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126-686: “Kargaly” is derived from the name of a small river known as Kargalka in the Ural "big" river basin [fig. 2]. The Kargaly district is situated in the southern Ural Mountains, within the borders of the Orenburg Administrative Region of the Russian Federation . Kargaly is located in the northern zone of the Great Eurasian steppe (the Eurasian Steppe Belt )[9, 10]. The Kargaly deposits are surrounded by typical steppe land cover, consisting of grasslands containing only an occasional small forest consisting of willow, alder, birch, and aspen trees near springs and deep ravines. More substantial forests occur 200–250 km northeast of Kargaly, where they form part of

252-468: A chronological dating from as early as the Bronze Age and to as late as the 18th to 19th centuries. The most ancient dump consisted of crushed ore-bearing rock mixed with crushed rich malachite and azurite rock. These Bronze Age rock disposals, so-called dry ore concentrations, are similar to those of ancient times. In the 18th century Russian industrialists used ancient dumps, rich in copper minerals, as

378-427: A hierarchical pattern . Other terms for a drainage basin are catchment area , catchment basin , drainage area , river basin , water basin , and impluvium . In North America, they are commonly called a watershed , though in other English-speaking places, "watershed" is used only in its original sense, that of the drainage divide line. A drainage basin's boundaries are determined by watershed delineation ,

504-639: A belt, and recall that an earlier name for the range was 'stone belt'. As merchants from the Middle East traded with the Bashkirs and other people living on the western slopes of the Ural as far north as Great Perm , since the 10th century, medieval mideastern geographers had been aware of the existence of the mountain range in its entirety, stretching as far as the Arctic Ocean in the north. The first Russian mention of

630-437: A common task in environmental engineering and science. In a closed drainage basin, or endorheic basin , rather than flowing to the ocean, water converges toward the interior of the basin, known as a sink , which may be a permanent lake, a dry lake , or a point where surface water is lost underground . Drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic units , which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into

756-449: A drainage basin, and there are different ways to interpret that data. In the unlikely event that the gauges are many and evenly distributed over an area of uniform precipitation, using the arithmetic mean method will give good results. In the Thiessen polygon method, the drainage basin is divided into polygons with the rain gauge in the middle of each polygon assumed to be representative for

882-540: A drainage boundary is referred to as watershed delineation . Finding the area and extent of a drainage basin is an important step in many areas of science and engineering. Most of the water that discharges from the basin outlet originated as precipitation falling on the basin. A portion of the water that enters the groundwater system beneath the drainage basin may flow towards the outlet of another drainage basin because groundwater flow directions do not always match those of their overlying drainage network. Measurement of

1008-536: A height of 1,894 metres (6,214 ft). By topography and other natural features, the Urals are divided, from north to south, into the Polar (or Arctic), Nether-Polar (or Sub-Arctic), Northern, Central and Southern parts. The Polar Urals extend for about 385 kilometers (239 mi) from Mount Konstantinov Kamen in the north to the river Khulga in the south; they have an area of about 25,000 km (9,700 sq mi) and

1134-636: A key element in Nazi planning for the territories which they expected to conquer in the USSR. Faced with the threat of having a significant part of the Soviet territories occupied by the enemy, the government evacuated many of the industrial enterprises of European Russia and Ukraine to the eastern foothills of the Ural, considered a safe place out of reach of the German bombers and troops. Three giant tank factories were established at

1260-505: A large amount of copper ore was smelted during the Bronze Age, its total weight estimated at between 55,000 and 120,000 tons. Copper of Kargaly origin was distributed during Bronze Age over a vast territory within the steppe and forest-steppe of Eastern Europe . The maximum territory of its distribution was nearly one million km. During the New Age, the Kargaly complex had a significant impact on

1386-521: A long and wide north-south strip of approximately two thousand km. in width, stretching alongside the western outlying regions of the Ural Mountains . Kargaly is located in the southern part of this vast territory. The ore-bearing strata, consisting mainly of crag and sandstone, very often contain the remains of trees of the Perm geological period . Kargaly's giant pocket is the richest load of copper minerals in

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1512-581: A multi-level hierarchical drainage system . Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks. In a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins. About 48.71% of the world's land drains to the Atlantic Ocean . In North America , surface water drains to the Atlantic via the Saint Lawrence River and Great Lakes basins,

1638-501: A place characterized by intense cold in winter and heat in summer, as well as by an absence of water. This irrational phenomenon must be considered in light of the sacred beliefs of the population. Isolated groups of miners and metallurgists whose professional skills were highly developed, lived and worked in Gorny for a long period of time. Their occupation alone dictated a kind of social and professional isolation unknown to other groups within

1764-449: A possible source. It was only after the systematic field research of the Kargaly archaeological expedition from 1990 to 1999 that the latest developments in the history of the exploitations of Kargaly were revealed. Three rather disparate chronological periods are evident. The earliest evidence for mining metallurgical production at Kargaly was connected with representatives of s.c. Yamno-Poltavka archaeological community and dates back to

1890-480: A series of parallel ridges up to 1,000–1,200 m (3,300–3,900 ft) in height and longitudinal hollows. They are elongated from north to south and stretch for about 560 km (350 mi) from the river Usa . Most of the tops are flattened, but those of the highest mountains, such as Telposiz, 1,617 m (5,305 ft) and Konzhakovsky Stone, 1,569 m (5,148 ft) have a dissected topography. Intensive weathering has produced vast areas of eroded stone on

