km 3 (9.3 l / s from 1 km 2 of area), of which 95.5 km 3 (62%) falls on the Pechora basin and Kama.
Important feature most of the rivers of the Urals - a relatively small variability of the annual flow. The ratio of the annual water discharges of the most abundant year to the water discharges of the least water year usually ranges from 1.5 to 3. The exception is the forest-steppe and steppe rivers of the Southern Urals, where this ratio increases significantly.
Many rivers of the Urals suffer from industrial waste pollution, so the issues of protection and purification of river waters are especially relevant here.
There are relatively few lakes in the Urals and their areas are small. The largest lake Argazi (basin of the river Miass) has an area of 101 km2. According to the genesis, the lakes are grouped into tectonic, glacial, karst, suffusion ones. Glacial lakes are confined to the mountain belt of the Subpolar and Polar Urals, lakes of suffusion-subsidence origin are common in the forest-steppe and steppe Trans-Urals. Some tectonic lakes, subsequently developed by glaciers, have significant depths (such is the deepest lake in the Urals, Big Shchuchye - 136 m).
Several thousand reservoir ponds are known in the Urals, including 200 industrial ponds.
Soils and vegetation
The soils and vegetation of the Urals show a special, mountain-latitudinal zonality (from the tundra in the north to the steppes in the south), which differs from the zonality on the plains in that the soil-vegetation zones are shifted far to the south. In the foothills, the barrier role of the Urals is noticeably affected. Thus, as a result of the barrier factor in the Southern Urals (foothills, lower parts of the mountain slopes), instead of the usual steppe and southern forest-steppe landscapes, forest and northern forest-steppe landscapes were formed (F. A. Maksyutov).
The extreme north of the Urals from the foot to the peaks is covered with mountain tundra. However, very soon (to the north of 67°N) they pass into a high-altitude landscape belt, being replaced at the foothills by mountain taiga forests.
Forests are the most common type of vegetation in the Urals. They stretch like a solid green wall along the ridge from the Arctic Circle to 52 ° N. sh., interrupted at high peaks by mountain tundra, and in the south - at the foot - by steppes.
These forests are diverse in composition: coniferous, broad-leaved and small-leaved. The Ural coniferous forests have a completely Siberian appearance: in addition to Siberian spruce (Picea obovata) and pine (Pinus silvestris), they also contain Siberian fir (Abies sibirica), Sukachev's larch (Larix sucaczewii) and Siberian pine (Pinus sibirica). The Urals do not present a serious obstacle for the distribution of Siberian conifers; they all cross the ridge, and the western border of their range runs along the Russian Plain.
Coniferous forests are most common in the northern part of the Urals, north of 58 ° N. sh. True, they are also found further south, but their role here is sharply reduced, as the areas of small-leaved and broad-leaved forests increase. The least demanding coniferous species in terms of climate and soils is Sukachev's larch. It goes farther than other rocks to the north, reaching 68 ° N. sh., and together with the pine further than others, it spreads to the south, only a little short of the latitudinal segment of the Ural River.
Despite the fact that the range of larch is so extensive, it does not occupy large areas and almost does not form pure stands. The main role in the coniferous forests of the Urals belongs to spruce and fir plantations. A third of the forest region of the Urals is occupied by pine, plantations of which, with an admixture of Sukachev's larch, gravitate towards the eastern slope of the mountainous country.
1 - arctic tundra; 2 - tundra gley; 3 - gley-podzolic (surface-gleyed) and illuvial-humus podzolic; 4 - podzolic and podzols; 5 - sod-podzolic; 6 - podzolic-marsh; 7 - peat-bog (upland bogs); 8 - humus-peat-marsh (lowland and transitional bogs); 9 - sod-carbonate; 10 - gray forest and - leached and podzolized chernozems; 12 - typical chernozems (fat medium thick); 13 - ordinary chernozems; 14 - ordinary chernozems solonetzic; 15 - southern chernozems; 16 - southern solonetsous chernozems, 17 - meadow chernozems (mostly solonetsous); 18 - dark chestnut; 19 - solonetzes 20 - alluvial (floodplain), 21 - mountain tundra; 22 - mountain meadow; 23 - mountain-taiga podzolic and acid non-podzolized; 24 - mountain-forest, gray; 25 - mountain chernozems.
