Karatau (, ''Qaratau'') is an administrative center in the Talas region located in the

Jambyl Region Jambyl or Zhambyl Region (; ), formerly known as Dzhambul Region () until 1991, is a region of Kazakhstan. Its administrative center is Taraz. The population of the region is 1,209,665; the city is 335,100. The region borders Kyrgyzstan, and is ...

in the south of

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. It has an estimated population of roughly 30,000 in 1999. , the population is now 27,667. The largest city from Karatau,

Taraz Taraz ( ; also historically known as Talas) is a city and the administrative center of Jambyl Region in Kazakhstan, located on the Talas (river), Talas (Taraz) River in the south of the country near the border with Kyrgyzstan. It had a populatio ...

, is approximately 100 km to the southeast.

Name

The name ''Karatau'' means ''Black Mountain'' in the

Kazakh language Kazakh is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch spoken in Central Asia by Kazakhs. It is closely related to Nogai, Kyrgyz and Karakalpak. It is the official language of Kazakhstan, and has official status in the Altai Republic of Russia ...

. Karatau was named after the Karatau Mountain range which it is located next to and was famous during the Soviet era for phosphate. As part of the de-russification of the Kazakh language, Karatau will be re-written with Latin scripts in 2025 and spelled Qaratau.

Ghost Town

Krisha KZ reported on Karatau describing this town as a ghost town in December, 2019. The value of apartments in Karatau, according to Krisha, was between $3300–$11,500 USD.

Economy

Industry

During the Soviet Union times, the main functioning industrial enterprise in the town was the

phosphorite Phosphorite, phosphate rock or rock phosphate is a non-detrital sedimentary rock that contains high amounts of phosphate minerals. The phosphate content of phosphorite (or grade of phosphate rock) varies greatly, from 4% to 20% phosphorus pentoxi ...

factory.

Transportation

Karatau is connected by railway with

. There is also a bus and private taxi services to Taraz.

Geography

Karatau is located along a mountain range, a northwest spur of the Tien-Shan. Length, about ; maximum altitude, at Mount Bessaz. The range is composed of

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

, and a considerable amount of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

and dolomite, in which

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

formations are well developed. The mountains have flattened tops and steep slopes and are covered with

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 ...

vegetation and mountain

xerophytes A xerophyte () is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water. Examples of xerophytes include cacti, pineapple and some gymnosperm plants. The morphology and physiology of xerophytes are adapted to ...

. There are important deposits of

phosphorites Phosphorite, phosphate rock or rock phosphate is a non-detrital sedimentary rock that contains high amounts of phosphate minerals. The phosphate content of phosphorite (or grade of phosphate rock) varies greatly, from 4% to 20% phosphorus pentoxi ...

Climate

Karatau has a

cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''BSk'') with strong

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

influences. It has a mean January temperature of and a mean July temperature of .

References

External links

AmerasianWorld.com's Karatau, Kazakhstan, (Black Mountain)

Photos of Karatau

Karatau, Kazakhstan - Facebook Pages

Karatay Malenkii Gorod Boshix Nadezhd
Populated places in Jambyl Region Populated places along the Silk Road Cities and towns in Kazakhstan {{Jambyl Region