2016-491: A source of malachite and azurite. The later rock disposals, large mounds of wasted sandstone slabs and blocks, are noticeably different from their predecessors. In comparison to the ancient dumps, they are poor in copper minerals and are located near the deeper excavations from the modern era. During the later exploitations of Kargaly, the miners often combined empty headings and sinkings of ancient or previously created shafts and drifts, sometimes filling them completely. Kargaly

2142-511: A strongly dissected relief. The maximum height is 1,499 m (4,918 ft) at Mount Payer and the average height is 1,000 to 1,100 m (3,300 to 3,600 ft). The mountains of the Polar Ural have exposed rock with sharp ridges, though flattened or rounded tops are also found. The Nether-Polar Ural are higher, and up to 150 km (93 mi) wider than the Polar Urals. They include

2268-420: A wide chronological range including from ancient times all the way up to the 18th to 19th centuries. The grounds contain up to 35,000 superficial manifestations, such as shafts, drifts, open casts , etc. [fig. 3] The total length of underground headings was likely to have been several hundreds of kilometers [fig. 4, 5]. During the Bronze Age, the sinkings and headings of mines were a maximum of 40–42 m deep. By

2394-441: A year could exceed that by a factor of 10). Over 23,000 km (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. The 1957 accident expelled 20 million curies of radioactive material, 90% of which settled into the land immediately around the facility. Although some reactors of Mayak were shut down in 1987 and 1990,

2520-525: Is 136 meters (446 ft) deep. Other lakes, too, are found in the glacial valleys of this region. Spas and sanatoriums have been built to take advantage of the medicinal muds found in some of the mountain lakes. 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

2646-418: Is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth , or flows into another body of water , such as a lake or ocean . A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the drainage divide , made up of a succession of elevated features, such as ridges and hills . A basin may consist of smaller basins that merge at river confluences , forming

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2772-914: Is much less developed on the eastern slopes. The eastern slopes are relatively flat, with some hills and rocky outcrops and contain alternating volcanic and sedimentary layers dated to the middle Paleozoic Era. Most high mountains consist of weather-resistant rocks such as quartzite , schist and gabbro that are between 395 and 570 million years old. The river valleys are underlain by limestone. The Ural Mountains contain about 48 species of economically valuable ores and minerals. Eastern regions are rich in chalcopyrite , nickel oxide (e. g. Serov nickel deposit ), gold , platinum , chromite and magnetite ores, as well as in coal ( Chelyabinsk Oblast ), bauxite , talc , fireclay and abrasives. The Western Urals contain deposits of coal, oil, natural gas (Ishimbay and Krasnokamsk areas) and potassium salts . Both slopes are rich in bituminous coal and lignite , and

2898-413: Is rather difficult. Rock disposals or dumps are the most common and characteristic traces of mining. They are usually situated near the mouth of galleries or mines, but can also be found further away, stretching onto the sides of ravines for hundreds of meters, sometimes even a kilometer or more. During the general assessment of traces, dumps are not treated independently because they are usually parts of

3024-480: Is referred to as " watershed management ". In Brazil , the National Policy of Water Resources, regulated by Act n° 9.433 of 1997, establishes the drainage basin as the territorial division of Brazilian water management. When a river basin crosses at least one political border, either a border within a nation or an international boundary, it is identified as a transboundary river . Management of such basins becomes

3150-467: Is supported by 18th-century archival materials. The most significant archaeological remains uncovered by our expedition were in the Late Bronze Age Gorny settlement of the pastoral Srubnaya archaeological community. Gorny is a settlement of ancient miners and metallurgists, situated on the top of the promontory hill and surrounded by thousands of traces of mine production [fig. 8]. Simultaneously,

3276-600: Is the Dead Sea . Drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important. For example, the English crown gave the Hudson's Bay Company a monopoly on the fur trade in the entire Hudson Bay basin, an area called Rupert's Land . Bioregional political organization today includes agreements of states (e.g., international treaties and, within

3402-682: The African Great Lakes , the interiors of Australia and the Arabian Peninsula , and parts in Mexico and the Andes . Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, adjacent closed basins. In endorheic bodies of water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this

3528-584: The Eastern Seaboard of the United States, the Canadian Maritimes , and most of Newfoundland and Labrador . Nearly all of South America east of the Andes also drains to the Atlantic, as does most of Western and Central Europe and the greatest portion of western Sub-Saharan Africa , as well as Western Sahara and part of Morocco . The two major mediterranean seas of the world also flow to

3654-700: The Ilych , Shchugor , and the Usa , and via the Ob basin in the east, which includes the Tobol , Tavda , Iset, Tura and Severnaya Sosva . The rivers are frozen for more than half the year. Generally, the western rivers have higher flow volume than the eastern ones, especially in the Northern and Nether-Polar regions. Rivers are slower in the Southern Urals. This is because of low precipitation and

3780-522: The Irtysh , and intervening island arcs . The collision lasted nearly 90 million years in the late Carboniferous – early Triassic . Unlike the other major orogens of the Paleozoic ( Appalachians , Caledonides , Variscides ), the Urals have not undergone post-orogenic extensional collapse and are unusually well preserved for their age, being underlaid by a pronounced crustal root. East and south of

