Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains (/ˈjʊərəl/; Russian: Ура́льские го́ры, tr. Uralskiye gory,
IPA: [ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈgorɨ]; Bashkir: Урал тауҙары, Ural tauźarı) or simply the Urals,
are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through
western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and
northwestern Kazakhstan.[1] The mountain range forms part of the
conventional boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia. Vaygach
Island and the islands of Novaya Zemlya form a further continuation of the
chain to the north into the Arctic Ocean.

Ural Mountains

Highest point

Peak Mount Narodnaya

Elevation 1,895 m (6,217 ft)

Coordinates 60°N 60°E 

Dimensions

Length 2,500 km (1,600 mi)

Width 150 km (93 mi)

Geography

Countries Russia and Kazakhstan

Geology

Age of rock Carboniferous

The mountains lie within the Ural geographical region and significantly overlap
with the Ural Federal District and with the Ural economic region. They have rich
resources, including metal ores, coal, and precious and semi-precious stones.
Since the 18th century the mountains have contributed significantly to the
mineral sector of the Russian economy.

Etymology

As attested by Sigismund von Herberstein, in the 16th century Russians called

the range by a variety of names derived from the Russian words for rock
(stone) and belt. The modern Russian name for the Urals (Урал, Ural), first
appearing in the 16th–17th century when the Russian conquest of Siberia was
in its heroic phase, was initially applied to its southern parts and gained
currency as the name of the entire range during the 18th century. It might have
been a borrowing from either Turkic "stone belt"[2] (Bashkir, where the same
name is used for the range), or Ob-Ugric.[3] From the 13th century, in
Bashkortostan there has been a legend about a hero named Ural. He sacrificed
his life for the sake of his people and they poured a stone pile over his grave,
which later turned into the Ural Mountains.[4][5][6] Possibilities include Bashkir
үр "elevation; upland" and Mansi ур ала "mountain peak, top of the
mountain",[7] V.N. Tatischev believes that this oronym is set to "belt" and
associates it with the Turkic verb oralu- "gird".[7] I.G. Dobrodomov suggests a
transition from Aral to Ural explained on the basis of ancient Bulgar-Chuvash
dialects. Geographer E.V. Hawks believes that the name goes back to the
Bashkir folklore Ural-Batyr.[7] The Evenk geographical term era "mountain" has
also been theorized.[7] Finno-Ugrist scholars consider Ural deriving from the
Ostyak word urr meaning "chain of mountains".[8] Turkologists, on the other
hand, have achieved majority support for their assertion that 'ural' in Tatar
means a belt, and recall that an earlier name for the range was 'stone belt'.[9]

History
As Middle-Eastern merchants traded with the Bashkirs and other people living
on the western slopes of the Ural as far north as Great Perm, since at least the
10th century medieval mideastern geographers had been aware of the
existence of the mountain range in its entirety, stretching as far as to the Arctic
Ocean in the north. The first Russian mention of the mountains to the east of
the East European Plain is provided by the Primary Chronicle, when it describes
the Novgorodian expedition to the upper reaches of the Pechora in 1096.
During the next few centuries Novgorodians engaged in fur trading with the
local population and collected tribute from Yugra and Great Perm, slowly
expanding southwards. The rivers Chusovaya and Belaya were first mentioned
in the chronicles of 1396 and 1468, respectively. In 1430 the town of Solikamsk
(Kama Salt) was founded on the Kama at the foothills of the Ural, where salt
was produced in open pans. Ivan III of Moscow captured Perm, Pechora and
Yugra from the declining Novgorod Republic in 1472. With the excursions of
1483 and 1499–1500 across the Ural Moscow managed to subjugate Yugra
completely.
 A fragment of von Herberstein's map

Nevertheless, around that time early 16th century Polish geographer Maciej of
Miechów in his influential Tractatus de duabus Sarmatiis (1517) argued that
there were no mountains in Eastern Europe at all, challenging the point of view
of some authors of Classical antiquity, popular during the Renaissance. Only
after Sigismund von Herberstein in his Notes on Muscovite Affairs (1549) had
reported, following Russian sources, that there are mountains behind the
Pechora and identified them with the Riphean Mountains and Hyperboreans of
ancient authors, did the existence of the Ural, or at least of its northern part,
become firmly established in the Western geography. The Middle and Southern
Ural were still largely unavailable and unknown to the Russian or Western
European geographers.

