Kuznetsk Alatau
Kuznetskiy Alatau is a mountain range in South Siberia, Russia, between Kuznetsk Depression and Minusinsk Depression. Length: about 300 km., elevation: up to . It is part of the South Siberian Mountains mountain system of Central Asia.
These mountains have a smooth outline with rather steep western and gentle eastern slopes. The Siberian fir overwhelmingly predominates in the forest belt except for its upper part where, at the tree line, the siberian pine becomes dominant. The highlands are occupied mostly by vast large-stoned screes, and also by patches of subalpine meadows and, on some southern mountain massifs, of bushy, lichen and moss tundras. The basin of the Kondoma River in Gornaya Shoriya is remarkable for the Siberian lime-tree woods which are thought to be the relics of a pre-Pleistocene nemoral vegetation of Siberia. All over the upland, the forest openings are occupied by long forb forest meadows.
The range is composed mainly of metamorphic rocks rich in iron, manganese, nephelines, and gold.
Aeroflot Flight 593 crashed in the Kuznetskiy Alatau mountain range in 1994.