3906-629: The Kyshtym disaster . The Ural Mountains extend about 2,500 km (1,600 mi) from the Kara Sea to the Kazakh Steppe along the border of Kazakhstan. Vaygach Island and the island of Novaya Zemlya form a further continuation of the chain on the north. Geographically this range marks the northern part of the border between Europe and Asia. Its highest peak is Mount Narodnaya, approximately 1,895 m (6,217 ft) in elevation. Transverse faults divide

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4032-718: The Mississippi (3.22 million km ), and the Río de la Plata (3.17 million km ). The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganges , and Congo rivers. Endorheic basin are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean. Endorheic basins cover around 18% of the Earth's land. Some endorheic basins drain to an Endorheic lake or Inland sea . Many of these lakes are ephemeral or vary dramatically in size depending on climate and inflow. If water evaporates or infiltrates into

4158-781: The Nile River ), Southern , Central, and Eastern Europe , Turkey , and the coastal areas of Israel , Lebanon , and Syria . The Arctic Ocean drains most of Western Canada and Northern Canada east of the Continental Divide , northern Alaska and parts of North Dakota , South Dakota , Minnesota , and Montana in the United States, the north shore of the Scandinavian peninsula in Europe, central and northern Russia, and parts of Kazakhstan and Mongolia in Asia , which totals to about 17% of

4284-527: The Ob River , both starting from the town of Ustyug . The rivers, Chusovaya and Belaya , were first mentioned in the chronicles of 1396 and 1468, respectively. In 1430, the town of Solikamsk (Kama Salt) was founded on the Kama at the foothills of the Ural, where salt was produced in open pans . Ivan III , the grand prince of Moscow, captured Perm, Pechora and Yugra from the declining Novgorod Republic in 1472. With

4410-620: The Uralmash in Sverdlovsk (as Yekaterinburg used to be known), Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil, and Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant in Chelyabinsk. After the war, in 1947–1948, Chum – Labytnangi railway, built with the forced labor of Gulag inmates, crossed the Polar Ural . Mayak , 150 kilometres (93 mi) southeast of Yekaterinburg , was a center of the Soviet nuclear industry and site of

4536-705: The Western geography . The Middle and Southern Ural were still largely unavailable and unknown to the Russian or Western European geographers. In the 1550s, after the Tsardom of Russia had defeated the Khanate of Kazan and proceeded to gradually annex the lands of the Bashkirs, the Russians finally reached the southern part of the mountain chain. In 1574, they founded Ufa . The upper reaches of

4662-527: The groundwater . A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( / ˈ jʊər əl / YOOR -əl ), or simply the Urals , are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through the Russian Federation , from

4788-459: The industrial development of Russia. Approximately one quarter of all Russian Empire copper was smelted in the middle of the 18th century from Kargaly ores. Before the Crimean War (1853–1856) Kargaly copper was also exported as far west as England and France . Kargaly belongs to the class of deposits situated in sandstone and slate . These large deposits and insignificant ore locations form

4914-543: 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" ( Bashkir , where the same name is used for the range), or Ob-Ugric . From the 13th century in Bashkortostan , there has been a legend about a hero named Ural who sacrificed his life for

5040-758: The Andes. The Indian Ocean 's drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earth's land. It drains the eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf , the Indian subcontinent , Burma, and most parts of Australia . The five largest river basins (by area), from largest to smallest, are those of the Amazon (7 million km ), the Congo (4 million km ), the Nile (3.4 million km ),

5166-701: The Atlantic. The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U.S. interior between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains , a small part of the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan , eastern Central America , the islands of the Caribbean and the Gulf, and a small part of northern South America. The Mediterranean Sea basin, with the Black Sea , includes much of North Africa , east-central Africa (through

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5292-486: The Circumpontic Metallurgical Province, is evidenced in the thousands of burial kurgans and complete absence of settlement remains. Excavations of the big open cast on one of the lots of the Kargaly complex (the hill of the ancient settlement Gorny) exhibited connections to the early groups of pastoral tribes who inhabited the southern Urals region of Kargaly. Radiocarbon calibrated dates showed that

5418-488: The Eurasian metallurgical province. Next very long interruption prolonged during the three thousand years – up to the New Age. In the 1740s, Russian merchants and manufacturers bought vast territories from the local Bashkir population, including that of Kargaly, at an incredibly low price. Bashkirs, the nominal owners of these territories, were not aware of the value of this land, upon which they tended their herds. Judging from

5544-652: The Kama and Chusovaya in the Middle Ural, still unexplored, as well as parts of Transuralia still held by the hostile Siberian Khanate , were granted to the Stroganovs by several decrees of the tsar in 1558–1574. The Stroganovs land provided the staging ground for Yermak 's incursion into Siberia . Yermak crossed the Ural from the Chusovaya to the Tagil around 1581. In 1597, Babinov's road

5670-869: 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. Its plants went into operation in 1948 and, for

5796-403: The New Age (18–19 cent.) they had reached as much as 80–90 m deep. The total amount of sandstone , crag and marl , and other wastes extracted from the surface measured nearly 100–120 million cubic meters, equivalent to a weight up to 250 million tons. Kargaly is exceptionally rich in archaeological remains from ancient mines and metal production. So far, more than twenty settlements dated to

5922-409: The Polar Urals. Whereas in other parts of the Ural Mountains they grow up to an altitude of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), in the Polar Urals the tree line is at 250–400 metres (820–1,310 ft). The low polar forests are mixed with swamps, lichens, bogs and shrubs. Dwarf birch , mosses and berries ( blueberry , cloudberry , black crowberry , etc.) are abundant. The forests of the Southern Urals are