Verkhoturye in 1910

In the 1550s, after the Tsardom of Russia had defeated the Khanate of Kazan
and proceeded to gradually annex the lands of the Bashkirs, the Russians
finally reached the southern part of the mountain chain. In 1574 they founded
Ufa. The upper reaches of the Kama and Chusovaya in the Middle Ural, still
unexplored, as well as parts of Transuralia still held by the hostile Siberian
Khanate, were granted to the Stroganovs by several decrees of the tsar in
1558–1574. The Stroganovs' land provided the staging ground for Yermak's
incursion into Siberia. Yermak crossed the Ural from the Chusovaya to the Tagil
around 1581. In 1597 Babinov's road was built across the Ural from Solikamsk
to the valley of the Tura, where the town of Verkhoturye (Upper Tura) was
founded in 1598. Customs was established in Verkhoturye shortly thereafter
and the road was made the only legal connection between European Russia
and Siberia for a long time. In 1648 the town of Kungur was founded at the
western foothills of the Middle Ural. During the 17th century the first deposits
of iron and copper ores, mica, gemstones and other minerals were discovered
in the Ural.

Iron and copper smelting works emerged. They multiplied particularly quickly
during the reign of Peter I of Russia. In 1720–1722 he commissioned Vasily
Tatishchev to oversee and develop the mining and smelting works in the Ural.
Tatishchev proposed a new copper smelting factory in Yegoshikha, which
would eventually become the core of the city of Perm and a new iron smelting
factory on the Iset, which would become the largest in the world at the time of
construction and give birth to the city of Yekaterinburg. Both factories were
actually founded by Tatishchev's successor, Georg Wilhelm de Gennin, in 1723.
Tatishchev returned to the Ural on the order of Empress Anna to succeed de
Gennin in 1734–1737. Transportation of the output of the smelting works to
the markets of European Russia necessitated the construction of the Siberian
Route from Yekaterinburg across the Ural to Kungur and Yegoshikha (Perm)
and further to Moscow, which was completed in 1763 and rendered Babinov's
road obsolete. In 1745 gold was discovered in the Ural at Beryozovskoye and
later at other deposits. It has been mined since 1747.

The first ample geographic survey of the Ural Mountains was completed in the
early 18th century by the Russian historian and geographer Vasily Tatishchev
under the orders of Peter I. Earlier, in the 17th century, rich ore deposits were
discovered in the mountains and their systematic extraction began in the early
18th century, eventually turning the region into the largest mineral base of
Russia.[1][4]

One of the first scientific descriptions of the mountains was published in

1770–71. Over the next century, the region was studied by scientists from a
number of countries, including Russia (geologist Alexander Karpinsky, botanist
Porfiry Krylov and zoologist Leonid Sabaneyev), the United Kingdom (geologist
Sir Roderick Murchison), France (paleontologist Édouard de Verneuil), and
Germany (naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, geologist Alexander
Keyserling).[1][10] In 1845, Murchison, who had according to Encyclopædia
Britannica "compiled the first geologic map of the Ural in 1841",[1] published
The Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains with de Verneuil and
Keyserling.[10][11]

The first railway across the Ural had been built by 1878 and linked Perm to
Yekaterinburg via Chusovoy, Kushva and Nizhny Tagil. In 1890 a railway linked
Ufa and Chelyabinsk via Zlatoust. In 1896 this section became a part of the
Trans-Siberian Railway. In 1909 yet another railway connecting Perm and
Yekaterinburg passed through Kungur by the way of the Siberian Route. It has
eventually replaced the Ufa – Chelyabinsk section as the main trunk of the
Trans-Siberian railway.
The highest peak of the Ural, Mount Narodnaya, (elevation 1,895 m (6,217 ft))
was identified in 1927.[12]

Wooded Ural Mountains

During the Soviet industrialization in the 1930s the city of Magnitogorsk was
founded in the South-Eastern Ural as a center of iron smelting and
steelmaking. During the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941–1942,
the mountains became a key element in Nazi planning for the territories which
they expected to conquer in the USSR. Faced with the threat of having a
significant part of the Soviet territories occupied by the enemy, the government
evacuated many of the industrial enterprises of European Russia and Ukraine
to the eastern foothills of the Ural, considered a safe place out of reach of the
German bombers and troops. Three giant tank factories were established at
the Uralmash in Sverdlovsk (as Yekaterinburg used to be known),
Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil, and Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant in Chelyabinsk.
After the war, in 1947–1948, Chum – Labytnangi railway, built with the forced
labor of Gulag inmates, crossed the Polar Ural.

