Tunka National Park

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The Tunka National Park ( Russian Тункинский национальный парк , Tunkinski nazionalny park) is a national park in Siberia , Russia .

geography

The Tunka National Park encompasses the southeastern part of the Eastern Sayan , the southwestern part of the Chamar-Daban and the Tunka Basin southwest of Lake Baikal, which extends in between .

The northern and eponymous part of the national park is formed by the Tunkinskije Golzy ridge (about Tunka-Kahlberge ; also Tunkinskije Alpy , Tunka-Alpen ), a part of the Eastern Sayan that extends in a west-east direction, the summit of which is over 3000 across almost its entire length Meters high. The highest peak is the 3284 meter high Pik Strelnikow . At the far western end of the national park on the border between Russia and Mongolia is the highest mountain of the Sayan, the Munku Sardyk , at 3492 meters, which is also the easternmost summit of the actual main chain of the Sayan.

In the south the Tunka Alps drop steeply to the Tunka basin. This basin, which is 150 kilometers long and up to 40 kilometers wide in a west-east direction, represents the tectonic continuation of the Baikal Depression in a westerly direction and its connection - albeit not hydrographically - to Lake Chöwsgöl Nuur in Mongolia. The larger, eastern and more level one Part of the depression is at heights of 800  m , the more structured western part at 1,000 to 1200  m . The Tunka basin is traversed by the Irkut , a left tributary of the Angara . The Irkut leaves the park about 40 kilometers west of Lake Baikal ( Slyudjanka ) at an altitude of about 660  m , which is its lowest point.

In the southern part of the park, the Tunka basin merges less steeply into the western and southwestern foothills of the Chamar-Daban, which in many places reach an altitude of 2,000 m and a maximum of around 2600  m . This part of the national park is mainly drained by the Sun Muren , a right tributary of the Irkut and its tributaries.

The total area of ​​the Tunka National Park is 1,183,662 hectares, making it one of the largest in Russia.

From an administrative point of view, the park's territory covers the entire Tunka Raion in the west of the Buryat Autonomous Republic , that is 3.7% of the republic's area. The management of the park is located in the village of Kyren , which is also the administrative center of the Rajon. A good 23,000 inhabitants (2006) live on the territory of the park, mainly along the road from Lake Baikal to the Mongolian border through the Tunka Basin.

climate

The climate of the Tunka National Park is strictly continental , with large temperature fluctuations both in the course of the year and in the course of the day and relatively low amounts of precipitation . The winters are cold with mean January temperatures around −22 ° C to −24 ° C in the depressions, −19 ° C to −21 ° C in the mountains and absolute minimum temperatures around −50 ° C. High pressure weather conditions with cloudless and windless weather predominate . The mean July temperatures are +17 ° C in the depressions and +11 ° C to +14 ° C in the mountains, the absolute maximum temperature is +34 ° C. Low- pressure weather conditions with cloudy weather are particularly characteristic of the second half of summer , during which the main part of the annual precipitation falls. In the lower elevations these are only 300 to 350 mm, in the mountains mostly around 500 to 600 mm, in Chamar-Daban up to 1000 mm.

Goal setting and history

The Tunka National Park was established by the decision of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR on May 27, 1991.

The aim is to protect the various ecosystems of the Tunka Basin and the surrounding high mountains, from steppes to mountain tundra , while at the same time controlling the development of economic, especially tourist use of the area.

On the basis of a project drawn up by the Moscow Forest Research Institute Rosgiproles in 1995 , 23.4% of the total area of ​​the park was designated as strictly protected areas of various status ( Sapovednik , Sakasnik ), 55.6% for tourism and recreation and 21.0% for other economic use expelled.

In particular, the northern part of the national park is relatively well developed for tourists in places; today about 8000 people visit the park annually. The large number of medicinal and mineral springs have so far been used balneologically in the health resorts of Arshan directly at the foot of the Tunka Alps and Nilowa Pustyn near the village of Turan in the western central part of the Tunka basin .

A cross-border national park to neighboring Mongolia is under discussion.

fauna

The more than 40 mammals recorded in the park include wolf (Canis lupus) , brown bear (Ursus arctos) , Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) , wolverine (Gulo gulo) and various smaller species of marten , such as Altai weasel (Mustela altaica) and steppe iltis (M. eversmannii) ) , Wild boar (Sus scrofa) , elk (Alces alces) , Siberian musk deer (Moscus moschiferus) , Siberian deer (Capreolus pygargus) , Altai Maral (Cervus elaphus sibiricus) , mountain hare (Lepus timidus) , Eurasian squirrel (Sciurus vulis) , European flying squirrel (Pteromys volans) , Burunduk (Tamias sibiricus) and long-tailed ground squirrel ( Spermophilus undulatus) .

The avifauna includes over 200 species, including capercaillie ( Tetrao urogallus ), rock grouse ( T. parvirostris) , black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) , ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) and many duck birds .

flora

The Tunka National Park includes, due to the different altitude levels , the vegetation zones mountain tundra, alpine meadows, mountain taiga , taiga and mountain steppes. The flora of the area is correspondingly diverse.

About half of the forest area is covered with Siberian stone pine (Pinus sibirica) , which reaches the tree line here . Dwarf pines (Pinus pumila) also grow at higher altitudes . A quarter of the forest is dominated by Siberian larches (Larix sibirica) and almost a tenth by Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) . Siberian spruce (Picea obovata) and Siberian fir (Abies sibirica) are represented to a small extent .

Only a good tenth of the forest area is deciduous forest, in which Manchurian birch ( Betula platyphylla , 8.5% of the total forest area) and aspen ( Populus tremula , 1.6%) dominate. There are also small areas with a species of balsam poplar (P. suaveolens) , Honshu willow (Salix miyabeana) and basket willow (S. viminalis) .

Siberian swamp porst ( Rhododendron palustre , 31.8%) and lingonberry ( Vaccinium vitis-idaea , 22%) predominate as undergrowth , and Dahurian rhododendron (Rhododendron dahuricum) is also common.

At least ten of the rare or endangered plant species listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation are represented in the national park , including yellow lady's slipper (Cypripedium calceolus) , large-flowered lady's slipper (C. macranthon) and Fritillaria dagana .

Web links

Coordinates: 51 ° 41 ′  N , 102 ° 8 ′  E