The steep ecological fault where taiga forest transitions abruptly to arid Mongolian steppe — the evolutionary cradle from which northern nomadic, hunting, and fishing peoples emerged from the forest onto the grassland to begin their conquest of the Central Plains.

The steep ecological fault where taiga forest transitions abruptly to arid Mongolian steppe — the evolutionary cradle from which northern nomadic, hunting, and fishing peoples emerged from the forest onto the grassland to begin their conquest of the Central Plains.