The Putorana Plateau, also called the Putorana Mountains, is a mountainous region in Russia. It is a large landform with many mountain ranges. The closest large city is Norilsk, which has limits on visitors from other countries. The city has an airport named Alykel.

This area is known for containing some of the largest nickel deposits found anywhere in the world.

Geography

The Putorana Plateau is an elevated landform with mountain ranges running through it, located at the northwestern edge of the Central Siberian Plateau. It lies east of the Yenisei River valley, between 67° and 70° N latitude, southwest of the Anabar Plateau, north of the Syverma and Tunguska plateaus, and south of the North Siberian Lowland. The main mountain ranges of the Putorana include the Keta Range, Lontokoisky Kamen, Kharayelakh Range, Chaya-Ayan, Brus Kamen, and Lama Range, among others. The tallest mountain in the area is Mount Kamen, which rises 1,678 m (5,505 ft) above sea level and is also the highest point of the Central Siberian Plateau. Talnikovy Waterfall is considered one of the tallest waterfalls in Asia.

Large lakes on the plateau, such as Lake Dyupkun and Lake Lama, support entire ecosystems that cover many tens of kilometers. There are more than 25,000 lakes on the plateau, with depths ranging from 180 to 420 m (590 to 1,400 ft). Together, these lakes hold the second-largest amount of fresh water in Russia by capacity, after Lake Baikal.

Russia’s geographical center, Lake Vivi, is located on the southern edge of the plateau, where it overlaps with the Syverma Plateau.

Climate

The Putorana region is located north of the Arctic Circle. The climate is very cold and harsh, with long, extremely cold winters and short, cool summers. In some lake valleys, like Lake Lama, the climate is slightly milder because nearby mountain ranges block cold northern winds. At higher elevations on the plateau, the climate changes into a tundra type.

Spring occurs in June, summer in July, and autumn in August. The other months are winter, with temperatures ranging from −32 °C (−26 °F) to −40 °C (−40 °F). July is the warmest month, with average temperatures around 8 °C (46 °F) and high temperatures reaching up to 16 °C (61 °F). Rainfall totals between 500 millimeters (20 inches) and 800 millimeters (31 inches) each year, mostly falling during summer. Winter snow cover is light and not heavy.

Protected area

The Putorana Nature Reserve, created in 1988 and managed from Norilsk, is a protected area (called a zapovednik) covering 1,887,251 hectares (4,663,500 acres), with a buffer zone of 1,773,300 hectares (4,382,000 acres). It was established to protect the world's largest group of wild reindeer and snow sheep.

In July 2010, the Reserve was added to the World Heritage List as a place that includes a full range of subarctic and arctic ecosystems in an isolated mountain range. These ecosystems include well-preserved taiga, forest-tundra, tundra, and arctic desert systems, as well as untouched cold-water lakes and rivers.

Natural resources

The Plateau has many types of minerals, including igneous basalt rocks, iron ores such as magnetite and hematite, silicates like prehnite and zeolite, apatites, perovskites, and copper and nickel ores that are very rich in these metals. The natural resources include plenty of water and coal.

Gallery

• Mountains near Norilsk, located at the northwest end of the Putorana Plateau. There is a forested taiga in the foreground, near the lake and at lower elevations, compared to the treeless tundra landscape in the mountains behind.
• Lake Lama
• The Putorana landscape
• The area as seen from space
• The Putorana Plateau is made up of the Siberian Traps.