What are the versions of the hypothesis of the origin of the Crimean mountains. Crimean mountains

In the south-west, the rock protrudes into the forest as a ledge: having rounded it and moving south, we meet the largest cave. In front of it is a natural terrace, at the left end of which there is an entrance in the form of a door: opposite the entrance there is a ledge with a niche, above them, on both sides, there are two thread-like recesses. According to Borovko, "some take it for a cave temple, but not a Christian one." Parses Borovko and the main hypotheses about the origin of the caves. The first attribute their formation to the "people of ancient times", Strabo's "troglodytes": this point of view was expressed by Dubois de Monpere, D. Strukov, G. Karaulov. Others attribute crypts to Christians fleeing persecution, icon worshipers (Pallas and others). According to the third hypothesis, expressed by the German scientist Tunman in 1777, Tepe-kermen is a cemetery of ancient times. “Tepe-kermen, that is, the castle of the mountain peak,” he wrote, “is a high, detached mountain in the form of a sugar loaf ... on top of which the remains of a fortress, apparently of the deepest antiquity, are still visible. The whole rock is covered with countless grottoes and caves arranged in a special order, almost like the columbariums of the ancients. One might think that their purpose was to serve as burial places.

Interestingly, Tunman mentions the ruins of a fortress at the top. Today, only the remains of the “beds” of the battle wall speak of its existence, which, together with the upper flights of the road carved into the rock, testify to a well-thought-out system of fortifications, quite typical for the early medieval fortresses of the Inner Ridge - Eski-kermen, Mangup (on Cape Teshkli-burun), etc. In this case, we can consider the caves above the upper march of the road as "cave casemates" that were part of the defense system, and Tepe-kermen itself as a feudal castle of the early Middle Ages, possibly arising on the territory of a fortified shelter, with a rural settlement adjacent to it, to which belonged to the caves of the eastern and southeastern slopes.

Having descended from Tepe-kermen and turning left along a country road, we will go out to the narrow southern spur of the nearest plateau, on which the ancient settlement of Kyz-kermen is located - the Maiden's Fortress. On three sides it is bounded by almost sheer cliffs, and from the north it is connected to the plateau by a narrow isthmus, where a defensive wall passed, which can be traced along a 130 m long collapse of stones covered with turf. there was a gate, and at the western one, apparently, there was an exit gate: close to it there was a descent into the gorge along a cut-out ladder. In 1961, archaeologist A.L. Yakobson unearthed here the remains of residential and utility buildings that belonged to the settlement of the 8th–9th centuries. In a number of places of the settlement, the remains of grape presses carved into the rock are visible. Kyz-kermen was almost as big as Chufut-kale and Eski-kermen in terms of the size of the walled area: just like these cities, there was a vast undeveloped territory, separated from the city by an internal non-defensive wall and now densely overgrown with forest. In peacetime, this inner space could serve as a parking lot for caravans and market square, and in the military - a place of corral for cattle and shelter of the rural population of the nearest district. In short, Kyz-Kermen since its inception in the 5th century. had all the necessary conditions for turning into a significant city at that time, and this was facilitated by its location on the ancient routes leading through the Kachi valley, the Kibit-bogaz pass to the Alushta valley, that is, to the South coast, and at the intersection of these routes with the main trade route leading from the steppes to Chersonese. However, life in the city ceased at the end of the 9th century: it was probably destroyed by the Khazars.

There is a legend about Kyz-Kermen and Tepe-Kermen. According to her, Kyz-Kermen was once a well-fortified trading city. They were ruled by a prince, who was helped in everything by a beautiful daughter. And the prince and the squad of the neighboring Tepe-Kermen incessantly offended the city, robbing trade caravans, trying to subjugate its inhabitants. To restore peace, the elders of Kyz-Kermen decided to marry the daughter of the prince and heir to the castle. The young people agreed, but a dispute arose between them: the young prince demanded that the bride come to his castle, but the girl was proud and believed that the prince should first come to her. It was decided that a bridge would be built across the ravine separating Kyz-Kermen and Tepe-Kermen, in the middle of which the young people would meet. And so, accompanied by a retinue, they entered the bridge, but having reached its middle, the girl, remembering old grievances, drew a dagger and killed the groom. The prince's squad hacked her to death, and the enmity between the city and the castle flared up again. And the bridge collapsed: the huge stones from which it was built, as the legend says, are still scattered along the ravine separating both settlements. This legend, like many Crimean legends, is multi-layered: here are echoes of matriarchy with its more independent position of women in society (our heroine participates in government affairs and owns weapons, does not agree to submit to her husband's authority); here are the contradictions characteristic of the early Middle Ages between the interests of the trade and craft population of the city and feudal strife; here, perhaps, is the memory of the earthquake and the destruction caused by it.

Kachi-Kalyon is located 8 km south of Bakhchisaray. Like all " cave cities", it is located on a spur of the Inner Ridge at an altitude of 450–510 m above sea level. From Bakhchisarai you can come here by bus to the village of Predushchelny.

Passing the Tash-Air rock, behind a spring flowing from under huge boulder, again we leave on the highway. Soon, the rock of Kachi-Kalyon, which looks like the bow of a ship, is shown, cut up by cracks at the top, forming an image of a huge cross. Hence - one of the explanations for the name of the rock - "crusade ship". There is no written evidence about Kachi-Kalion, it is little studied archaeologically, and legends that have survived to this day that there was once a pagan temple "with an idol of the same name", according to the famous Crimean historian V. X. Kondaraki, may , are true. However, the sight of the Big Grotto with a spring flowing directly from the rock and a century-old tree growing in front of it can hardly leave anyone indifferent. There are few places on earth that would with great reason deserve the name of a temple in the full sense of the word, but erected by nature itself. He had to make an even greater impression on our ancestors, who worshiped rocks, trees, and springs. Traces of pagan beliefs have been preserved here until recently: even today, knots from shreds of fabric are tied on the branches of an old cherry tree. Apparently, it was not by chance that a monastery arose here: Christians often built temples and chapels in places revered by pagans as saints.

Crimean mountains

Crimean mountains- a complex geological structure located in the southern part of the Crimean peninsula. The mountains stretch from Cape Fiolent in the southwest (near Balaklava, Sevastopol) to Cape Ilya in the east (near Feodosia) for 180 km, and the maximum width of the massif in the middle part is 45-50 km.

The structure of the Crimean peninsula

In the geological structure of the Crimean Peninsula, several large geotectonic structures of various ages are distinguished. The northern, Sivash, region of Crimea represents the deepest part of the Black Sea platform depression (Karkinitsko-Genichesk trough). To the south of it is a large Simferopol uplift of a folded basement, buried under the Meso-Cenozoic deposits (Scythian Plate). Between this uplift and the structures of the Crimean Mountains, there is the Alma depression, which opens to the Black Sea in the west. The depression is filled with Cretaceous and Paleogene-Neogene deposits overlying Middle Jurassic folded deposits. The eastern part of the Crimean peninsula is represented by structures that extend here from Ciscaucasia - the Azov-Kuban foredeep, filled mainly with Paleogene and Neogene deposits. Within the trough, the Kerch folded zone is distinguished, gravitating towards the northwestern dip Caucasian ridge. Mountainous Crimea has the most complex structure.

In the place of the mountains in the Crimea, in ancient times, the sea spread. The bottom of the Black Sea was uneven, divided by underwater ridges into deep elongated hollows, in which sands and clays accumulated. In places, the ridges rose above sea level, forming rocky islands with a rugged coastline. In swampy areas of quiet shallow bays, tropical plants accumulated along with silt and sand, which later turned into coal.

