The Karasor Basin (; ) or Karasor Depression, is a depression in

Karkaraly District Karkaraly District (, ) is a district of Karaganda Region in central Kazakhstan. The administrative center of the district is the town of Karkaraly. As of 2019, the district is home to a population of 36,025 people. Geography Karasor, an endorheic ...

Karaganda Region Karaganda Region (; ) is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Karaganda. The region borders Akmola and Pavlodar Region to the north, Abai Region to the east, Jetisu, Almaty, and Zhambyl Regions to the south, and Kostanay and Ulytau regio ...

, Kazakhstan.

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

Jilili Abuduwaili, Gulnura Issanova, Galymzhan Saparov. ''Hydrology and Limnology of Central Asia'', Springer,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

2019, The Karasor Basin includes a

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

Geography

The Karasor Depression is an

endorheic basin An endorheic basin ( ; also endoreic basin and endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water (e.g. rivers and oceans); instead, the water drainage flows into permanent ...

in the

Kazakh Uplands The Kazakh Uplands or the Kazakh Hummocks, known in Kazakh as the ( , ; ), is a large peneplain formation extending throughout the central and eastern regions of Kazakhstan.

. It extends roughly from east to west for a length of approximately to the southeast of the

Ayr Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...

and Zheltau ranges, and north of the

Karkaraly Range Karkaraly Range (; ) is a range of mountains in Karkaraly District, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan.Kyzyltas Kyzyltas () is a range of mountains in Aktogay District, Karaganda Region, Aktogay District, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan.''Kazakhstan National Encyclopedia'' / Ch. ed. B.O. Jakyp. — Almaty: « Kazakh encyclopedia» ZhSS, 2011. ISBN 9965-893-64- ...

. Fourteen rivers flow into the basin, the largest of which are the long

Taldy The Taldy () is a river in Karkaraly District, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan. It is long. The Taldy is the main river of the Karasor Basin. It freezes between November and April. The main settlements near its banks are Koyandy, Burkitti (Taldin ...

and the long

Zharly The Zharly (; ) is a river in Karkaraly District, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan. It is long and has a basin of . The Zharly is one of the longest rivers of the Karasor Basin. The main settlements near its banks are Milybulak, Akshoky, Zharly ...

. The Karasor Basin is covered in snow approximately between October and April every year. Most rivers and rivulets flow only following the melting of the snows, breaking up into disconnected pools or drying out completely during the summer.

Karasor Karasor (; ),
''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' in 30 vols. — Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M. Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-197 ...

, the largest lake, lies in a central position at the bottom of the depression. There are three other major lakes in the basin, Saumalkol,

Katynkol Katynkol () is a salt lake in Karkaraly District, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan. The lake is located to the northwest of Karkaraly city. Katynkol usually freezes in November and thaws in April.''Nature of Kazakhstan Encyclopedia'' / General edit ...

and Balyktykol, as well as numerous smaller lakes and

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s. The water of all the lakes is saline; Saumalkol in the west is a dead lake, having the highest salt concentration, while Balyktykol has the lowest. The

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

of Karasor and Taldykol exceeds the values of average sea water. Parts of the depressions between the surrounding hills are occupied by salt pans.

Ancient lake

Karasor was a much larger lake in the past. There are traces of high water levels reaching in the banks of Karasor and adjacent Saumalkol and Katynkol lakes, indicating that the former extension of lake Karasor reached —about five times larger, with a depth between and —almost five times deeper. At that time the water of river Nura reached the ancient lake from the west.''Kazakhstan National Encyclopedia'' / Ch. ed. B.O. Jakyp. —

Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...

: «Kazakh encyclopedia» ZhSS, 2011. (T.Z.),

Flora and fauna

The landscape of the basin area is hilly

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

,. There are plowed agricultural fields with

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

ey and

loamy Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

soils. The vegetation in the basin includes

spear grass Spear grass or speargrass is the common name of numerous herbaceous plants worldwide including: Poaceae (grasses) *'' Aciphylla'' spp. *''Aristida'' spp. *''Heteropogon contortus'' *''Imperata cylindrica'' *'' Piptochaetium'' *''Poa'' spp. *''Stipa ...

, wormwood,

Siberian peashrub ''Caragana arborescens'', the Siberian peashrub, Siberian pea-tree, or caragana, is a species of legume native to Siberia and parts of China (Heilongjiang, Xinjiang) and neighboring Mongolia and Kazakhstan. It was taken to the United States by E ...

, ''

Neotrinia splendens ''Neotrinia splendens'' is a species of grass. It is found from the East European Plain, across Siberia and Central Asia to the Himalayas. This grass is an important forage crop in areas of the Kazakh steppe The Kazakh Steppe ( ), also known as ...

'' and

fescue ''Festuca'' (fescue) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the grass family Poaceae (subfamily Pooideae). They are evergreen or herbaceous perennial tufted grasses with a height range of and a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on every ...

.Jilili Abuduwaili, Gulnura Issanova, Galymzhan Saparov, ''Hydrology and Limnology of Central Asia''. pp. 177-181Gel dyyeva G.V. 1974: ''Landscapes of the Karasor Basin, central Kazakhstan.'' Voprosy Geografii Kazakhstana 16, Geografiya prirodnykh resursov Kazakhstana): 51

References

External links

* {{commonscat inline

Geography

Ancient lake

Flora and fauna

See also

References

External links