Understand
Length of the Ural mountains more than 2,500 miles - from the Arctic Ocean to Kazakhstan. Geographers have divided the Urals into five geographic zones: Arctic, Polar, North, Middle and South Urals. The highest mountain in the Polar Urals. Here, in the Polar Urals, is the highest mountain in the Urals - Mountain Narodnaya. But it is these northern regions of the Urals and the most remote underdeveloped.
Except for the polar and northern sections, the mountains are forested, and lumbering is an important industry. Urals has famous Virgin Komi Forests, which were included to the World Heritage List.
The great mineral resources of Russia are in the Urals. Iron ore is mined in the south, and there are rich deposits of coal, copper, manganese, gold, aluminum, and potash. Oil fields and refineries along the Kama and Belaya rivers in the West Urals produce oil. Emeralds, chrysoberyl, topaz, and amethyst are mined, as are deposits of bauxite, asbestos, zinc, lead, silver, platinum, nickel, chrome, and tungsten.The Urals industrial area c.290,000 sq mi/751,100 sq km, a major Russia metallurgical region, is in the central and South Urals and the adjacent lowlands. Huge industrial centers are found at Yekaterinburg, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Perm, Berezniki, Nizhni Tagil, Orsk, Orenburg, Ufa, Miass and Zlatoust.
West and east foothills of Urals and neighbor plains often have deep river valleys. Urals has a lot of rivers and lakes. Several hundreds of ponds and water storage basins are created on rivers. The composition of mountains, forests, rivers and lakes makes Urals one of the most beautiful regions in Russia.
