Altai Mountains

Altai, a Mongolian name, means “gold”. So it is the name of Altai Mountains, meaning “the gold mountains”.Altai Mountains, about 2000 kilometers in length, northwest to southeast in direction, lies in Inner Asia. covering the land of China, Russia and Mongolia. The middle part of the mountains lies in the borders between China, Russia and Mongolia, about 500 kilometers long. And the southern slope area is in the territory of Xinjiang. The general height of this part is about 3000 meters and the highest peak, the Friendship Peak, lies in the border between China, Russia and Mongolia, 4374 meters above the sea level. In the northern part, the highest peak, Altun Aoboo Peak, is about 3290 meters in height. The average rain fall in the mountain area is about 400-800 mm. And the forests of dahurian larch mainly in the area of the altitudes between 1200 meters -2300 meters, and below the forests, is fine pastures. There is a visible change of summer temperature from higher mountain to lower hills. In winter, there is thick snow in the mid part of the mountain areas. In the mountains there are some small basins. Seven natural landscape belts can be seen in Altai Mountains and they form a vertical natural vegetation belts. In the eastern part of Altai Mountains is Keketohai, which is a well known for nonferrous metal reserve and smeltery. In the western part is Kanaz Lake area, a famous tourist site and a nature reserve as well. The rivers of Altai Mountains flow from the north to the south, belonging to two river systems, one is Erqis River system, starting from Habahe to Fuyun, and the down part: Ebe River, flows into the Arctic Ocean. So Ergis River System is the only one of the Arctic Water System. Another one, Urunkor River System, formed in Oinghe County area with many small rivers, flows into Urunkor Lake, and the river is an inland one of Zhungar Basin. Altai Mountains is rich in mineral reserves, such as gold, nonferrous metals and rare stones. The nonferrous metal reserves and rear stones in the eastern part have been exploited.