In the eastern part of the Crimea lies the Kerch Peninsula, cut by the low Parpach ridge. In the place of the mountains in the Crimea, in the Middle Jurassic, the sea still spread. Its bottom was uneven, divided by underwater ridges into deep elongated hollows, in which sands and clays accumulated. In places, the ridges rose above sea level, forming rocky islands with a rugged coastline. In swampy areas of quiet shallow bays, tropical plants accumulated along with silt and sand, which later turned into coal.

The continuing deflection of the bottom of the geosyncline in the Middle Jurassic epoch again led to the formation of faults, along which magma again rushed from the depths. This epoch is the time of the most intense volcanic activity in the mountainous Crimea. The remains of Middle Jurassic volcanoes have been found in many parts of the Crimea - on Kara-Dag, near the village of Limeny (Blue Bay), near Melas and Foros, near the village of Karagach (Kizilovka) near Simferopol and in other places.

At the boundary between the Middle and Upper Jurassic, major event in the geological history of the mountainous Crimea: for a relatively short period, almost all the land of the mountainous Crimea becomes elevated above sea level. During this period of time, the main features of the "architecture" of the mountains in the Crimea were formed. Then the sea returns to the Crimean mountains again, but it occupies a much smaller area. It was no longer a vast geosyncline, but a narrow and long trough, in which calcareous silts accumulated, which later turned into limestone. Today they form the uppermost part of the First Ridge.

The Late Jurassic trough with some changes also existed in the Lower Cretaceous. By the middle of the Cretaceous, the third great uplift in the history of the Crimean Mountains takes place: the islands, merging with each other, form the base of the future mountain range. Volcanoes arose on some islands. The volcanic activity of the Cretaceous period was the last stage of volcanism in the Crimean mountains. And although in its further geological history there were still many turbulent events, the outpouring of lavas was no longer repeated.
In subsequent geological epochs, the uplift of the Crimean Mountains expands, and its modern appearance is formed. Initially a vast island gradually turns into a peninsula. The development proceeded unevenly: the earth's crust either sank, and the outskirts of the peninsula were flooded with sea, then it rose significantly in the form of a wide flat arch.

In the middle of the Neogene period (11 - 12 million years ago), the territory on the site of the mountainous Crimea was never flooded by the sea again. The surface leveled by the sea was raised by tectonic processes to a height of up to 1300 m. This is the level of the flat tops of the First Ridge. The uplift of mountains in the Crimea led to a sharp increase in the destructive activity of rivers. Arrays of rocks broke off from the coastal limestone cliffs of the First Range and slid down steep slopes to the sea.

One of the last stages of the geological history of the Earth, the Quaternary, which is also called glacial, stands out in particular. At that time, in the northern hemisphere, not only high mountains, but also the plains adjacent to them were covered with ice. Large glaciers also covered the neighboring Crimean peninsula mountain ranges of the Carpathians and the Caucasus. In the Crimea, neither in the foothills nor in the mountains were found direct signs of glacier activity. But some scientists believe that during the maximum glaciation on the Russian Plain, the Crimean Mountains, then already significantly elevated, were covered with powerful accumulations of snow, and perhaps even glaciers. In the middle of the Quaternary period, arctic fox, reindeer, and lynx lived here. The vegetation on the northern slope of the Crimean Mountains was represented by birch forest-steppe. And when the climate warmed up, the traces of glacial activity on the yayles were destroyed by the rapidly advancing dissolution of limestones.

Connected to the mainland by a narrow Perekop isthmus, the mountainous Crimea has the shape of a quadrangle with a wide ledge - in the east by a long ledge of the Kerch Peninsula, in the northwest by the Tarkhankut Peninsula. The area of ​​Crimea is approximately 26 thousand square meters. km. The distance from the southernmost point of Crimea - Cape Sarych to Perekop in the north - 195 km, in the latitudinal direction from the Kerch Peninsula to Cape Tarkhankut - 325 km. Crimea from the south and west is washed by the Black Sea, from the east by Sivash - a shallow lagoon Sea of ​​Azov.
The surface of Crimea is sharply divided into the northern, flat (steppe) part, which occupies three-quarters of the area of ​​the peninsula, and the southern, mountainous, which accounts for a quarter of the entire area.
The relief of the flat part of the Crimea is rather monotonous. The picture is different in the mountainous Crimea. In the form of a gentle arc more than 160 km long, the mountains stretch along the southern coast of the peninsula. They consist of three ridges, gradually rising to the south and breaking off at the Black Sea coast with a multi-hundred-meter ledge.

The first, or Main Ridge, is the highest, stretching along the coast from Feodosia to Balaklava. Between its northern gentle and southern steep slopes there is a leveled surface of the ridges, the so-called yayls, wide in some places (up to 8 km), in others narrow, or even completely interrupted by deeply incised gorges.
The height of the eggs is different. Above all Babagun-yayla. It contains the highest peaks of the Crimean Mountains - Roman-Kosh (1545 m) and Demir-Kapu (1540 m).
The second ridge is much lower than the First (up to 600 - 750 m above sea level). It goes to the north, parallel to it, separated by a wide longitudinal valley.
The third ridge is the lowest, its height does not exceed 350 m above sea level. It is located north of the Second and is separated from it by a longitudinal valley, especially clearly expressed between Sevastopol and Simferopol.
In the eastern part of Crimea lies the Kerch Peninsula, cut by the low Parpach ridge.

Posted Sun, 05/04/2015 - 07:27 by Cap

The surface of Crimea is sharply divided into a northern, flat part, which occupies about three-quarters of the area of ​​the peninsula, and a southern, mountainous part. The relief of the flat part is monotonous: in the north it is completely flat, like a table, a plain, railway station Dzhankoy is slightly hilly. Low ridges stretch to the west on the Tarkhankut Peninsula, and foothills begin near Simferopol.
The Crimean Mountains stretch along the southern coast of the peninsula in a gentle arc more than 160 km long and up to 40-50 km wide. They are clearly divided into three ridges: Main, Internal and External.
The main ridge stretches from Balaklava to Feodosia. Its peaks are flattened surfaces, wide in some places (up to 8 km), in others narrow, or even completely interrupted by deeply incised upper reaches of the rivers. Such flat highlands are called yayla (the word "yayla" is of Turkic origin, meaning "summer pasture"). The height of the Main Ridge above sea level reaches 1200 - 1500 m. The highest is Babugan-yayla, topped by Roman-Kosh peak (1545 m). The seaside strip adjacent to the Main Ridge is called the Southern Coast of Crimea. They also distinguish the Herakleian Peninsula, located between the western edge of the South Bank and the valley of the Chernaya River near Sevastopol.

Crimean mountains (Mountainous Crimea)

The inner ridge is much lower than the Main one (up to 600 - 760 m above sea level). It stretches parallel to the Main and is separated from it by an inter-ridge depression of 10 - 25 km. In places, there are isolated low mountains and short ridges with flat tops, formed during the erosion of the Inner Ridge. These are the remnant mountains Mangup, Eski-Kermen, Tepe-Kermen and others - natural bastions on which fortress cities were built in the Middle Ages.

Having examined the conglomerates, let's move on. The trail passes to another clone of the Valley of Ghosts, deepens into the forest, winds along a steep slope and leads to a vast area with a palisade of heavy weathering figures in the form of squat cones. Amazingly nice place to stay. Surprising silence all around, noisy roads turned out to be far away. Further, the wide path gradually rises to the top of South Demerdzhi. You find yourself in a peculiar and picturesque world. The rocks, constantly blown by the wind, are cut with niches and cells. In places there are so many of them that they look like giant honeycombs. We will go up the hollow to the cliff with a triangulation mark on the top of South Demerdzhi (height 1239 m above sea level).
From the top there is a wide panorama. Before us is the spacious Alushta Valley and the trapezoid Mount Kastel. In the west, the characteristic silhouette of Ayudag is visible, further in the bluish haze is the jagged crown of Ai-Petri. In the east, a huge flat and long cape Meganom is drawn, in front of it is Mount Sokol near Sudak, which looks like a sugar loaf.

