Word of the Day
Urals (YER-uhlz)
Common clue: Asia/Europe divider
Ural (YER-uhl)
Common clues: River of Russia; River through Kazakhstan; Caspian feeder
The Ural Mountains, also known simply as the Urals, are a mountain range that run roughly north and south through western Russia.
[Source:
CIA
World Factbook]
The Urals extend 2500 km from the Kazakh steppes along the northern border of Kazakhstan to the coast of the Arctic ocean. The island of Novaya Zemlya forms a further continuation of the chain. Geographically this range marks the northern part of the (arbitrary) border between the continents of Europe and Asia. Its highest peak is Naroda Mountain (Poznurr, 1895m). Erosion has exposed considerable mineral wealth in the Urals, including gems such as Topaz and Beryl. The Virgin Komi Forests in the northern Urals is recognised as a World Heritage site.
The Urals are among the world's oldest extant mountain ranges. They were formed in the late Carboniferous period, when a continent consisting largely of Siberia collided with the supercontinent that contained much of the world's land at the time: the combination of Laurussia (Europe and North America) and Gondwana. Europe and Siberia have remained joined together ever since.
Geographers have divided the Urals into five regions: South, Middle, North, Subarctic and Arctic Urals.
The Ural River flows through Russia and Kazakhstan. It begins in the Ural Mountains and ends at the Caspian Sea. Its total length is 1,509 mi (2,428 km). It forms part of the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ural Mountains" and the Wikipedia article "Ural River".
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