Putorana Plateau: Siberian Scientific Laboratory

24.08.2010,

The Arctic has been viewed as a land of paradox. The Putorana Plateau only confirms this view. The uniqueness of this site, located at the north-western edge of the Central Siberian Plateau, has recently been acknowledged at the global level. At the last session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, the Siberian Biosphere Preserve “Putorana Plateau” was added to the World Heritage List. The Moscow Centre of the Russian Geographical Society was involved in preparing the application for submission to UNESCO.

Land of lakes and steep shores

Proving that the region is unique was not difficult: there is no other area in the world with such whimsical combination of unusual geographical, geological and biological features. Even the Preserve’s name – Putorana – sounds mysterious.

There are several versions as to the name’s origin. Some researchers explain that it stands for “the peakless mountains” in Yukaghir, others believe that it means “the land of lakes and steep shores” in Evenki. In fact, both definitions give a succinct and precise description of this basalt plateau at the north-western edge of the Central Siberian Plateau to the south of the Taymir Peninsula.

The mountain ranges with tops as flat as a table surface are cut by deep and vast canyons, which form giant steps leading down to the valleys. Geologists call such landscape trappean, from the Swedish trap meaning a step. Sometimes, these steps can be as high as 800 metres. By the way, the Putorana Plateau is the second-largest trappean plateau in the world after the Deccan Plateau in India.

The Putorana Plateau is a sort of natural laboratory. It’s an ideal place for observing natural processed and patterns in full. Geological activity is still taking place in the area: data of the Russian Federation Ministry of Natural Resources show that the Plateau continues rising by 11 mm every year.

Water paradoxes

Being dissected by rivers, flowing in all directions, the Plateau slightly resembles the human venous system if you look at it from above. The Putorana Plateau water system is one of the Preserve’s paradoxes. When the Plateau was rising as a result of tectonic activity, the rivers, on the contrary, were flowing down, cutting the slopes, sometimes changing their course, and descending in cascades along the rock steps.

Apart from turbulent mountain currents, dissecting the rocks, the Plateau hosts slow-moving, sluggish rivers, with silted bottoms, so typical for flat landscapes.

If you look at the surrounding uplands from the valley bottoms, a wonderful view opens to your eyes: numerous waterfalls rush down in cascades from the steep slopes. One of the most picturesque places on the Plateau is the mountain, resembling a trapezoid in shape and called accordingly – “Trapezoid”. A large 500-metre cascade drops its waters along its slopes.

The Putorana Plateau is also the land of plentiful lakes: their number exceeds 25, 000.  Many lakes are among the largest and deepest in Siberia, trailing only Lake Baikal and Lake Teletskoye.  Together they form second-largest freshwater reservoir in Russia, with Lake Baikal being the largest freshwater lake.

The water in the lakes is yellow-brownish, but when the sky is blue, the lakes turn into blue skyward mirrors, framed by bright green vegetation. The lakes’ shores are said to somewhat resemble Norway fjords: with their black steep rocks, projecting into the water, with winding narrow gorges, cutting into the mountain ranges as deep as 100 metres at times, with their abundance of waterfalls along the shores. Here, lakes appeared in large crevices, formed as a result of tectonic processes.

Every natural object in the Preserve serves as illustration of the Earth’s geological history. The bottom of Lake Agatha, for example, is patched with dead larches, which witnessed the recent lake deepening.

Treetops rustling in the wind

It’s difficult to name the most outstanding feature of the Putorana Plateau – the site is harmonious in its beauty.

Despite the Plateau’s geological structure being homogeneous, in terms of geographical zonality it’s a sort of four-angled pie, resembling those baked in Russia before the Revolution. The landscapes in four parts of the Plateau are very different. From the east to the west stretches the borderline of the northern taiga and forest-tundra, and from the north to the south goes the the eastern edge of the West Siberian taiga. Beyond the edge, there are no more Siberian spruces, larches or mountain birches: this is already the realm of the shorter Dahurian larch with little cones.

In summer, which lasts only two months, scarce flowers rise over the Plateau. Unshowy roseroots (Rhosiola rosea) and locoweeds, exotic northern orchids – spotted lady’s slippers and glaring red blossoms of Siberian globeflowers are found between the rocks. The yellow Caltha arctica renders the shores of the lakes yellow.