Mayak, 150 km southeast of Yekaterinburg, was a center of the Soviet nuclear

industry[1][13][14][15] and site of the Kyshtym disaster.[14][16]

Geography and topography

Map including the Ural Mountains

The Ural Mountains extend about 2,500 km (1,600 mi) from the Kara Sea to the
Kazakh Steppe along the border of Kazakhstan. Vaygach Island and the island
of Novaya Zemlya form a further continuation of the chain on the north.
Geographically this range marks the northern part of the border between the
continents of Europe and Asia. Its highest peak is Mount Narodnaya,
approximately 1,895 m (6,217 ft) in elevation.[1]

Yugyd Va National Park

By topography and other natural features, the Urals are divided, from north to
south, into the Polar (or Arctic), Nether-Polar (or Sub-Arctic), Northern, Central
and Southern parts.

Polar Ural

The Polar Urals extend for about 385 kilometers (239 mi) from Mount
Konstantinov Kamen in the north to the Khulga River in the south; they have an
area of about 25,000 km2 (9,700 sq mi) and a strongly dissected relief. The
maximum height is 1,499 m (4,918 ft) at Payer Mountain and the average
height is 1,000 to 1,100 m (3,300 to 3,600 ft).

The mountains of the Polar Ural have exposed rock with sharp ridges, though
flattened or rounded tops are also found.[1][4]

Nether-polar Ural

Ural Mountains in summer

The Nether-Polar Ural are higher, and up to 150 km (93 mi) wider than the Polar
Urals. They include the highest peaks of the range: Mount Narodnaya (1,895 m
(6,217 ft)), Mount Karpinsky (1,878 m (6,161 ft)) and Manaraga (1,662 m
(5,453 ft)). They extend for more than 225 km (140 mi) south to the Shchugor
River. The many ridges are sawtooth shaped and dissected by river valleys.
Both Polar and Nether-Polar Urals are typically Alpine; they bear traces of
Pleistocene glaciation, along with permafrost and extensive modern glaciation,
including 143 extant glaciers.[1][4]

Northern Ural

The Northern Ural consist of a series of parallel ridges up to 1,000–1,200 m

(3,300–3,900 ft) in height and longitudinal hollows. They are elongated from
north to south and stretch for about 560 km (350 mi) from the Usa River. Most
of the tops are flattened, but those of the highest mountains, such as Telposiz,
1,617 m (5,305 ft) and Konzhakovsky Stone, 1,569 m (5,148 ft) have a
dissected topography. Intensive weathering has produced vast areas of eroded
stone on the mountain slopes and summits of the northern areas.[1][4]

Middle Ural

The Central Ural are the lowest part of the Ural, with smooth mountain tops,
the highest mountain being 994 m (3,261 ft) (Basegi); they extend south from
the Ufa River.[4]

Southern Ural

The relief of the Southern Ural is more complex, with numerous valleys and
parallel ridges directed south-west and meridionally. The range includes the
Ilmensky Mountains separated from the main ridges by the Miass River. The
maximum height is 1,640 m (5,380 ft) (Mount Yamantau) and the width
reaches 250 km (160 mi). Other notable peaks lie along the Iremel mountain
ridge (Bolshoy Iremel and Maly Iremel). The Southern Urals extend some
550 km (340 mi) up to the sharp westward bend of the Ural River and
terminate in the wide Mughalzhar Hills.[1]

Mountain formation
Rocks in a river, Nether- Entry to Ignateva
near Saranpaul, Nether- Big Iremel Mountain
Polar Urals Cave, South Urals
Polar Urals
Geology