MOUNTAIN Ai-Petri
Mount Ai-Petri, depicted on postcards and photographs, crowned with a stone crown of teeth, is one of the most popular symbols. From Miskhor or Alupka, it looks like a fortress tower guarding the approaches to the Main Ridge. see photos of Mount Ai-Petri
The starting point of the excursion is the Ai-Petri mountain shelter on the yayla of the same name. We will get to it by bus from Yalta or Bakhchisaray. You can also get to the yayla from Miskhor by cable car to the top station cableway, and from it a stone's throw to the teeth of Ai-Petri.

So, we are at the mountain shelter. If you stand facing the sea, then to the left over the cliff we will see the Shishko rock, named after the engineer who led at the end of the 19th century. construction of the road Bakhchisaray - Yalta. In the distance to the horizon stretches the blue sea surface. The streets of Yalta run down to the bay. To the left, a spur of the Nikitskaya Yayla ran into the sea, ending at Cape Martyan. Behind him is the humpbacked contour of Ayudag. Closer to the Nikitsky spur in the direction of Yalta, the rocky ridge Iograph departs, ending with the Darsan hill in Yalta. On the right is the cone-shaped Mount Mogabi, shaped like a volcano. But in reality, this is a limestone rock that has come off the Main Ridge and moved along the slope of the South Bank. To the right of Mogabi, Cape Ai-Todor is visible, stretching out with three "paws" into the sea, behind it is the resort village of Miskhor.
If you turn your back to the cliff, the hilly Ai-Petrinsky plateau will open. On the left, the characteristic teeth of Ai-Petri rose above the horizon, straight ahead, in the north, rises the rounded mountain Bedene-Kyr; on the right - a series of peaks, the most extreme of them is Mount Roca.

Let's go to the deserted part of the yayla to the teeth of Ai-Petri. The way in both directions will be 7 - 8 km. A rocky road begins a few dozen meters from the highway. It gently bends, adapts to the depressions between the hills, leaving an unusual geodesic sign on the left in the form of a cast-iron globe on a stone pedestal. On the left along the way, the jagged peak of Ai-Petri looms all the time.
Here is the vast Priaipetrinskaya basin. We found ourselves in a world of karst and mountain meadows. Gentle hills alternate with depressions, limestone ridges with stepped slopes go into the distance. Blocks of limestone with cracks and through holes protrude from the thick grass; the stone is smoothed. There is no forest, only in some places in depressions protected from the wind, there are groves of beech, hornbeam and pine. All around are juicy flowering meadows with the intoxicating aroma of thyme, St. John's wort and lemon balm, strawberry bushes. Quite a rare Crimean railway tends to rocky areas of the highlands. Its pubescent pale green twigs with yellow calyces, as if strung together, emit a lemon scent and, easily swayed by the wind, are visible from afar.
In some places on the yail there are trees of dogwood, wild rose and shaggy pear, curtains of dark green juniper. In general, a real exhibition of vegetation of the Crimean yayl!

The peculiar relief of the Ai-Petrinsky yaila, as well as Chatyrdag and other yaila, is of karst origin. The water that penetrated deep into the array of chemically pure limestones developed vertical and horizontal channels, which gradually expanded and deepened, turning into natural caves, mines and wells. And bowl-shaped depressions appeared on the surface of the yayla.
In the central part of the Priaipetrinskaya basin, the Trekhglazka, or Ledyanaya, mine is accessible for inspection. It opens to the surface with three holes - "eyes", which determined its name. On one of them we go down the stairs to a depth of 26 m (the height of a 10-story building!) To the bottom of the mine, to the shore underground lake an area of ​​about 300 square meters. In winter, cold air accumulates at the bottom of the mine and displaces warm air for many months. Due to the condensation moisture flowing down, ice is formed, on which lies the snow that has fallen from above (which persists until mid-summer). Above the frozen lake is the "eye" of the mine, a kind of window that floods a multi-meter snow cone with bluish light.
Due to the special microclimate, ice stalactites and stalagmites formed in the central hall of the mine, and ice crusts formed at the bottom. Large accumulations of ice in Trekhglazka have long been known, and Yalta residents at the beginning of the 20th century. ice was mined here for food storage.

Reef limestone massifs are also found in Balaklava to Koktebel. This means that in the Late Jurassic, an extended barrier reef arose in the sea at the site of the current South Coast. And to the north of it, across the strait, lay ancient dry land.
At the cliff, the yayly rise, like the fangs of a giant dragon, the teeth of Ai-Petri. Among them are four especially large ones, up to 12 - 15 m high, and many small ones. The teeth were formed during the weathering of the reef mass, dissected by faults.
On the way back, we will go along the path near the cliff of the Main Ridge. At the edge of the forest we will see a very old berry yew, whose age is estimated at a thousand years. His crown has almost completely died out and there are many large influxes on the trunk, but the dark green needles are still shiny. Even further, already on the south coast slope, you can see the "plane pine" - a tree so named because of the completely flat crown formed by strong Yaylin winds. Then we go out to the already well-known mountain road and along it to the mountain shelter - the beginning of the excursion.

GRAND CANYON
Canyon - a deep narrow valley with sheer walls. Often there is a gorge next to it - a valley with steep slopes and a narrow bottom, partially filled with water. Of the Crimean canyons, of exceptional interest is grand canyon in the upper reaches of the river Auzun-Uzen in the vicinity of the village of Sokolinoye on the northern slope of the Ai-Petri Yayla. grand canyon

For the beginning of the tour, we will take the bus stop "Grand Canyon" on the highway Bakhchisaray - Yalta, 5 kilometers above the village of Sokolinoe. We go down the forest road to the valley to the fast river Sary-Uzen. We cross it and then the next Auzun-Uzen, flowing from the Grand Canyon. We will go along the path on the wooded slope to the upper reaches of the Auzun-Uzen, and soon a gap will open in the thicket of the forest and a rocky wall will appear, dissected by a huge cleft of the Grand Canyon. From below comes the sound of a mountain stream, hidden by a dense wall of forest. The trail descends to a rapids river, overflowing with a small lake with crystal clear blue water. it beautiful place called Apple Ford (there are many wild apple trees in its vicinity). Further, the Auzun-Uzeni valley can be divided into two parts: the lower one, up to the Bath of Youth, is the gorge, and the upper one is the canyon proper.
The gorge is easily passable. The rocky slopes are steeply inclined towards each other and are separated by a stone bed 10 - 20 m wide. A stream flows along the limestone bed, washing away either the right or the left rocky slope. In some places, the water flows calmly, in others it breaks in a silvery stream in cascades and waterfalls into small lakes-reaches. They say that trout is caught in such places. The water is so clear that it seems that there is no water and you can take pebbles from the bottom with dry hands.
Not far from Yablonevy Ford, on the left bank, a miniature peninsula juts out, washed by Auzun-Uzen and a stream of spring water. A transparent stream flows from the depths of a rocky slope - from a crevice littered with boulders. Water comes from one of the largest karst sources in the Crimea, Pania, with an average flow rate of 370 liters per second. It is Pania that provides the main water for Auzun-Uzen.
Above the source, the power of the watercourse decreases sharply, and in dry weather it looks like a stream several tens of centimeters wide. The stone bed of the gorge, turned by flowing water, is composed of strong light gray, almost white limestones of the Oxfordian stage of the Upper Jurassic. Barely inclined along the flow, almost horizontal sections are replaced by ledges up to 1 - 1.5 m high. Thus, the layered structure of the limestone strata is manifested in the relief of the bottom of the gorge. A jet of water slowly flows along the furrows-gullies, breaks off the rapids into natural boilers and baths, flows out of them along the grooves, again falls into another depression and so goes its way.
Cauldrons and baths of the Auzun-Uzeni bed were formed during the destruction of the stone bed by water jets falling from the ledge during floods. The rushing water breaks with force against the stone bed and develops depressions, and the stones that find themselves in it rotate with the whirlpools and whirlpools of the river. Stones, like drills, deepen and widen depressions, turning them into natural cauldrons with vertical surfaces. And when the ledge of the waterfall collapses and recedes, the boiler turns into a bath. Such boilers and bathtubs are called evorsion (from the Latin evorzio - destruction), or gigantic. At their bottom often lie boulders and pebbles, a kind of drilling tool. Ultimately, the evorsion cauldron takes on a pitcher-like shape.
The gorge ends with a three-meter ledge with a waterfall falling into a large bath filled with water, about 5 m long. Previously, it was called Karagol, but now it is called the Bath of Youth. Clear and cold (9 - 11 ° C - on a hot summer day), the water in it never dries up. They say that after bathing in the bath, at least for a while, the features of youth return - a delicate complexion, a smile and irrepressible vivacity. Check it out!

