Eastern Siberia
Eastern Siberia
Eastern Siberia strikes us with its natural beauty. This
land is home to the world's deepest and oldest of all lakes Lake Baikal. The lake is nestled between the Sayan and
Baikal mountains and holds approximately one-fifth of the
melted fresh water on Earth. Untouched evergreen forests,
rocks, and several waterfalls cause many to refer to the area
as a "Siberian Switzerland.” There are over 200 caves noted
for their exotic beauty, underground rivers, stalactites, and
stalagmites. Caves compete with the stolby (rocky pillars),
mostly pink-brown crystalline rocks. Over the course of
millions of years of rains and winters, frost and sunshine
have carved fantastic figures out of the stones. Some of them
reach 100 meters in height. In the contours of the pillars, we
often see a strong resemblance to birds, animals, and people.
We see in Eastern Siberia not only deep forests and
rocky Sayan and Lake Baikal mountains, but also endless
grassy steppes, deserts (with camels!), ancient archeological
monuments, and thousand-year-old burial sites. It is an area
of great geographic diversity. To the north, Eastern Siberia
extends to the Tajmyr Peninsula on the Arctic Ocean; to the
east, the mighty Lena River; to the south, Mongolia and
China; and to the west, the Yenisei River. The Region spans
several climatic zones, from arctic to continental, including
arctic deserts, tundra, and tundra forest in the north; the taiga
forests in the central part; and the steppe and forest-steppe in
the south with hot summers and productive agricultural soils.
Eastern Siberia strikes us with its natural beauty. This
land is home to the world's deepest and oldest of all lakes Lake Baikal. The lake is nestled between the Sayan and
Baikal mountains and holds approximately one-fifth of the
melted fresh water on Earth. Untouched evergreen forests,
rocks, and several waterfalls cause many to refer to the area
as a "Siberian Switzerland.” There are over 200 caves noted
for their exotic beauty, underground rivers, stalactites, and
stalagmites. Caves compete with the stolby (rocky pillars),
mostly pink-brown crystalline rocks. Over the course of
millions of years of rains and winters, frost and sunshine
have carved fantastic figures out of the stones. Some of them
reach 100 meters in height. In the contours of the pillars, we
often see a strong resemblance to birds, animals, and people.
We see in Eastern Siberia not only deep forests and
rocky Sayan and Lake Baikal mountains, but also endless
grassy steppes, deserts (with camels!), ancient archeological
monuments, and thousand-year-old burial sites. It is an area
of great geographic diversity. To the north, Eastern Siberia
extends to the Tajmyr Peninsula on the Arctic Ocean; to the
east, the mighty Lena River; to the south, Mongolia and
China; and to the west, the Yenisei River. The Region spans
several climatic zones, from arctic to continental, including
arctic deserts, tundra, and tundra forest in the north; the taiga
forests in the central part; and the steppe and forest-steppe in
the south with hot summers and productive agricultural soils.
www.sras.org
www.sras.org