Broad-leaved forests play a significant role only on the western slope of the Southern Urals. They occupy approximately 4-5% of the area of the forest Urals - oak, linden, maple, elm (Ulmus scabra). All of them, with the exception of linden, do not go further east than the Urals. But the coincidence of the eastern border of their distribution with the Urals is an accidental phenomenon. The advance of these rocks into Siberia is hindered not by the severely destroyed Ural Mountains, but by the Siberian continental climate.
Small-leaved forests are scattered throughout the Urals, mostly in its southern part. Their origin is twofold - primary and secondary. Birch is one of the most common species in the Urals.
Mountain podzolic soils of varying degrees of swampiness are developed under the forests. In the south of the region of coniferous forests, where they acquire a southern taiga appearance, typical mountain podzolic soils give way to mountain soddy podzolic soils.
The main zonal divisions of the vegetation cover on the plains adjacent to the Urals and their mountain counterparts (according to P. L. Gorchakovsky). Zones: I - tundra; II - forest-tundra; III - taiga with subzones: a - preforest-tundra sparse forests; b - northern taiga; c - middle taiga; d - southern taiga; e - preforest-steppe pine and birch forests; IV - broad-leaved forest with subzones: a - mixed broad-leaved-coniferous forests; b - deciduous forests; V - forest-steppe; VI - steppe. Borders: 1 - zones; 2 - subzones; 3 - Ural mountain country.
Further south, under the mixed, broad-leaved and small-leaved forests of the Southern Urals, gray forest soils are common.
The farther south, the higher and higher the forest belt of the Urals rises into the mountains. Its upper limit in the south of the Polar Urals lies at an altitude of 200 - 300 m, in the Northern Urals - at an altitude of 450 - 600 m, in the Middle Urals it rises to 600 - 800 m, and in the Southern Urals - up to 1100 - 1200 m.
Between the mountain-forest belt and treeless mountain tundra stretches a narrow transitional belt, which P. L. Gorchakovsky calls the subbalt. In this belt, thickets of shrubs and twisted low-growing forests alternate with clearings of wet meadows on dark mountain meadow soils. The winding birch (Betula tortuosa), cedar, fir and spruce entering here form a dwarf form in places.
Altitudinal zonality of vegetation in the Ural mountains (according to P. L. Gorchakovsky).
A - the southern part of the Polar Urals; B - northern and central parts of the Southern Urals. 1 - belt of cold bald deserts; 2 - mountain-tundra belt; 3 - subalpine belt: a - birch thickets in combination with park fir-spruce forests and meadow glades; b - subalpine larch woodlands; c - subalpine park fir-spruce forests in combination with meadow glades; d - subalpine oak forests in combination with meadow glades; 4 - mountain-forest belt: a - mountain larch forests of preforest-tundra type; b - mountain spruce forests of preforest-tundra type; c - mountain fir-spruce southern taiga forests; d - mountain pine and birch steppe forests derived from them; e - mountain broad-leaved (oak, purple, maple) forests; 5 - belt of mountain forest-steppe.
South of 57° N. sh. first, on the foothill plains, and then on the slopes of the mountains, the forest belt is replaced by forest-steppe and steppe on chernozem soils. The extreme south of the Urals, like its extreme north, is treeless. Mountain chernozem steppes, interrupted in places by mountain forest-steppe, cover the entire range here, including its peneplanated axial part. In addition to mountain-podzolic soils in the axial part of the Northern and partly the Middle Urals, peculiar mountain-forest acidic non-podzolized soils are widespread. They are characterized by an acid reaction, unsaturation with bases, a relatively high content of humus and its gradual decrease with depth.
Animal world
The fauna of the Urals is composed of three main complexes: tundra, forest and steppe. Following vegetation, northern animals in their distribution along the Ural mountain belt move far to the south. Suffice it to say that until recently the reindeer lived in the Southern Urals, and the brown bear still sometimes comes to the Orenburg region from the mountainous Bashkiria.
Typical tundra animals inhabiting the Polar Urals include reindeer, arctic fox, hoofed lemming (Dycrostonyx torquatus), Middendorf's vole (Microtus middendorfi), partridges (white - Lagopus lagopus, tundra - L. mutus); in summer there are a lot of waterfowl (ducks, geese).
The forest complex of animals is best preserved in the Northern Urals, where it is represented by taiga species: brown bear, sable, wolverine, otter (Lutra lutra), lynx, squirrel, chipmunk, red-backed vole (Clethrionomys rutilus); from birds - hazel grouse and capercaillie.