Only after the Bath of Youth begins the actual canyon. The one and a half kilometer path along it is accessible only in dry weather and only to those who are healthy and have elementary climbing skills. Limestone slopes rapidly rose up, forming a grandiose narrow stone corridor. In some places, the bottom of the canyon narrows to 2 m, in other areas it expands to 8–10 m. And at a height of 50–60 m (the height of a 20-storey building), the distance between the slopes does not exceed 15–20 m.
It is clearly seen that the sides of the canyon are different in height. The right one is relatively low - 50 - 60 m, while the left one is much higher - up to 250 - 300 m and is absolutely sheer. In this situation, it is not surprising that there is little light in the canyon: even at the height of a sunny day, dusk reigns, and only a strip of blue sky shines far above.
The configuration of the canyon is curious - it is not at all straightforward: its walls are drawn out zigzag after zigzag. Eleven straight sections 130 - 150 m long each are connected to each other at the knee. Therefore, in no place is the canyon visible through, and the traveler feels as if he has fallen into a stone trap. After the next turn, other stone walls open up. The kingdom of silence. Only occasionally is the rustle of stones crumbling from above and the distant noise of trees at a height of three hundred meters.
At the beginning of the canyon, a transparent stream runs along a stone bed, cut by evorsion boilers and baths. The source hid in the right side of the second section of the canyon in a gloomy grove of yews that have been preserved in the Crimea since the preglacial era. Behind the yews, the dry part of the canyon begins. Underfoot is a stepped rocky bed, along which he is forced to either walk or climb. Giant cauldrons and bathtubs follow each other with smooth, as if polished, vertical walls up to two or more meters high, which are not so easy to catch with your fingers. Then the log attached to the wall helps out.
The canyon strikes with its severe grandeur all the way. After the next turn, new walls open up, unlike those just passed. Desert and primordial silence, some kind of fantastic world in reality.
At the end of the journey, don't miss the dry mouth of the Yokhagan-Su stream (in Crimean Tatar, "absent water"). The rocky bed of the stream, drilled out by evorsion boilers, breaks off with a sheer wall from a height of 10 - 12 m.
Soon after the mouth of Johan-Su, the walls of the canyon become lower, move apart and turn sharply to the southeast. The gorge turns into a vast Kuru-Uzen basin with an anhydrous bed of the Kuru-Uzen river, which runs steeply down the slope of the Ai-Petri yayla.
The Kuru-Uzen basin is a completely different geographical and geological world, strikingly different from the Grand Canyon. The wide flat bottom of the basin is lined with pebbles, there is not a trace of ledges and gigantic boilers, without which it is impossible to imagine the just passed gorge. Huge stone cliffs have been replaced by forested slopes outlined by smooth, calm lines. The limestones of the Oxfordian stage of the canyon were replaced by younger sandstones and clays of the Tithonian stage. There is a tectonic contact (rupture) on the border of the canyon and the basin. Along the rupture, a fragment of the large Yalta fault, the canyon block was uplifted, while the neighboring block was lowered, and the Kuru-Uzen basin of tectonic origin was formed in it.
So, we went to the beginning of the Grand Canyon. From here you can return the same way or go around the gorge on the right along the path near the cliff. The first way is short, but difficult because of the numerous descents along the walls of evorsion boilers and baths; the second one is longer, but without rocky obstacles.
Going around the canyon on top, we will see that the relief of the right slope is complex, more precisely three-story: above the gorge (first floor) rises a steep slope of the gorge (second floor), ending at the top with a flat bottom ancient river. The position of the canyon was determined by a powerful extended fault in the earth's crust in the northeast direction, along which the limestones are crushed.

STREET AYAZMA
In the long strip of the South Coast, a special place is occupied by a section with a steep and impregnable cliff of the Main Ridge advancing towards the sea between Balaklava Bay and the rocky Cape Aya. The area is not similar to any other place on the South Coast and, as a special part of it, is singled out in the tract. Specialists in Crimean toponymy associate the name of the tract with the Greek word ayazma, meaning "sanctified, blessed." Probably, in the vicinity of the tract to ancient temple at Cape Aya.
The Ayazma tract occupies the space between the Balaklava Bay and Cape Aya, outstanding in size, half a kilometer high. Connoisseurs of the nature of the Crimea do not exaggerate when they admire the marvelous landscapes of the tract, its grandiose slopes steeply falling towards the shore, they are surprised at the wild chaos of boulders and rocks.
And the artist will succinctly say: I see wonderful world colors of the sea, sky and mountains.
The seaside forest of the tract is also unique with such common, but in fact rare trees as Stankevich's pine, tall juniper, evergreen strawberry and wild pistachio, which have come down to us from the pre-glacial period of the Earth's history. The landscape of the tract impresses no less than the famous landscapes of Batiliman, Laspi and Melas of the same South Coast.
You can get to the tract in two ways: from Balaklava along the path along the sea slope towards Cape Aya or from the 22nd kilometer of the Sevastopol-Yalta road to the village of Reserve, and then go down to the sea. The best way is to combine the two. From the Sevastopol - Yalta road through the Reserve pass to the tract, and then along the seaside slope to Balaklava. So let's do it.
From Sevastopol highway at first it passes along the Heracleian plateau, then it enters the gorge of the Dry River. Soon the steep walls of the gorge move apart, and we find ourselves in a wide and flat, shallow Varnaut basin. At the 22nd kilometer of the highway, a side road 2 km long begins to the village of Reserve. The flat bottom and gentle slopes of the Varnaut Basin do not make much of an impression. At the outskirts of the Reserve turn right onto a country road. We cross a vast field and through a low mountain forest gradually rise to the pass. Along the way, local rocks are visible in some places - Upper Jurassic marbled limestones and conglomerates.
The forest suddenly ends, and we suddenly find ourselves on a low pass, about 300 - 350 m above sea level. A breathtaking panorama of the boundless sea and a mountain slope steeply leaving to the sea, completely covered with forest, opens up. On the sides, rocky peaks and walls close the tract. In the unusually clean and transparent air, the distant Balaklava heights are clearly drawn.
The descent from the pass is initially steep and requires attention. We will stick to a well-filled winding rocky path, bending around protruding boulders and rocks one after another. And in some places there are so many debris that impassable stone fields appear. Sheer chaos, and there is no order in the location of the stone material: blocks and fragments of various sizes lie next to the collapsed rocks. All this testifies to the repeated collapses of the limestone cliff of the Main Ridge.
Nevertheless, in the stone chaos, pine grows magnificently - the main tree species of the tract, often forming small groves penetrated by light. Take a look at the tree. This is not at all the usual slender Crimean pine with black and gray bark. Before us is a large spreading tree with brownish bark and a hemispherical crown, intricately curved serpentine branches, lush and long needles and sessile large cones directed strictly upwards. In other trees, the branches stretched out horizontally, like ribbons in the wind. Pine is very decorative and at the same time purely individual. Focus a little, and it will immediately catch your eye how different the trees are. At first glance, they look the same. But pines with branched trunks are especially impressive. Such an unusual pine grows only in two areas of the South Coast - from Cape Aya to Balaklava and near Sudak in the New World. They call it the Stankevich pine (after the Crimean forester, the discoverer of this tree at the beginning of the 20th century), Sudak and Pitsunda. Stankevich's pine is classified as a reserved tree and is listed in the "Red Book of Ukraine".
Pine amazes with irrepressible vitality and, regardless of the puzzling relief of the tract, grows beautifully on impregnable rocks, and then one wants to call it a "climber tree". And going down to the beach, you will see that the pine is also salt-tolerant - it is not afraid of sea spray and fog, and it grows no worse on the edge of the sea cliff than among the rocks in the mountains.
After about a kilometer and a half, the walking path ends at a grand limestone cliff several hundred meters high. The rocky wall without any transition breaks off into the sea. Perhaps, there is no such grandiose cliff above the sea anywhere in the Crimea, maybe even in Karadag. The cliff ends with the majestic Cape Aya, rising to 557 m. This is the second highest mountain in the coastal part of the South Coast, second only to Ayudag (577 m above sea level).
The coastal cliffs and cliffs of the Ayazma tract involuntarily recall the harsh peaks and turquoise bays of the Karadag mountain group in another, opposite, part of the South Coast - in the eastern Crimea. And the characteristic rocky peak of Cape Aya, which looks like the head of an animal with a protruding narrow ear, makes one recall Mount Koshka in Simeiz, which looks like an animal shrinking before jumping into the sea.
The path from the tract to Balaklava is not difficult. From the foothill terrace there are only a few hundred meters to the Golden Beach (a tradition in the Crimea: at least not far best beach call "Golden") with a mooring for boats. On a sea vessel in the summer, you can quickly get to Balaklava. And it is even better to walk the way to Balaklava. From the beach along the path we go out to the seaside slope of the ridge, then onto a dirt road and, leaving the Genoese fortress aside, we get to Balaklava.

