Federal Lezgin national-cultural autonomy. Mountains of Makhachkala What is the name of the mountain in Dagestan

For many tourists, the beauty and exoticism of Dagestan are associated with the Caspian Sea, warm climate and bright sun. Dagestan can delight not only with the great Naryn-Kala fortress, Pushkin Mountain or the immortal sandy heights of Sary-Kum.

Dagestan is, first of all, a mountainous region. Young mountains are greeted with alpine meadows, villages hanging over the abyss, or year-round caps of snow.

You can relax in the mountains in different ways. Here there is hunting, and descent from fast rivers on boats, and beautiful views for a photo shoot.

"AiF-Dagestan" on the eve of Mountain Day compiled a list of the highest, most beautiful and dangerous peaks republics.

Mount Shalbuz-dag

Certainly the most main mountain, a landmark and symbol of Dagestan is Mount Shalbuzdag.

Its distinguishing feature, in comparison with others, is that it stands alone, rising like a solitary pyramid topped with a jagged pinnacle. Thanks to this location, Shalbuzdag gives the impression of being the highest peak in the southern part of Dagestan, although its neighbors - Bazarduzu and Shahdag - are actually higher. But these are not all the features of the mysterious natural phenomenon.

Mount Shalbuzdag. Photo: AiF / AiF-Dagestan

Shalbuzdag is the most famous mountain in Dagestan. Every year from July to August, pilgrims come here from all over the Caucasus. Sacred mountain became after the grave of the righteous Suleiman appeared there. According to legend, he was very God-fearing, and when he died, a miracle happened.

Since then, pilgrims come here every year. They bring alms and ask God for health for their loved ones. It is believed that in order for prayers to be heard, one must walk around the feast three times and be sure to tie a ribbon or scarf.

Scientists believe that there used to be a sea in the place of the mountain. Unlike all other heights, Shalbuzdag is distinguished by its unusual shape - a pyramid with a jagged top. This gives the mountain a special mystery.

Mount Shalbuzdag is popularly called the road to fulfillment of desires. The height of the mountain is 4 thousand 150 meters. People believe that if you overcome this distance, then all your dreams and desires will certainly come true.

Mount Tarki-Tau

Another peak object is located right next to the capital of Dagestan. Makhachkala stretches along Mount Tarki-Tau. This is a unique natural monument, standing apart from the huge mountain monolith. There are numerous legends and myths about it; on its plateau and slopes there are many sacred objects, ziyarat.

Mount Tarki-Tau Photo: AiF / AiF-Dagestan

Translated from Kumyk, Tarki-tau means “narrow mountain”, from the words “tar” - narrow, “tau” - mountain. It was this mountain that was the first to meet the Russian expansion of the Caucasus by Tsar Peter I, who at the head of a huge army entered Tarki in 1722.

Sandy Mountain - Sarykum

Barkhan, a sand mountain that constantly changes its shape, but does not crumble. This highlight is located just north of Makhachkala in the Kumtorkala region of Dagestan - Sarykum.

Mountain dune Sarykum Photo: AiF / AiF-Dagestan

The highest point of the sand mountain reaches 251 m. The Sarykum sand mountain constantly changes its shape, but does not crumble. As experts point out, this phenomenon is explained by the nature of local winds. In this case, the winds that destroy the surrounding mountains bring here the product of destruction - sand. But the mountain both attracts and repels everyone with its wild fauna. As with other sandy areas, it is home to a large number of crawling, running and hissing animals.

Peak of Dagestan

The highest point of Dagestan is located directly on the border with Azerbaijan. Mount Bazarduzu is as much as 4466 meters higher than the sea. Bazarduzu is widely known as the southernmost point of Russia. This object is a unique natural monument. The inaccessible peak of Dagestan is of significant interest to climbers who have climbed to its peak more than once.

Mount Bazarduzu Photo: AiF / AiF-Dagestan

The first ascent of Soviet climbers to Bazardyuzyu was made on July 5, 1935. Since then and to this day, this mountain has remained in the center of attention of scientists, because natural conditions The Bazarduzu massif has not yet been sufficiently studied.

The old saying “Dagestan is a country of mountains” fully reflects the essence of the region. Since ancient times, this mysterious region has been famous for its hospitality, rich customs, and extraordinary beauty of mountain landscapes.

Caucasus Mountains occupy half of the entire area of ​​Dagestan. There are about 30 peaks on the territory of the republic, the height of which is more than 4000 meters.