The distribution of steppe animals is limited to the Southern Urals. As on the plains, there are many rodents in the steppes of the Urals: ground squirrels (small - Citelluspigmaeus and reddish - C. major), large jerboa (Allactaga jaculus), marmot, steppe pika (Ochotona pusilla), common hamster (Cricetuscricetus), common vole (Microtus arvalis) and others. Of the predators, the wolf, corsac fox, and steppe polecat are common. Birds are diverse in the steppe: steppe eagle (Aquila nipa-lensis), steppe harrier (Circus macrourus), kite (Milvus korschun), bustard, little bustard, saker falcon (Falco cherruy), gray partridge (Рrdix perdix), demoiselle crane ( Anthropoides virgo), horned lark (Otocorus alpestris), black lark (Melanocorypha yeltoniensis).
Of the 76 species of mammals known in the Urals, 35 species are commercial.
From the history of the development of landscapes in the Urals
In the Paleogene, on the site of the Ural Mountains, a low hilly plain rose, resembling the modern Kazakh hills. From the east and south it was surrounded by shallow seas. The climate was then hot, evergreen tropical forests and dry woodlands with palms and laurels grew in the Urals.
By the end of the Paleogene, the evergreen Poltava flora was supplanted by the Turgai deciduous flora of temperate latitudes. Already at the very beginning of the Neogene, forests of oak, beech, hornbeam, chestnut, alder, and birch dominated in the Urals. Great changes during this period take place in the relief: as a result of vertical uplifts, the Urals from a small hillock turns into a middle-mountainous country. Along with this, altitudinal differentiation of vegetation occurs: the tops of the mountains are captured by the mountain taiga, the vegetation of the loaches is gradually formed, which is facilitated by the restoration in the Neogene of the continental connection of the Urals with Siberia, the birthplace of the mountain tundra.
At the very end of the Neogene, the Akchagyl Sea approached the southwestern slopes of the Urals. The climate at that time was cold, the ice age was approaching; coniferous taiga became the dominant type of vegetation.
In the era of the Dnieper glaciation, the northern half of the Urals hid under the ice cover, and the south at that time was occupied by cold birch-pine-larch forest-steppe, sometimes spruce forests, and near the valley of the Ural River and along the slopes of the General Syrt, the remains of broad-leaved forests remained.
After the death of the glacier, the forests moved to the north of the Urals, and the role of dark coniferous species increased in their composition. In the south, broad-leaved forests became more common, while the birch-pine-larch forest-steppe gradually degraded. Birch and larch groves found in the Southern Urals are direct descendants of those birch and larch forests that were characteristic of the cold Pleistocene forest-steppe.
In the mountains it is impossible to distinguish landscape zones similar to the plains, so mountainous countries are divided not into zones, but into mountainous landscape areas. Their selection is made on the basis of geological, geomorphological and bioclimatic features, as well as the structure of altitudinal zonality.
Landscape areas of the Urals
Tundra and forest-tundra region of the Polar Urals
The tundra and forest-tundra region of the Polar Urals extends from the northern outskirts of the Ural belt to 64° 30" N. Together with the Pai-Khoi ridge, the Polar Urals forms an arc with its convex side facing east. The axial part of the Polar Urals runs at 66° E. - 7° east of the Northern and Middle Urals.
The Pai-Khoi ridge, which is a small hillock (up to 467 m), is separated from the Polar Urals by a strip of lowland tundra. Actually, the Polar Urals begins with a low mountain Konstantinov Kamen (492 m) on the shore of the Baydaratskaya Bay. To the south, the height of the mountains increases sharply (up to 1200-1350m), and Mount Pai-Er north of the Arctic Circle has a height of 1499 m. The maximum heights are concentrated in the southern part of the region at about 65 ° N. sh., where Mount Narodnaya rises (1894 m). Here, the Polar Urals expands greatly - up to 125 km, while breaking up into at least five or six parallel elongated ridges, the most significant of which are Research in the west and Narodo-Itinsky in the east. In the south of the Polar Urals, the Sablya mountain range (1425 m) advanced far to the west towards the Pechora Lowland.
In the formation of the relief of the Polar Urals, the role of frosty weathering is exceptionally great, accompanied by the formation of stone placers - kurums and structural (polygonal) soils. Permafrost and frequent fluctuations in the temperature of the upper soil layers in summer contribute to the development of solifluction processes.
The predominant type of relief here is a flattened plateau-like surface with traces of ice cover, dissected along the margins by deep trough-like valleys. Peaked alpine forms are found only on the highest mountain peaks. Alpine relief is better represented only in the very south of the Polar Urals, in the region of 65 ° N. sh. Here, in the region of the Narodnaya and Sablya mountains, modern glaciers are found, the peaks of the mountains end in sharp, jagged ridges, and their slopes are corroded by steep-walled cirques and cirques.
