Nature

Land and climate

A great variety of natural and climate zones are characteristic for East Kazakhstan. Mountainous, mountain-taiga, mountain-meadow, woodland, partially-wooded steppe, steppe, semi-desert and desert landscapes predominate in the region. The mountain systems of Rudny and South Altai, Kalba, and Saur-Tarbagatai occupy the largest area in the territory.

Elevation: From 800 to 4500 meters; in the Eastern Altai a range of between 3000 and 4000 meters. The highest peak is Belukha at 4506 meters. The mountain ranges are divided by the mountainous hollows of Zaisanskaya and Alakolskaya.

The bowels of East Kazakhstan are rich in supplies of minerals, especially polymetal ores. They contain lead, zinc, copper, gold, silver and rare metals such as cadmium, molybdenum, bismuth, indium, thallium, selenium, tellurium, cobalt and others. The main metal deposits could be found in Leninogorsk, Zyryanovsk, Beryezovskij, Glubokovskij, Tishinskij, Belousovskij and Bukhtarma. There are also deposits of antimony, mercury, coal, bituminous, shale, limestone, granite, marble, stone and black lead.

The climate is sharp and continental with wide daily and annual fluctuations in temperature. The winters are long and severe and summers are especially hot. The absolute minimum temperature for the winter is negative 52 degrees Celsius, and a maximum temperature for the summer is positive 46 degrees Celsius. Precipitation depends upon geographical position: the highlands receive more than 1000 - 1500 mm, while low-lying areas receive between 400 - 500 mm. The vegetative period lasts 176 days in the north; in the south it is 198 days.

About 40% of the water resources of the republic are concentrated in East Kazakhstan. There are about 800 rivers that flow in the territory of the region. Their total length is more than 10,000 km.

The main water tributary is the Irtysh; the largest rivers are the Uba, the Ulba, the Buhtarma, the Kurchum, the Char, and the Kizilsu; the Ust-Kamenogorsk and Buhtarma reservoirs complete our list of major water sources.

There are about 2000 lakes with different areas ranging from one to 528 square kilometers. The largest ones are the Markakol, the Zaisan, the Sibini, the Maralie, the Rahmanovskoe, the Kemerkol, the Sasikkol, and the Alakol.

The vegetable kingdom of the region is characterized by great variety and which defines the great extent of the territory.

In the mountainous parts in the North and in the South of the region there is a mountainous-steppe area with shrub and steppe grass (meadow-sweet, dog rose, bird cherry, honeysuckle, hawthorn, willow, guilder rose and currant). At a slightly higher elevation there lies a forested area with such plants as the birch, the asp, the poplar, the cedar, the fir and others.

The forests of East Kazakhstan occupy a territory of more than two million hectares. Continue between 300-500 meters higher and you are in the Alpine meadows with thick grasses home to asters, buttercups, and primroses. Closer to the top exist areas of the tundra capped with snow and glacier. East Kazakhstan is the main supplier of valuable medicinal plants to the pharmaceutical industry (such as sea-buckthorn , golden root, Siberian stag root and squirrel root). The fauna of the region is also rich and various. There are about 400 species of birds and about 60 species of mammals living in the region. These include bears, squirrels, ermines, weasels, chipmunks, sables, wolves, foxes, Siberian stag, wild goats, snow leopards, elks and many others. The birds are swan, black storks, silver sea gull, goosander, widgeon, geese, cranes, and cormorants.

The rivers and lakes are rich in fish (ide, bream, wild carp, pike, uskuch, trout, pike-perch, grayling, perch, white salmon, sturgeon).

To preserve this unique natural beauty the Markakol, the Western Altai, the Tarbagatai national parks, the Alakol and the Kuludzhun reserves were created.