Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains (/ˈjʊərəl/ YOOR-əl; Russian: Уральские горы, tr. Urál'skiye góry, IPA: [ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ]),[a] or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.[1] The mountain range forms part of the conventional boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia. Vaygach Island and the islands of Novaya Zemlya form a further continuation of the chain to the north into the Arctic Ocean. The average altitudes of the Urals are around 1,000–1,300 metres (3,300–4,300 ft), the highest point being Mount Narodnaya, which reaches a height of 1,894 metres (6,214 ft).[2]
This article is about the land formation. For other uses, see Ural (disambiguation).Ural Mountains
1,895 m (6,217 ft) 
2,500 km (1,600 mi)
150 km (93 mi)
Russia and Kazakhstan
The mountains lie within the Ural geographical region and significantly overlap with the Ural Federal District and the Ural economic region. Their resources include metal ores, coal, and precious and semi-precious stones. Since the 18th century, the mountains have contributed significantly to the mineral sector of the Russian economy. The region is one of the largest centres of metallurgy and heavy industry production in Russia.[3]
Etymology[edit]
As attested by Sigismund von Herberstein, in the 16th century, Russians called the Ural range by a variety of names derived from the Russian words for rock (stone) and belt. The modern Russian name for the Urals (Урал, Ural), first appearing in the 16th–17th century during the Russian conquest of Siberia, was initially applied to its southern parts and gained currency as the name of the entire range during the 18th century. It might have been borrowed from either Turkic "stone belt"[4] (Bashkir, where the same name is used for the range), or Ob-Ugric.[5] From the 13th century in Bashkortostan, there has been a legend about a hero named Ural who sacrificed his life for the sake of his people who then poured a stone pile over his grave, which later turned into the Ural Mountains.[6][7][8] Possibilities include Bashkir үр "elevation; upland" and Mansi ур ала "mountain peak, top of the mountain",[9] V.N. Tatischev believes that this oronym is set to "belt" and associates it with the Turkic verb oralu- "gird".[9] I.G. Dobrodomov suggests a transition from Aral to Ural explained on the basis of ancient Bulgar-Chuvash dialects. Geographer E.V. Hawks believes that the name goes back to the Bashkir folklore Ural-Batyr.[9] The Evenk geographical term era "mountain" has also been theorized.[9] (cf also Ewenkī ürǝ-l (pl.) "mountains") Finno-Ugrist scholars consider Ural deriving from the Ostyak word urr meaning "chain of mountains".[10] Turkologists, on the other hand, have achieved majority support for their assertion that 'ural' in Tatar means a belt, and recall that an earlier name for the range was 'stone belt'.[11]
Climate[edit]
The climate of the Urals is continental. The mountain ridges, elongated from north to south, effectively absorb sunlight thereby increasing the temperature. The areas west of the Ural Mountains are 1–2 °C (1.8–3.6 °F) warmer in winter than the eastern regions because the former are warmed by Atlantic winds whereas the eastern slopes are chilled by Siberian air masses. The average January temperatures increase in the western areas from −20 °C (−4 °F) in the Polar to −15 °C (5 °F) in the Southern Urals and the corresponding temperatures in July are 10 °C (50 °F) and 20 °C (68 °F). The western areas also receive more rainfall than the eastern ones by 150–300 mm (5.9–11.8 in) per year. This is because the mountains trap clouds from the Atlantic Ocean. The highest precipitation, approximately 1,000 mm (39 in), is in the Northern Urals with up to 1,000 cm (390 in) snow. The eastern areas receive from 500–600 mm (20–24 in) in the north to 300–400 mm (12–16 in) in the south. Maximum precipitation occurs in the summer: the winter is dry because of the Siberian High.[1][6]
Fauna[edit]
The forests of Urals are inhabited by animals typical of Eurosiberia, such as elk, brown bear, fox, wolf, wolverine, lynx, squirrel, Siberian chipmunk, flying squirrel, reindeer and sable (north only). The fauna of Polar Urals also includes species like Arctic Fox and lemmings. Because of the easy accessibility of the mountains there are no specifically mountainous species. In the Central Urals, one can see a rare mixture of sable and pine marten named kidus. In the Southern Urals, badger and black polecat are common. Reptiles and amphibians live mostly in the Southern and Central Ural and are represented by the common viper, lizards and grass snakes.
