The Diversity of Mineral Resources Complexes of Altai Region

Altai north-west (the so-called Rudny Altai) is one of the earliest mining ar­eas of Russia, where post-chudskaya exploitation took place during the last three hundred years.

The main mineral resources of Altai are: underground waters, iron and po­lymetal (Cu-Pb-Zn) ores, gold placers, mineral salt and ornamental stones.

Underground waters are extremely important for life, especially for the arid north-west region of the Kulundinskaya steppe. The region is also rich in mineral waters and balneological radon springs of Belokurikha.

The Kholzunskaya magnetic anomaly (the largest in Western Siberia) is situated here, which responds to volcanogenic-sedimentary iron-ore complex. The total resources of iron ores of industrial categories found in Altai exceeds 0.7 milliard t.

Polymetal deposits of the firestone type in Rudny Altai are the north-eastern flank of the large Altae-Kazak ore fields. In spite of the long mining period, there are on balance more deep (up to 1.2 km deep) strata, which are of economic im­portance; an example may be seen in the deposit of Korbalikinskoe, the exploita­tion of which has just begun. It is important that the ores contain the most losing polymetal component-zink.

The Altai gold placers in the north-east and in the Republic of Altai have been mined since ancicnt times, and together with other West Siberian parts they formed the basis of its gold-mining industry. The second largest Russian nugget, weighing 23kg, was found along Vorontsovsky spring (in the basin of the Lebed river).

The pre-Altai plain takes the first place in soda production in Russia and it is the source of lake common chloride. In the eighteenth century it produced salt for the whole of the territory from the Urals to its eastern borders.

Ornamental stones of Altai, especially jasper, are Wonderful. According to the famous expert A. Y. Fersman, this is the second most significant feature in this region of Russia. Every mineralogical world museum has the well-known remnevskie and korgonskie jaspers. It is the jasper from which the wide known "Tsarina of Vases" was created, along with many other stone masterpieces. In ad­dition, the beautiful belorchit was used by Faberzhe and Konovalenko in their delicate craftworks.

Lecture 3 The Climate of the Altai Region

The Altai region is situated between the latitude of 48° and of 54° North, in the southern range of the moderate latitudes. Therefore, the basic features charac­teristic of a moderate climate are present in the region: prevalence of west-east winds and distinct seasonal rhythms during each annual cycle.

The location between the longitude of 78° and 87° East in the inner conti­nental sector of Eurasia determines significant continental peculiarities of the cli­mate: the large amplitude of temperatures of the coldest (January) and the warmest (July) months of the year, as well as reduction of annual rainfalls, of which 60- 70% falls in a warm season.

The exposure of the territory to the Arctic ocean and areas of Kazakhstan and Central Asia creates an opportunity for penetration of the Arctic and tropical air masses, formation of high-altitude frontal zones, intensive development of at­mospheric processes and variability of weather. -

The specified differences are seen graphically in comparison, of climate dia­grams of London (the latitude of 51°26' North, the longitude of 0° O' West), Ber­lin (the latitude of 52° 30' North, the longitude of 13° 18' East), Moscow (the lati­tude of 55°46' North, the longitude of 37°40' East), and Barnaul (the latitude of •53°20' North, the longitude of 83°48’ East).