Dzungarian Alatau Research Articles

Degradation of glaciers in Dzungarian (Zhetisu) Alatau in the second half of the XX century

The features of spatial and temporal changes of glaciation in Djungarian Alatau for 44 years (1956–2000) are discussed in the paper. The evaluation of the glacier evolution based on the comparison of their morphometric characteristics, obtained by cataloging in 1956, 1990 and 2000. The aerial photographs are used for the first two periods, and Landsat satellite imageries with resolution of 15 m – for 2000. In addition the maps of glaciation in scale 1:25 000 were used for 1990 and 2000. The result of this work showed that during 44 years 341 glaciers melted, 227 glaciers dissolved, and their total number decreased from 1412 to 1298. The area of glaciers reduced from 841 to 528 km² (37.2%, to 0.85 %/year). The altitude of the firn line lifted by 65 m, from 3550 m up to 3615 m. Total ice volume diminished from 39.3 down to 20.2 km³ (39.2%, to 0.89 %/year). The average value of the glacier mass balance now equals –37,6 g/cm². The total area of glaciers in the region in 2010 is estimated at 465 km². According to the author’s forecast, glaciers in Djungarian Alatau may disappear to 2090.

Evaluation of the molecular genetic diversity of Malus sieversii populations in the Dzungarian Alatau and Tarbagatai mountains

Evaluation of the molecular genetic diversity of Malus sieversii populations in the Dzungarian Alatau and Tarbagatai mountains

10Be exposure dating of river terraces at the southern mountain front of the Dzungarian Alatau (SE Kazakhstan) reveals rate of thrust faulting over the past ~ 400 ka

The mountain belts of the Dzungarian Alatau (SE Kazakhstan) and the Tien Shan are part of the actively deforming India–Asia collision zone but how the strain is partitioned on individual faults remains poorly known. Here we use terrace mapping, topographic profiling, and 10Be exposure dating to constrain the slip rate of the 160-km-long Usek thrust fault, which defines the southern front of the Dzungarian Alatau. In the eastern part of the fault, where the Usek River has formed five terraces (T1–T5), the Usek thrust fault has vertically displaced terrace T4 by 132±10m. At two sites on T4, exposure dating of boulders, amalgamated quartz pebbles, and sand from a depth profile yielded 10Be ages of 366±60ka and 360 +77/−48ka (both calculated for an erosion rate of 0.5mm/ka). Combined with the vertical offset and a 45–70° dip of the Usek fault, these age constraints result in vertical and horizontal slip rates of ~0.4 and ~0.25mm/a, respectively. These rates are below the current resolution of GPS measurements and highlight the importance of determining slip rates for individual faults by dating deformed landforms to resolve the pattern of strain distribution across intracontinental mountain belts.

Two new species of freshwater amphipods (Crustacea: Gammaridae) from Central Asia, with comments on the unusual upper lip morphology

This paper describes two new species of the genus Gammarus Fabricius from the freshwaters of Central Asia: G. montaniformissp. nov. (Kazakhstan, Dzungarian Alatau, Borohudzyr River) and G. alius sp. nov. (Kyrgyzstan, Chatyr-Kul Lake). The mor-phology of the mouth parts of the new species G. alius is characterised by a peculiar upper lip with “hooks” on its epistome thatis discussed. The affinity of the new species for their congeners is discussed, emphasizing morphological and biogeographical relationships.

NOTE ON TWO UMBELLIFERAE TAXA OF SOUTH-EASTERN KAZAKHSTAN, INVALIDLY PUBLISHED BY M. S. BAJTENOV, "БОТАНИЧЕСКИЙ ЖУРНАЛ"

New material on a rare species Silaum saxatilis (Umbelliferae) from southern limit of the Dzungarian Alatau (South-Eastern Kazakhstan) allowed to describe the structure of its fruits. The species is assigned to a distinct monotypic genus Tschulaktavia, the generic name was proposed by M. S. Bajtenov and validated here. Another speciens described by Bajtenov, Stenotaenia iliensis, is synonymized with Hyalolaena tshuiliensis. The genus Stenotaenia does not occus in Kazakhstan and the Middle Asia. 658

