Belukha Mountain

Belukha Mountain is the highest peak in the Altai Mountains, already documented in this section as a Paleozoic accretionary orogen reactivated by later crustal deformation, and, at about 4,506 meters, the highest point in Siberia, straddling the Russia-Kazakhstan border. Its twin summits carry the largest glaciated area in the Altai system, feeding meltwater into the Katun River, one of the two headstreams of the Ob, one of Siberia's great river systems. Rather than being a volcanic peak, Belukha is a structural high point built from folded and uplifted metamorphic and sedimentary rock, raised by the same far-field intraplate compression, transmitted across Central Asia from the ongoing India-Eurasia collision, that reactivated the wider Altai range long after its original Paleozoic formation. The mountain holds deep spiritual significance for indigenous Altai peoples and in various strands of Russian esoteric thought, which regard it as a sacred axis-of-the-world site, and its slopes lie within the Golden Mountains of Altai UNESCO World Heritage Site. This entity documents Belukha Mountain specifically as a geological formation, the glaciated structural high point of the Altai Mountains and the highest peak in Siberia.