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Dzungarian Gate
The Dzungarian Gate, also known as the Altai Gap, is a geographically and historically significant mountain pass between Central Asia and China. It has been described as the "one and only gateway in the mountain-wall which stretches from China to Afghanistan, over a distance of three thousand miles []." Given its association with details in a story related by Herodotus, it has been linked to the location of legendary Hyperborea. The Dzungarian Gate (; ''Jetısu qaqpasy'' or Жоңғар қақпасы ''Joñğar qaqpasy'') is a straight valley which penetrates the Dzungarian Alatau mountain range along the border between Kazakhstan and Xinjiang, China. It currently serves as a Alashankou railway station, railway corridor between China and the West. Historically, it has been noted as a convenient pass suitable for riders on horseback between the western Eurasian steppe and lands further east, and for its fierce and almost constant winds. In his ''Histories (Herodotus), Histories ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal, a group 11 element, and one of the noble metals. It is one of the least reactivity (chemistry), reactive chemical elements, being the second-lowest in the reactivity series. It is solid under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions. Gold often occurs in free elemental (native state (metallurgy), native state), as gold nugget, nuggets or grains, in rock (geology), rocks, vein (geology), veins, and alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the native element silver (as in electrum), naturally alloyed with other metals like copper and palladium, and mineral inclusions such as within pyrite. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium (gold tellurides). Gold is resistant to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Lake Balkhash
Lake Balkhash, also spelt Lake Balqash (, , ), is a lake in southeastern Kazakhstan, one of the largest lakes in Asia and the 15th largest in the world. It is located in the eastern part of Central Asia and sits in the Balkhash-Alakol Basin, an endorheic (closed) basin. The basin drains seven rivers, the primary of which is the Ili, bringing most of the riparian inflow; others, such as the Karatal, bring surface and subsurface flow. The Ili is fed by precipitation, largely vernal snowmelt, from the mountains of China's Xinjiang region. The lake currently covers about . However, like the Aral Sea, it is shrinking due to diversion and extraction of water from its feeders. The lake has a narrow, quite central, strait. The lake's western part is fresh water and its eastern half is saline. The eastern part is on average 1.7 times deeper than the west. The largest shore city is named Balkhash and has about 66,000 inhabitants. Main local economic activities include mining, ore p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Rift Valley
A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear depression may subsequently be further deepened by the forces of erosion. More generally the valley is likely to be filled with sedimentary deposits derived from the rift flanks and the surrounding areas. In many cases rift lakes are formed. One of the best known examples of this process is the East African Rift. On Earth, rifts can occur at all elevations, from the sea floor to plateaus and mountain ranges in continental crust or in oceanic crust. They are often associated with a number of adjoining subsidiary or co-extensive valleys, which are typically considered part of the principal rift valley geologically. Earth's rift valleys The most extensive rift valley is located along the crest of the mid-ocean ridge system and is the result ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Jordan Rift Valley
The Jordan Rift Valley, also Jordan Valley ( ''Bīqʿāt haYardēn'', Al-Ghor or Al-Ghawr), is an elongated endorheic basin located in modern-day Israel, Jordan and the West Bank, Palestine. This geographic region includes the entire length of the Jordan River – from its sources, through the Hula Valley, the Korazim block, the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan Valley (Middle East), (Lower) Jordan Valley, all the way to the Dead Sea, the lowest land elevation on Earth – and then continues through the Arabah depression, the Gulf of Aqaba whose shorelines it incorporates, until finally reaching the Red Sea proper at the Straits of Tiran. History and physical features The Jordan Rift Valley was formed many millions of years ago in the Miocene epoch (23.8 – 5.3 Myr ago) when the Arabian plate moved northward and then eastward away from Africa. One million years later, the land between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Jordan Rift Valley rose so that the sea water stoppe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental Fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults, right-lateral strike-slip transform fault that extends roughly through the U.S. state of California. It forms part of the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific plate and the North American plate. Traditionally, for scientific purposes, the fault has been classified into three main segments (northern, central, and southern), each with different characteristics and a different degree of earthquake risk. The average slip rate along the entire fault ranges from per year. In the north, the fault terminates offshore near Eureka, California, at the Mendocino triple junction, where three tectonic plates meet. The Cascadia subduction zone intersects the San Andreas fault at the Mendocino triple junction. It has been hypothesized that a major earthquake along the Cascadia subduction zone could trigger a rupture along the San Andreas Fault. In the south, the fault terminates near Bombay Beach, Califor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Fault (geology)
