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](_blank)
''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 Earth][Full text of "Natural regions of the U.S.S.R"](_blank)
/ref>
Greater Barsuki
The Greater Barsuki, also known as "Major Barsuki",[The Aral Sea](_blank)
/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.
See also
* 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 ...
References
External links
*
Deserts of the North Aral Sea.
Deserts of Central Asia
Deserts of Kazakhstan
Geography of Aktobe Region
Kyzylorda Region
{{Kazakhstan-geo-stub