6048-651: The Srubnaya community. Remaining evidence leaves no doubt that alongside ore extraction, the large amount of copper was melted here for the casting of tools [fig. 9]. These processes were profoundly influenced by the ecological situation in Kargaly. Pyrometallurgical operations were limited by poor wood resources, which explains the fact that most of the copper in Kargaly was used for the production of heavy mining tools. In addition, extracted ores became important in wide commercial and exchange operations. All ore exchanges, and sometimes copper trade, were directed predominantly towards

6174-417: The US, interstate compacts ) or other political entities in a particular drainage basin to manage the body or bodies of water into which it drains. Examples of such interstate compacts are the Great Lakes Commission and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency . In hydrology , the drainage basin is a logical unit of focus for studying the movement of water within the hydrological cycle . The process of finding

6300-444: The United Kingdom (geologist Sir Roderick Murchison ), France (paleontologist Édouard de Verneuil ), and Germany (naturalist Alexander von Humboldt , geologist Alexander Keyserling ). In 1845, Murchison, who had according to Encyclopædia Britannica "compiled the first geologic map of the Ural in 1841", published The Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains with de Verneuil and Keyserling. The first railway across

6426-508: The Ural Mountains are formed of limestone , dolomite and sandstone left from ancient shallow seas. The eastern side is dominated by basalts . The western slope of the Ural Mountains has predominantly karst topography , especially in the Sylva basin, which is a tributary of the Chusovaya . It is composed of severely eroded sedimentary rocks (sandstones and limestones) that are about 350 million years old. There are many caves , sinkholes and underground streams. The karst topography

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6552-416: 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). 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,

6678-422: The Urals had been built by 1878 and linked Perm to Yekaterinburg via Chusovoy , Kushva and Nizhny Tagil . In 1890, a railway linked Ufa and Chelyabinsk via Zlatoust . In 1896, this section became a part of the Trans-Siberian Railway . In 1909, yet another railway connecting Perm and Yekaterinburg passed through Kungur by the way of the Siberian Route. It has eventually replaced the Ufa – Chelyabinsk section as

6804-403: The Urals much of the orogen is buried beneath later Mesozoic and Cenozoic sediments . The adjacent Pay-Khoy Ridge to the north and Novaya Zemlya are not a part of the Uralian orogen and formed later. Many deformed and metamorphosed rocks, mostly of Paleozoic age, surface within the Urals. The sedimentary and volcanic layers are folded and faulted . The sediments to the west of

6930-441: The activity of Kargaly metallurgists. As evident from ethnographic parallels, archaic masters related the process of molding and casting metal to the act of giving birth. The existence of this new object was possible only through the process of copulation between feminine and masculine essences. For this reason, masculine and feminine symbols were created before the construction of foundation ditches for casting yards as well as for

7056-415: The ancient Bronze Age, as it did for much later miners in the 18th and 19th centuries. The first type of mining utilizes shafts or sinkings, spaces that stretch, either vertically or sloping (from 90 to 60 degree of declivity), into the sandstone and crag rock, which is covered by a layer of argillaceous soil [fig. 6]. These shafts lead directly to the ore and ventilate the underground shafts and facilitate

7182-406: The basin, it can form tributaries that change the structure of the land. There are three different main types, which are affected by the rocks and ground underneath. Rock that is quick to erode forms dendritic patterns, and these are seen most often. The two other types of patterns that form are trellis patterns and rectangular patterns. Rain gauge data is used to measure total precipitation over

7308-475: The basis of ancient Bulgar - Chuvash dialects. Geographer E.V. Hawks believes that the name goes back to the Bashkir folklore Ural-Batyr . The Evenk geographical term era "mountain" has also been theorized. (cf also Ewenkī ürǝ-l (pl.) "mountains") Finno-Ugrist scholars consider Ural deriving from the Ostyak word urr meaning "chain of mountains". Turkologists , on the other hand, have achieved majority support for their assertion that 'ural' in Tatar means

7434-458: The beginnings of mining at Kargaly during the Early Bronze Age was developed more than thirty-five years ago. The ideas presented were based on the results from a series of spectral analyses of metal objects from burials of the Pit-grave and Poltavka ( Yamno-Poltavka ) community of the southern Urals and Volga regions. In terms of chemical composition , analysis of pure copper belonging to group of copper-bearing sandstone, indicates Kargaly as

7560-428: The book “ Topography of Orenburg Province”, which included a chapter on the ancient mines of Kargaly. During the more than two hundred years since the book's publication, no archaeologists have visited or even conducted a cursory investigation of this unique complex. What is even more amazing about this neglect is that this complex is situated in the southern Urals near a large administrative center . The first theory on

7686-400: The border between the Komi Republic and Perm Krai and the eastern slopes south of approximately 54°30'N drain into the Caspian Sea via the Kama and Ural basins. The tributaries of the Kama include the Vishera , Chusovaya, and Belaya and originate on both the eastern and western slopes. The rest of the Urals drain into the Arctic Ocean, mainly via the Pechora basin in the west, which includes

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7812-402: The burial between 2900-2700 ВСЕ Finally, the wide distribution of copper products made from Kargaly ores of the Early and Middle Bronze Ages found in the area between the Volga and the Urals shows the significant impact of Kargaly on the development of cultures inhabiting this region. Copper ores from Kargaly were also found among the artifact inventories of rich contemporaneous kurgan burials of