GPS velocity field for the Tien Shan and surrounding regions

[1] Measurements at ∼400 campaign-style GPS points and another 14 continuously recording stations in central Asia define variations in their velocities both along and across the Kyrgyz and neighboring parts of Tien Shan. They show that at the longitude of Kyrgyzstan the Tarim Basin converges with Eurasia at 20 ± 2 mm/yr, nearly two thirds of the total convergence rate between India and Eurasia at this longitude. This high rate suggests that the Tien Shan has grown into a major mountain range only late in the evolution of the India-Eurasia collision. Most of the convergence between Tarim and Eurasia within the upper crust of the Tien Shan presumably occurs by slip on faults on the edges of and within the belt, but 1–3 mm/yr of convergence is absorbed farther north, at the Dzungarian Alatau and at a lower rate with the Kazakh platform to the west. The Tarim Basin is thrust beneath the Tien Shan at ∼4–7 mm/yr. With respect to Eurasia, the Ferghana Valley rotates counterclockwise at ∼0.7° Myr−1 about an axis at the southwest end of the valley. Thus, GPS data place a bound of ∼4 mm/yr on the rate of crustal shortening across the Chatkal and neighboring ranges on the northwest margin of the Ferghana Valley, and they limit the present-day slip rate on the right-lateral Talas-Ferghana fault to less than ∼2 mm/yr. GPS measurements corroborate geologic evidence indicating that the northern margin of the Pamir overthrusts the Alay Valley and require a rate of at least 10 and possibly 15 mm/yr.

Phylogeography of a widespread terrestrial vertebrate in a barely-studied Palearctic region: green toads (Bufo viridis subgroup) indicate glacial refugia in Eastern Central Asia

The phylogeography of western Palearctic species is relatively well studied, but data on Eastern Central Asia are scarce. We present one of the first data sets from a widespread terrestrial vertebrate (Bufo pewzowi) inhabiting Eastern Central Asian mountains and deserts to gain knowledge on its phylogeography in this region. We applied combined phylogenetic and demographic analyses to understand the evolutionary history using mitochondrial DNA D-loop variation of toads from 37 locations. Genetic structure of Bufo pewzowi is strongly affected by landscape: we found three haplotype groups in eastern Kazakhstan, Dzungaria and Tarim Basin, divided by the Tian Shan and Dzungarian Alatau ranges. A vicariant hypothesis may explain divergence among groups. The divergence time of the three major clades was estimated about 0.9 million years ago (confidence interval 0.5-1.4), and is discussed with respect to Quaternary uplifting and glaciation in the Tian Shan. Demographic analyses provided evidence for both historical bottlenecks and population expansions and suggested Pleistocene signatures. Glacial refugia were inferred in the Tarim Basin (around the Turpan depression), in southern Dzungaria (Urumqui region), at the northern foot of the Tian Shan (Gongnaisi) and perhaps at the Altai range (Terekti). Regional Post-Last Glacial Maximum dispersal patterns are proposed. A taxonomic hypothesis is presented. This study provides a detailed history of how a widespread terrestrial vertebrate responded to geological change and Quaternary glacial events in Eastern Central Asia and may have significance for future phylogeographic research in this understudied region.

The Dzungarian Yellow-Flowered Species of Limonium (Plumbaginaceae)