In geology, a fault is a Fracture (geology), planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of Rock (geology), rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust (geology), crust result from the action of Plate tectonics, plate tectonic forces, with the largest forming the boundaries between the plates, such as the megathrust faults of subduction, subduction zones or transform faults. Energy release associated with rapid movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes. Faults may also displace slowly, by aseismic creep. A ''fault plane'' is the Plane (geometry), plane that represents the fracture surface of a fault. A ''fault trace'' or ''fault line'' is a place where the fault can be seen or mapped on the surface. A fault trace is also the line commonly plotted on geological maps to represent a fault. A ''fault zone'' is a cluster of parallel faults. However, the term is also used for the zone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Active Fault
An active fault is a fault that is likely to become the source of another earthquake sometime in the future. Geologists commonly consider faults to be active if there has been movement observed or evidence of seismic activity during the last 10,000 years. * Active faulting is considered to be a geologic hazard – one related to earthquakes as a cause. Effects of movement on an active fault include strong ground motion, surface faulting, tectonic deformation, landslides and rockfalls, liquefaction, tsunamis, and seiches. Quaternary faults are those active faults that have been recognized at the surface and which have evidence of movement during the Quaternary Period. Related geological disciplines for ''active-fault'' studies include geomorphology, seismology, reflection seismology, plate tectonics, geodetics and remote sensing, risk analysis, and others. Location Active faults tend to occur in the vicinity of tectonic plate boundaries, and active fault research h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Turpan Depression
The Turpan Depression or Turfan Depression, is a fault-bounded trough located around and south of the city-oasis of Turpan, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in far Western China, about southeast of the regional capital Ürümqi. It includes Lake Ayding, , the second or third lowest depression on Earth. By some measures, it is also the hottest and driest area in China during the summer. Geology and relief The Turpan Basin is a fault-bounded trough located in the eastern part of the Tian Shan. It covers an area of . The surrounding mountain ranges are: the central Tian Shan in the west, the Bogda Shan in the north-west, the Haerlike Shan in the north-west, and the Jueluotage Shan in the south. Beyond the surrounding mountain ranges lie the Junggar Basin in the north and the Tarim Basin in the south. Some geographers also use the term Turpan-Hami Basin, which is understood as including the Turpan Depression along with the Hami Depression (located to the east of the Turpan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Douglas Carruthers
Alexander Douglas Mitchell Carruthers (4 October 1882 – 23 May 1962) was an explorer and naturalist of some repute. He was the son of the Reverend William Mitchell Carruthers of Holbrook, Suffolk, Holbrook, and was an explorer in the Middle East in the early 1900s. Biography Carruthers was born in London and was educated at Haileybury College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He worked as secretary to a number of people active at the Royal Geographical Society, and underwent training in land survey work, also becoming an expert taxidermist. Carruthers took part in the The British Museum Ruwenzori expeditions#British Museum Ruwenzori expedition 1905-1906, British Museum Ruwenzori expedition to the Congo Free State, Congo in 1905-1906 from where he sent home specimens of birds and mammals. In 1910 he joined John H. Miller and Morgan Philips Price in an expedition through the desert of Outer Mongolia, publishing two volumes on ''Unknown Mongolia'' in 1913. In 1915, Carruthers ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ebinur Lake
Ebi Lake is a rift lake in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China, near the border of Kazakhstan. Lying at the southeast end of the Dzungarian Gate, Ebi Lake is the center of the catchment of the southwestern part of the Dzungarian Basin The Junggar Basin (), also known as the Dzungarian Basin or Zungarian Basin, is one of the largest sedimentary basins in Northwest China. It is located in Dzungaria in northern Xinjiang, and enclosed by the Tarbagatai Mountains of Kazakhstan in .... The lake previously covered 1200 km2 (400 sq mi), which is now down to under 1000 km2 with an average depth of less than 2 meters (6.5 feet). The high salt concentration (87 g/L) of its water prevents plants and fish from living in the actual lake, though many kinds of fish do live in the mouths of its source rivers. In 2007, the lake had a surface area of only 500 km2. The Aibi Lake Wetland Nature Reserve was created by 2007. Notes References External linksLocation Maps ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Balkhash-Alakol Basin
The Balkhash-Alakol Basin or Balkhash-Alakol Depression(; ), is a flat structural basin in southeastern Kazakhstan.Балхаш-Алакольская котловина '''' in 30 vols. — Ch. ed. . - 3rd ed. - M. Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978. (in Russian) The basin is named after lakes [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
