Read the text and fill in the gaps with the correct word.

The Ural Mountains, or simply the Urals, are a mountain ... that runs ... north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. The mountains are part of the boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia. Vaygach Island and the islands of Novaya Zemlya ... the chain from the north to the Arctic Ocean. The mountains lie within the Ural geographical ... and overlap with the Ural Federal District and with the Ural economic region. They have ... resources, including copper and steel. Since the 18th ... the mountains have contributed to the mineral sector of the Russian economy.