A mine in the Ural Mountains, early

colour photograph by Sergey
Prokudin-Gorsky, 1910

The Urals are among the world's oldest extant mountain ranges. For its age of
250 to 300 million years, the elevation of the mountains is unusually high. They
formed during the Uralian orogeny due to the collision of the eastern edge of
the supercontinent Laurussia with the young and rheologically weak continent
of Kazakhstania, which now underlies much of Kazakhstan and West Siberia
west of the Irtysh, and intervening island arcs. The collision lasted nearly 90
million years in the late Carboniferous – early Triassic.[17][18][19][20] Unlike the
other major orogens of the Paleozoic (Appalachians, Caledonides, Variscides),
the Urals have not undergone post-orogenic extensional collapse and are
unusually well preserved for their age, being underlaid by a pronounced crustal
root.[21][22] East and south of the Urals much of the orogen is buried beneath
later Mesozoic and Cenozoic sediments.[17] The adjacent Pay-Khoy Ridge to
the north and Novaya Zemlya are not a part of the Uralian orogen and formed
later.

Many deformed and metamorphosed rocks, mostly of Paleozoic age, surface

within the Urals. The sedimentary and volcanic layers are folded and faulted.
The sediments to the west of the Ural Mountains are formed of limestone,
dolomite and sandstone left from ancient shallow seas. The eastern side is
dominated by basalts.[4]
 Wooded Ural Mountains in winter

The western slope of the Ural Mountains has predominantly karst topography,
especially in the Sylva River basin, which is a tributary of the Chusovaya River.
It is composed of severely eroded sedimentary rocks (sandstones and
limestones) that are about 350 million years old. There are many caves,
sinkholes and underground streams. The karst topography is much less
developed on the eastern slopes. The eastern slopes are relatively flat, with
some hills and rocky outcrops and contain alternating volcanic and
sedimentary layers dated to the middle Paleozoic Era.[4] Most high mountains
consist of weather-resistant rocks such as quartzite, schist and gabbro that
are between 570 and 395 million years old. The river valleys are underlain by
limestone.[1]

The Ural Mountains contain about 48 species of economically valuable ores

and economically valuable minerals. Eastern regions are rich in chalcopyrite,
nickel oxide, gold, platinum, chromite and magnetite ores, as well as in coal
(Chelyabinsk Oblast), bauxite, talc, fireclay and abrasives. The Western Urals
contain deposits of coal, oil, natural gas (Ishimbay and Krasnokamsk areas)
and potassium salts. Both slopes are rich in bituminous coal and lignite, and
the largest deposit of bituminous coal is in the north (Pechora field). The
specialty of the Urals is precious and semi-precious stones, such as emerald,
amethyst, aquamarine, jasper, rhodonite, malachite and diamond. Some of the
deposits, such as the magnetite ores at Magnitogorsk, are already nearly
depleted.[1][4]

Minerals from the Ural Mountains

Andradite Beryl Platinum Quartz

Rivers and lakes

 Chusovaya River

Many rivers originate in the Ural Mountains. The western slopes south of the
border between the Komi Republic and Perm Krai and the eastern slopes south
of approximately 54°30'N drain into the Caspian Sea via the Kama and Ural
River basins. The tributaries of the Kama include the Vishera, Chusovaya, and
Belaya and originate on both the eastern and western slopes. The rest of the
Urals drain into the Arctic Ocean, mainly via the Pechora basin in the west,
which includes the Ilych, Shchugor, and the Usa, and via the Ob basin in the
east, which includes the Tobol, Tavda, Iset, Tura and Severnaya Sosva. The
rivers are frozen for more than half the year. Generally, the western rivers have
higher flow volume than the eastern ones, especially in the Northern and
Nether-Polar regions. Rivers are slower in the Southern Urals. This is because
of low precipitation and the relatively warm climate resulting in less snow and
more evaporation.[1][4]

The mountains contain a number of deep lakes.[23] The eastern slopes of the
Southern and Central Urals have most of these, among the largest of which are
the Uvildy, Itkul, Turgoyak, and Tavatuy lakes.[4] The lakes found on the western
slopes are less numerous and also smaller. Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye, the
deepest lake in the Polar Urals, is 136 meters (446 ft) deep. Other lakes, too,
are found in the glacial valleys of this region. Spas and sanatoriums have been
built to take advantage of the medicinal muds found in some of the mountain
lakes.[1][4]

