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| Chersky Range | |
|---|---|
 View of Pobeda (Victory) Peak, highest point of the range. | |
| Highest point | |
| Peak | Pobeda |
| Elevation | 3,003 metres (9,852 ft) |
| Coordinates | 64°44′N142°58′E / 64.733°N 142.967°E /64.733; 142.967 |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 1,500 km (930 mi) NW/SE |
| Width | 400 km (250 mi) NE/SW |
| Geography | |
 | |
| Country |  Russia |
| Republic / Oblast | |
| Parent range | East Siberian System |
| Geology | |
| Rock ages | |
| Rock types | |
TheChersky Range (Russian:Хребет Черского,Yakut:Черскэй хайалара,romanized: Cerskey qayalara) is a chain ofmountains in northeasternSiberia between theYana andIndigirka Rivers. Administratively, the area of the range belongs to theSakha Republic, although a small section in the east is withinMagadan Oblast. The highest peak in the range is the 3,003-metre (9,852 ft)-tallPeak Pobeda, part of theUlakhan-Chistay Range. The range also includes important places of traditionalYakut culture, such asYnnakh Mountain(Mat'-Gora) andkigilyakh rock formations.[1]
TheMoma Natural Park is aprotected area located in the southern zone of the range.[2]
At some time between 1633 and 1642, Poznik Ivanov ascended a tributary of the lowerLena, crossed theVerkhoyansk Range to the upper Yana, and then crossed the Chersky Range to theIndigirka.[3] The range was sighted in 1926 bySergei Obruchev (Vladimir Obruchev's son) and named by theRussian Geographical Society after the Polish explorer and geographerIvan Chersky (or Jan Czerski).[4]
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The geographic boundaries of the mountain system are theYana–Oymyakon Highlands in the southwest, theUpper Kolyma Highlands in the southeast, and theMomo-Selennyakh Depression in the northeast.[5]
The system of the Chersky Range comprises a number of subranges running generally from northwest to southeast, including the following:
Between the Yana and Indigirka rivers:
In the upper Kolyma river basin:
Between theChibagalakh andAdycha rivers
Between the Indigirka and theNera rivers:
Northeastern outliers
In some works, a few roughly-parallel ranges located off the main system to the northeast, such as theKyun-Tas Range (highest point 1,242 metres (4,075 ft)), theSelennyakh Range (highest point highest pointSaltag-Tas (2,021 metres (6,631 ft)), and the adjacentMoma Range (highest point 2,533 metres (8,310 ft)), with the Moma-Selennyakh Depression running along their western side, are included in the Chersky mountain system.[9]
Other ranges of the system include theIrgichin Range,Inyalin Range,Volchan Range,Silen Range, andPolyarny Range, among others.[10]
The Chersky System includes three main river basins:
Some of the higher ranges with alpine relief have glaciers. There are roughly 350 glaciers in the system, with a total area of 156.2 km2 (60.3 sq mi).[11] There are also small lakes in the swampy valleys of some rivers, as well as lakes ofglacial origin, such asEmanda andTabanda.
The range lies on the boundary between theEurasian andNorth Americantectonic plates.[12]
The precise nature of the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates in the area of the Chersky Range is still not fully understood and is the subject of ongoing research. By the 1980s, the Chersky Range was considered mostly a zone of continentalrifting where the crust was spreading apart.[13] However, the current[when?] view is that the Chersky Range is mostly an activesuture zone, a continentalconvergent plate boundary, where compression is occurring as the two plates press against each other.[14] There is thought to be a point in the Chersky Range where the extensional forces coming from the north change to the compressional forces noted throughout most of the range. The Chersky Range is also thought to include a geologictriple junction where theUlakhan Fault intersects the suture zone. Whatever the exact nature of the regional tectonics, the Chersky Range is seismically active. It connects in the north with the landward extension of theLaptev Sea Rift, itself a continental extension of the Mid-ArcticGakkel Ridge.
The Chersky mountains, along with the neighboringVerkhoyansk Range, have a moderating effect on the climate of Siberia. The ridges obstruct west-moving air flows, decreasing the amount of snowfall in the plains to the west.
Media related toChersky Range at Wikimedia Commons
