Chara Depression
The Chara Depression is an intermontane depression located in the northern part of Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia.
It lies in the upper course of the Chara River, between the Kodar, Udokan, and Kalar ranges.
The depression begins in the southwest, near the lakes Bolshoye Leprindo and Leprindokan, and extends northeast to about 5 km south of the Sulumat Rapids, with a small eastern branch.
Within these limits, the Chara Depression stretches up to 125 km in length and reaches a maximum width of about 35 km in its central part.
The elevation of the basin floor varies between 630 and 1,100 m above sea level.
Its slopes and bottom are occupied by numerous piedmont fans, alluvial cones, glacial and fluvioglacial landforms, and river terraces that were largely shaped by the climatic conditions of the glacial and postglacial periods.
The sharply continental climate, characterized by prolonged stagnation of cold air, leads not only to treelessness but also to the formation of drifting sands known as tukulans—sand dune ridges of Central Asian appearance.
As a result, a vast sandy massif — the Chara Sands — has formed on the right bank of the lower reaches of the Sredniy Sakukan River.
The basin contains numerous small lakes of predominantly glacial, fluvioglacial, oxbow, and thermokarst origin, and parts of its territory are swampy.
The junction between the basin’s slopes and the surrounding mountains is rather steep, especially near the Kodar Range.
The main landscapes are swampy meadows, thickets of dwarf birch, pine forests, and mountain taiga.