The highest mountains of Dagestan are Addala-Shukhgelmeer (4151 meters), Dyultydag (4127 meters), and the Diklosmta mountain range (4285 meters). In the south of the republic stands Shalbuz-dag (3925 meters). Nearby stands the large table peak Yaru-Dag (4116 meters), its vertical walls have repeatedly become the site of competitions for climbers from all over Russia.

The most big mountain Dagestan - Bazarduzu. It is located in the very south of the republic. The state border runs along the top of the mountain Russian Federation and neighboring Azerbaijan.

In the south and west of the republic stretches Watershed Ridge Greater Caucasus. It traps moist air masses from the south, which is why the climate in Dagestan is dry.

Despite the high altitude of the mountains, the local glaciers are not as grandiose as their counterparts in the Central and Western Caucasus. The largest of them are located in the Bogos mountain range. The largest glacier in Dagestan is Belengi, 3.2 kilometers long, its ice thickness reaches 170 meters. IN Lately glaciers lost significantly in size, and many disappeared completely.

The highlands of Dagestan are the kingdom of alpine meadows. Close to their lower edge there is a forest that rises to a height of 2000 - 2200 meters. It is home to many different animals: Dagestan aurochs live here, from time to time the shadow of a mountain goat flashes among the rocks or a herd of fleet-footed chamois leaps past. They live in forest thickets brown bears and Caucasian deer, hares and martens. Here you can find flocks of rock partridges and mountain turkeys. Eagles soar high in the sky above the mountain peaks.

Inland Dagestan is an endless labyrinth of mountain ranges, peaks, cliffs and gorges. Many rivers are born in the mountains, which carry their waters to the Caspian Sea. Their path lies in deep valleys and gorges.

The northern regions of the republic, where the Terek-Kuma lowland lies, greet the traveler with completely different landscapes. In ancient times, the waves of the ancient sea splashed on these plains. The salt marshes and shells of sea mollusks found in the sands still remind us of this. Today it is very dry, and the surrounding landscapes are more desert-like. The main local inhabitants are saigas, hares, foxes and, of course, a huge number of rodents.

A few rivers cross the salt plain, but not all of them manage to reach the sea. Only the high-water Terek, Samur, Sulak, Uluchay and Rubas, having overcome the sand dunes, flow into the Caspian Sea. Just before the sea, the rivers form large deltas, which change their shape every year. Here, on the coast, among the reeds, there is a real oasis of life. Waders, herons, geese and cranes nest in the water. Flocks of partridges live in the coastal thickets and the loud meowing of a jungle cat can be heard. Despite the fact that the local forests are not so large, they are home to wild boars, jackals and red deer.

On the Sulak River there is the deepest canyon in Russia. Its length is more than 50 kilometers, and the average depth is 1200 meters. The canyon is divided into three sections - Main, Chirkey and Miatlinsky. The most fascinating of them is the Main One. Where the walls of the canyon meet especially closely, its depth reaches a maximum of 1920 meters (for comparison, at the Colorado Canyon this figure is only 1600 meters). The bottom of the abyss is immersed in twilight. The roar of the raging water below echoes throughout the surrounding area, and clouds of water dust constantly hang in the air.

Inner Dagestan is an endless labyrinth of mountain ranges, rock peaks and gorges.

The unique and only sand mountain may disappear in the Land of Mountains

There are many mountains in Dagestan, but there is only one sandy one, and it is the highest in Europe. This is the Sary-Kum dune translated from Kumyk " yellow sand" It is located several tens of kilometers northwest of Makhachkala.

A group of Dagestan bloggers visited the dune. It is very interesting for tourists. The Kumtorkalinsky municipal district could feed itself on this. However, no one cares about tourism. The protected area is not protected from the harmful effects of humans and livestock, and is not suitable for tourists.

The desert island is not accessible to tourists

Sarykum is the largest dune not only in Russia, but also on the entire continent of Eurasia, reaches absolute altitude 262 m. Here for 5 months, from May to September, average monthly temperatures exceed 20°.

At the foot of the dune, the absolute maximum temperature for Dagestan was 42.5°. This is explained by the strong heating of the sandy surface of the dune. In summer, on the slopes of southern exposure, the surface temperature of the dune reaches 55-60°. Already in April, the sand temperature during the day exceeds 30°.

Near the dune there is a railway line leading to Buynaksk. It was laid in the century before last to connect Russian provinces with the then capital of the Dagestan region, Temir-Khan-Shura.

Since Nicholas times, there have been walls at the foot railway station. Chicken coops were added to the walls of the historical site, and rabbits are also kept here. The building itself and the land are under the jurisdiction of the Department railways. But the department, apparently, has no time for history. And tourists, in general, are not their profile.

