Thoughts about the overpopulation of the planet, as a rule, come to minds of the inhabitants of megalopolises and big cities. In fact, there are many territories on Earth that are not just not developed, they are not even touched by civilization. One of these places is located in Russia. The Putorana Plateau is an incredibly beautiful mountain range beyond the Arctic Circle. Its borders are outlined by the great Siberian rivers Lena and Yenisei, as well as by the Taimyr Peninsula, the northernmost point of the continent.
For most of us, a trip to a neighboring city is already considered an event. And a trip to the Far North is equivalent to a flight to Mars. Those who decided to change their usual world and visit the Arctic Circle will get impressions and memories for a lifetime. To help in choosing a place for an extreme trip, we offer several not only interesting, but intriguing facts about the famous plateau.
Supervolcano that influenced the change of eras
He operated in this area about 250 million years ago. The energy of this stratovolcano turned out to be so destructive that it led to a catastrophe. In the history of the planet, it is known as the Great Permian Extinction. Killed about 70% of the animals and almost all marine life. And the Paleozoic era was replaced by the Mesozoic.
But a unique basalt plateau appeared, the second largest in the world. The exceptional landscape of the plateau is difficult to describe accurately, it is so unique and unimaginable. We can say that this is a classic example of a flat-topped array. The so-called mesas. They are cut by gorges and valleys, with many rivers and lakes.
Author: Uyutnov Kirill
Land of records
It is customary that in our country everything is "the most": a vast territory, the number of time zones, the world's deepest lake and the longest railway. But the Putorana plateau seemed to converge these maxima.
The plateau is so large (an area of 250 thousand square kilometers) that helicopters cannot reach some places. The most common comparison of the size of this space is with the territory of the UK.
The largest number of waterfalls in the country is here. "The land of a thousand waterfalls" is the middle name of the plateau. In fact, there are even more of them, of various shapes and sizes. The density of water cascades per unit area is the highest not only in Russia, possibly in the world.
Here are:
- the highest waterfall in the country Kandinsky, its jets fall from a height of 108 meters;
- other cascades are slightly below one hundred meters;
- Bolshoi Kureisky waterfall, the most powerful in Russia. Water discharge - one thousand cubic meters per second;
- Talnikovy waterfall, according to some sources the highest in Eurasia.
Regarding the latter, local scientists explain that the cascade of falling jets here is seasonal, during a period of high water. And even if they deny Talnikov these laurels, the spectacle is staggering: seething water falls from a height of half a kilometer.
Another world leader is in the number of long and deep lakes per unit area. According to various estimates, they are here from 22 to 25 thousand. This is the second natural storage of fresh water in the country after Lake Baikal. It's not just incredibly clean, because it's glacial. Passing through the mass of rocks (and we remember the age of the mountains - 250 million years), the water is mineralized in a special way and becomes healing.
Author: Dozor of Siberia
Geographical center of Russia
This is also here, on the Putorana plateau. The status was calculated by scientists and approved by the State Geodesy Cartography Service. Now, on the shores of Lake Vivi, there is a 7-meter symbol of the official center of the country. Nearby there is an Orthodox cross and a chapel in memory of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
On the Putorana spurs, in the Talnakh mountains, there are the country's largest deposits of copper-nickel ores. They were discovered in the 60s of the 20th century. The film "Territory" is dedicated to the difficult work of geologists in these wild places. The shooting took place on a plateau, and now the mountains covered with "snowfields", rocks that look like medieval castles, grandiose canyons and rapids are embodied in excellent quality in the "full meter".
The rarest bighorn sheep lives here. It is an endemic listed in the Red Book. The first rams appeared on the plateau over 10 thousand years ago. Today, the researchers of the Putoransky Reserve are engaged in the study of their population. And this is not an easy task - the bighorn sheep lodges in extremely inaccessible places.
The plateau became the 9th UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. The experts of the organization emphasized the invaluable value of the relict plateau not only for study, but also as a phenomenon of exceptional beauty and aesthetics.
Secrets and riddles
It turns out that people lived in this "lost world". Archaeological excavations in different parts of the plateau reveal household items and symbols of paganism. Even in tourist spots, ancient wooden idols are sometimes found.
Railways remain the main mystery. There are two of them, rather short, and, of course, abandoned. The existence of trails in the most inaccessible place was found in images from space. Then they confirmed it, using the declassified General Staff maps from the times of the USSR. It is not clear how the materials and workers were delivered, how the construction was carried out. As well as the purpose of these roads. Attempts to figure out the history of the appearance of objects where they simply cannot be, have not yet yielded results.
And completely mystic
The plateau in the hard-to-reach Taimyr mountains attracts mystics, esotericists and ufologists. The base of the latter operates on a permanent basis at Lama Lake. There are grounds for their activity. A sufficient number of eyewitnesses show photos of UFOs in the sky, standing waves on the lake, traces of incomprehensible structures on the shore.
There are many more unexplained phenomena than the cases listed above. They are studied not only by ufologists, but also by physicists and geologists. For example, one of the venerable scientists of the Tomsk "Polytechnic" has collected strong evidence of the origin of mankind right here, on the plateau.
Those wishing to visit the Putorana plateau should hurry up until it turns into a tourist Mecca of the Arctic!
