The Chu-Ili Range ( kk, Шу-Іле таулары) is a range of mountains in
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
. Administratively it is part of the
Almaty
Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...
and Zhambyl regions.
The M36 Highway skirts the range along its northeastern flank.
Google Earth
Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...
Geography
The Chu-Ili Range is ancient and heavily eroded. It is part of the
Trans-Ili Alatau
Ile Alatau ( kk, Ile Alatauy, ''Іле Алатауы''), also spelt as Trans-Ili Alatau, is a part of the Northern Tian Shan mountain system (ancient Mount Imeon) in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. It is the northernmost mountain range of Tian Shan st ...
, a northern extension of the
Tian Shan
The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...
. It begins to the north of Otar, west of the Kurty, one of the main tributaries of the
Ili
Ili, ILI, Illi may refer to:
Abbreviations
* Irish Life International, part of Irish Life and Permanent
* Intuitive Logical Introvert, a personality type in socionics
* Influenza-like illness
* Iran Language Institute, a state-owned, non-profit ...
river, and stretches in a roughly northwestern direction for less than . The
Chu River
The Chu (Shu or Chüy) ( kk, Шу, Shu, شۋ; ky, Чүй, Chüy, چۉي; dng, Чў, Chwu (from , ''Chǔ''); russian: Чу, Chu) is a river in Northern Kyrgyzstan and Southern Kazakhstan. Of its total length of ,Taukum desert of the
Balkhash-Alakol Basin
The Balkhash-Alakol Basin or Balkhash-Alakol Depression( kk, Балқаш-Алакөл ойысы; rus, Балхаш-Алакольская котловина), is a flat structural basin in southeastern Kazakhstan.
.
The highest point of the range is Anyrakay (Аңырақай), a high summit. Aytau is a subrange in the northern section. Its highest point is high Sunkar, located in the Khantau Massif, right to the east of Khantau village. The Maizharylgan range stretches northwestwards from the northern end of the range and the
Betpak-Dala
Betpak-Dala or Betpaqdala ( kk, Бетпақдала, ''Betpaqdala''; from Turkic ''batpak'', “swampy,” or Persian ''bedbaht'', “unlucky” and Turkic ''dala'', “plain”; Russian: Бетпак-Дала or Сeверная Голодна ...
desert to the WNW. To the south stretches the Kindyktas, a higher and more massive spur of the northwestern Trans-Ili Alatau. The
Ashchysu
The Ashchysu ( kk, Ащысу) is a river in the Abai Region, Kazakhstan and a tributary of the Shagan (Irtysh), Shagan, of the Irtysh basin. The river is long and the area of its basin is .Google Earth
Geography
The Ashchysu has its sources ...
is the main river having its sources in the range.''Kazakhstan National Encyclopedia.'' - Almaty: Kazakh encyclopedias, 2006. - T. V. -ISBN 9965-9908-5-9
Flora
Generally, the mountains of the range have a barren look. The slopes are covered with rough desert-
steppe
In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes.
Steppe biomes may include:
* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the temperate grasslands, ...
vegetation of
sagebrush
Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west.
Following is an alph ...
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 ...
. Grasses, tulips, irises and poppies bloom in spring when water flows in the ravines, including '' Tulipa regelii'', a rare species of tulip endemic to the range.Чу-Илийские горы ''
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...
'' in 30 vols. — Ch. ed.
A.M. Prokhorov
Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov (born Alexander Michael Prochoroff, russian: Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Про́хоров; 11 July 1916 – 8 January 2002) was an Australian-born Soviet-Russian physicist known ...
Geography of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is located in Central Asia (with 14% of the country in Eastern Europe). With an area of about Kazakhstan is more than twice the combined size of the other four Central Asian states and 60% larger than Alaska. The country borders Turkmen ...