Nanshan (mountains)

The name Nanshan in Chinese means "southern mountains" and refers to the northeastern outskirts of Kunlun ; it is contrasted with the name of the Beishan Highlands - "northern mountains", located at the eastern tip of the Tien Shan .

Nanshan extends from the northwest to the southeast for 800 km. Width reaches 320 km. The mountain system consists of several subparallel ridges separated by longitudinal valleys: Qilanshan , Tulayshan (托 来 山), Tulainanshan (托 来 南山), Suleanshan (with the highest elevation of 6346 m - or, according to modern data, 5808 m ^[1] ), Ulan -Daban , Daken-Daban , Kukunor , Dayyulin . The ranges are composed mainly of sandstones , shales , and limestones . Often there are manifestations of karst . The northern ranges of Nanshan rise above the Alashan desert by approximately 4,500 m, while the relative elevation of the southern slopes is only 1,500 m. The southern spurs of Nanshan often deviate from the main strike of the system and form rows of short ridges .

Precipitation in the foothills usually does not exceed 300 mm per year; in high mountains - from 400 mm in the west to 700 mm in the east. The snow line decreases from west to east from 5200 to 4200 m. In Nanshan there are about 2850 glaciers (mainly on the northern slopes of the ranges) with a total area of 1970 km². Glaciers 1-2 km long prevail , the largest glacier is Laohugou with an area of ​​21.9 km².

Most of Nanshan belongs to the region of internal flow of Central Asia ; the southeastern regions belong to the Yellow River basin . In the west of the system mountain deserts and steppes predominate, in the east - forest-steppes and spruce forests ; above 3000 m - meadows .

In the 19th century, Nanshan was studied by such famous Russian scientists as Nikolai Przhevalsky , Vsevolod Roborovsky , Grigory Potanin , Grigory Grumm-Grzhimailo and Vladimir Obruchev . One of the mountain ranges is named after the geographer G.N. Potanin .

• Nan-shan // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Nanshan - an article from the Geographic Encyclopedia.
• Nanshan (mountains) - an article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia . .