URALITE. A variety of amphibole derived from pyroxene. its crystals, when distinct, show the form of the original mineral, but have the cleavage of amphibole. The crystals vary in color from pale to deep green, and are found at various localities, as in the Ural Mountains and at Canaan, Conn.
URAL (feral or ai'ral) MOUNTAINS. A mountain range in Russia, forming part of the conventional boundary between Europe and Asia. It extends in a general north and south direction along the 60th meridian of east longi tude from the 65th degree of latitude (from which northward to the Kara Sea the course is northeast) south to the north bank of the Ural River (Map: Russia, K 3). A northern extension reappears beyond the Yugor and Kara Straits to form the main range of the islands of Vaigatch and Nova Zembla, while a southern extension, known as the Mugodzhar Mountains, runs south of the Ural River nearly to the shores of the Sea of Aral. The distance in a straight line between the south ern and northernmost extremities of the range is 2000 miles, but the actual length of the some what sinuous main ridge is still greater. The Ural Mountains do not form a single range, but constitute rather a broad plateau 45 miles wide in the north and nearly 200 miles wide in the south. This plateau is broken up partly into a number of separate ridges or chains running in various directions, partly into broad dome-shaped masses, though the southern portion divides itself into several parallel north and south branches. The eastern slope is generally the more abrupt, the western falling in broad, flat terraces toward the lowlands. The average elevation of the main crests is not great, scarcely more than 1500 feet. Mount Tel-pos is 5433 feet above the sea. The climate is rather severe, with very cold winters and hot summers. The rainfall is greater on the western slope and in the central and north ern portion than in the east and south. The
range is a watershed of the Obi in the cast, the Ural in the south, and the Volga and Petcliora on the west. The vegetation in the southern portion consists mainly of steppes with isolated oases of trees. The central portion is covered with immense forests of spruce, larch, and firs, which in the north give place to dwarf birch and mossy tundras. Geologically, the range consists of a central longitudinal zone of metamorphic slates, granites, gneisses, and syenites. flanked on either side by sedimentary strata, which are chiefly Carboniferous and Permian in the western, and Cretaceous and Jurassic in the eastern zone. In the southeast there are large Devonian outcrops and intrusions of quartz and porphyry. The Ural Mountains are extremely rich in minerals, which are chiefly confined to the central division, the northern parts being barren. There are rich deposits of iron ore—magnetite, limonite, and red hematite. Nearly million tons of ore are produced annually and smelted into pig iron on the spot, the vast forests yielding an inexhausti ble supply of fuel. Gold is mined both from veins and placers, and other rare metals, plati num, iridium, and osmium, arc comparatively abundant. The Urals yield 90 per cent. of all the platinum produced in the world. Precious stones are also mined, as well as copper, sil ver, mercury, cobalt, nickel, and sine. Coal beds exist on the western slope, but are not yet mined to any great extent. Asbestos is one of the distinctive mineral products of the moun tains. This mineral wealth has given rise to im portant industries, and a large number of popu lous towns have sprung up among the mountains. while a considerable agricultural population has also been attracted.
Consult: Ludwig, Ucberblick der geologisehen Beobaelitungen, (Leipzig, 1862) ; Hochstetter, Ueber den, Ural inn Ural (Berlin, 1873) ; Hie kisch, Das System des Urals (Dorpat, 1882).