Why do quarries threaten the dune?

It turned out that the unique natural monument The Sary-Kum dune is threatened by sand quarries. Rare animals and plants on this desert island are disappearing.

Not far from the sandy mountain, a large glass factory is being built, where the bloggers also landed safely. Representatives of the plant reassured that sand for glass production would not be taken from the surrounding area of ​​the dune.

The reason is good. It is not suitable for glass production. The building material is cast from quartz sand. It will be imported from abroad, the plant explained.

For whom the winds have collected sand for thousands of years

There are several hypotheses about the origin of the sand mountain. I will try to talk about them without scientific scientific terminology. According to the first version, winds for hundreds of thousands of years collected sand bit by bit here.

The sand from the dune is different from ordinary sea sand. The grains of sand are very small. They are yellow and transparent. But this also speaks of the “wind” version. An ordinary wind can lift very small selected grains of sand into the air.

Fragments of slightly larger shells remain. This is what happens when the chaff is separated from the grain. The light chaff flies away, but the grain remains. In this case, fine sand is carried away from the sea coast by the wind.

But it’s good that nature has found a place where the winds can collect this sand. At the site of the dune, the landscape created a wind tunnel.

The mountain is losing height

But the problem is that the landscape of the sand mountain itself is being destroyed. Opposite Sary-Kum, there was another dune, smaller in height. The nameless neighbor, finding himself outside the territory of the reserve, was eaten by excavators of a sand quarry that had been operating for 25 years.

An unnamed dune, covered with sparse vegetation, was leveled to the plain. 20 years ago the quarry began at a cliff above the Shura-Ozen River valley. Now he has moved hundreds of meters deep into the mountain, removing a 15-meter layer of sand deposits.

High-quality fine sand is trucked out virtually every hour. Although the quarry is located outside the territory of the reserve, it causes irreparable damage to the Sary-Kum dune itself.

The fact is that a kind of “metabolism” took place between the dunes located on both sides of the river. Southern winds carried sand from a small dune to Sary-Kum.

The northern winds returned the sand to the little neighbor. As a result, Sary-Kum changed its appearance. The most high point the dune moved.

But now the sand from Sary-Kum is irretrievably eroded into the void formed by the quarry. This is one of the reasons for the reduction of the mountain. Over 50 years, the height of the mountain fell by 25 meters.

Desert island in the middle of a semi-desert

There is another hypothesis for the formation of the dune. Sary-Kum and his little neighbor are part of one sand dune, formed several tens of thousands of years ago, when the sea coast came close to the foot of the leading ridge of the Caucasian mountains Narat-Tyube.

Sand accumulated at the mouth of the river, forming a huge dune. When the sea retreated several tens of kilometers, the sandbank remained in the form of a huge dune. It was divided into two parts by the bed of the Shura-Ozen River.

The dune is part of the Dagestansky State Nature Reserve. The director of the reserve, Kurban Kuniev, claims that the sands on Mount Sary-Kum are absolutely identical in composition to the sands found everywhere on the slopes of the Narat-Tyube ridge within a radius of 20-30 kilometers.

The interlocutor considers the development of a quarry in close proximity to the dune undesirable. Sand can be mined in any other place south or north of the reserve. However, the quarry was opened in this place only because there is a road leading to the old village of Korkmaskala.

What amazes and delights any person who comes to Dagestan? Of course, mountain ranges. The mountains of Dagestan are perhaps its main attraction. At the same time, guests from the central part of Russia often do not even wonder how one peak differs from another. But for the Dagestanis themselves, many mountains have their own history and names.

Geographical and climatic features

Almost half of the entire Dagestan territory is occupied by mountains. They surround the republic from the southeast and northwest, but are considered foothills. The high mountainous part is the central territory. Few people know that on the territory of the republic there are 30 of the highest mountain peaks– peaks with a height of more than 4,000 meters. The largest of them is Bazarduzu; it (together with the ridge) is the border with Russia and the southernmost point of the country. In general, the area occupied by the mountains reaches 25.5 thousand square meters. kilometers.

Despite the abundance of mountains, the republic has a fairly dry climate. It belongs to the temperate continental category. This happens because the Dividing Range does not allow moist air flows from the south. This partly contributes to the brightness of the famous Dagestan alpine meadows - this is the name given to the flat areas on the mountain slopes adjacent to forests.