The distinguishing characters between the closely related Limonium chrysocomum and L. semenovii are given. The new combinations L. semenovii var. chrysocephalum and L. semenovii var. sedoides are proposed, and a key separating these varieties is presented. Limonium chrysocomum (Karelin & Kirilov) Kuntze and L. semenovii (Herder) Kuntze are very closely related yellow-flowered species that have long been confused. The former grows in rocky areas in deserts and on dry stony slopes, hills, and low mountains in northern Xinjiang and Dzungarian Gobi (western Mongolia, Kazakhstan). In contrast, L. semenovii grows in desert and steppe stony slopes, hills, and low mountains, on salt sands, Haloxylon desert woodlands, and scree, especially on tertiary gypsum deposits, and is distributed in Xinjiang (north and south foothills of Tian-Shan), Dzungarian Alatau, and Gobi (eastern Kazakhstan, western Mongolia). The two species can be separated by the following key: la. Stems and branches finely warty at least just below inflorescence; external bractlets of spikes glabrate, very rarely pilose in the eastern plants (var. pubescens Linczevski) .... L. chrysocomum lb. Stems and branches glabrate; external and internal bractlets of spikes almost always densely and long pilose, very rarely glabrous in the western part of the species range (var. glabra Linczevski) L. semenovii Limonium chrysocephalum (Regel) Linczevski and L. sedoides (Regel) Kuntze are best treated as varieties of L. semenovii and not L. chrysocomum, as was done by Peng (1987). They are not sharply differentiated, and a whole range of intermediates occurs sporadically within the general range of L. semenovii. The two varieties are separated as follows: la. Sterile branches 2 or 3, not more than twice as long as membranaceous scales; plants 1015 cm high var. chrysocephalum lb. Sterile branches often solitary, completely covered by white membranaceous scales; plants 26 cm high var. sedoides Limonium semenovii (Herder) Kuntze var. chrysocephalum (Regel) Grubov, comb. nov. Basionym: Statice chrysocephala Regel, Trudy Imp. S. Peterburgsk. Bot. Sada 6: 383. 1880. TYPE: China. Xinjiang: Tian-Shan, Borborogussun, 3,000-4,000 ft., 28 Apr. 1879, A. Regel s.n. (holotype, LE). Limonium semenovii (Herder) Kuntze var. sedoides (Regel) Grubov, comb. nov. Basionym: Statice sedoides Regel, Trudy Imp. S. Peterburgsk. Bot. Sada 6: 384. 1880. TYPE: China. Xinjiang: Sudabhang des dschungarischen Alatau, 6,000 ft., 7 Aug. 1878, A. Regel s.n. (holotype, LE). Although the original publication of Statice chrysocephala and S. sedoides cited more than one collection for each, the author clearly selected the types above, as evidenced by his own handwriting on the sheets at LE. Acknowledgments. I thank Alice Grabovskaya and Ihsan Al-Shehbaz for help in the preparation of

Russian Geographical Papers

Lake Balkhash.—Mr. B. F. Meffert, who visited this lake during a journey in Russian Asia in 1910. has given an account of its basin in the Izvestiya of the Imp. Russ. Geogr. Soc., Nos. i.–v., 1912. The basin is intimately connected with those of the lakes Sasyk-kul, Ala-kul, and Ebi-nor. The rocks are chiefly Palæozoic and eruptive rocks of various ages. Deposits dating no further back than the Tertiary are rare, and occur only in the eastern part of the basin. At some time or other before the Tertiary period the Palæozoic rocks were folded in various directions, chiefly north-west and west. When the faulting and upheavals which formed the horsts and troughs of the Tarbagatai, Dzungarian Alatau, the Chu-Ili watershed, &c., took place is not known, but in some parts they may be referred to the Tertiary period, and also the subsidence, at least of the western part of the basin, is probably of the same age. Mr. A. M. Nikolski has connected Balkhash with the Han-hai, not with the Turkestan basin, believing that the Han-hai with Balkhash was isolated before the separation of the Aralo-Caspian sea from the Siberian, and certainly no Aralo-Caspian deposits occur for some distance west of Balkhash. Marks of high water are found on the north-west of the lake 100 ft. above the present level, and therefore the lake must at one time have covered a large area to the south and east. According to Golubief, the lakes Sasyk-kul, Uyali, and Ala-kul formed one lake within the memory of man, and the difference of level between Ala-kul and Ebi-nor is only 25 ft. During last century there was a long period of desiccation, but for the last twenty years the lake has been rising. The water of the western part of the lake, into which the Hi pours considerable volumes, is quite sweet, but it is brackish in the small bays and channels.