The Barsuki Desert is a desert zone in the

Aktobe Aktobe ( kz, Ақтөбе, Aqtöbe; russian: Актобе, Aktobe) is a city on the Ilek River in Kazakhstan. It is the administrative center of Aktobe Region. In 2020, it had a population of 500,757 people. Aktobe is located in the west of K ...

and

Kyzylorda Kyzylorda ( kk, Қызылорда, translit=Qyzylorda, ), formerly known as Kzyl-Orda (russian: Кзыл-Орда), Ak-Mechet (Ак-Мечеть), Perovsk (Перовск), and Fort-Perovsky (Форт-Перовский), is a city in south-cen ...

regions of

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 ...

. It has two parts, the Greater Barsuki ( kk, Үлкен Борсық; russian: Большие Барсуки) in the west and the Lesser Barsuki ( kk, Кіші Борсық; russian: Малые Барсуки) in the east. They are elongated strips of sand desert parallel to each other and separated by a roughly wide stretch of non-desert terrain.Барсуки Большие и Малые
''

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. - 3rd ed. - M. Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978. (in Russian) The sands of the deserts are the result of the weathering of Paleogene rocks; only the northern section of the Greater Barsuki was formed from more recent

alluvial deposits Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

Geography

The Barsuki are roughly aligned in a SSW - NNE direction. They are located at the southern end of the

Turgay Depression The Turgay Depression, also known as Turgay Basin, Turgay Trough, and Turgay Hollow ( kk, Торғай қолатый; rus, Тургайская ложбина), is a structural basin in Kazakhstan.

, stretching from the northern coast of the Aral Sea in the

Kyzylorda Region Kyzylorda Region ( kk, Қызылорда облысы, translit=Qyzylorda oblysy; russian: Кызылординская область, translit=Kyzylordinskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is the city of Kyzylorda, with a pop ...

to the southeastern sector of the Aktobe Region. The area is sandy and receives very little rainfall. The sands are subject to eolic action, forming mounds, ridges and dunes. Google EarthFull text of "Natural regions of the U.S.S.R"
/ref>

Greater Barsuki

The Greater Barsuki, also known as "Major Barsuki",The Aral Sea
/ref> has a length of , an average width of and an area of . It stretches from the area southeast of

Begimbet Begimbet, also known as Sarybulak, ( kz, Бегімбет, ''Begımbet'', ''بەگىمبەت''; russian: Бегимбет, ''Begimbet'') is a town in Aktobe Region, west Kazakhstan. It lies at an altitude of . Geography The village is located n ...

in the south to a little to the northeast of Shalkar town.

Lesser Barsuki

The Lesser Barsuki, also known as "Minor Barsuki", lies to the east of its greater neighbor and stretches for from Butakov Bay in the

North Aral Sea The North Aral Sea ( kk, Солтүстік Арал теңізі, russian: Северное Аральское море) is the portion of the former Aral Sea that is fed by the Syr Darya River. It split from the South Aral Sea in 1987–1988 as ...

by Akespe, to a little to the northwest of Karashokat in the Kyzylorda Region. Its width is between and . The average height is to the highest elevation is , located roughly in the middle.

Flora

The vegetation of the flat areas consists mainly of

xerophytic A xerophyte (from Greek ξηρός ''xeros'' 'dry' + φυτόν ''phuton'' 'plant') is a species of plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water, such as a desert such as the Sahara or places in the Alps or t ...

shrubs, including wormwood,

saltwort Saltwort is a common name for various genera of flowering plants that thrive in salty environments, typically in coastal salt marshes and seashores, including: :*''Salsola'' and related genera within subfamily ''Salsoloideae'' :*''Salicornia'' :*'' ...

and

ephemeral plant An ephemeral plant is one marked by short life cycles. The word ephemeral means transitory or quickly fading. In regard to plants, it refers to several distinct growth strategies. The first, spring ephemeral, refers to perennial plants that emerge ...

s. In the slopes of hills and ridges there are thickets of dzhuzgun,

sand acacia ''Ammodendron'' is a genus of flowering plants, called the sand acacias, in the family Fabaceae. It contains five species, which range from Iran through Central Asia to Xinjiang.astragalus ''Astragalus'' is a large genus of over 3,000 species of herbs and small shrubs, belonging to the legume family Fabaceae and the subfamily Faboideae. It is the largest genus of plants in terms of described species. The genus is native to tempe ...

, kandym and chingil.

References

External links