Kan Forest-Steppe

Kan Forest-Steppe 

a forest-steppe in the middle course of the Kan River, Krasnoiarsk Krai, RSFSR. On the northwest the Kan Forest-steppe is bounded by the Enisei Ridge, on the south by the Vostochnyi Saian Mountains, and on the northeast by the Middle Siberian Plateau. The forest-steppe occupies a tectonic depression composed primarily of sandstones and clays from the Middle and Upper Paleozoic eras and carboniferous deposits from the Jurassic period. The surface is a hilly and sloped plain with widespread loess-like loams. Elevations range from 300 m in the northeast to 470 m in the south; the climate is distinctly continental and arid—the average January temperature is from —18° to — 20°C, the average July temperature more than 18°C. Yearly precipitation is 340–370 mm, with more than half falling in summer. Chernozem and turf-podzol soils predominate. The forests for the most part are birch groves along the slopes with northern exposure, with a mixture of pine and larch on the watersheds. A significant part of the forest-steppe is cultivated. Within the Kan Forest-steppe is the eastern part of the Kansk-Achinsk Coal Fields.