STONE MUSHROOMS
Unremarkable at first glance, the valley of the southern river Sotera to the east of Alushta is actually extraordinary and attracts nature lovers. Well, at least because the remains of a mammoth were found in it, and ... crabs live in the cold water of a mountain river. And the geologist will be attracted by the only "stone mushrooms" in the Crimea, which will be discussed further.
We will set off from the eastern outskirts of Alushta, which can be reached by city bus number 1. The highway gradually gains altitude and pretty soon leads to the Sudak Gates pass. Here the spacious mountainous Alushta amphitheater ends and the eastern part of the South Coast begins. From the pass, a panorama of the southeastern coast opens up, not shining with either bright greenery or sharp bends in the relief. Stone waves go into the distance a string of hills. Coastline is not visible, but the calm, soft outlines of the coast are guessed. On the left, in an unusual perspective, South Demerdzhi reared up with a jagged peak and stone peaks.
From the pass it is clearly seen that the base of the Main Ridge is composed of dark gray rocks with a purple tint of the Tauride series, outlined by calm lines. They stretch far to the east, almost all the way to Sudak. And the huge cliffs of the Main Ridge are composed of durable Upper Jurassic limestones.
In Crimea, the rocks of the Tauride series are most common on the southern coast, and therefore here is the most suitable place to get acquainted with them. In the cuts of the highway and the steep cliffs of the narrow valleys leading to the sea, it is clearly seen that the south coast slope consists of countless repeating thin layers of compacted clays, siltstones and sandstones. A characteristic feature of the layered sequence is its rhythmic structure. The rocks that make it up are not randomly located, but strictly regular. The sandstone is followed by siltstone, followed by compacted clay. And then sandstone again, then siltstone, compacted clay and again the same repetition. But it is very interesting that in each such rhythm the rocks that make it up are interconnected by gradual transitions.
The second characteristic feature of the Tauride series is that it is very complexly deployed. It is crumpled into folds of various shapes and sizes, ranging from centimeters to large, several kilometers wide.
Take a closer look at the layers of sedimentary rocks. You will see that the lower boundary of the stone rhythms is sharp, uneven and complicated by small irregularities in the form of ridges, nipples and tubercles. These are flysch hieroglyphs - imprints of surface irregularities on which a sandy sediment was deposited. Any of the hieroglyphs is a kind of "negative" of the irregularities of the bottom of the reservoir at the time of the deposition of a layer of sand. Moving upward from the base of the rhythm, we will see that the size of the mineral particles gradually decreases and therefore in many cases it is impossible to accurately indicate the boundary between sandstone, siltstone and clay.
How was the Tauride series formed? How to explain its repeated rhythm, gradual change in the size of clastic particles within the stone "rhythm" and unevenness on the lower surface of the sandstone layers? These difficult questions are explained by the assumption of multiple influx of near-bottom flows of roiled sediments from the coastal part to the deep parts. sea ​​basin during earthquakes.
Let's continue the path. The highway writes loop after loop, bends around the valleys and gorges of small rivers and streams. Each of these valleys widens towards the sea with a small-pebble beach. In summer in such cozy places you will see sports camp or recreation center.
At the 16th kilometer, the highway crosses the valley of the river Sotera. In a side ravine, about a kilometer from the sea, at the end of the 19th century. N. A. Golovkinsky discovered mammoth bones. This was the first discovery of remains of an Ice Age animal on the southern slope of the Crimean Mountains.
The valley of Sotera is especially attractive with spectacular earthen pyramids, or "stone mushrooms". They are a 25-minute walk from the bus stop "16th kilometer". From the highway, along the forest road, we will go up the Rocky Gorge of Sotera. After about 200 m, the river will turn left, and we should go up the right branch of the road to the vast grassy terrace of Sotera. At its far end we will see a small gorge cut into the Upper Jurassic brownish-brown conglomerates. On the right slope, among a sparse, small-growing forest, high earthen pyramids "stone mushrooms" rose.
Caps of stone mushrooms are slabs of Upper Jurassic conglomerates with a diameter of several meters. Legs up to 4 - 6 meters high are composed of dense earthy mass with fragments of sandstones and limestones. Earthen pyramids were formed when the slope was destroyed by temporary streams of rain and melt water. The stone slabs lying on the surface did not collapse and remained in place, while the surrounding earthy mass was easily eroded. Over time, it was washed out, and only under stone slabs was preserved in the form of earthen pyramids. Looking closely at the slope, you will also notice immature "stone mushrooms" with barely isolated "hats".

Kanaka, rvssvet over the Crimea

Rivers and streams of the Crimean mountains
The main watershed of the entire Crimean peninsula is located in the Crimean mountains, most of the rivers originate on the main ridge, at an altitude of 600-1100 meters, there are almost no watercourses on the yayls themselves, which is associated with hydro-manifestation of karst. The total runoff of the Crimean mountains is 773.5 million cubic meters, and the density of the river network is 0.2 km/km². Depending on the relief, the rivers can be divided into groups: rivers, streams and ravines of the southern coast of Crimea, rivers and ravines of the northeastern slopes main ridge Crimean mountains and rivers and beams of the northwestern slopes of the main ridge of the Crimean mountains.

