Буралкынынтузы 2018-04-02-23 59 Sentinel-2 L2A

A sor ( kk, сор; tk, шор) is a closed drainless depression characteristic of the

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

n deserts, found especially 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 ...

. The sor area is seasonally flooded, forming a lake, which becomes an

inland salt marsh An inland salt marsh is a saltwater marsh located away from the coast. It is formed and maintained in areas when evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation and/or when sodium- and chloride-laden groundwater is released from natural brine aquifers. It ...

and then a salt flat as it dries.''Kazakh traditional system of ethnographic categories, concepts and names;'' in Kazakh National Encyclopedia. Volume 5. Page 226. "Asia Channel" publishing house. Almaty, 2014 The term forms part of some toponyms of Kazakhstan, such as

Aralsor Aralsor ( kk, Аралсор; russian: Аралсор) is a bittern salt lake in Bokey Orda District, West Kazakhstan Region, Kazakhstan. The lake lies about to the east of the Russian border, north of the R-97 Highway (Kazakhstan). The road ...

, Azhibeksor,

Karasor Karasor ( kk, Қарасор; russian: Карасор),
''

Sorkol, Sorasha, Altybaysor and Sor Tuzbair.

Description

A sor forms in the flatland of

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...

areas or deserts. Heavy seasonal rains taking place usually in the spring bring the water to accumulate at the bottom of the depression. The intermittent lake is characterized by a clear-cut coastline. As the summer approaches the lake dries quickly owing to hot temperatures, forming a salt pan with a layer of salt of varying thickness. In the dry flat expanse the

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

is located close to the surface. Although usually a sor is located away from the seashore, an

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marine geogra ...

in the southern coast of the

Dead Kultuk The Dead Kultuk ( kk, Өлі қолтық шығанағы ''Ölı qoltyq şyğanağy''; russian: Мёртвый Култук) is a bay of the Caspian Sea in the coast of Kazakhstan, west of the Ustyurt desert. The bay was known as 'Tsesarevich ...

had the characteristics of a sor and was known as " Sor Kaydak". However, in recent decades it lost its distinct shoreline owing to the rise of the level of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

and has become a

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

.Igor S. Zonn, Aleksey N Kosarev, Michael H. Glantz & Andrey G. Kostianoy, ''The Caspian Sea Encyclopedia'', p. 156

Flora

Located in areas of sparse vegetation, the typical sor landscape is quite barren. Tough halophytes such as ''

Halocnemum ''Halocnemum'' is a genus of halophytic shrubs in the family Amaranthaceae. The plants are fleshy and apparently articulated with characteristic globular or short-cylindrical lateral branches, and reduced leaves and flowers. There are two species ...

'' are among the only species able to grow in such an environment.

References

External links

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Salt Lake Colors, Kazakhstan
Geomorphology Lacustrine landforms Depressions (geology) Salt flats Turkic toponyms {{topography-stub

Description

Flora

See also

References

External links