Finally, Mount Sarykum is of great interest to researchers. Its height is small - only 351 meters. But Sarykum attracts scientists because it is, in fact, a dune - the largest in Eurasia. The sand mountain constantly “dances”, changing shape under the pressure of the winds, but does not crumble.

Alpine glaciers and mountaineering routes

Not only peaks and ridges are the hallmark of the region. When talking about the Dagestan mountains, one cannot ignore the glaciers. There are a lot of them here, but they do not form a coherent massif and are distributed among the peaks and ridges. The largest glacier is observed on the Bogossky ridge; here the glaciation area reaches more than 16 km2. At the same time, some glaciers descend quite low - for example, Belengi (2520 meters). Here are the most Famous places glaciation:

1. Bogossky massif. This is the largest glacier in the eastern part, and in addition, the largest in length - over 3 km.
2. Butnushuer – Korkagel. The area of ​​the glacier is 2.2 square meters. km, and it has clearly not been studied enough by specialists.
3. Bişinei-Saladağ. It ranks second after the Bogos glaciation in area and includes 27 glaciers. Area – about 10 sq km.
4. Snow ridge. This glaciation is the northernmost in the republic, its area is 7.72 sq. km.
5. Dyultydag. On this ridge, glaciation is located along the northern slopes. Glaciers here are not represented by vast areas, but their boundaries are well explored.

It is worth considering that, despite the fact that the mountainous area as a whole has been well studied by both geologists and historians, there are still many discoveries ahead for researchers. In the meantime beautiful mountains Dagestan continues to attract tourists and climbers. There's quite a lot laid here tourist routes, and is replenished by the tourism industry.

Today you can go, for example, along the Main Caucasus Ridge along the catchment of the Sulak River (the route takes about 46 km). Another interesting option is along the Snowy Ridge through the plateau of the Celestial Falling Lakes to the same Sulak. The transition from Oritskali Dagestan Gorge to Moshota also arouses considerable interest among tourists. Finally, there is always the opportunity to walk along the line of the Bogossky ridge along the watershed of the Avar and Andean Koisu rivers.

These are not all possible routes. The region is as diverse as it is. Tourists are always welcome in villages where residents have long been famous for their generosity and hospitality. to personally see its nature and the people who live here and can tell a lot about their native mountains.

