Central Siberian Plateau

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Central Siberian Plateau
Среднесиби́рское плоского́рье
Plato Putorana 01.jpg
View of the Lower Tunguska River on the Central Siberian Plateau
Russia edcp relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Location in Russia
Location Krasnoyarsk Krai
Sakha Republic
Irkutsk Oblast
Coordinates 64°N103°E﻿ / ﻿64°N 103°E﻿ / 64; 103 Coordinates: 64°N103°E﻿ / ﻿64°N 103°E﻿ / 64; 103
Part of Siberia
Elevation1,678 meters (5,505 ft) (highest) [1]
Length2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi)
Width2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi)
Area3,500,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi)

The Central Siberian Plateau (Russian : Среднесибирское плоскогорье, romanized: Srednesibirskoye ploskogorye; Yakut : Орто Сибиир хаптал хайалаах сирэ) is a vast mountainous area in Siberia, one of the Great Russian Regions.



The plateau occupies a great part of central Siberia between the Yenisei and Lena rivers. It is located in the Siberian Platform and extends over an area of 3,500,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi), between the Yenisei in the west and the Central Yakutian Lowland in the east. To the south it is bound by the Altai Mountains, Salair Ridge, Kuznetsk Alatau, the Eastern and Western Sayan Mountains and other mountains of Tuva, as well as the Baikal and Transbaikal mountains. To the north of the plateau lie the North Siberian Lowland and to the east the plateau gives way to the Central Yakutian Lowland and the Lena Plateau. [2]

The surface of the Central Siberian Plateau is characterized by the alternation of wide plateaus and ridges, some of the latter sharply jagged. The Central Siberian Plateau covers one-third of Siberia. [3]

Landscape of the Putorana Nature Reserve. Vesennie snezhniki.jpg
Landscape of the Putorana Nature Reserve.
Gold on arsenopyrite as found in the Yenisei Range. Gold on arsenopyrite SEM image.png
Gold on arsenopyrite as found in the Yenisei Range.

Subplateaus and subranges

The system of the Central Siberian Plateau comprises a number of smaller plateaus and subranges, including, among others, the following: [2]


The climate is continental with short warm summers and long and severely cold winters. Most of the territory is covered with conifer forests (larch is especially abundant). The plateau's major river is the Lower Tunguska. Known geologically as the Siberian Traps, mineral resources here are very rich and include coal, iron ore, gold, platinum, diamonds and natural gas.

See also

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  1. Russia. Topographic map R-45,46; M 1: 1 000 000
  2. 1 2 Среднесибирское плоскогорье (Central Siberian Plateau) / Great Russian Encyclopedia; in 35 vol.] / Ch. ed. Yu.S. Osipov . - M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 2004—2017.