The climate of the Polar Urals is cold and humid. Summer is cloudy, rainy, the average July temperature at the foot is 8-14°. Winter is long and cold (average January temperature is below -20°C), with blizzards sweeping huge snowdrifts in depressions. Permafrost is a common occurrence here. The annual amount of precipitation increases in a southerly direction from 500 to 800 mm.
The soil and vegetation cover of the Polar Urals is monotonous. In its northern part, the plain tundra merges with the mountainous one. In the foothills, moss, lichen and shrub tundra spread, in the central part of the mountainous region - stony placers, almost devoid of vegetation. Forests are found in the south, but their role in the landscape is insignificant. The first low-growing larch sparse forests are found along the river valleys of the eastern slope at about 68°N. sh. The fact that they appear for the first time on the eastern slope is not accidental: there is less snow here, the climate is generally continental, and therefore more favorable for the forest compared to the western slope. Near the Arctic Circle, spruce forests join the larch forests, at 66 ° N. sh. cedar begins to come across, south of 65 ° N. sh. - pine and fir. On Mount Saber, spruce-fir forests rise to 400-450 m above sea level, higher they are replaced by larch woodlands and meadows, which at an altitude of 500-550 m turn into mountain tundra.
It has been noted that near the Arctic Circle, spruce and larch forests grow better on the ridge itself than in the foothills and on the plains covered with forest-tundra woodlands. The reason for this is the better drainage of the mountains and temperature inversion.
The Polar Urals is still poorly developed economically. But even this remote mountainous region is being gradually transformed by the Soviet people. It is crossed from west to east by a railway line connecting Ust-Vorkuta with Salekhard.
Taiga region of the Northern Urals
This region of the Urals extends from 64° 30" N to 59° 30" N. sh. It starts immediately to the south of the Saber mountain range and ends with the Konzhakovsky Kamen peak (1569 m). Throughout this section, the Urals stretches strictly along the meridian 59 ° E. d.
The central, axial part of the Northern Urals has an average height of about 700 and consists mainly of two longitudinal ridges, of which the eastern, watershed, is known as Poyasovy Kamen. On the western ridge south of 64 ° N. sh. the two-headed mountain Telpos-Iz (Stone of the winds) rises - the highest peak of the region (1617 m). Alpine landforms are not widespread in the Northern Urals, most of the peaks are domed.
Three or four ancient leveling surfaces are distinctly expressed in the Northern Urals. Another, no less characteristic feature of the relief is the wide distribution of upland terraces, developed mainly above the upper forest line or near it. The number and size of terraces, their width, length and height of the ledge are not the same not only on different mountain peaks, but also on different slopes of the same mountain.
From the west, the axial part of the Northern Urals is bordered by a wide strip of foothills formed by low, flat-topped ridges of Paleozoic rocks. Such ridges, stretched parallel to the main ridge, received the name Parm (High Parma, Ydzhidparma, etc.).
The strip of foothills on the eastern slope of the Northern Urals is less wide than on the western one. It is represented here by low (300-600 m) ridges of strongly crumpled Devonian rocks cut by intrusions. The transverse valleys of the Northern Sosva, Lozva and their tributaries divide these ranges into short isolated massifs.
The climate of the Northern Urals is cold and humid, but it is less severe than the climate of the Polar Urals. The average temperature in the foothills rises to 14 - 16°C. There is a lot of precipitation - up to 800 mm or more (on the western slope), which significantly exceeds the evaporation rate. Therefore, there are many swamps in the Northern Urals.
The Northern Urals differ sharply from the Polar Urals in the nature of vegetation and soils: tundra and bare rocks dominate in the Polar Urals, forests with a narrow green border cling to the foothills, and even then only in the south of the region, and in the Northern Urals the mountains are completely covered with dense coniferous taiga; treeless tundra is found only on isolated ridges and peaks rising above 700-800 m above sea level.
The taiga of the Northern Urals is dark coniferous. The championship belongs to the Siberian spruce; fir dominates on more fertile and drained soils, and cedar dominates on marshy and stony soils. As in the Russian Plain, the taiga of the Northern Urals is dominated by green moss spruce forests, and among them are blueberry spruce forests, which, as you know, are characteristic of the landscape of a typical (middle) taiga. Only near the Polar Urals (to the north of 64°N), at the foot of the mountains, does the typical taiga give way to the northern taiga, with more sparse and swampy forests.