Bird species of Northern, Middle and South Urals are represented by Western Capercaillie, black grouse, hazel grouse, spotted nutcracker, Siberian Jay, Common and Oriental cuckoos. Unlike mammals, the highest peaks and plateaus of Northern and Southern Urals are inhabited by some mountainous or tundra avian species, like Golden Plover, Dotterel, Ptarmigan and Willow Grouse, in Polar Urals also by Rough-legged Buzzard and Snowy Owl.[1][6]
The steppes of the Southern Urals are dominated by hares and rodents such as hamsters, susliks, and jerboa. There are many birds of prey such as lesser kestrel and buzzards.
Ecology[edit]
The continuous and intensive economic development of the last centuries has affected the fauna, and wildlife is much diminished around all industrial centers. During World War II, hundreds of factories were evacuated from Western Russia before the German occupation, flooding the Urals with industry. The conservation measures include establishing national wildlife parks.[1] There are nine strict nature reserves in the Urals: the Ilmen, the oldest one, mineralogical reserve founded in 1920 in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Pechora-Ilych in the Komi Republic, Bashkir and its former branch Shulgan-Tash in Bashkortostan, Visim in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Southern Ural in Bashkortostan, Basegi in Perm Krai, Vishera in Perm Krai and Denezhkin Kamen in Sverdlovsk Oblast.
The area has also been severely damaged by the plutonium-producing facility Mayak, opened in Chelyabinsk-40 (later called Chelyabinsk-65, Ozyorsk), in the Southern Ural, after World War II.[1] Its plants went into operation in 1948 and, for the first ten years, dumped unfiltered radioactive waste into the river Techa and Lake Karachay.[1][15][16] In 1990, efforts were underway to contain the radiation in one of the lakes, which was estimated at the time to expose visitors to 500 millirem per day.[16] As of 2006, 500 mrem in the natural environment was the upper limit of exposure considered safe for a member of the general public in an entire year (though workplace exposure over a year could exceed that by a factor of 10).[17] Over 23,000 km2 (8,900 sq mi) of land were contaminated in 1957 from a storage tank explosion, only one of several serious accidents that further polluted the region.[1] The 1957 accident expelled 20 million curies of radioactive material, 90% of which settled into the land immediately around the facility.[18] Although some reactors of Mayak were shut down in 1987 and 1990,[16] the facility keeps producing plutonium.[26]
Cultural significance[edit]
The Urals have been viewed by Russians as a "treasure box" of mineral resources, which were the basis for its extensive industrial development. In addition to iron and copper, the Urals were a source of gold, malachite, alexandrite, and other gems such as those used by the court jeweller Fabergé. As Russians in other regions gather mushrooms or berries, Uralians gather mineral specimens and gems. Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak (1852–1912) and Pavel Bazhov (1879–1950), as well as Aleksey Ivanov and Olga Slavnikova, post-Soviet writers, have written of the region.[27]
The region served as a military stronghold during Peter the Great's Great Northern War with Sweden, during Stalin's rule when the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Complex was built and Russian industry relocated to the Urals during the Nazi advance at the beginning of World War II, and as the center of the Soviet nuclear industry during the Cold War. Extreme levels of air, water, and radiological contamination and pollution by industrial wastes resulted. Population exodus followed, and economic depression at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, but in post-Soviet times additional mineral exploration, particularly in the northern Urals, has been productive and the region has attracted industrial investment.[27]
Mount Iremel
Mount Iremel
Mount Iremel peak
Mount Yamantau
View from mount Yamantau second peak (Bolshaya Yamantau)
Forest around mount Yamantau
View of the two-peak mount Taganay
Mount Otkliknoy Greben
Taganay national park
Sunrise on Taganay
