YANGAN-TAU
YANGAN-TAU, geopark, geologically, biologically, historically and culturally renouned place, located on the territory of Salavatsky Raion of the RB. Established in 2017. Territory — 1,770 km2 of hilly plain. The Ay and Yuryuzan rivers represent the hydrographic network. The nature is featured with a large variety of plants and animals listed in The Red List of the RF and The Red List of the RB. Also, the territory, which is part of the Ufa Plateau–BS–022, is a known ornithological area of Russia (white‑tailed eagle, peregrine falcon, etc). Boreal, nemoral and steppe mixed flora is represented mainly by birches, and coniferous broad‑leaf forests in the Karatau ridge. Cereal and grass steppes are common on the ridges and hills stony slopes. Swamps are common in river valleys and glades. The main representatives of fauna are mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds and fish. There are the following large tectonic structures: Eastern European Platform and Ural Folded Area; from W to E there are the Perm and Bashkir geological arch, the Yuryuzano‑Sylvenskaya glade and Bashkir Meganticlinorium (Karatau Structural Complex). There are more than 20 geological, hydrogeological and hydrolical heritage sites, incl. the Kuselyarovo sulphurous springs, Kurgazak, Laklinskaya Cave, Arkaulovskoye Swamp, Sabakay, Karatau Ridge, etc. The following three geological objects are of international significance: Mechetlino and Bolshaya Luka quarries and the Yangantau mountain. Also, there are 10 geological objects of national and 21 – of educational significance.
The Mechetlino quarry, a complex of deposits from the Artinian to the Kungur tiers of the Perm System, which contain fossil residues of foraminifer (fusulinid), ammonoid, conodontites, ostracod, brachiopod, fish, calamites and calcareous algae. Represented by sand and clay thickness with rare layers of limestone. Exits length — 750 m, height — up to 100. Located NW of Derevnya Mechetlino.
The Bolshaya Luka quarry, the Bashkir tier Carboniferous period stratotype, which refers to the Laclinian type. Characterized by brachipod fauna. The Bashkir tier is featured by its two‑part structure, which is carbonate below and mostly terrigenous on top. The geological record is located opposite Posyolok Verkhnya Luka (Chelyabinsk Obl.), on the left bank of the Yuryuzan River, 15 km NE of the Kropachyovo Railway Station.
The Lakly quarry, the support geological quarry of the Bashkir tier and is divided into Syuransky, Akwassky and Askynbashsky subtiers, represented mainly by organogenic limestone. The Upper Carbon Kurkinskaya Formation represented by argillite with alevrolite layers and limestone intermittently rests on the Askynbashsky Subtier limestone. Located W of the same named derevnya.
There are about 30 objects of cultural heritage and material heritage (archaeological sites, historian, architectural and cultural monuments), including 9 objects of federal significance. These include the Idrisov Cave Park, the Magometanskaya Mosque, cave paintings, a guerrilla communal grave, the Salavat Yulayev Museum, etc. There are: the Yangan-Tau Health Resort, the Shaytan‑Kudey yurt camp; 24 museums, including one of the RB significance; 20 tourist routes, including 3 caving routes, 8 rafting routes, 2 geological tours, ethnographic and regional touristic routes (Wonderful Land, On the P.S.Pallas, On the S.M.Prokudin‑Gorsky), an ornithological route, etc. The geopark was created in 2017 by the order of the Government of the RB. In 2020, at the 209th session of the UNESCO Executive Board geopark was included in a list of Global Geoparks.