They are full of charm and internal contradictions: bright sun and snowy peaks, green alpine meadows and rocky cliffs, clear rivers and mudflows of stones and mud. And the Caucasus Mountains are full of legends and traditions. Plots related to the Caucasus occupy a significant place in Greek mythology (myths about Prometheus, the Golden Fleece and the Argonauts, Amazons, etc.). The Caucasus is also mentioned in the holy books of the Bible and the Koran.
The very origin of our mountains is also covered in legends. One of them was recorded by the great Alexandre Dumas when he traveled through the Caucasus in the mid-19th century. In ancient times, when there was only blue sky, steppe and a few small mountains, at the top of one of them an old man lived as a hermit, eating only berries and spring water. Over time, the devil began to tempt and torment the elder. The hermit endured it for a long time, but then he prayed to God asking permission to punish the devil. Having received permission, the old man heated the tongs and grabbed the offender’s nose with them. The devil literally howled in pain, lashing his tail on the ground. An earthquake began, as a result of which the Caucasus Mountains were formed. And where the blows of the tail destroyed the rocks, today there are gloomy gorges.
To find out about the occurrence mountain ranges on the territory of modern Dagestan from the point of view of science, we turned to a specialist - Candidate of Geographical Sciences, senior researcher at the Institute of Geology of the Dagestan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences Idris Idrisov.
– What preceded the appearance of mountains on the territory of Dagestan and when did this happen?
– The formation of mountains is a long and complex process. When events related to the formation of the modern Caucasus began, there were not only people on Earth, but also dinosaurs. This was in the second half of the Paleozoic era, more than 300 million years ago, when there was vast land here.
Subsequently, deep processes led to the formation of a vast ocean - Tethys. Specific sediments with the same type of fauna were deposited in it; later, a grandiose belt of mountains was formed from these rocks: the Alps, the Carpathians, the Caucasus, and the Himalayas.
Different parts of the Caucasus have different development histories. This is largely due to the structure of even deeper and more ancient parts - the foundation on which the “young” sedimentary cover rests. For example, the extreme south of Dagestan (from the Tsuntinsky to Akhtynsky regions) occupied the deepest parts of the ancient ocean, and deep-sea clays accumulated here. Over tens of millions of years after that, they turned into clay shales, which is why high-mountain Dagestan is also called Slantsevy. The vast land in those days was located to the north, and it was periodically flooded with water. According to modern data, it flowed into the sea. large rivers. Their deposits are represented by thick (hundreds of meters) strata of sandstone with interlayers of coal (a strip from the Tsumadinsky to Magaramkent regions). The age of these deposits is 165-200 million years.
Subsequently, the nature of the region's development changed dramatically. Under hot climate conditions, limestone deposits accumulated in the shallow zone. At that time, the strip from Shahdag in the south to the Khunzakh plateau and further to the northwest (up to Krasnodar region) was a tropical sea with corals. The rocks of that time (mainly limestones) form the central part, which is called Limestone Dagestan. Such rocks are most clearly represented in the north-west (from the Botlikh to Akushinsky regions), further to the south-east the strip of limestone development narrows sharply, leaving practically only the Karasyrt ridge.
The closure of Tethys and the sharp convergence of continental plates about 20 million years ago led to the beginning of the growth of mountains. At that time, the Caucasus was an island surrounded on all sides by the sea. The accumulated rocks were later either washed away, if they were clays, or preserved (if they were sandstones) in the form of a strip of low ridges surrounding the mountains of Dagestan. Subsequently, deposits of Sarmatian age accumulated - these are also clays, which are eroded almost everywhere, with a thin layer of limestone, fragments of which we see in the form of the Tarki-Tau and Dzhalgan mountains. The further history of the region is already connected with the isolated Caspian reservoir.
After the accumulation of rocks, tectonic (deep) processes took over the task of creating mountains, crushing rocks into folds, tearing them apart and moving them for kilometers along faults. In addition to tectonic processes, external (exogenous) processes also played a major role in creating the relief of the mountains of Dagestan: erosion by water, landslides, mountain glaciations, etc.
– Tell us in more detail about the features of our mountains.
– High-mountain Slate Dagestan is characterized by deep V-shaped valleys, with predominantly triangular peaks. In the highest places there is also a typically alpine - glacial topography, with moraines, lakes, etc. The most high peaks Dagestan with an altitude of more than 4,000 m. The largest ridges in this part are Snegovoy, Bogossky, Nukatl, Taklik, Dyultydag, Samursky, Khultaydag, Kyabyaktepe. In the extreme southwest the mountains are slightly lower, moist air penetrates through them from the south, and rich forests grow here.
Intramountain (Limestone) Dagestan is characterized by the presence of almost flat elongated plateau ridges (Khunzakh, Arakmeer, Turchidag, Gunib, Shunudag, etc.), up to 2,800 m high. These forms represent huge “waves of the Earth” - tectonic folds. In the river valleys there is an alternation of narrow sections (notable examples are the Sulak Canyon and the Karadakh Gorge) and wide basins. In these deep basins (Irganayskaya, Botlikhskaya, Kurminskaya, etc.) a specific dry and hot microclimate is established. There are steep rocky cliffs hundreds of meters high here.
In Foothill (Low Mountain) Dagestan there are three large outcrops of Cretaceous limestone, one of which is cut by the river. Sulak and where the relief is similar to Intramountain. The rest of the territory has relatively sloping ridges up to 800 m high, composed of sandstones with specific vegetation. The striking objects are two isolated plateau mountains (Tarki-Tau and Dzhalgan). In this zone there are two large tracts of forests: one in the northwest and it is associated with moisture masses coming from the Atlantic, the second in the southeast, in the Derbent region, where the influence of moisture coming from the Caspian Sea is felt.
– The Dagestan mountains are not only picturesque landscapes, but also the territory where, from time immemorial, the development of Agriculture, minerals were mined. How are these areas developing in the republic today?
– Previously, people were very careful about the land. Ancient villages were built in such a way as to save as much as possible the terraced land created by hand; houses often stood on top of each other. However, now immediate tasks have become important, in solving which our enterprise helps a lot. Few people think about what will happen next, who will pay for such a consumerist and barbaric attitude towards nature, towards their homeland. The history of the development of the Eastern Caucasus has determined the presence here of the richest resources of sedimentary rocks (limestone, dolomite, sandstone, gravel, clay, etc.), they are all being spontaneously developed, this is clearly seen in the unprecedented construction boom in the region. It’s a completely different matter what benefits this brings to Dagestan and Dagestanis as a whole and how rational such use of land is.
Thus, the mountains of Dagestan were seen different times: both complete development and desolation. Now the ancient terraces are mostly abandoned, but they will wait until people need them again. If we wisely use the resources that our mountains have, it will be possible to successfully develop agriculture, the extraction of building materials, tourism and much more.