The shortest streams are located on the southern coast of Crimea. The length of the rivers there usually does not exceed 10 km. Watercourses originate on the southern slopes of the Main Ridge of the Crimean Mountains and flow into the Black Sea; they are characterized by slopes of 172–234 m/km. The average heights of their watersheds are up to 900 m. The watersheds themselves are small: 1.6-161 km². Some rivers originate from karst springs. The river valleys in the upper reaches are narrow, in the form of gorges, then they gradually expand, acquiring a trapezoidal shape in the lower reaches. The floodplains are narrow and exist only in the lower reaches. The channels in the lower reaches are mostly slightly meandering, straightened, deepened and reinforced with concrete slabs to prevent flooding. There are 36 main streams in this group with a total length of 293.6 km.

The main rivers of the southern coast of Crimea:

Wuchang-Su (Waterfall)
Derekoika (Fast)
avunda
Ulu-Uzen Alushta
Demerdzhi
Ulu-Uzen East
On the northwestern slopes of the Main Ridge of the Crimean Mountains, the most significant rivers of Crimea in terms of length and water content originate. There are eight main rivers, their total length is 328 km. The rivers of this group flow into the Black Sea. Until about the middle of their course, the rivers have a character typical of mountain streams. There are large slopes (up to 180 m / km). The river basins have a shape elongated along the rivers, expanded in the upper part, where the main number of tributaries flows into. The main rivers of this group:

Black (Chorgun) - length 34.1 km. She originates in Baydarskaya valley, along which flows 7.5 km. Along its slopes there are a number of streams that feed the river in the upper part. The constant flow in the channel is sometimes interrupted: the river is hidden in sediments, leaving the channel dry. It fills with water after heavy rains and floods. Below the confluence of the Urkusta River, the Chernaya enters a narrow gorge about 16 km long. Here the water moves, squeezed by almost sheer cliffs, and its current intensifies. The weakening of the current occurs after the river enters the Inkerman valley. Here, two right tributaries flow into the Chernaya, one of which (Ai-Todorka) has sufficient water content, since it is fed by springs, and the other (Dry) brings rainwater into the river.
Belbek - length 63 km. The most full-flowing river of Crimea. It begins at the confluence of two mountain rivers. Between the mountain ranges Belbek is a turbulent, never-drying streams, with a narrow channel, a fast current and steep high banks. AT downstream Belbek cuts through clay sediments, its flow slows down. When it flows into the sea, the channel looks like a ravine 25–30 m wide.
Kokkozka - about 18 km long, a tributary of the Belbek. It flows in a narrow gorge known as the Grand Canyon of Crimea.
Kacha - length 69 km. It originates on the northern slope of the central ridge of the Crimean Mountains at the confluence of two rivers - Pisara and Biyuk-Uzen. Its banks are high, rocky, the channel is wide, the bottom is pebbly almost throughout. All tributaries flow into the Kacha in its upper reaches. During heavy rains, as well as in autumn and winter, Kacha can overflow heavily. In summer, due to the use of water for irrigation, it dries up.
Marta - length 21 km, tributary of the Kacha.
Alma - length 84 km. It is formed as a result of the confluence of two streams. It has a deeply incised valley with high banks. It receives the waters of many mountain streams and rivers. Alma does not dry out, and during rains and snowmelt it can overflow its banks. Its flow slows down in the lower reaches. Sea water salinizes the waters of the mouth section of the Alma.
Rivers and gullies of the northeastern slopes of the main ridge of the Crimean Mountains, the total number of rivers and gullies of this group is 18, the total length is 393.9 km. The rivers of this group flow mainly in a northerly direction and flow into the Sivash Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov, although due to low water, they often do not reach it and are lost on the plain. This also includes the Baibuga River, which flows into the Feodosia Bay of the Black Sea. Only the uppermost sections of the basins of these rivers have a mountainous relief, while the predominant part of the drainage basins is located in the flat part of the Crimea. The average height of the catchment areas is 450-500 m. The dimensions of the catchment areas are small. The main rivers of this group:

Biyuk-Yanyshar

Salgir - length 238 km. The upper course of the Salgir passes through a narrow valley with rocky shores; here it has a mountainous character and a well-developed network of tributaries, originating from numerous sources.
Angara - length 13 km. It is one of the rivers at the confluence of which Salgir is formed.
Kyzylkobinka (Krasnopeshcherskaya) - length 5.1 km. When merging with the Angara, it forms Salgir.
Biyuk-Karasu (Big Karasevka) - length 106 km. Right tributary of the Salgir. It originates near the city of Belogorsk, in the upper reaches it flows through the chalk rocks of the intermountain, then enters the steppe region, where it flows only in the part of the year rich in precipitation (in winter and early spring).
Indole - length 55 km. In the upper reaches it looks like mountain streams flowing through ravines.
Eastern Bulganak - length 48 km.
Grand Canyon of Crimea
Since 1974 it has been a state nature reserve. It is located on the eastern side of the Kokkozskaya valley, in the depths of the northern slope of the Ai-Petri Yayla, 4 km southeast of the village of Sokolinoye. The depth of the gorge reaches 250-320 m, the width in the narrowest places of the canyon does not exceed 2-3 m. The river Auzun-Uzen flows along the bottom of the canyon. For the first time, the Grand Canyon was described in detail by Professor I.I. Puzanov in 1925.

Climate
The climate of the mountains is moderately cold and humid. Winter precipitation most often prevails over summer precipitation, which is a sign of the Mediterranean climate. Winter in the mountains usually lasts from mid-October to the end of March. In the upper parts of the slopes, a snow cover is formed, the thickness of which can reach a meter or more. The weather in winter is quite unstable, for example, the temperature in January can jump from -10 ° C to +10 ° C, and snow can fall in May. In winter, the slopes of several mountain ranges, such as Ai-Petri, Babugan-yayla, Chatyr-Dag and Demerdzhi, are prone to avalanches. Summers in the mountains are usually hot and dry. But even in summer, nighttime temperatures can drop to 0°C. Fog is very frequent throughout the year.

Each slope of the Crimean mountains has its own climatic conditions, as it is influenced by different prevailing winds.

Flora of the Crimean mountains
Due to the complex relief and diverse climatic and meteorological conditions, the Crimean Mountains have a wide variety of vegetation in a small space. If we consider the Crimean mountains from the point of view of a botanist, then they can be divided into zones: the southern slopes of the mountains, the flat top of the mountain range - the plateau and the northern slope of the mountains.

The vegetation of the southern slope of the Crimean mountains is the most typical for the Crimea. It includes elements peculiar only to the Crimea. As the mountains rise, the vegetation of the southern slopes of the mountains changes greatly, forming characteristic belts:

