Zilair

Zilair

 

a plateau in the Southern Urals in the Bashkir ASSR and Orenburg Oblast, in the basin of the Sakmara River (a tributary of the Ural River). Elevation, 500–600 m. The plateau is formed of limestones, shales, sandstones, and, more infrequently, of volcanic rock of the Lower and Middle Paleozoic. It is severely fragmented by the Bol’shoi Ik, Kasmarka, Zilair, and other rivers of the Ural basin. Turf-cereal steppes predominate in its southern portion; in the north, there are forest-steppes with various grasses.