Yangantau Mountain
Yangantau Mountain is a unique geothermal feature on the platform that is not associated with magmatism. The mountain is located in the southern part of the Yuryuzan-Sylva depression of the Pre-Ural trough, in close proximity to the associated Karatau allochthon on the right bank of the Yuryuzan River, in its left bend, east of the village of Chulpan. It is a hill stretching from southwest to northeast along the right bank of the Yuryuzan River. The absolute elevation of the peak is 416 m, the sole is 252 m above sea level.
Five sites have been described within Yangantau Mountain, where hot gases and steam escape from the depths. The heating of the mountain's interior has been established at more than 300 ° C. The issue of the formation of high-temperature geothermal anomalies is still open.
Quite a lot of points of view have been expressed, each of which is substantiated by factual material corresponding to the period of research and characterizing the general level of geological knowledge of those times.
To determine the genesis of the thermal anomalies of Yangantau Mountain, it is necessary to use other criteria that have not yet been used, based on both previously known and new knowledge about the features of the geological structure of the region. Research is needed in the field of structural geology and geotectonics in the light of new ideas; study of paleomagnetic features of the youngest, Quaternary formations; seismological observations based on fault tectonics; establishment of the paleotemperature regime and its relationship with structural elements.
To determine the genesis of the thermal anomalies of Yangantau Mountain, it is necessary to use other criteria that have not yet been used, based on both previously known and new knowledge about the features of the geological structure of the region. Research is needed in the field of structural geology and geotectonics in the light of new ideas; study of paleomagnetic features of the youngest, Quaternary formations; seismological observations based on fault tectonics; establishment of the paleotemperature regime and its relationship with structural elements.
The mystery of the Yangantau Mountain Phenomenon
The main known hypotheses are as follows:
- an underground fire of bituminous shales caused by a lightning strike (P.S. Pallas, 1773, supported by F.N. Chernyshev, 1886; B.A. Nikitin, 1934, etc.);
- oxidation of bituminous shales with self-heating and smoldering (V.V. Shtilmark, 1939, 1952-1954, 1966, etc.);
- chemical reactions with the release of heat, in particular the transition of iron oxide to oxide (the first observations of F.N. Chernyshev, 1881-1885, supported by S.S. Petrov at the beginning of the twentieth century, etc.);
- heat generated as a result of rock friction in discharge zones (K.A. and L.A. Milovidov and I.A. Ogildi, 1948, etc.);
- the heat of a magmatic hearth heating water vapor rising through discharge cracks (A. Bikkel, 1932). In 1957, G.V. Vakhrushev proposed the hypothesis of radioactive heat rising from great depths. In the late 1970s, the research was conducted by the staff of the Geological Faculty of Moscow State University, under the leadership of A.I. Konyukhov (1979).
- Among the "endogenous" hypotheses, the magmatic hypothesis (including the volcanic one) should be ignored. On the one hand, it is a derivative of the tectonic one, and on the other, it is poorly consistent with the magmatic nature of all marginal bends in the world, including the Pre—Ural one, where Mount Yangantau is located.
Geolocation
Address:
Republic of Bashkortostan, Salavatsky district, village of Yangantau
Republic of Bashkortostan, Salavatsky district, village of Yangantau