Location
Located in the plateau between China and Russian Siberia, Mongolia covers an area of 1,566,500 sq.km. Mongolia stretches approximately 2,400 kilometers from east to west and about 1,260 kilometers from north to south; its borders total length is 8,158 kilometers. A mountainous nation with an average altitude of 1,580 meters above sea level, Mongolia ranks as one of the highest countries in the world. Its low¬est point, the Huh Nuur Depression, rests 560 meters above sea level and its highest point, Huiten Mountain in the Mongolian Altai Range, rises" to 4,374 meters. The capital Ulaanbaatar sits at 1,380 meters. From north to south, Mongolia can be divided into four main types of geography: mountains; forest steppe, mountain steppe and in the extreme south, semi-desert and desert (the latter being about 30% of the entire territory). In contrast to most visitors' expectations, Mongolia is far from, completely flat. The principal moun¬tains are concentrated in the west, where the region averages elevations above 2,000 meters. The country's highest peaks are permanently snow-capped by glaciers. Mountains and dense forest domi¬nate central and northern Mongolia, while grasslands belonging to the Cen¬tral Asian Steppe stretch across the eastern part of the country. The steppe transitions into the Gobi Desert, which extends throughout southern Mongolia from the east to the west. The Gobi contains mostly gravely, but is also home to large sand dunes in drier areas near the southern border. Hundreds of lakes dot Mongolia's landscape, the biggest ones being Uvs-Nuur (covering an area of 3,350 sq.km), Huvsgul (2,620 sq.km), and Har Us-Nuur (1,852 sq.km). Lake Huvsgul is the largest fresh-water lake in Central Asia. The Orhon (1,124 ki¬lometers), the Herlen (1,090 kilome-ters) and the Selenge (539 kilometers) are the country's largest rivers.
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