The area of pine forests in the Northern Urals is small. Green moss forests acquire landscape significance only on the eastern slope south of 62°N. sh. Their development is facilitated here by a drier continental climate and the presence of stony gravelly soils.
Sukachev's larch, common in the Polar Urals, is rarely observed in the Northern Urals, and, moreover, almost exclusively as an admixture with other conifers. It is somewhat more common at the upper border of the forest and in the subalpine belt, which is especially characterized by birch crooked forests, and in the north of the region - thickets of shrubby alder.
The coniferous taiga vegetation of the Northern Urals determines the features of its soil cover. This is an area of distribution of mountain podzolic soils. In the north, in the foothills, gley-podzolic soils are common, in the south, in a typical taiga zone, podzolic soils. Along with typical podzols, weakly podzolic (hidden podzolic) soils are often found. The reason for their appearance is the presence of aluminum in the absorbing soil complex and the weak energy of microbiological processes. In the south of the region in the axial part of the Urals, at an altitude of 400 to 800 m, mountain-forest acidic non-podzolized soils are developed, which form on the eluvium and deluvium of greenstone rocks, amphibolites and granites. In different places on Devonian limestones, "northern carbonate soils" are described, boiling up at a depth of 20-30 cm.
The most characteristic representatives of the taiga fauna are concentrated in the Northern Urals. Only here is found sable adhering to cedar forests. The wolverine, the red-gray vole (Clethrionomys rufocanus) almost do not go south of the Northern Urals, and among the birds - the nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes), waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus), spruce crossbill (Loxia curvirostra), hawk owl (Surnia ulula). Until now, the reindeer is known here, which is no longer found in the Middle and Southern Urals.
In the upper reaches of the Pechora, along the western slopes of the Urals and the adjacent Pechora lowland, there is one of the largest in our country, the Pechoro-Ilych State Reserve. It protects the landscapes of the mountain taiga of the Urals, passing in the west into the middle taiga of the Russian Plain.
In the vast expanses of the Northern Urals, virgin mountain-taiga landscapes still prevail. Human intervention becomes noticeable only in the south of this region, where such industrial centers as Ivdel, Krasnovishersk, Severouralsk, Karpinsk are located.
The region of the southern taiga and mixed forests of the Middle Urals
This region is bounded by the latitudes of Konzhakovsky Kamen in the north (59c30" N) and Yurma Mountain (55C25" N) in the south. The Middle Urals are well isolated orographically; The Ural Mountains are lowered here, and the strictly meridional strike of the mountain belt is replaced by a south-southeast one. Together with the Southern Urals, the Middle Urals forms a giant arc, with its convex side turned to the east, the arc goes around the Ufimsky plateau - the eastern ledge of the Russian platform.
The latest tectonic movements had little effect on the Middle Urals. Therefore, it appears before us in the form of a low peneplain with isolated, softly defined peaks and ridges, composed of the densest crystalline rocks. The railway line Perm - Sverdlovsk crosses the Urals at an altitude of 410 m. The elevation of the highest peaks is 700-800 m, rarely more.
Due to the severe destruction, the Middle Urals essentially lost its watershed significance. The Chusovaya and Ufa rivers start on its eastern slopes and saw through its axial part. River valleys in the Middle Urals are relatively wide and developed. Only in some places picturesque steeps and cliffs hang right above the riverbed.
The zone of western and eastern foothills in the Middle Urals is even wider than in the Northern. The western foothills abound in karst forms resulting from the dissolution of Paleozoic limestone and gypsum. The Ufa plateau, dissected by the deep valleys of the Aya and Yuryuzan rivers, is especially famous for them. The landscape feature of the eastern foothills is formed by lakes of tectonic and partially karst origin. Two groups stand out among them: Sverdlovskaya (lakes Ayatskoye, Tavotuy, Isetskoye) and Kaslinskaya (lakes Itkul, Irtyash, Uvildy, Argazi). The lakes, having picturesque shores, attract a lot of tourists.
Climatically, the Middle Urals are more favorable for humans than the North. Summers are warmer and longer here, and at the same time, precipitation is less. The average July temperature in the foothills is 16-18°, the annual precipitation is 500-600 mm, in the mountains in some places more than 600 mm. These climatic changes have an immediate impact on soils and vegetation. The foothills of the Middle Urals in the north are covered with southern taiga, and to the south - with forest-steppe. The steppe nature of the Middle Urals is much stronger along the eastern slope. If on the western slope there are only individual forest-steppe islands surrounded on all sides by the southern taiga (Kungursky and Krasnoufimsky), then in the Trans-Urals the forest-steppe goes in a continuous strip up to 57 ° 30 "N. latitude.