Climate

The climate of the Urals is continental. The mountain ridges, elongated from
north to south, effectively absorb sunlight thereby increasing the temperature.
The areas west of the Ural Mountains are 1–2 °C (1.8–3.6 °F) warmer in winter
than the eastern regions because the former are warmed by Atlantic winds
whereas the eastern slopes are chilled by Siberian air masses. The average
January temperatures increase in the western areas from −20 °C (−4 °F) in the
Polar to −15 °C (5 °F) in the Southern Urals and the corresponding
temperatures in July are 10 °C (50 °F) and 20 °C (68 °F). The western areas
also receive more rainfall than the eastern ones by 150–300 mm (5.9–11.8 in)
per year. This is because the mountains trap clouds from the Atlantic Ocean.
The highest precipitation, approximately 1,000 mm (39 in), is in the Northern
Urals with up to 1,000 cm (390 in) snow. The eastern areas receive from 500–
600 mm (20–24 in) in the north to 300–400 mm (12–16 in) in the south.
Maximum precipitation occurs in the summer: the winter is dry because of the
Siberian High.[1][4]

Flora

Cloudberry

The landscapes of the Urals vary with both latitude and longitude and are
dominated by forests and steppes. The southern area of the Mughalzhar Hills
is a semidesert. Steppes lie mostly in the southern and especially south-
eastern Urals. Meadow steppes have developed on the lower parts of
mountain slopes and are covered with zigzag and mountain clovers, Serratula
gmelinii, dropwort, meadow-grass and Bromus inermis, reaching the height of
60–80 cm. Much of the land is cultivated. To the south, the meadow steppes
become more sparse, dry and low. The steep gravelly slopes of the mountains
and hills of the eastern slopes of the Southern Urals are mostly covered with
rocky steppes. River valleys contain willow, poplar and caragana shrubs.[4]

Forest landscapes of the Urals are diverse, especially in the southern part. The
western areas are dominated by dark coniferous taiga forests which change to
mixed and deciduous forests in the south. The eastern mountain slopes have
light coniferous taiga forests. The Northern Urals are dominated by conifers,
namely Siberian fir, Siberian pine, Scots pine, Siberian spruce, Norway spruce
and Siberian larch, as well as by silver and downy birches. The forests are
much sparser in the Polar Urals. Whereas in other parts of the Ural Mountains
they grow up to an altitude of 1000 m, in the Polar Urals the tree line is at 250–
400 m. The polar forests are low and are mixed with swamps, lichens, bogs
and shrubs. Dwarf birch, mosses and berries (blueberry, cloudberry, black
crowberry, etc.) are abundant. The forests of the Southern Urals are the most
diverse in composition: here, together with coniferous forests are also
abundant broadleaf tree species such as English oak, Norway maple and
elm.[4] The Virgin Komi Forests in the northern Urals are recognized as a World
Heritage site.

Fauna

The Ural forests are inhabited by animals typical of Siberia, such as elk, brown
bear, fox, wolf, wolverine, lynx, squirrel, and sable (north only). Because of the
easy accessibility of the mountains there are no specifically mountainous
species. In the Middle Urals, one can see a rare mixture of sable and pine
marten named kidus. In the Southern Urals, badger and black polecat are
common. Reptiles and amphibians live mostly in the Southern and Central Ural
and are represented by the common viper, lizards and grass snakes. Bird
species are represented by capercaillie, black grouse, hazel grouse, spotted
nutcracker, and cuckoos. In summers, the South and Middle Urals are visited
by songbirds, such as nightingale and redstart.[1][4]

The steppes of the Southern Urals are dominated by hares and rodents such
as hamsters, susliks, and jerboa. There are many birds of prey such as lesser
kestrel and buzzards. The animals of the Polar Urals are few and are
characteristic of the tundra; they include Arctic fox, lemming, and reindeer. The
birds of these areas include rough-legged buzzard, snowy owl, tundra
partridge, and rock ptarmigan.[1][4]

Wolverine Polecat

Ecology

The continuous and intensive economic development of the last centuries has
affected the fauna, and wildlife is much diminished around all industrial
centers. During World War II, hundreds of factories were evacuated from
Western Russia before the German occupation, flooding the Urals with
industry. The conservation measures include establishing national wildlife
parks.[1] There are nine strict nature reserves in the Urals: the Ilmen, the oldest
one, mineralogical reserve founded in 1920 in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Pechora-
Ilych in the Komi Republic, Bashkir and its former branch Shulgan-Tash in
Bashkortostan, Visim in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Southern Ural in Bashkortostan,
Basegi in Perm Krai, Vishera in Perm Krai and Denezhkin Kamen in Sverdlovsk
Oblast.

