Kurai Steppe

Kurai Steppe

 

an intermontane basin (between the Kurai and the North Chuia ranges) in the southeastern Altai, along the middle course of the Chuia River, in Altai Krai, RSFSR. Elevation, 1,500–1,600 m; length, 25 km; width, 15–20 km.

The northern slope of the basin is steep and short, and the southern slope is gentle. The flat floor of the basin, formed by a system of terraces of the Chuia River, is composed of sandy and pebbly lacustrine deposits, overlapped at the edges by moraine. Dry high-mountain deserts prevail in the northwest; wasted steppes on chestnut and light-chestnut soils prevail in the south and southeast. The Chuia highway, which runs from the USSR to the Mongolian People’s Republic, passes through the Kurai Steppe.