Verkhne-Chibendinskie Chalk Hills

The Verkhne-Chibendinskie Chalk Hills (Верхне-Чибендинские меловые горы) are a protected natural landmark in the Sol-Iletsk urban district of Orenburg Region, 5 kilometers southwest of the village of Troitskoye. The site covers 163 hectares and consists of exposed chalk outcrops with a ravine-and-hummock relief typical of the chalk uplands of the Cis-Ural plateau.

Geology

The hills are made up of deposits from the upper part of the Cretaceous system, the Maastrichtian stage. Tens of millions of years ago a warm sea covered this area, and its floor was home to mollusks and sea urchins. Over time their calcareous shells formed the white writing chalk that now shows on the surface of the slopes and ravines.

Plants and endemic species

The chalk outcrops are a habitat for calciphytes, plants adapted to life on alkaline chalky soil. Species recorded here include chalk and saltwort anabasis, hedgehog nanophyton, chalk sea lavender, broad-winged bean-caper, chalk toadflax, Kornukh-Trotzky's chamomile, Marshall's cornflower and Crimean milkvetch. The slopes also support night-scented stock, Razumovsky's sweetvetch and large-flowered sweetvetch, Tatar scabious, saltwort-like wormwood, shrubby knotweed, hairy frankenia and Kyrgyz jurinea.

Across the chalk massifs of the Cis-Ural plateau as a whole, about 40 plant species listed in Red Data Books of various levels and 15 local endemics have been recorded. Some of these plants occur only here and on the neighboring chalk sites, the Troitskie and Starobelogorskie hills. Chalk sea lavender and Kornukh-Trotzky's chamomile are listed in the Red Data Book of Orenburg Region.

Legends

Several local legends are associated with the chalk hills near Sol-Iletsk. According to one, nomads once kept Russian captives chained here; another tells of a "khan's forge" on one of the hills, where silver coins were supposedly minted. A third legend speaks of traces of ancient iron smelting on the slope of one of the hills. The sources do not tie these stories specifically to the Verkhne-Chibendinskie Hills: the legends circulate about the chalk hills of the district as a whole.

Getting there

The site lies on the land of the Troitskoye farm, 5 km southwest of the village of the same name in the Sol-Iletsk urban district. The easiest way to get there is by car: a paved road leads to Troitskoye, and a dirt road continues from there. As on other chalk slopes in the region, the site has the protection status of a natural landmark: picking the rare plants is prohibited, and the soil cover is easily damaged by trampling.