7938-431: The center belongs to the category of extensive ore fields. The discovery and subsequent frequent extractions of ores at Kargaly occurred either near the end of the fourth millennium ВСЕ or at the turn of the third millennium ВСЕ ( Early Bronze Age ). By the second millennium ВСЕ ( Late Bronze Age ) this production center had reached its peak in productivity. There are an extremely large number of working mines at Kargaly, with

8064-461: The city of Yekaterinburg . Both factories were actually founded by Tatishchev's successor, Georg Wilhelm de Gennin , in 1723. Tatishchev returned to the Ural on the order of Empress Anna to succeed de Gennin in 1734–1737. Transportation of the output of the smelting works to the markets of European Russia necessitated the construction of the Siberian Route from Yekaterinburg across the Ural to Kungur and Yegoshikha (Perm) and further to Moscow, which

8190-409: The coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan . The mountain range forms part of the conventional boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia , marking the separation between European Russia and Siberia . 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

8316-418: The delivery of minerals and rocks to the surface. At present the majority of them are filled with collapsed clue rock and detritus , others have been destroyed by the dump from later excavations . The second type occurs as galleries, or drifts (headings). This form of mining utilizes horizontal or nearly horizontal (slightly declined) shafts for ore extraction from sandstone or crag. Drifts and galleries are

8442-430: The discharge of water from a basin may be made by a stream gauge located at the basin's outlet. Depending on the conditions of the drainage basin, as rainfall occurs some of it seeps directly into the ground. This water will either remain underground, slowly making its way downhill and eventually reaching the basin, or it will permeate deeper into the soil and consolidate into groundwater aquifers. As water flows through

8568-441: The drainage area is dependent on the soil type. Certain soil types such as sandy soils are very free-draining, and rainfall on sandy soil is likely to be absorbed by the ground. However, soils containing clay can be almost impermeable and therefore rainfall on clay soils will run off and contribute to flood volumes. After prolonged rainfall even free-draining soils can become saturated , meaning that any further rainfall will reach

8694-642: The drainage basin to the mouth, and may accumulate there, disturbing the natural mineral balance. This can cause eutrophication where plant growth is accelerated by the additional material. Because drainage basins are coherent entities in a hydrological sense, it has become common to manage water resources on the basis of individual basins. In the U.S. state of Minnesota , governmental entities that perform this function are called " watershed districts ". In New Zealand, they are called catchment boards. Comparable community groups based in Ontario, Canada, are called conservation authorities . In North America, this function

8820-427: 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

8946-421: 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 and 20 °C (50 and 68 °F). The western areas also receive more rainfall than

9072-699: 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,

9198-461: The excursions of 1483 and 1499–1500 across the Ural, Moscow managed to subjugate Yugra completely. The Russians received tribute, but contact with the tribes ceased after they left. Nevertheless, around the early 16th century, Polish geographer, Maciej of Miechów , in his influential Tractatus de duabus Sarmatiis (1517) argued that there were no mountains in Eastern Europe at all, challenging

9324-602: The facility keeps producing plutonium. 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

9450-454: The first deposits of iron and copper ores, mica , gemstones and other minerals were discovered in the Ural. Iron and copper smelting works emerged. In particular, the Gumyoshevsky mine was established in 1702 at an ancient copper deposit known since Bronze Age — so-called "legendary" Copper Mountain which also produced malachite . Mining intensified particularly quickly during

9576-445: The first ten years, dumped unfiltered radioactive waste into the river Techa and Lake Karachay . 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. 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

9702-435: The ground and along rivers it can pick up nutrients , sediment , and pollutants . With the water, they are transported towards the outlet of the basin, and can affect the ecological processes along the way as well as in the receiving water body . Modern use of artificial fertilizers , containing nitrogen (as nitrates ), phosphorus , and potassium , has affected the mouths of drainage basins. The minerals are carried by

9828-744: The ground at its terminus, the area can go by several names, such playa, salt flat, dry lake , or alkali sink . The largest endorheic basins are in Central Asia , including the Caspian Sea , the Aral Sea , and numerous smaller lakes. Other endorheic regions include the Great Basin in the United States, much of the Sahara Desert , the drainage basin of the Okavango River ( Kalahari Basin ), highlands near

9954-407: The height of 60–80 centimetres (24–31 in). Much of the land is cultivated. To the south, the meadow steppes become more sparse, dry and low. The steep gravelly slopes of the mountains and hills of the eastern slopes of the Southern Urals are mostly covered with rocky steppes. River valleys contain willow , poplar and caragana shrubs. Forest landscapes of the Urals are diverse, especially in

10080-490: 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. 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 . The continuous and intensive economic development of

10206-591: The highest peaks of the range: Mount Narodnaya (1,895 m (6,217 ft)), Mount Karpinsky (1,878 m (6,161 ft)) and Manaraga (1,662 m (5,453 ft)). They extend for more than 225 km (140 mi) south to the Shchugor . The many ridges are sawtooth shaped and dissected by river valleys. Both Polar and Nether-Polar Urals are typically Alpine; they bear traces of Pleistocene glaciation, along with permafrost and extensive modern glaciation, including 143 extant glaciers. The Northern Ural consist of

