IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/perpro/v10y1999i1p65-80.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quaternary permafrost and mountain glaciation in Kazakhstan

Author

Listed:
  • Bolat Aubekerov
  • Aldar Gorbunov

Abstract

During the Quaternary there were numerous changes of climate in Kazakhstan. Cold epochs were replaced by moderate or warm ones and humidity varied. The most significant period of cooling occurred in the Middle and Late Pleistocene, when the permafrost of the northern and central plains of Kazakhstan merged with the permafrost of the mountains in the southern part of the country. Maximum mountain glaciation in Kazakhstan occurred in the Early and Middle Pleistocene. The first Eopleistocene (the transition section from Pliocene to Pleistocene) glaciation was caused by a significant humidity increase in the mountains together with moderate cooling; the second, in the Middle Pleistocene, was mainly cooling. In both cases tectonic elevation of mountain ranges played a major role. Appreciable changes of geocryological and glacial conditions were observed during the Holocene. For example, in the Little Ice Age there was a depression of permafrost belt borders in the mountains of up to 200–300 m, and small permafrost areas formed in the Kazakh Melkosopochnik (an area of old, low, rounded and isolated hills in central Kazakhstan). Also glacier fluctuations occurred. During the Quaternary, the high‐altitude landscape zonation in mountains varied substantially. During glaciation, the forest belt narrowed, and in the Middle Pleistocene it was probably completely absent in the northern Tien Shan. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Pendant le Quaternaire, de nombreux changements de climat se sont produits au Kazakhstan où des périodes froides ont été remplacées par des périodes chaudes ou de température modérée, accompagnées de variation d'humidité. Les refroidissements les plus significatifs se sont produits au milieu et à la fin du Pléistocène quand le pergélisol des plaines centrales et septentrionales du Kazakhstan a fusionné avec le pergélisol de montagne de la partie méridionale du pays. La glaciation de montagne du Kazakhstan la plus étendue a eu lieu au début et au milieu du Pléistocène. La première glaciation, apparue à la fin du Pliocène ou au début du Pléistocène, a été provoquée par une augmentation significative de l'humidité dans les montagnes, au moment où se produisait un refroidissement modéré. La seconde glaciation, au milieu du Pléistocène, résulte essentiellement d'un refroidissement. Dans les deux cas, le soulèvement tectonique des montagnes a joué un rôle important. Des changements appréciables dans les conditions glaciaires et géocryologiques ont été observées aussi pendant l'Holocène. Par exemple, pendant le petit âge glaciaire, la limite du pergélisol est descendue de 200 à 300 m et de petits îlots de pergélisol sont apparus dans le Melkosopochnik (une région de collines basses, arrondies et isolées du centre du Kazakhstan). Des fluctuations glaciaires ont aussi accompagné ces changements climatiques. Pendant le Quaternaire, la zonation en altitude du paysage dans les montagnes a varié d'une manière substantielle. Pendant les glaciations, la zone forestière s'est rétrécie et a été probablement complètement absente dans le Tien Shan septentrional. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Bolat Aubekerov & Aldar Gorbunov, 1999. "Quaternary permafrost and mountain glaciation in Kazakhstan," Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(1), pages 65-80, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:perpro:v:10:y:1999:i:1:p:65-80
    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1530(199901/03)10:13.0.CO;2-X
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1530(199901/03)10:13.0.CO;2-X
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1530(199901/03)10:13.0.CO;2-X?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:perpro:v:10:y:1999:i:1:p:65-80. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1530 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.