However, the Middle Urals itself is an area not of a forest-steppe, but of a forest landscape. Forests here completely cover the mountains; in contrast to the Northern Urals, only very few mountain peaks rise above the upper border of the forest. The main background is provided by spruce-pelt-fir southern taiga forests, interrupted by pine forests on the eastern slope of the ridge. In the south-west of the region there are mixed coniferous-broad-leaved forests, which include a lot of linden. Throughout the Middle Urals, especially in its southern half, birch forests are widespread, many of which arose on the site of a cut down spruce-fir taiga.
Under the southern taiga forests of the Middle Urals, as well as on the plains, soddy-podzolic soils are developed. At the foothills in the south of the region, they are replaced by gray forest soils, in some places by leached chernozems, and in the upper part of the forest belt by mountain forest and acid non-podzolized soils, which we have already met in the south of the Northern Urals.
The animal world is changing significantly in the Middle Urals. Due to the warmer climate and the diverse composition of forests, it is enriched with southern species. Along with the taiga animals living in the Northern Urals, there are common hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), steppe and black polecat (Putorius putorius), common hamster (Cricetus cricetus), badger (Meles meles) is more common; nightingale (Luscinia luscinia), nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus), oriole (Oriolus oriolus), greenfinch (Chloris chloris) join the birds of the Northern Urals; the fauna of reptiles becomes much more diverse: legless spindle lizard (Angnis fragilis), viviparous lizard, common snake, copperhead (Coronella austriaca) appear.
Clearly expressed foothills make it possible to distinguish three landscape provinces in the region of the southern taiga and mixed forests of the Middle Urals.
The province of the Middle Cis-Urals occupies an elevated (up to 500-600 m) plain - a plateau, densely indented by river valleys. The core of the province is the Ufa Plateau. Its landscape feature lies in the wide development of karst (failure funnels, lakes, caves), associated with the dissolution of the Upper Paleozoic limestones and gypsum. Despite the increased moisture, there are few swamps, which is explained by good drainage. The vegetation cover is dominated by southern taiga spruce-fir and mixed (dark-coniferous-broad-leaved) forests, in some places disturbed by islands of the northern forest-steppe.
The central province of the Middle Urals corresponds to the axial, most elevated part of the Ural Mountains, which is characterized here by a relatively low altitude and almost continuous forest cover (dark coniferous and small-leaved forests).
The province of the Middle Trans-Urals is an elevated plain - peneplain, gently descending to the east, towards the West Siberian Plain. Its surface is disturbed by remnant hills and ridges composed of granites and gneisses, as well as by numerous lake basins. In contrast to the Cis-Urals, pine and pine-larch forests dominate here, and in the north, significant areas are covered with swamps. In connection with the general increase in dryness and continentality of the climate here, further north than in the Cis-Urals, the forest-steppe, which has a Siberian appearance (with birch pegs), is advancing.
The Middle Urals is the most densely populated landscape region of the Ural Mountains. Here is the bulk of the old industrial cities of the Urals, including Sverdlovsk, Nizhny Tagil, etc. Therefore, the virgin forest landscapes in many places of the Middle Urals have not been preserved.
Forest-steppe and steppe region of the Southern Urals with a wide development of forest high-altitude belts
The Southern Urals occupies the territory from Mount Yurma in the north to the latitudinal section of the Ural River in the south. It differs from the Middle Urals in significant heights, reaching 1582 m (Mount Iremel) and 1640 m (Mount Yamantau). As in other parts of the Urals, the Uraltau watershed ridge, composed of crystalline schists, is shifted to the east and is not the highest in the Southern Urals. The predominant type of relief is mid-mountain. Some bald peaks rise above the upper border of the forest. They are flat, but with steep rocky slopes, complicated by upland terraces. Recently, on the Zigalga Ridge, on the Iremel and some other high peaks of the Southern Urals, traces of ancient glaciation (trough valleys, remains of kars and moraines) have been discovered.