Southern coastal vegetation (Maquis belt) - occupies the lowest part of the southern slope. This zone is characterized by the predominance of shrubs. Only here wild evergreens grow: needle, strawberry tree, Cretan rockrose and ivy. In addition to wild evergreens, a number of cultivated ones grow in the south coast zone: cypress, laurel tree and oil tree. The following characteristic plants complete the picture of the vegetation of the maquis belt of the southern slope:
Shrubs and semi-shrubs: juniper, Abraham tree, zamaniha, hazelnut, dogwood, hold-tree, cup tree, blackberry and wild rose.
Herbs: capers, spurge, wild cucumber.
Decorative species bred by man: silk acacia, magnolia, chamerops, cork oak, plane trees, boxwood, bananas, ailanthus, wisteria. Fruits: sweet almond, sweet chestnut, pistachio tree, loquat, pomegranate, fig tree and walnut.
The belt following the maquis, located above 226 m. This belt is dominated by woody vegetation, which forms deciduous forests of a mixed type, but with a predominance of oak and small-leaved hornbeam. But in addition to oak and hornbeam, you can find here, especially in the western part, the Crimean pine, which differs from the ordinary one in long needles (8-15 cm), sessile cones, and a pyramidal tent.
The third horizontal belt of vegetation consists of almost pure beech forests, but in some places there is Crimean and common pine, as well as other tree species: aspen, maple, mountain ash, dogwood. Beech forests rise to the very top of the southern slope of the mountains.
In general, the vegetation belts of the northern slope of the mountains are located in the same way as on the southern slope, only there is no maquis belt on the northern slope. Instead, there is a meadow-steppe or forest strip with mixed vegetation. Pine is found almost along the entire slope. However, it grows in significant quantities on the slopes. On the cliffs of the mountains, a red-stemmed breed with bright green short needles is more common - Scots pine. And below, among the oak forests, pine with a gray trunk, long, sparse, dull needles predominates. The northern slope is mainly divided into:

Lower forest, consists of oak and small-leaved hornbeam, among which grows hazel, aspen, euonymus, buckthorn, barberry and hawthorn.
Belt of beech and hornbeam forests. There are also areas with Crimean and common pine and single lindens, maples, dogwood, mountain ash, and in rare cases birch is found in the forests of the northern slope.
The juniper slate belt is above 5,000 feet. Here, in addition to juniper, yew and daphin are found.
Yayla is mostly treeless. This is explained by the law of vertical zoning: the yayla lies above the natural forest boundary. However, the plateau of the Crimean mountains does not lie at any one level, but at altitudes from 600 to 1500 m above sea level. And since one above the other is located in steps, the forest grows well on the slope between two yayla, as, for example, between the Dolgorukovsky plateau and Tyrke. At one time, this was explained by the fact that a person burned and cut down forests on the plateaus over many centuries, however, paleobotanical studies convincingly indicate that in ancient times, and 10,000 and 100,000 years ago, the plateaus were not completely covered with forest. Rather, it was a forest-steppe; open to the winds, elevated places remained treeless. Here is the realm of herbs. Crocuses, adonis, irises, violets, adonis, veronica, cinquefoil, meadowsweet, bedstraw, yarrow, St. Yayla herbs: fescue, steppe sedge, clover, cuffs, feather grass, bluegrass, fescue, couch grass, timothy grass, hedgehog, short-legged. There are at least five hundred plant species on Demerdzhi. Forty-five species of plants are found only on the Yayla, being endemic.

Fauna of the Crimean mountains
Since the Crimean steppe passes into the region of the foothills, rising gradually, it is impossible to establish a sharp border between them, as well as sharply dissect them. animal world. Only the fauna of the southern coast differs sharply from the fauna of the northern slope of the mountains.

mammals
The foothills and the northern slope of the mountains are characterized by various types of hamsters, ground squirrels and jerboas. From the order of insectivores, a hedgehog is often found. In the strip of foothills, mountain forests and on the southern coast, there is a Crimean weasel, which is a cross between a weasel and an ermine. The badger is found in the forests of the northern and southern slopes, and the steppe polecat is found in the foothills.

From the detachment of predators in the Crimea, the fox and the stone marten are represented. Occasionally, among ordinary foxes, silver foxes come across. The wolf lived in the Crimean mountains back in the 19th century, but is now exterminated.

The largest mammal of the Crimea, the deer, is found in the mountain forests. The Crimean deer is poorly studied. At present, this animal has been preserved in small numbers in more remote high-mountainous places. In addition to deer, roe deer live in mountain forests.

The wild boar is ubiquitous. In the area of ​​​​the mountains of Bolshaya and Malaya Chuchel and Chernaya, a mouflon introduced from Corsica in 1913 lives, numbering 250-300 heads.

Squirrel and hare are ubiquitous.

Birds
In the foothills of the Crimea, representatives of the southern Russian steppes are mainly found. Several species of larks live on the northern slopes: field lark, steppe lark, crested lark; different types of oatmeal also live: millet, pleshanka, wheatear, golden bee-eater; a lot of rollers, other species (quail, hoopoe). For the mountain region, especially the northern slopes, the following bird species are most characteristic: shrike and lesser shrike, garden bunting, nightjar, scoop, starling and goldfinch. Also in this area there are three types of nightingale: western nightingale, eastern nightingale and Persian nightingale. The following birds are typical for mountain forests: Crimean tit, long-tailed tit, woodpecker, redstart, robin, warbler and jay. Mountain buntings are found high in the mountains. The sharp difference between the bird fauna mountain peaks and forests are not noticed.

Yayla is especially poor in birds, here you can still meet predators - the griffon vulture or, even more rarely, the vulture.

In the forests of the southern slope live: blue tit, kinglets, crossbills and mountain bunting. In the cliffs there are: stone thrush, pika, wall climber, stone pigeon, tower swift and white-bellied swift.

The routes of migratory birds run through the Crimean peninsula, which reduces the distance of a non-stop flight (through the Black Sea) by one hundred kilometers.

Amphibians and reptiles
The following reptiles are found in the foothills: quick lizard, Crimean lizard, wall lizard. From amphibians are found: edible frog, green toad, tree frog, spadefoot and crested newt.

On the southern coast you can find: a night lizard, a Crimean lizard, a copperfish, a yellow-bellied snake, a leopard snake, a yellow-bellied turtle and a river turtle, and from amphibians - a tree and edible frog, a newt and a green toad.

Caves of Crimea
In the mountainous Crimea, researchers have discovered a very large number of small caves or mines, the study of many is still ongoing. Below is a list of the largest and most famous caves and mines in Crimea:

Skelskaya stalactite cave - became a natural monument in 1947. It was opened in 1904 by the teacher F. A. Kirillov. The cave consists of several halls, the largest of which is 80 meters long, 10-18 meters wide, and 25 meters high.
Medovaya - the walls of the cave are covered with thermogravitational deposits. Length 205 m, depth 60 m.
Kyzyl-Koba (Red Caves) - the length of the cave is 21,150 m, the amplitude is 275 m. The longest cave in Crimea. It is located on the slope of the Dolgorukovsky massif. Since 1963, a natural monument.

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
Tauride Mountains - article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (3rd edition)
Zakaldaev N. V., "The passes of the Crimean Mountains" | Tourclub KPI Globus
http://krim.biz.ua/geologija.html
Mountain Encyclopedia. M .: "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1984-1991. Art. "Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic"

http://gruzdoff.ru/
Mouflons » Hiking in Crimea
Binbash-koba // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
Lebedinsky V.I., Makarov N.N. Volcanism of the Crimean Mountains. - Kyiv: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, 1962. - 208 p.
Pchelintsev VF Formation of the Crimean mountains / Ed. ed. prof. S. S. Kuznetsov; USSR Academy of Sciences. Geological Museum named after A.P. Karpinsky. - M.-L.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1962. - 88 p. - (Proceedings. Issue XIV). - 1000 copies. (reg.)
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(Outcrops of rock conglomerates; serpentine road; Vesele village; Vineyards; Veselo village beach)

The history of the emergence of the Crimean mountains

The Crimean mountains are original and inimitable. Despite their insignificant height and relatively small area, the mountains are distinguished by their peculiar geological structure, unique flora and fauna, interesting archaeological and historical monuments. If you ever visit the Crimean mountains, you will certainly fall in love with them, and you will come back here again and again. The Crimean Mountains are three parallel ridges stretching from Cape Aya in the Balaklava region in the west to Cape St. Elijah near Feodosia in the east. The mountains stretch from west to east for 160 km and are about 50 km wide. Most often, these are cuesta - ridges with asymmetrical slopes, gentle and steep. The outer, lowest ridge reaches a height of 350 m and stretches to the city of Stary Krym. The inner ridge with heights up to 750 m starts from Sapun Mountain and continues to Stary Krym. The main ridge, rising to a height of one and a half kilometers, borders the southern coast from Balaklava to Mount Agarmysh. The highest point of Crimea - Mount Roman-Kosh (1545 m above sea level) is located on Babugan-yayla.

