January 4, 2014

0940 RUSSIA (Sakha / Yakutia Republic) - Lena Pillars Nature Park (UNESCO WHS)


Lena Pillars is the name given to a  spectacular rock formation located along the banks of the Lena River in far eastern Siberia, at less than a day's boat ride upriver (south) from the city of Yakutsk, the capital of the autonomous Sakha Republic. Formed in former Cambrian sea-basins, the pillars high of 150-300m looks like some buttresses isolated from each other by steep gullies developed by frost, directed along intervening joints. They were produced by the extreme continental climate, with an annual temperature range of almost 100 degrees Celsius (from -60 °C in winter to +40 °C in summer). Penetration of water from the surface has facilitated cryogenic processes (freeze-thaw action). The site also contains a wealth of Cambrian fossil, some of them unique. The Lena Pillars Nature Park was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2012.

About the stamps
The first two stamps are part of a series dedicated to Russian Kremlins, about which I wrote here. The last stamp, depicting the painting On the River Trubezh by Valery Polotnov (2008), is part of the third set of the series The contemporary art of Russia, about which I wrote here.

References
Lena Pillars - Wikipedia
Lena Pillars Nature Park - UNESCO official website

sender: Eugene Volodin (direct swap)
sent from Ussuriisk (Primorsky Krai / Russia), on 14.12.2013
photo: Larisa Baştakova

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