Mountain Ranges, Deserts and Landforms of Kazakhstan

Geography

The lowland region lies to the east of the Caspian Sea and southeast of the Aral Sea in the vast Aral–Caspian Depression but extends to parts above sea level as well. It is one of the largest expanses of sand in the world, covering an area of around 3 million km2. On average, the region receives less than 15 inches (380 mm) of rainfall per year. The Karakum desert lies at the southern portion of the Turan Lowlands.

The part of the depression adjacent to the Aral Sea is drainless. It includes a network of temporary streams usually ending in sor salt flats, which seasonally become salt lakes.

Three of the largest cities in the Turan Depression are Daşoguz in Turkmenistan, Nukus in Uzbekistan, and Urganch, also in Uzbekistan. Akjagaýa in Turkmenistan is 267 feet (81 meters) below sea level.

Geography

The Tian Shan range is located north and west of the Taklamakan Desert and directly north of the Tarim Basin. It straddles the border regions of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Xinjiang in Northwest China. To the south, it connects with the Pamir Mountains, while to north and east, it meets the Altai Mountains of Mongolia.

The Tian Shan range extends eastwards for approximately 2,900 kilometers from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It forms part of the Himalayan orogenic belt, resulting from the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates during the Cenozoic era. The range encompasses the Bogda Shan in the east, as defined by both Western and Chinese cartography.

The Tian Shan's highest peak is Jengish Chokusu (also known as Victory Peak), shared by Kyrgyzstan and China.

Ecology

The Tian Shan holds important forests of Schrenk's spruce (Picea schrenkiana) at altitudes of over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft); the lower slopes have unique natural forests of wild walnuts and apples.

The Tian Shan in its immediate geological past was kept from glaciation due to the "protecting" warm influence of the Indian Ocean monsoon climate. This defined its ecological features which could sustain its distinctive ecosphere. The mountains were subjected to constant geological changes with constantly evolving drainage systems which affected the patterns of vegetation, as well as exposing fertile soil for newly emerging seedlings to thrive in.

Tulips originated in the Tian Shan Mountains. The plant then made its way to Turkey via the Silk Road and became a symbol of the Ottoman Empire.

Geography

The Altai Mountains are a system of remote mountains in central Asia that cover an area of 845,000 km2 (326,000 sq mi). The mountains stretch for 2,525 km (1,569 mi) from northwest to southeast.

In the north of the region is the Sailughem Mountains, also known as Kolyvan Altai, which stretch northeast from 49° N and 86° E towards the western extremity of the Sayan Mountains in 51° 60' N and 89° E. Their mean elevation is 1,500–1,750 m (4,920–5,740 ft). The snow-line runs at 2,000 m (6,600 ft) on the northern side and at 2,400 m (7,900 ft) on the southern, and above it the peaks rise some 1,000 m (3,300 ft) higher.

Geology

The Siberian Altai represents the northernmost region affected by the tectonic collision of India into Asia. Extensive fault systems run through the area, including the Kurai fault zone and the recently identified Tashanta fault zone. These fault systems are typically thrusts or right lateral strike-slip faults, some of which are tectonically active. Rock types in the mountains are typically granites and metamorphic schists, and some are highly sheared near to fault zones.

Geologist Victor R. Baker "has discovered past cataclysmic floods in the Altai Mountains of Siberia" from "an even larger glacial lake" than Lake Missoula, which was once thought to have been "the largest ice-dammed lake in the world".

History

The Altai mountains have retained a remarkably stable climate, changing little since the last ice age. In addition the mix of mammals has remained largely the same, with a few exceptions such as extinct mammoths, making it one of the few places on Earth to retain an ice age fauna. Genetic analysis in 2026 also determined that the Altai region served as a likely primary refugium for the woolly rhinoceros, which had originated during the Penultimate Glacial Period, during the warmer period of the Last Interglacial.

The Altai mountains were home to the Denisovan branch of hominids who were contemporaries of Neanderthals and of Homo sapiens (modern humans), descended from Hominids who reached Asia earlier than modern humans.

Geography

The Betpak-Dala is located between the lower reaches of the Sarysu River, the Chu River, and Lake Balkhash. In the north, near the 46°30’ parallel, Betpak-Dala borders on the Kazakh Uplands, an area of low, rounded, isolated hills. Its area is approximately 75,000 square kilometres (29,000 sq mi). To the southwest lies the Ashchykol Depression.

