URAL MOUNTAINS, a mountain system which extends north to south, from the Arctic ocean to the Caspian sea and separates Europe from Asia. The Urals have been affected by a series of separate upheavals, some having a north to west strike and some a north to east. They reach their maximum altitudes along a zone stretching nearly north and south. The composite nature of the Urals is best seen at the extremities of the system, where the upheavals form a distinct chain of mountains.
The Pae-khoy or coast ridge (Samoyedic "stony ridge") is independent of the Urals proper. It has a distinct north-north west and north-west trend, and although cut through by the Yugor strait it is continued in Vaigach island and Novaya-Zemlya. Its dome-shaped summits rise i,000 ft.
The Obdorsk or Northern Urals begin near the head of Kara bay and extend south-west to the 64th parallel and form a distinct range, stony and craggy, sloping steeply towards the south-east and gently towards the marshes of European Russia. Its highest peaks are Khard-yues, 3,715 ft., and Pae-yer, 4,752 ft. Some times the main chain has on the west two or three secondary chains, formed by sedimentary rocks, and the highest peaks of the Urals (Sablya, 5,402 ft., and Toll-poz-iz or Muraf-chakhl, 5,537 ft.) occur in the south of one of these. Dense forests, chiefly fir, pine and larch, clothe the mountain slopes, but every species, ;Accept the larch, gradually disappears in the' north, and the upper limit of vegetation (2,40o ft. in the south) rapidly descends to the base of the mountains near the Arctic Circle, and forest vegetation disappears about 65° N. (67° in the plains).
The section between 64° and 61° N. has again a wholly distinct character. Here the main water-parting is a succession of plateaus stretching in a north-westerly direction. It has broad, flat, marshy valleys, whilst here and there are isolated summits, mostly under 3,00o ft. (Yang-tump, 62° 43' N., 4,170 ft.). The whole region, except the mountain summits, is densely clothed with coniferous forests. This part of the range is uninhabited.
The Middle Urals, about 8o m. broad, contain rich iron, copper and gold mines (Bogoslovsk, Goroblagodatsk and Ekaterinburg Urals). The Denezhkin Kamen in the north (4,841 ft.) and the Tara-tash in the south (2,800 ft.) mark the limits of this section. Here the orographical structure is more complicated. In the north (61st to 6oth parallel) there is a succession of chains with a distinct north-eastern trend. South of Kachkanar (2,866 ft.)
the Urals assume the appearance of broad swellings i,000 to 2,000 ft. in height, deeply trenched by ravines. These low plateaus have been utilized for centuries as the chief highway to Siberia. The water-parting between the Russian and Siberian rivers is here not more than 1,245 ft. above sea-level on the great east ward road, west of Sverdlovsk (Ekaterinburg). The valleys have a decidedly south-eastern direction, as has the railway from Perm to Kurgan. The Middle Urals are densely forested. The val leys and lower slopes have a rich soil and contain large and wealthy villages. The mines also support a considerable population. The Southern Urals (55° 3o' to 5i° N.) consist of three parallel chains running north-east and south-west and constitute an inde pendent part of the Ural system. The Urals proper are a low sinuous chain hardly exceeding 2,200 to 2,800 ft. in altitude. Far ther west there is a parallel chain which, although pierced by rivers, reaches 5,23o ft.; whilst farther west still is another series of equally high chains. The gentle slopes of the hilly tracts are dotted with woods, mostly of deciduous trees, while the hol lows contain rich pasture grounds. The region is being colonized. Farther south the main range, except when deeply trenched by the rivers, is a plateau which hardly reaches 1,5oo feet. It is continued towards the Volga under the name of Obshchiy Syrt. South of the great bend of the Ural river, quite independent ranges of hills, or flat swellings, appear (e.g., Dzhaman-tau, Mu godzhar hills). A range of heights connects the Mugodzhar hills with the Ust-Urt plateau.