The area has also been severely damaged by the plutonium-producing facility
Mayak opened in Chelyabinsk-40 (later called Chelyabinsk-65, Ozyorsk), in the
Southern Ural, after World War II.[1] Its plants went into operation in 1948 and,
for the first ten years, dumped unfiltered radioactive waste into the Techa River
and Lake Karachay.[1][13][14] In 1990, efforts were underway to contain the
radiation in one of the lakes, which was estimated at the time to expose
visitors to 500 millirem per day.[14] As of 2006, 500 mrem in the natural
environment was the upper limit of exposure considered safe for a member of
the general public in an entire year (though workplace exposure over a year
could exceed that by a factor of 10).[15] Over 23,000 km2 (8,900 sq mi) of land
were contaminated in 1957 from a storage tank explosion, only one of several
serious accidents that further polluted the region.[1] The 1957 accident
expelled 20 million curies of radioactive material, 90% of which settled into the
land immediately around the facility.[16] Although some reactors of Mayak were
shut down in 1987 and 1990,[14] the facility keeps producing plutonium.[24]

Cultural significance

The Urals have been viewed by Russians as a "treasure box" of mineral

resources, which were the basis for its extensive industrial development. In
addition to iron and copper the Urals were a source of gold, malachite,
alexandrite, and other gems such as those used by the court jeweller Fabergé.
As Russians in other regions gather mushrooms or berries, Uralians gather
mineral specimens and gems. Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak (1852–1912) Pavel
Bazhov (1879–1950), as well as Aleksey Ivanov and Olga Slavnikova, post-
Soviet writers, have written of the region.[25]

The region served as a military stronghold during Peter the Great's Great
Northern War with Sweden, during Stalin's rule when the Magnitogorsk
Metallurgical Complex was built and Russian industry relocated to the Urals
during the Nazi advance at the beginning of World War II, and as the center of
the Soviet nuclear industry during the Cold War. Extreme levels of air, water,
and radiological contamination and pollution by industrial wastes resulted.
Population exodus resulted, and economic depression at the time of the
collapse of the Soviet Union, but in post-Soviet times additional mineral
exploration, particularly in the northern Urals, has been productive and the
region has attracted industrial investment.[25]

See also

Yugyd Va National Park

Dyatlov Pass incident

East Ural Radioactive Trace

Idel-Ural State

Pangaea

Research Range

Ural Mountains in Nazi planning

References

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139-46165-8.

3. Фасмер, Макс. Этимологический словарь русского языка

4. "Ural (geographical)" . Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Archived from the original

on 18 September 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2016.

5. *Koriakova, Ludmila; Epimakhov, Andrei (2007). The Urals and Western Siberia
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521-82928-1.

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10. Geological Society of London (1894). The Quarterly journal of the Geological
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(1845). The Geology of Russia in Europe and the Ural Mountains . John Murray.

12. welcome-ural.ru

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14. Paine, Christopher (22 July 1989). "Military reactors go on show to American
visitors" . New Scientist. Retrieved 8 July 2010.

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16. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists . Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science,
Inc. May 1991. p. 25. ISSN 0096-3402 .

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ISBN 978-0126363807.

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context from the Vendian to the end of the Palaeozoic". In Gee, D. G. and
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20. Brown, D.; Juhlin, C.; Ayala, C.; Tryggvason, A.; Bea, F.; Alvarez-Marron, J.;
Carbonell, R.; Seward, D.; Glasmacher, U.; Puchkov, V.; Perez-Estaun, sexbombA.
(2008). "Mountain building processes during continent–continent collision in
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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ural Mountains.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Urals.

Peakbagger.com page on the Ural Mountains

Ural Expeditions & Tours page on the five parts of the Ural Mountains