Yudoma-Maya Highlands


The Yudoma-Maya Highlands (r=Yudomo-Maiskoye Nagorye are a mountainous area in the Sakha Republic and Khabarovsk Krai, Far Eastern Federal District, Russia.
The settlement of Allakh-Yun is located in the area of the highlands on the right bank of the Allakh-Yun River.

History

The area of the Yudoma-Maya and the Aldan highlands, between the basins of the Aldan River and the Yudoma, was uncharted territory well until the 1930s. It was first surveyed in 1934 by geologist Yuri Bilibin together with mining engineer Evgeny Bobin in the course of an expedition sent by the government of the USSR. Bilibin and Bobin made a thorough topographic survey of the mountainous regions leading separate research parties. They described the highlands as "a disordered jumble of round hills with soft outlines".

Geography

The Yudoma-Maya Highlands are located in the upper basin of the Maya River, a tributary of the Aldan River, at the southern end of the Sakha Republic and the western limits of Khabarovsk Krai. They are bound to the west by the Skalisty Range and the Sette-Daban subranges of the Verkhoyansk Range, and to the north by the Suntar-Khayata Range. The highlands reach the valley of the Okhota River to the east, and to the south they are limited by the northern end of the Dzhugdzhur Range. The average heights range between and.
The highest point is high Shpil Tarbagannakh. Other summits are high Tarbaganakhskі Goltsi, high Uemlyakhskі Goltsi and high Chelat.

Climate

The highlands have a harsh continental climate. January temperatures range from to. The coldest temperatures recorded reach between and. In summer the average July temperature in the valleys does not exceed. Precipitation is between and per year. Most of the yearly precipitation falls in the second half of summer in the form of rain.

Flora

Large swathes of the highlands are covered by taiga up to elevations between and. The areas adjacent to the valleys are covered with larch and pine forests, especially in the southern region. Above there is spruce and birch taiga up to a height of. In the northern parts of the highlands there are thickets of dwarf cedar and mountain tundra above.