Patom Highlands

In 1912 there was a massacre of striking workers of the Lena Goldfields, located in the Patom Highlands between the Lena and Vitim rivers. Strikers were protesting about harsh working conditions. Soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army intervened and fired upon protesters, causing hundreds of casualties. The incident provoked wide outrage across pre-revolutionary Russia when Alexander Kerensky reported it in the Duma.Melancon, MS (2006) The Lena Goldfields Massacre and the Crisis of the Late Tsarist State, Texas A&M University Press P167

The name of the highlands was first proposed by Peter Kropotkin in 1868.Olekminsko-Vitimsky expedition for examining the cattle driving route from the Olekminsky mines in the city of Chita / Brief report of the city of Krapotkin // Izvestia Imp. Russian geographic islands - 1868. - T. 4, No. 1. - Dep. - 2 p. 95 (in Russian)

==Geography==

The Patom Highlands are bound by rivers Lena, Vitim and Chara. To the north the valley of the Lena separates the highlands from the Lena Plateau and to the southwest the Vitim River, a right tributary of the Lena, separates it from the Stanovoy and North Baikal Highlands. To the south rises the Kropotkin Range and beyond it the valley of the Vitim. To the east flows the Chara River, a left tributary of the Olyokma River of the Lena basin, which separates the highland area from the Olyokma-Chara Plateau.[http://tapemark.narod.ru/geograf/4_2_7.html Физическая география СССР - Ландшафтные области гор Южной Сибири - Байкальско-Становая область] To the southeast the Patom Highlands connect with the Kodar Range of Transbaikalia.[http://bse.sci-lib.com/article087418.html Патомское нагорье], Great Soviet Encyclopedia, (in Russian)[http://ez.chita.ru/encycl/concepts/?id=2524 Small encyclopedia of Transbaikalia - Patom Highlands] (in Russian)

The river valleys cutting across the highlands are usually deep. Many rivers have their sources in the highlands, including some right tributaries of the Vitim, left tributaries of the Chara, such as the Zhuya and Malba, and right tributaries of Lena, such as the Big Patom and Little Patom Rivers. The average height of the mountainous area is between {{convert|1200|m|sp=us}} and {{convert|1300|m|sp=us}}. The highest point is a {{convert|1924|m|ft}} high unnamed summit located at {{coord|57|39|8|N|117|47|19|E|}} in the southeastern end, southeast of Lake Nichatka in Zabaykalsky Krai. Golets Longdor is a {{convert|1771|m|ft}} high peak located at {{coord|58|25|14|N|116|46|12|E|}}.[http://tapemark.narod.ru/geograf/4_2_7.html Физическая география СССР]

The Patom crater is a cone of crushed limestone blocks located on the slopes of the Patom Highlands.[http://www.nsc.ru/HBC/article.phtml?nid=566&id=17 Patom crater - a unique geological object in Eastern Siberia // “Science in Siberia” No. 43 (2778) October 28, 2010] (in Russian)

{{colbegin|colwidth=250px}}

File:Stromatolitic limestone (Chencha Formation, upper Neoproterozoic, 580 Ma; Patom Upland, Siberia, Russia) 2 (17370036792).jpg limestone — Chencha Formation, upper Neoproterozoic]]

File:Patomsky crater.jpg rising above the taiga of the highlands]]

{{colend}}

The climate prevailing in the upland is extreme continental and cold. The average annual temperature is {{convert|-5.5|C|sp=us}}. In January the temperature goes down to {{convert|-31|C|sp=us}} and in July the temperature reaches a maximum of {{convert|18|C|sp=us}}.[http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/data.pl?ref=N57E114+1102+30253W World Climate]

There are taiga forests of conifers, mostly larch, in the slopes of the mountains up to {{convert|900|m|sp=us}} to {{convert|1100|m|sp=us}}, often mixed with Siberian pine. At higher altitudes these give way to thickets of dwarf Siberian pine up to a height of {{convert|1200|m|sp=us}}. Further up the mountaintops are covered with stony tundra.

• Lena Goldfields massacre
• Lena Gold Mining Partnership

{{Reflist}}

• {{Commons category-inline}}
• [http://ez.chita.ru/encycl/concepts/?id=2524 Patom Highlands- Encyclopedia of Transbaikalia]

{{Authority control}}

Category:South Siberian Mountains

Category:Mountains of Russia

Category:Landforms of Irkutsk Oblast

Category:Landforms of Zabaykalsky Krai