10332-468: The horizontal or declined galleries type, or beneath large underground workings in the form of huge halls. Collapses should be treated as traces of previous underground work and may serve as markers of mining on the surface. The size of collapses differs greatly, from 2 to 70 m in diameter, and from 1 to 30 m deep. For this type of trace there is an absence of residue, though gaps in the latest residues can be seen. Because of this, verification of true collapses

10458-405: The largest deposit of bituminous coal is in the north (Pechora field). The specialty of the Urals is precious and semi-precious stones, such as emerald , amethyst , aquamarine , jasper , rhodonite , malachite and diamond . Some of the deposits, such as the magnetite ores at Magnitogorsk , are already nearly depleted. Many rivers originate in the Ural Mountains. The western slopes south of

10584-639: 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. 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

10710-400: The life of the local population and different stages in the mining-metallurgical cycle seem to have been compressed in time and space. What is more, everyday life, including mining, ore concentrating, casting, molding, and forging of tools, was combined with sacred rituals. Exceptionally uncomfortable living and working conditions prompt questions, as the dwellings were situated on top of a hill,

10836-590: The livestock was used as an exchange product for the ore and metal produced in Kargaly. It should not be assumed that all stock herds were used for consumption. Ethnographic materials provide evidence for the unbelievable mass slaughtering of animals during rituals accompanying mining and metallurgical processes. It appears that the majority of animals were slaughtered according to the beliefs of Kargaly masters. Many complexes were found in Gorny which contained multiple large sacrificial pits. These pits were filled with specially chosen and arranged bones, particularly those of

10962-402: The lower jaws and ribs of animals. All aspects of the everyday life and work of the Kargaly professionals were saturated in ritual. Gorny, in particular, exhibits various and consistent manifestations of these rituals. Numerous oracle bones were discovered, most likely those of the miners, representative of their difficult and dangerous work. Exceptionally peculiar magical rituals accompanied

11088-573: The main ridges by the Miass . The maximum height is 1,640 m (5,380 ft) ( Mount Yamantau ) and the width reaches 250 km (160 mi). Other notable peaks lie along the Iremel mountain ridge (Bolshoy Iremel and Maly Iremel) and Nurgush . The Southern Urals extend some 550 km (340 mi) up to the sharp westward bend of the river Ural and terminate in the Guberlin Mountains and finally in

11214-688: The main trunk of the Trans-Siberian railway. The highest peak of the Ural, Mount Narodnaya , (elevation 1,895 m [6,217 ft]) was identified in 1927. During the Soviet industrialization in the 1930s, the city of Magnitogorsk was founded in the South-Eastern Ural as a center of iron smelting and steelmaking . During the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941–1942, the mountains became

11340-576: The materials available, Kargaly mines were discovered by the Yamno-Poltavka community, a nomadic population of the stockbreeders. Numerous tribes of this community occupied vast territories in Eastern Europe, from the southern Urals to the Carpathian foothills, adjacent to the middle Danube steppe in Pannonia . The nomadic lifestyle of many cultures in the northern zone of this extensive territory, formerly of

11466-496: The miners could have begun their quest for this place no later than the fourth to third millennium ВСЕ. Much was yielded from excavation of the burial of a youth [fig. 7] in the very center of the Kargaly mining field, a site occupied by the kurgan cemetery of Pershin . Included in the finds were a casting mould of an early type shaft-hole axe and a copper flat axe dated to the Early Bronze Age. Radiocarbon calibrated dates place

11592-610: The most diverse in composition: here, together with coniferous forests are also abundant broadleaf tree species such as English oak , Norway maple and elm. The Virgin Komi Forests in the northern Urals are recognized as a World Heritage site. 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

11718-568: The most remote – to 500 km. During third period tens of million tons of extracted Kargaly’s ore delivered to these distant metallurgical plants by the horse cartage. According to archival documents, for all time of operation Kargaly for a late (third) phase it has been melted not less than 126,000 tons of high-quality copper. By the turn of the 20th century, mining of ores in Kargaly complex has definitively finished. 52°15′N 54°49′E  /  52.250°N 54.817°E  / 52.250; 54.817 River basin A drainage basin

11844-476: The most widespread type of mining form in Kargaly. The form and size of the galleries is not fixed, but flexible depending on the composition of the ore layers and the different characteristics of the deposit. These criteria are assessed by the miners during underground and surface gophering for copper minerals. This variability explains the changes in form and size of galleries, which often have no regular geometric profile and no strict direction. The predominance of

11970-512: The mountain chain into seven major units, each of which has its own typical pattern of mountain ridges. From north to south, these are the Pay-Khoy, Zapolyarnyy, Pripolyarnyy, Polyarnyy, Severnyy, Sredniy, Yuzhnny Ural and Mugodzhary. The average altitudes of the Urals are around 1,000–1,300 m (3,300–4,300 ft), the highest point being Narodnaya peak in the Pripolyarnyy Ural which reaches

12096-490: The mountain slopes and summits of the northern areas. The Central Ural are the lowest part of the Ural, with smooth mountain tops, the highest mountain being 994 m (3,261 ft) (Basegi); they extend south from the river Ufa . The relief of the Southern Ural is more complex, with numerous valleys and parallel ridges directed south-west and meridionally. The range includes the Ilmensky Mountains separated from

