The extreme eastern point of Europe leads to development of geographical and geological ecotourism

Setting of the Russian tricolor and the double-headed eagle at the extreme eastern point of Europe on the continent inspired the enthusiasts of Yamal to further actions.

“After setting of the memorial sign at the place of “The Extreme Eastern Point of Europe on the Continent” Russia and Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug officially recognized themselves as the owners of the long-awaited geographical and tourist object, which is a brand of All-Russian and European significance”, the author of the project, a geologist Ivan Popov considers. “Appearing of such a bright object can be figuratively considered as turning on a lighthouse illuminating the area of big tourist attraction making significant adjustments to the further strategy of tourist development of the given arctic region”.

Ivan Popov told a correspondent of news agency “Sever-Press” that by now work on defining of the basic tourist resource of the Polar Urals with preparation of a map of location of unique natural objects had been completed. The map allows visiting the region, taking decisions on priority points for visit. It is established that the arctic, Polar-Ural part of Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug is very attractive in terms of tourist development. There are the most favorable conditions and factors for development of cognitive geographical and geological ecotourism, currently not perceived and not developed. Involvement of the most interesting geographical and geological factors in tourist sphere will significantly strengthen currently used natural tourist potential of the region: rafting, fishing, mountain tourism, ethnic tourism, ski-tours.

What waits for a traveler today, the one, who came to the Polar Urals? The traveler, who arrived in the All-Russian and European brand object “The Extreme Eastern Point of Europe on the Continent”, of course, will pay attention to places located near the pearl of the Polar Urals: the famous lakes – Bolshoye Shchuchye and Maloye Shchuchye, Bolshoye Khadata -Yugan-Lor; the beautiful glaciers – IGAN (named after the Institute of Geography of the Academy of Sciences), MGU (named in honor of Moscow State University). He/she will visit the ethnic settlement “Land of Hope” and corrals with musk oxen. Also he/she will not leave without attention the Nephrite Valley, the glacier of Romantics and other popular tourist sites.

The opportunity to see two eastern borders of Europe will be a surprise. As a rule, few people know that Europe actually has two eastern borders. In addition to the well-known, conventional border drawn since the beginning of the 17th century on the main Ural watershed and corresponding to the edge of the world “Europe”, another one – the physically expressed geological border exists after installation of the memorial sign here, the actual one revealed by geologists in the 60-70 years of the last century. According to geological data, a fragment of the Earth’s crust, which largely corresponds to modern Europe, in the distant past existed as an independent paleo-continent, and the Ural mountain system itself is a result of a collision of the lithospheric plates - the ancient “European” and the younger West Siberian at the end of the Paleozoic era. Rocks of these plates now compose the Urals, and the border between them - the so-called Main Uralian Fault is the true eastern geological border of the paleo-continent Europe.

In the Polar Urals the geological border Europe-Asia in majority of cases is well expressed, understandable and considerably interesting for visit. A traveler receives the unforgettable impression, crossing the border of the continental plates with the opportunity to take several steps on rocks of the early Proterozoic time of the eastern edge of Paleo-Europe, to step in late Paleozoic time of western edge of the West Siberian plate, breaking the age difference in 1200 million years. The earth’s largest outcrops of tectonic blocks of deep-laid mantle rocks to the surface are truly unique objects of the planetary significance associated with the same area of contact of the plates. These are peridotite massifs: Voykar-Syninsky, Rai-Iz and Syum-Keu. Visit here is equivalent to immersion in the upper mantle of the Earth - extremely informative and interesting. Because of the unusual appearance of peridotites associated with special mineral and chemical composition of the mantle and, as a consequence, absence of vegetation - being here is identified with a visit to the Moon or Mars. Even today, the most popular tourist sites of the Polar Urals are associated with the peridotite massifs: the Nephrite Valley, the glacier of Romantics, Pai-Yer Mountain. It is interesting that the unique outcrops of the mantle rocks territorially are connected practically completely with Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

Yangana-Pe, the picturesque plateau raised above tundra, composed of biogenic, including coral limestones, is of great interest as a geological and geographical tourist site. It is a beautifully preserved coral reef - a gift of the ancient Devonian paleo-ocean, which washed the eastern shore of the European paleo-continent. Manifestation of the world’s northernmost karst was registered at the site of Yangana-Pe. There is also a sacred object of the Ural Nenets people - the mysterious karst lake Num Khaikal (god’s tear).

Further enumerating of unique natural objects offered for visiting in the Polar Urals will take a lot of time. In majority of cases they are reflected on the map of the basic tourist resource.

Setting of the sign with attributes of Russian statehood on the geographical and tourist point “The Extreme Eastern Point of Europe on the Continent” allows speaking about seriousness of intentions of the organizers, including the government of Yamal, in the issue of further tourist development of the Polar Urals with consideration of realities and innovations of today. Already today it is necessary to adopt a financed program that includes the opportunity to create modern tourist infrastructure. The talk is about the program providing creation of conditions for development of service tourism that includes equipped parking areas, tourist bases and tourist shelters, developed marked tourist routes and etc, creation of the catalog of different thematic tours and logistics of their conducting.

The work can not be imagined without close coordination with the structure of the Polar-Ural natural park, the territory of which is connected with location of the Extreme Eastern Point of Europe on the Continent and many unique objects. Moreover, within creation of the natural park itself the contours of its sites consciously included natural objects the most interesting in terms of development of cognitive ecotourism, ones, which need protection from reckless technogenic and other interference and influence.

Photos can be found here: https://sever-press.ru/2019/12/03/krajnjaja-vostochnaja-tochka-evropy-vlechet-razvitie-geografo-geologicheskogo-jekoturizma/