The desert is a flat, gently rolling plain with an elevation ranging from 300 metres (980 ft) to 350 metres (1,150 ft) and a general south-western incline. Elevations are greatest in the east. In the southeast, the Zheltau highland reaches an elevation of 599 metres (1,965 ft) at Mount Suykadyr (Суықадыр) and of 972 metres (3,189 ft) at Mount Kyzylbelen (Кызылбелен).

History

In Autumn 2014, English explorer Jamie Bunchuk completed an expedition to cross the Betpak-Dala to its fullest longitudinal extent, from Lake Balkash in the east to the Sarysu River in the west. He also ran 190 miles, nearly eight marathons, back-to-back, over the course of eight days within the region.

An epizootic of pasteurellosis occurred in Betpak-Dala in May 2015, in which more than 120,000 saiga antelope — representing more than a third of the global population — were confirmed dead.

Geography and ecology

The steppe covers an area of 994,000 km2 (384,000 sq mi) of Central and Eastern Europe, that extends from northeastern Bulgaria and southeastern Romania, through Moldova, and southern and eastern Ukraine, through the Northern Caucasus of southern Russia, and into the Lower Volga region of western Kazakhstan, to the east of the Ural Mountains. It is bounded by the East European forest steppe to the north, a transitional zone of mixed grasslands and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests. To the south, the steppe extends to the Black Sea, except the Crimean and western Caucasus mountains' border with the sea, where the Crimean Submediterranean forest complex defines the southern edge of the steppes.

Geography

The Ustyurt is located between the Dead Kultuk, Mangyshlak Peninsula and Kara-Bogaz-Gol of the Caspian Sea to the west, and the Aral Sea, Amudarya Delta and Sarygamysh Lake to the east.

It extends roughly 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi), with an average altitude of 150 m (490 ft). Its highest point rises to 370 m (1,200 ft) in the south-west. At its northeastern edge it drops steeply to the Aral Sea and the surrounding plain.

The Ustyurt Plateau is bounded by steep cliffs called chinks nearly from everywhere. To the east, it encompasses the historical western shoreline of the Aral Sea. In the southern region, it extends to the Kunya-Darya alluvial plain and the valley of the Uzboy, while in the west, it reaches the Karynyaryk depression.

Geography

The range extends for about 420 kilometres (260 mi) in a roughly NW/SE direction just north of the Syr Darya. The Muyunkum Desert lies to the north of the range. The Karatau is the westernmost prolongation of the Tian Shan. The summits of the mountains are smooth and the slopes are cut by snow-fed rivers. The Shabakty, Kyrshabakty, Ushbas, Bugun and Asa, are among the rivers having their sources in the range.

Geography

The depression is in the southeastern part of the East European Plain and covers parts of Kazakhstan and Russia. In Kazakhstan it covers parts of Atyrau Region, West Kazakhstan Region, and Mangystau Region. In Russia it covers parts of Dagestan, Kalmykia, Saratov Oblast, Volgograd Oblast, Astrakhan Oblast, and Stavropol Krai. In the north it is bounded by Obshchy Syrt highland; in the west by Volga Upland, Yergeni, and Stavropol Upland; in the east by Ustyurt Plateau and Sub-Ural Plateau (a.k.a. Cis-Ural Plateau, Pre-Ural Plateau, Poduralskoe Plateau) It significantly overlaps with the Ryn Desert.

The Volga River and the Ural River flow into the Caspian Sea through this region. The deltas of the Ural and Volga Rivers are extensive wetlands.

Geography

Kyzylkum is mainly located in Uzbekistan. Its territory consists mainly of an extensive plain at an altitude up to 300 m (980 ft) above sea level, with a number of depressions and highlands (Sultanuizdag, Bukantau). Most of the area is covered with dunes (barchans); in the northwest large areas are covered with takirs (clay coatings); there are also some oases. There are agricultural settlements along the rivers and in the oases. Temperatures can be very high during the summer months, from mid-May to mid-September. Kerki, one extreme inland city located on the banks of the Amu Darya River, recorded 52 °C (126 °F) in July 1983.

Economy

The local population uses the large spaces of the Kyzylkum Desert as a pasture for livestock (mostly sheep, Bactrian camels and dromedaries).

The desert is well known for its deposits of gold, uranium, copper, aluminium and silver, natural gas and oil. The development of the most famous gold-field at Muruntau began in the early 1970s. The centres for the mining and smelting industry at the region are Navoi, Zarafshan, Uchkuduk. The major industrial enterprises are: НГМК (Navoi Mining and Smelting Complex) and the Uzbek U.S.A. Joint Venture "Zarafshan-Newmont". The centres of the gas-production industry are Gazli and Mubarek.