12222-560: The mountainous-taiga zone of the southern Urals. The Kargaly ore deposits cover a large, oval territory about 50 by 10 km in area. This group of deposits is oriented northwest to southeast. The two main outlying groups of mines in Kargaly both occur in the southeast corner of the ore field , at N 52' 16,186 / E 54' 36, 980 and N 52' 11, 114 / E 55' 14,848 . (52°16.186'N 54°36.980'E and 52°11.114'N 55°14.848'E) Kargaly embraces an extremely vast territory (nearly 500 km sq) characterized by copper mineralization . In terms of geology ,

12348-437: The mountains and their systematic extraction began in the early 18th century, eventually turning the region into the largest mineral base of Russia. One of the first scientific descriptions of the mountains was published in 1770–71. Over the next century, the region was studied by scientists from a number of countries, including Russia (geologist Alexander Karpinsky , botanist Porfiry Krylov and zoologist Leonid Sabaneyev ),

12474-494: 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. 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

12600-716: The mountains to the east of the East European Plain is provided by the Primary Chronicle , where it describes the Novgorodian expedition to the upper reaches of the Pechora in the year 1096. During the next few centuries, the Novgorodians engaged in fur trading with the local population and collected tribute from Yugra and Great Perm , slowly expanding southwards. The city-state of Novgorod established two trade routes to

12726-540: The pits of the large central hearths . Kargaly have been again opened in the third time in 1740th years, thanks to uncountable traces of workings out of the Bronze Age. All copper ore mining was conducted up to the end of 19th centuries in the area of ancient ore developments. The extracted minerals went on the north, to mountain areas of Southern Urals Mountains rich with the different forests. The nearest metallurgical works where Kargaly copper ore melted, have defended from this mining complex approximately on 180–200 km;

12852-613: The point of view of some authors of Classical antiquity, which were popular during the Renaissance . Only after Sigismund von Herberstein in his Notes on Muscovite Affairs (1549) had reported, following Russian sources, that there are mountains behind the Pechora and identified them with the Riphean Mountains and Hyperboreans of ancient authors, did the existence of the Ural, or at least of its northern part, become firmly established in

12978-418: The rainfall on the area of land included in its polygon. These polygons are made by drawing lines between gauges, then making perpendicular bisectors of those lines form the polygons. The isohyetal method involves contours of equal precipitation are drawn over the gauges on a map. Calculating the area between these curves and adding up the volume of water is time-consuming. Isochrone maps can be used to show

13104-706: The region. 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

13230-512: The reign of Peter I of Russia . In 1720–1722, he commissioned Vasily Tatishchev to oversee and develop the mining and smelting works in the Ural. Tatishchev proposed a new copper smelting factory in Yegoshikha , which would eventually become the core of the city of Perm and a new iron smelting factory on the Iset , which would become the largest in the world at the time of construction and give birth to

13356-461: The relatively warm climate resulting in less snow and more evaporation. The mountains contain a number of deep lakes. The eastern slopes of the Southern and Central Urals have most of these, among the largest of which are the Uvildy, Itkul, Turgoyak, and Tavatuy lakes. The lakes found on the western slopes are less numerous and also smaller. Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye, the deepest lake in the Polar Urals,

13482-625: The responsibility of the countries sharing it. Nile Basin Initiative , OMVS for Senegal River , Mekong River Commission are a few examples of arrangements involving management of shared river basins. Management of shared drainage basins is also seen as a way to build lasting peaceful relationships among countries. The catchment is the most significant factor determining the amount or likelihood of flooding . Catchment factors are: topography , shape, size, soil type, and land use (paved or roofed areas). Catchment topography and shape determine

13608-461: The river rather than being absorbed by the ground. If the surface is impermeable the precipitation will create surface run-off which will lead to higher risk of flooding; if the ground is permeable, the precipitation will infiltrate the soil. Land use can contribute to the volume of water reaching the river, in a similar way to clay soils. For example, rainfall on roofs, pavements , and roads will be collected by rivers with almost no absorption into

13734-466: The sake of his people who then poured a stone pile over his grave, which later turned into the Ural Mountains. Possibilities include Bashkir үр "elevation; upland" and Mansi ур ала "mountain peak, top of the mountain", V.N. Tatischev believes that this oronym is set to "belt" and associates it with the Turkic verb oralu- "gird". I.G. Dobrodomov suggests a transition from Aral to Ural explained on

13860-514: The second half of the IVth mill.BCE. Production of their manufacturing focuses corresponded completely to the morphological and technological standards of the Circumpontic metallurgical province. In Kargaly’s operation was the long interruption in six centuries (2500-1900). The second and much more active period begins and extended up to 15/14 cent. BCE. This period was close connected with the standards of

13986-507: The second millennium ВСЕ and three grave cemeteries with Early and Late Bronze Age burials have been discovered. In addition, traces of the beginnings of the copper production industry in 18th-century Russia are widespread in Kargaly. The volume of extracted copper ores ( malachite and azurite ) from the Bronze Age is amazingly large and can be quantified by a wide approximation ranging from two to five million tons. Within Kargaly alone,

14112-402: The shafts, galleries, quarries, or other mining works. Having occurred in different periods, these dumps were often superimposed not only on top of each other, but also upon the openings of ancient vertical and horizontal shafts. As a result, a chaotic distribution of residue is left on the surface of the earth. Certain characteristics of the form and content of the dumps can provide evidence for

