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kmusserI had a little bit of time this weekend so will do another virtual journey, this time to: 64.53° N, 115.27° E.
Physical geography:
It's back to Siberia, but over 700 miles further north than our last Siberia point. We're on what appears to be forested wetlands near the eastern edge of the Vilyuy Plateau, part of the larger Central Siberian Plateau that takes up roughly the middle third of Siberia. We're at about 1,000 feet here with the elevation gradually dropping to the east and the Markha river valley. To the north and west the Morkoka river, a tributary of the Markha, winds its way through the plateau. The Markha flows to the Vilyuy which flows to the Lena which ends up in the Arctic Ocean over 1,000 miles away.
Our point in between them is confused hydrology full of wetlands, small streams and lakes, all of which is probably frozen most of the time. The permafrost layer here is over 4,000 feet thick, among the thickest in the world. Which is to say it is cold here, below freezing from September through April with average winter temps in the -30's, extremes into the -70's. There is a brief warm, sometimes even hot summer with averages in the 60's and extremes in the 90's. Precipitation is light, but fairly evenly distributed through the year, getting 1-2 inches a month, rain in summer, snow the rest of the year.
Ecology is the larch forest taiga that covers most of Siberia. Wildlife is probably great here with bears, wolves, moose, reindeer, and all sorts of other critters.
Human geography:
We are obviously in Russia, specifically the Nyurbinsky district of the Sakha Republic (aka Yakutia). We're a long way from any human settlements, the closest being the tiny town of Khaty, population 459, about 75 miles to the southeast. Past that is a string of small towns along the Markha and Vilyuy rivers before you get to the district capital of Nyurba, population 9,786, and about 130 miles away. The nearest big city is Yakutsk, about 500 miles away. There are travel connections between Nyurba and Yakutsk by road, river, and air. Driving that's a 12 hour journey.
The nearest human activity though is not a town, but the Botuobinskaya and Nyurbinsky diamond mines, mining the Nakyn kimberlite field, which lies about 65 miles northeast of our point. The mines are huge and can be seen nicely on the satellite imagery. The mines are operated by ALROSA, employ about 1,500 people and produce around 7 million carats a year with a reserve of 130 million carats. There are no roads to the mine, but it has its own air strip as well as a dock on the Markha river. Mining is the primary economic activity of the area and Nyurba seems to be essentially a company town for ALROSA. ALROSA's regional headquarters is in the town of Mirny, about 200 miles to the southwest, and many of the mine workers fly in from there.
The indigenous people of this area call themselves Sakha, everyone else calls them Yakuts. The Sakha were originally from further south and moved into this area in the 13th Century when fleeing from the Mongols. They traditionally were hunters and fishers and herded horses and reindeer and while there probably has not been any human activity right at our point for ages, the Sakha may have hunted here once upon a time.
The Russians conquered the area in the mid-1600's and decimated the Sakha population both through their oppression and indirectly through introduced diseases. Russians also settled in the area, but not in large numbers until the Soviet era. During the Russian civil war the Yakuts sided with the anti-communist forces but were defeated. The Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed in 1922 and became the Sakha Republic upon the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in 1991. The Sakha Republic is the largest administrative unit within Russia and indeed the largest sub-national administrative division in the world.
The Sakha people still form the majority of the population in the Sakha Republic, and the towns along the Markha and Vilyuy rivers are Sakha-majority towns. Most of the people are bilingual speaking Yakuts and Russian. Religion in the area is primarily Eastern Orthodox. The traditional religion of the Sakha was shamanistic (it is from them that we get the word shaman), but that died out with with the Russian invasion. In recent years there has been a neo-pagan shamanism revival movement. The ALROSA mine employees are mostly Russian, but 30% are Sakha, and there are probably many workers from outside Russia as well.
I'll leave you with a map I did not make of the Lena drainage basin that shows the Viluy and Markha rivers, our point being just west of the Markha about halfway along it.
Physical geography:
It's back to Siberia, but over 700 miles further north than our last Siberia point. We're on what appears to be forested wetlands near the eastern edge of the Vilyuy Plateau, part of the larger Central Siberian Plateau that takes up roughly the middle third of Siberia. We're at about 1,000 feet here with the elevation gradually dropping to the east and the Markha river valley. To the north and west the Morkoka river, a tributary of the Markha, winds its way through the plateau. The Markha flows to the Vilyuy which flows to the Lena which ends up in the Arctic Ocean over 1,000 miles away.
Our point in between them is confused hydrology full of wetlands, small streams and lakes, all of which is probably frozen most of the time. The permafrost layer here is over 4,000 feet thick, among the thickest in the world. Which is to say it is cold here, below freezing from September through April with average winter temps in the -30's, extremes into the -70's. There is a brief warm, sometimes even hot summer with averages in the 60's and extremes in the 90's. Precipitation is light, but fairly evenly distributed through the year, getting 1-2 inches a month, rain in summer, snow the rest of the year.
Ecology is the larch forest taiga that covers most of Siberia. Wildlife is probably great here with bears, wolves, moose, reindeer, and all sorts of other critters.
Human geography:
We are obviously in Russia, specifically the Nyurbinsky district of the Sakha Republic (aka Yakutia). We're a long way from any human settlements, the closest being the tiny town of Khaty, population 459, about 75 miles to the southeast. Past that is a string of small towns along the Markha and Vilyuy rivers before you get to the district capital of Nyurba, population 9,786, and about 130 miles away. The nearest big city is Yakutsk, about 500 miles away. There are travel connections between Nyurba and Yakutsk by road, river, and air. Driving that's a 12 hour journey.
The nearest human activity though is not a town, but the Botuobinskaya and Nyurbinsky diamond mines, mining the Nakyn kimberlite field, which lies about 65 miles northeast of our point. The mines are huge and can be seen nicely on the satellite imagery. The mines are operated by ALROSA, employ about 1,500 people and produce around 7 million carats a year with a reserve of 130 million carats. There are no roads to the mine, but it has its own air strip as well as a dock on the Markha river. Mining is the primary economic activity of the area and Nyurba seems to be essentially a company town for ALROSA. ALROSA's regional headquarters is in the town of Mirny, about 200 miles to the southwest, and many of the mine workers fly in from there.
The indigenous people of this area call themselves Sakha, everyone else calls them Yakuts. The Sakha were originally from further south and moved into this area in the 13th Century when fleeing from the Mongols. They traditionally were hunters and fishers and herded horses and reindeer and while there probably has not been any human activity right at our point for ages, the Sakha may have hunted here once upon a time.
The Russians conquered the area in the mid-1600's and decimated the Sakha population both through their oppression and indirectly through introduced diseases. Russians also settled in the area, but not in large numbers until the Soviet era. During the Russian civil war the Yakuts sided with the anti-communist forces but were defeated. The Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed in 1922 and became the Sakha Republic upon the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in 1991. The Sakha Republic is the largest administrative unit within Russia and indeed the largest sub-national administrative division in the world.
The Sakha people still form the majority of the population in the Sakha Republic, and the towns along the Markha and Vilyuy rivers are Sakha-majority towns. Most of the people are bilingual speaking Yakuts and Russian. Religion in the area is primarily Eastern Orthodox. The traditional religion of the Sakha was shamanistic (it is from them that we get the word shaman), but that died out with with the Russian invasion. In recent years there has been a neo-pagan shamanism revival movement. The ALROSA mine employees are mostly Russian, but 30% are Sakha, and there are probably many workers from outside Russia as well.
I'll leave you with a map I did not make of the Lena drainage basin that shows the Viluy and Markha rivers, our point being just west of the Markha about halfway along it.