Ilmen Nature Reserve
| Ilmen Nature Reserve | |
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Russian: Ильменский заповедник (Also: Ilmensky) |
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IUCN category Ia (strict nature reserve)
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Ilmen Zapovednik
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 Location of Reserve
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| Location | Chelyabinsk Oblast |
| Nearest city | Miass |
| Coordinates | 55°0′55″N 60°9′32″E / 55.01528°N 60.15889°ECoordinates: 55°0′55″N 60°9′32″E / 55.01528°N 60.15889°E |
| Area | 34,380 hectares (85,000 acres) |
| Established | 1920 |
| Governing body | Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (Russia) |
| Website | http://igz.ilmeny.ac.ru/ |
Ilmen Nature Reserve (Russian: Ильменский заповедник) (also Ilmensky) is a Russian 'zapovednik' (strict nature reserve) that was created by decree of Vladimir Lenin, in 1920 as a mineralogical nature reserve. It is the site of deposits of many rare-earth minerals - 16 minerals were first discovered here, including Ilmenite (named for the site), Monazite, Cancrinite, and Samarskite-(Y). There have been over 400 mines in the area over the years. The Reserve's geological museum is one of the largest in Russia. The forest cover is pine and larch forest on low hills of the Ilmensky Mountains and foothill ridges on east side of the south Ural Mountains. The reserve is situated just north and east of the city of Miass, in the Chebarkulsky District of Chelyabinsk Oblast. It is also 20 kkm east of Taganay National Park and 75 km west of Chelyabinsk.
The Ilmensky Reserve is located on the east slope of the southern Urals, where the terrain flattens from low mountains (400 meters altitude) to a district of lakes and rolling hills. The reserve is rectangular in shape, 70 km from north to south, and 10 km from west to east. The Miass River runs north-south along the west border of the reserve. The highest point, Ilmen Tau, is 750 meters above sea level.
The geology is a complex assortment of igneous and metamorphic rock. The granitic formations contain many pegmatite veins with associated minerals. The reserve has recorded 278 species of minerals, and 70 kinds of rock.
Ilmen is located in the Kazakh forest steppe ecoregion. Steppe with long ""ribbon forests"" of pine; about 300–500 miles more northerly than the European Russian forest. This ecoregion has more wetlands and more continental climate than the European forest steppe.
The climate of Ilmen is Humid continental climate, cool summer (Köppen climate classification (Dfb)). This climate is characterized by large swings in temperature, both diurnially and seasonally, with mild summers and cold, snowy winters. Rainfall varies from 500 to 800 mm per year, peaking in the summer. Snow reaches a depth of 1 meter, with snow cover averaging 195 days. The frost-free period lasts 80–90 days.
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Wikipedia