To the south of the latitudinal section of the Belaya River, a general drop in altitude is observed. The South Ural peneplain is clearly expressed here - a highly elevated plain with a folded base, dissected by deep canyon-like valleys of the Sakmara, Guberli and other tributaries of the Urals. Erosive dismemberment in places gave the peneplain a wild, picturesque appearance. Such are the Guberlinsky mountains on the right bank of the Urals, below the city of Orsk, composed of igneous gabbro-peridotite rocks. In other areas, different lithology caused the alternation of large meridional ridges (absolute heights of 450-500 m and more) and wide depressions.
In the east, the axial part of the Southern Urals passes into the Trans-Ural peneplain - a lower and smoother plain compared to the South Ural peneplain. In its alignment, in addition to the processes of general denudation, the abrasion and accumulative activity of the Paleogene Sea was important. The foothill parts are characterized by ridge hills with ridged-hilly plains. In the north of the Trans-Ural peneplain, many lakes with picturesque rocky shores are scattered.
The climate of the Southern Urals is drier and more continental than the Middle and Northern Urals. Summer is warm, with droughts and dry winds in the Urals. The average July temperature in the foothills rises to 20-22°. Winter continues to be cold, with significant snow cover. In cold winters, rivers freeze to the bottom and ice forms, mass death of moles and some birds is observed. Precipitation is 400-500 mm per year, in the mountains in the north up to 600 mm or more.
Soils and vegetation in the Southern Urals show a distinct altitudinal zonality. The low foothills in the extreme south and southeast of the region are covered with cereal steppes on ordinary and southern chernozems. Thickets of steppe shrubs are very typical for the Cis-Ural steppes: chiliga (Caragana frutex), blackthorn (Prunus stepposa), and in the Trans-Ural steppes, along granite outcrops, there are pine forests with birch and even larch.
In addition to the steppes, the forest-steppe zone is widespread in the Southern Urals. It occupies the entire South Ural peneplain, the small hills of the Trans-Urals, and in the north of the region it descends to the low foothills.
The forest-steppe is not the same on the western and eastern slopes of the ridge. The west is characterized by broad-leaved forests with linden, oak, Norway maple, smooth elm (Ulmus laevis) and elm. In the east and in the center of the ridge, light birch groves, pine forests and larch plantations predominate; Pribelsky district is occupied by pine forests and small-leaved forest. Due to the dissected relief and the variegated lithological composition of the rocks, forests and forb steppe are intricately combined here, and the highest areas with outcrops of dense bedrock are usually covered with forests.
The birch and pine-deciduous forests of the zone are sparse (especially on the eastern slopes of the Uraltau), strongly lightened, so many steppe plants penetrate under their canopy and there is almost no sharp line between the steppe and forest flora in the Southern Urals. Soils developed under light forests and mixed grass steppe - from gray forest to leached and typical chernozems - are characterized by a high content of humus. It is interesting to note that the highest humus content, reaching 15–20%, is observed not in typical chernozems, but in mountain podzolized ones, which is possibly associated with the meadow stage of development of these soils in the past.
Spruce-fir taiga on mountain-podzolic soils forms the third soil-vegetation zone. It is distributed only in the northern, most elevated part of the Southern Urals, occurring at an altitude of 600 to 1000-1100 m.
At the highest peaks there is a zone of mountain meadows and mountain tundra. The peaks of the Iremel and Yamantau mountains are covered with spotted tundra. High in the mountains, breaking away from the upper border of the taiga, there are groves of low-growing spruce forests and birch crooked forests.
The fauna of the Southern Urals is a motley mixture of taiga-forest and steppe species. In the forests of the Bashkir Urals, a brown bear, elk, marten, squirrel, capercaillie, hazel grouse are common, and next to them in the open steppe live ground squirrel (Citellus citellus,), jerboa, bustard, little bustard. In the Southern Urals, the ranges of not only northern and southern, but also western and eastern species of animals overlap one another. So, along with the garden dormouse (Elyomys quercinus) - a typical inhabitant of the broad-leaved forests of the west - in the Southern Urals you can find such eastern species as the small (steppe) pika or Eversmann's hamster (Allocrlcetulus eversmanni).
The mountain forest landscapes of the Southern Urals are very picturesque with patches of meadow glades, less often - rocky steppes on the territory of the Bashkir State Reserve. One of the sections of the reserve is located on the Uraltau ridge, the second - on the South Kraka mountain range, the third section, the lowest, is Pribelsky.
There are four landscape provinces in the Southern Urals.
