The Karasor Basin ( kk, Қарасор ойысы; rus, Карасорская впадина) or Karasor Depression, is a depression in Karkaraly District,
Karaganda Region
Karaganda Region ( kk, Qarağandy oblysy; russian: Карагандинская область, translit=Karagandinskaja oblast′), also spelled Qaraghandy Region, is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Karaganda.
On 17 March 2022 it was an ...
, Kazakhstan.
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 ...
Jilili Abuduwaili, Gulnura Issanova, Galymzhan Saparov. ''Hydrology and Limnology of Central Asia'', Springer, Berlin 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 in the Kazakh Uplands. It extends roughly from east to west for a length of approximately to the southeast of the Ayr and Zheltau ranges, and north of the
Karkaraly Range
Karkaraly Range ( kk, Қарқаралы таулары; russian: Каркаралинские горы) is a range of mountains in Karkaraly District, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan.
and the
Kyzyltas
Kyzyltas ( kk, Қызылтас) is a range of mountains in Aktogay District, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan.''Kazakhstan National Encyclopedia'' / Ch. ed. B.O. Jakyp. — Almaty: « Kazakh encyclopedia» ZhSS, 2011. ISBN 9965-893-64-0 (T.Z.), ISB ...
. Fourteen rivers flow into the basin, the largest of which are the long Taldy and the long 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.
Katynkol
Katynkol ( kk, Қатынкөл) 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 Encyclop ...
and
Balyktykol
Balyktykol ( kk, Балықтыкөл; russian: Балыктыколь) is a lake in Karkaraly District, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan, one of many lakes by that name.
The lake is located to the NNE of Karkaraly city. The nearest inhabited places ...
, as well as numerous smaller lakes and
sor
Sor may refer to:
* Fernando Sor (1778–1839), Spanish guitarist and composer
* Sor, Ariège, a French commune
* SOR Libchavy, a Czech bus manufacturer
* Sor, Azerbaijan, a village
* Sor, Senegal, an offshore island
* Sor River, a river in the ...
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 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 dimensionless and equal ...
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 (; 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 ...
: «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 trees apart from those near rivers and lakes.
Steppe biomes may include:
* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the temperate grasslands, ...
,. There are plowed agricultural fields with clayey and loamy 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)
*''Aristida'' spp.
*''Heteropogon contortus''
*''Imperata cylindrica''
*''Piptochaetium''
*''Poa'' spp.
*''Stipa'' spp.; typically ''S ...
,
wormwood
Wormwood may refer to:
Biology
* Several plants of the genus ''Artemisia'':
** ''Artemisia abrotanum'', southern wormwood
** '' Artemisia absinthium'', common wormwood, grande wormwood or absinthe wormwood
** ''Artemisia annua'', sweet wormwood o ...
,
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 ...
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
Sor
Sor may refer to:
* Fernando Sor (1778–1839), Spanish guitarist and composer
* Sor, Ariège, a French commune
* SOR Libchavy, a Czech bus manufacturer
* Sor, Azerbaijan, a village
* Sor, Senegal, an offshore island
* Sor River, a river in the ...