Vostochnyi Sakhalin

also called the Vostochnyi Range, mountains in the eastern part of Sakhalin Island. Length, 280 km; width, up to 85 km.

The Vostochnyi Sakhalin Mountains consist of several ranges distributed in an echelon pattern. Along the axis stretch steep-sided folded-block ranges. To the northwest is the Nabil’ (Zatymovskii) range, with a maximum elevation of 1,609 m (Mount Lopatin). On the southeast is the Tsentral range, up to 1,125 m in height (Mount Sokolov). The mountains are sharply divided by longitudinal and transverse valleys; at altitudes of 400, 800, and 1,100-1,250 m ancient tablelands, sea terraces, have been preserved in the eastern foothills. The Vostochnyi Sakhalin mountain system is an anticline of metamorphic rock with intrusions and effusions of the Mesozoic and Paleozoic ages. In the east and south sea deposits (such as aleurolites) of the Upper Cretaceous and Neocene periods have developed. The seismicity is 6, and in the east, up to 7.

The climate of the Vostochnyi Sakhalin is maritime-monsoon and winters are harsh. As a result of the cooling influence of the Sea of Okhotsk, summers are cool. The mean temperature is -14° C in January and 14° C to 16° C in August. Rainfall varies from 600 to 1,000 mm, with the greatest amount occurring in summer and September. A mountainous spruce-fir taiga on brown-taiga, nonpodzol soil predominates. On the eastern slopes are spruce and larch taiga on mountain-podzol soils. Stunted forests of Erman’s birch with dwarf cedar ground cover predominate in the upper zones; mountainous tundra is on the tops of the ranges. On the shore terraces the taiga often changes to ground cover and oceanic meadow.