In the early stage of geosynclinal development in the south of Crimea, a geosynclinal trough formed and thick sedimentary and effusive complexes accumulated with the simultaneous formation of folded structures of various orders. In the late Jurassic - early Cretaceous period, separate troughs and uplifts are formed, into which the previously single geosynclinal trough was divided. By the end of this time, the internal structure of the Crimean megaanticlinorium is formed. At the end of the Early Cretaceous, in the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene, the Crimean megaanticlinorium was formed as a large single uplift, complicated by individual troughs and faults.

The rise of the Crimean Mountains, first in the form of an island, occurred at the end of the Cretaceous and Eocene. In the middle of the Neogene, the leveled surface of Yayla was formed. Before the Neogene, the mountains spread 20-30 km south of the modern coastline of the Black Sea. In the Neogene, they acquired the features of a modern asymmetric structure. In the orogenic (molasse) stage (end of the Paleogene - Neogene), the increased uplift of the megaanticlinorium of the Crimean mountains continued and, probably, the lowering of its southern flank began. In the Neogene and Anthropogen, the formation of the modern relief of the mountainous Crimea took place. In the Pliocene, the Inner and Outer foothill ridges received orographic expression, and at the end of the Neogene - Anthropogene, differentiated neotectonic movements appear. Erosive activity is activated in the Anthropogen, and the destructive and creative work of the sea contributed to the formation of the coastline. As a result of the complex of these processes, the Crimean Mountains acquired their modern outlines.

Conglomerates:

In the rocky outcrops it is clear that South Demerdzhi is composed of conglomerates - solid rocks consisting of pebbles and boulders connected by a sandy-clay mass. They were formed in the coastal area of ​​the sea in the Late Jurassic. Conglomerates mark the ancient coastline. On one side was the sea, on the other - mountainous land. Thus, the source of pebbles and boulders of conglomerates was located to the south of the current Southern coast of Crimea.

Three systems of cracks are perfectly visible in conglomerates. First of all, meridional cracks are striking, very steeply (up to 80 - 85 °) inclined to the west. On them break away from mountain range huge slabs. Perpendicular to them are gaping cracks of latitudinal orientation extending into the depths of the mountains for tens of meters. In some places, the walls of the cracks are expanded, and then openings appear in the conglomerates, resembling the lancet windows of Gothic castles. And, finally, bed fractures are less noticeable, coinciding with the layering of conglomerates.

The Demerdzha conglomerates are surprising in at least two respects. Firstly, in addition to sandstones, compacted clays, limestones, milky-white quartz and brown nodules of siderite, which are common for the Crimea, they contain pink granites and quartzites, the primary outcrops of which are not found in the Main Ridge. The source of these "exotic" rocks is located south of the Crimean coast and is now flooded by the waters of the Black Sea. Granites of ancient age are also distinguished - 650 - 950 million years, while clays and sandstones of the base of the Crimean Mountains arose "only" 160 - 200 million years ago.

The second feature of the Demerdzha conglomerates is their enormous thickness, estimated at 1750 m. But how did an almost 2-kilometer thickness of pebbles and boulders accumulate in shallow water near the seashore, dozens of times greater than the depth of the coastal zone? In reality, there is no contradiction between the enormous thickness of coarse clastic rocks and the shallow depth of the coast. The fact is that the bottom of the sea at the site of modern South Demerdzhi in the Late Jurassic quickly sank. And to the south of it - a large mountainous island, the destruction of which formed a thick layer of pebbles and boulders. The lowering of the bottom was compensated: as far as the trough was lowered, to the extent it was filled with coarse debris. So, in the coastal zone, without a significant change in depth, a thick layer of pebbles and boulders accumulated.

Formation of coral reefs in Crimea:

The geological structure of the Sudak mountains is very peculiar. It is composed of hard limestones of organic origin. Even without a magnifying glass, the naked eye can see the remains of fossil organisms, firmly attached to the rocky seabed during life. These are primarily corals living in colonies, sponges, bryozoans and algae that secrete lime. They lived in a warm, sunny sea with clear water at a depth of no more than 40 - 50 m. Corals extracted calcium from sea water and surrounded themselves with a calcareous external skeleton. Over time, they died off, a new generation developed on them, and then died, giving life to the next one, etc. Thus, rocky uplifts-shoals arose in shallow water around the islands and not far from the coast of the mainland.

Exactly such reefs existed in the Late Jurassic at the site of present-day Sudak and Novyi Svet 130-150 million years ago. Then they were covered with clays, and shortly after the waters of the Tethys Ocean finally left the rudiment of the Crimean Mountains, the covering clays collapsed and coral-algal limestone massifs appeared on the day surface in the form of isolated mountains. Fossil reefs are found in the Main Ridge from Balaklava and Cape Aya in the west, Ai-Petrinsky and Babugan-yaylakh, Chatyrdag and Karabi-yayl in the east. All these are links of a large barrier reef on the northern edge of the Tethys Ocean. However, the reefs of Sudak and Novy Svet remain unsurpassed in their exceptional expressiveness and "concentration" on a limited area, and this section of the South Coast should be considered a "reserve of fossil reefs." The reef nature of the Sudak and Novy Svet mountains explains the special properties of local limestones. In the porous reef, constantly flushed with water, the calcium carbonate of the skeletons of reef builders was dissolved, and after that it was deposited in voids, strengthening the coral-algae structure. This is why fossil reefs are not composed of loose remains of coral and algae, but have been transformed into hard marbled limestones. They are easily polished to a mirror shine, and bizarrely shaped fossils and intergrowths of calcite crystals in the former voids of the reef are used as a beautiful decorative stone. No matter which reef mass you look at, you will not see layers in any of them. This is explained by the fact that the generations of corals and algae were replaced continuously, and the limestone massif itself was formed as a single whole. For the same reason, the outer slopes of the reefs are steep and even vertical. Another very important feature of reef masses is that they formed in slowly sinking areas of the seabed. It is for this reason that the thickness of the reef masses reaches many hundreds of meters and many times exceeds the 40-50 m of the water layer in which the reef builders lived. Powerful reefs were formed when the rate of subsidence of the seabed for a long time was approximately the same as the rate of growth of reef builders. If the sinking of the sea floor was not compensated by the growth of corals and algae, "dead reefs" turned out to be at great depths.

Coral reefs are diverse: coastal, barrier, atolls and biostromes are known among them. Coastal reefs are located in shallow water near the shore and at low tide they are on land. Barrier reefs are remote from the coast and separated from the land by a wide strip of sea. But this is not at all a continuous strip of land, but a series of coral islands and shoals, separated by straits. Atolls are quite unusual. These are ring-shaped coral reefs, inside which lie calm shallow lagoons. The outer edge of the atoll is steep and plunges sharply into the depths.

Biostrom (translated from ancient Greek - organic litter) originally looked like a "sea meadow" on a shoal inhabited by reef builders. The thickness of the biostrome is the same or somewhat greater than that of the layers of adjacent layered limestones, clays, and sandstones.

And now we have to conquer one of the most beautiful coral reefs of Crimea - Mount Koraul-Oba. But before that, I would like to remind you again about safety precautions: again, I repeat, keep up with the group, if it becomes bad, tell me right away; be careful when climbing and descending, there will be difficult sections. Take with you everything you need to be comfortable.