Ural Mountains
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Map of the Ural Mountains |
The
Ural Mountains (,
Uralskiye gory) also known simply as the
Urals and as the
Riphean Mountains in
Greco-Roman antiquity, is a
mountain range that runs roughly north and south through western
Russia.
The Urals extend 2,500 km from the Kazakh
steppes along the northern border of
Kazakhstan to the coast of the
Arctic ocean. The
island of
Novaya Zemlya forms a further continuation of the chain. Geographically this range marks the northern part of the (arbitrary) border between
Asian and
European sections of the
Eurasian
continent. Its highest peak is
Mount Narodnaya (Poznurr, 1895 m). Erosion has exposed considerable mineral wealth in the Urals, including gems such as
topaz and
beryl. The
Virgin Komi Forests in the northern Urals are recognized as a
World Heritage site.
Yekaterinburg is the self-proclaimed capital of the Urals, though "Urals" is a geographical term, not an administrative one.
The Urals are among the world's oldest
extant mountain ranges. They were formed in the late
Carboniferous period, when a
continent consisting largely of
Siberia collided with the
supercontinent that contained much of the world's land at the time: the combination of
Laurasia (Europe and
North America) and
Gondwana. Europe and Siberia have remained joined together ever since.
Geographers have divided the Urals into five regions: South, Middle, North, Subarctic and Arctic Urals.
The Urals have large deposits of
gold,
platinum, and
ore.
*
Idel-Ural State*
Five parts of the Ural Mountains
