STANOVOY RANGE

also spelled Stanovoj, Russian Stanovoy Khrebet mountain range along the boundary between Amur oblast (province) and Yakutiya (Yakut-Sakha), Russia. It trends east to west, linking the mountains of Transbaikalia to the Dzhugdzhur Mountains, and is part of the watershed between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, separating the Lena River basin to the north from the Amur River basin to the south. The mountains are generally not high, although they reach 7,913 feet (2,412 m) in the east. They are densely forested with swampy forest, or taiga, dominated by larch, but the higher summits are bare. The mountains contain deposits of gold, coal, and mica. The Amur to Yakutsk Highway, linking Yakutiya to the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and a parallel railroad from the Trans-Siberian Railroad to southern Yakutiya both cross the range.