Province of the Southern Cis-Urals covers the elevated ridges of the General Syrt and the low foothills of the Southern Urals. The rugged relief and continental climate contribute to a sharp manifestation of vertical differentiation of landscapes: the ridges and foothills are covered with broad-leaved forests (oak, linden, elm, maple) growing on gray forest soils, and relief depressions, especially wide floodplain terraces of rivers, are covered with steppe vegetation on chernozem soils. The southern part of the province is a syrt steppe with dense thickets of dereznyaks on the slopes.
TO Mid-mountain province of the Southern Urals belongs to the central mountainous part of the region. On the highest peaks of the province (Yamantau, Iremel, the Zigalga Range, etc.), the bald and pre-bald belts are clearly expressed with extensive stone placers and upland terraces on the slopes. The forest zone is formed by spruce-fir and pine-larch forests, in the southwest - coniferous-broad-leaved forests. In the north-east of the province, on the border with the Trans-Urals, the low Ilmensky Range rises - a mineralogical paradise, according to A.E. Fersman. Here is one of the oldest state reserves in the country - Ilmensky named after V. I. Lenin.
Low-mountain province of the Southern Urals includes the southern part of the Ural Mountains from the latitudinal section of the Belaya River in the north to the Ural River in the south. Basically, this is the South Ural peneplain - a plateau with small absolute marks - about 500-800 m above sea level. Its comparatively flat surface, often covered ancient bark weathering, dissected by deep river valleys of the Sakmara basin. Forest-steppe landscapes predominate, and steppe landscapes in the south. In the north, large areas are covered with pine-larch forests; everywhere, and especially in the east of the province, birch groves are common.
Province of the Southern Trans-Urals forms an elevated, undulating plain corresponding to the Trans-Ural peneplain, with a wide distribution of sedimentary rocks, sometimes interrupted by granite outcrops. In the eastern, slightly dissected part of the province, there are many basins - steppe depressions, in some places (in the north) - shallow lakes. The Southern Trans-Urals is distinguished by the driest, continental climate in the Urals. The annual amount of precipitation in the south is less than 300 mm, with an average July temperature of about 22°. The landscape of treeless steppes prevails on ordinary and southern chernozems; occasionally, along granite outcrops, pine forests are found. In the north of the province, a birch-spear forest-steppe is developed. Significant areas in the Southern Trans-Urals are plowed under wheat crops.
The Southern Urals is rich in iron, copper, nickel, pyrite ores, ornamental stones and other minerals. Over the years Soviet power here old industrial cities grew and changed unrecognizably and new centers of socialist industry appeared - Magnitogorsk, Mednogorsk, Novotroitsk, Sibay, etc. In terms of the degree of disturbance of natural landscapes, the Southern Urals in many places approaches the Middle Urals.
The intensive economic development of the Urals was accompanied by the appearance and growth of areas of anthropogenic landscapes. Field agricultural landscapes are typical for the lower altitudinal belts of the Middle and Southern Urals. Even more widespread, including the forest belt and the Polar Urals, are meadow-pasture complexes. Almost everywhere you can find artificial forest plantations, as well as birch and aspen forests that have arisen on the site of reduced spruce forests, fir forests, pine forests and oak forests. On the Kama, the Urals and other rivers, large reservoirs have been created, along small rivers and hollows - ponds. In places of open-pit mining of brown coal, iron ores and other minerals, there are significant areas of quarry-dump landscapes; in areas of underground mining, sinkholes of pseudokarst are common.
The unique beauty of the Ural Mountains attracts tourists from all over the country. Particularly picturesque are the valleys of the Vishera, Chusovaya, Belaya and many other large and small rivers with their noisy, talkative water and bizarre cliffs - "stones". Vishera's "stones" steeped in legends remain in memory for a long time: Vetlan, Poljud, Pomenny. Unusual, sometimes fantastic underground landscapes of the Kungur ice cave-reserve leave no one indifferent. Climbing the peaks of the Urals, such as Iremel or Yamantau, is always of great interest. The view that opens from there on the wavy forested Ural distances lying below will reward for all the hardships of the mountain climb. In the Southern Urals, in the immediate vicinity of the city of Orsk, the Guberlinsky Mountains, a low-mountainous hillock, the “Pearl of the Southern Urals”, attract attention with the originality of landscapes, and not without reason, it is customary to call Lake Turgoyak, located at the western foothills of the Ilmen Mountains. The lake (an area of about 26 km 2), which is distinguished by highly indented rocky shores, is used for recreation.
From the book Physical Geography of the USSR, F.N. Milkov, N.A. Gvozdetsky. M. Thought. 1976.