14238-666: The so-called nest, or lens accumulations of copper minerals in Kargaly led to the appearance of huge underground halls derived from galleries. Their ceilings are twenty meters high and are connected to other galleries and drifts. In some cases they were blind underground headings ( strecks ). Prospecting or trial pits are laid into the loam surface layer for the clearing of subsoil and are created in order to search for traces of copper minerals. The copper deposits are usually surrounded by residue of argillaceous soil and sandy loam . Collapses are landslides of rocky or loamy roof which occur either under shallow (5–15 m) mountainous workings of

14364-439: The southern part. The western areas are dominated by dark coniferous taiga forests which change to mixed and deciduous forests in the south. The eastern mountain slopes have light coniferous taiga forests. The Northern Urals are dominated by conifers, namely Siberian fir , Siberian pine , Scots pine , Siberian spruce , Norway spruce and Siberian larch , as well as by silver and downy birches . The forests are much sparser in

14490-418: The speed with which the runoff reaches a river. A long thin catchment will take longer to drain than a circular catchment. Size will help determine the amount of water reaching the river, as the larger the catchment the greater the potential for flooding. It is also determined on the basis of length and width of the drainage basin. Soil type will help determine how much water reaches the river. The runoff from

14616-623: The summer: the winter is dry because of the Siberian High . The landscapes of the Urals vary with both latitude and longitude and are dominated by forests and steppes. The southern area of the Mughalzhar Hills is a semidesert. Steppes lie mostly in the southern and especially south-eastern Urals. Meadow steppes have developed on the lower parts of mountain slopes and are covered with zigzag and mountain clovers , Serratula gmelinii , dropwort , meadow-grass and Bromus inermis , reaching

14742-415: The time taken for rain to reach the river, while catchment size, soil type, and development determine the amount of water to reach the river. Generally, topography plays a big part in how fast runoff will reach a river. Rain that falls in steep mountainous areas will reach the primary river in the drainage basin faster than flat or lightly sloping areas (e.g., > 1% gradient). Shape will contribute to

14868-477: The time taken for runoff water within a drainage basin to reach a lake, reservoir or outlet, assuming constant and uniform effective rainfall. Drainage basins are the principal hydrologic unit considered in fluvial geomorphology . A drainage basin is the source for water and sediment that moves from higher elevation through the river system to lower elevations as they reshape the channel forms. Drainage basins are important in ecology . As water flows over

14994-515: The tribal chiefs in Volga basin. Although extraction of copper ores began at Kargaly in the Early Bronze Age, it was not until the Late Bronze Age or the second phase of Late Bronze Age that metallurgical activity reached its peak. The main deposits of the upper horizon in the Kargaly ore field had already been discovered in the first half and middle of the second millennium ВСЕ (Late Bronze Age), which

15120-576: The vast Ural zone adjacent to copper-bearing sandstone. The ores occur at different depths, beginning with outcroppings of surface deposits, easily noticeable on the sides of ravines, and ending with those situated 80–90 m deep. The ore-bearing streams are scattered among the sandstone and clue rocks , sometimes appearing as short and broken veins. The size of the ore pockets and pods differs, from several centimeters to ten or more meters in length. Disordered and random distribution of these ore seats must have caused chaotic searches for these deposits by miners in

15246-490: The west. Evidence for copper casting from ores mined at Kargaly was found in many settlements of the Srubnaya community, reaching as far as the Volga basin. Staggering giant zooarchaeological materials from Gorny [fig. 10] substantiates material for independent research. Extermination of the stock herd there was so profound that some zooarchaeologists reject the possibility that local ancient miners owned and regularly bred them. Considering this evidence, it can be concluded that

15372-512: The wide Mughalzhar Hills . The Urals are among the world's oldest extant mountain ranges . Some have estimated the age to be 250 to 300 million years, the elevation of the mountains is unusually high. They formed during the Uralian orogeny due to the collision of the eastern edge of the supercontinent Laurasia with the young and rheologically weak continent of Kazakhstania , which now underlies much of Kazakhstan and West Siberia west of

15498-753: The world's land. Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean . Its basin includes much of China, eastern and southeastern Russia, Japan, the Korean Peninsula , most of Indochina, Indonesia and Malaysia, the Philippines, all of the Pacific Islands , the northeast coast of Australia , and Canada and the United States west of the Continental Divide (including most of Alaska), as well as western Central America and South America west of

15624-506: Was built across the Ural from Solikamsk to the valley of the Tura , where the town of Verkhoturye (Upper Tura) was founded in 1598. Customs was established in Verkhoturye shortly thereafter and the road was made the only legal connection between European Russia and Siberia for a long time. In 1648, the town of Kungur was founded at the western foothills of the Middle Ural. During the 17th century,

15750-430: Was completed in 1763 and rendered Babinov's road obsolete. In 1745, gold was discovered in the Ural at Beryozovskoye and later at other deposits. It has been mined since 1747. The first ample geographic survey of the Ural Mountains was completed in the early 18th century by the Russian historian and geographer Vasily Tatishchev under the orders of Peter I. Earlier, in the 17th century, rich ore deposits were discovered in

15876-433: Was studied by a team led by Evgenij Chernykh starting in 1989. The late discovery of the complex by archaeologists is odd, considering early knowledge of its existence. Ancient mines in Kargaly were the first of their kind mentioned in scientific literature in Russia. In 1762, just after the beginning of its exploitation by Russian industrialists , the Russian scholar of local history, P. I. Rychkov from Orenburg , published

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