The Plateau also harbours some relict flower species, which appeared in the course of tectonic processes. Among them is the golden rhododendron – a short bush with large soft yellow-white blossoms, which covers the slopes at the south-western edge of the Plateau near Lake Nyakshinga.

Covering even a thousand kilometres along the Plateau, you won’t meet a single person. The silence will be interrupted only by the sound of the wind rustling in the treetops, and the lake waters lapping upon the shores.

These pristine lands have stayed practically unaffected by humans, largely because in 1988 a preserve, with the area of 25, 000 square kilometres, enclosing almost all the Plateau’s territory was established in the region.

N.N.Urvantsev, a researcher of the Arctic who visited Lake Keta and Lake Lama in 1988 remembers: “There was a small campfire burning, a grayling cooking on a twig spike, but no people around, not even a reindeer skin tent. The people probably had been scared and run away. I walked around the place for a while, even shouted, but it was of no use, as nobody ever appeared. Later, the local Dolgani people explained to me that this was a “wild man”. I found out that deep in the mountains along the lake valleys it was quite usual to come across reindeer skin tents of people who led primitive lives. They never appeared at Russian trading posts, but were seen calling on the Dolgani to barter furs for powder and articles of daily use”.

Nowadays, there are no more reports about “wild people”. But this wild and beautiful solitary region continues to inspire explorers and artists.

There are plans to shoot a motion picture entitled “Territory” on the Putorana Plateau with support from the Russian Geographical Society. Alexandr Melnik, the film director and producer, said: “The film crew has gone to the Plateau to select suitable sites for filming among the beautiful landscapes of the Plateau”.

Evolution “catalyst”

Even though the Plateau is situated beyond the Arctic Circe, it shelters many animal species, including 34 species of mammals. Large herds of reindeer, up to 500,000 ungulates, travel across the Plateau every year.

If you are lucky enough, you could see the lord of the uplands – the bighorn sheep. This is one of the least studies ungulates, listed as endangered in Russia. About 15,000 years ago, these giant mammals with curved horns were detached from the main population and formed a separate subspecies.

The vast spaces of the Plateau are home to wolves, wolverines and bears. There are also found some rare bird species, for instance Arctic peregrine falcons and black-billed capercaillies. Thousands of birds have rest on the lakes during seasonal migration across Asia.

Due to topographic features of the Plateau, many species’ populations are isolated from each other. Usually, new forms of life appear quite rarely on the inner parts of continents, but this is not the case with the Putorana Plateau, for here evolutionary processes proceed much quicker than elsewhere, with new species and even subspecies emerging regularly.

Centre of attraction

The Plateau continues to attract people with its mysteries, striking mightiness and rich nature. Though these wild northern lands are hard to reach, visiting them is not an impossible dream. The Preserve offers over a dozen tourist itineraries: there are walking, boat and ski tours.

The Putorana Plateau’s nature is so beautiful, that neither the cold weather, nor the steep slopes with turbulent rivers full of rapids or midges don’t stop the adventurers who come to visit these wild lands every summer.

By the way

Currently, nine natural territories in Russia have the status of World Natural Heritage Sites. They include:

• Virgin Komi Forests;
• Lake Baikal;
• Volcanoes of Kamchatka;
• Golden Mountains of Altai;
• Western Caucasus;
• Central Sikhote-Alin;
• Curonian Spit National Park;
• Ubsunur Hollow Biosphere Reserve;
• Wrangel Island Reserve;
• Putorana Plateau Biosphere Reserve.

Four of these sites – the Virgin Komi Forests, Lake Bikal, Volcanoes of Kamchatka and the Plutorana Plateau are considered natural phenomena of exceptional beauty and aesthetic value.

Steps are being taken to have other natural sites nominated for inclusion in the World Heritage List. Among them are the Magadansky Preserve, the Daursky Biosphere Preserve, the Commander Islands, the Kuril Islands, Valdai – the Great Watershed, Daurian steppes, the Isyyk-Kulskaya Hollow, the Bikin River Valley, the Green Belt of Fennoscandia, the Ilmen Mountains, Krasnoyarsk Pillars and Lena Pillars.