Small Aral Sea brings hope for Lake Balkhash

Abstract This study examines the etymology of the principal physiographic entities of the ancient Sary-Arka area–meaning in the old Turkic language Yellowing Ridge – encompassing the present territory of parkland-steppes, rocky highlands and the adjacent mountains of North and East Kazakhstan. The current linguistic evidence points to a complex and chronologically long culture-historical development reflected by the local place names best-recorded for the major rivers and mountains (hydronyms and oronyms, respectively). Not all geo-site names are securely determined by using modern onomastics. Records of material culture provide additional multi-proxy information. Local uniformity of some toponyms across the extensive area assuming a common cultural background attests to a broader ethnic homogeneity and/or mobility of the ancient populations inhabiting this vast and geomorphically mosaic land. This suggests a close relationship and interactions (including demographic exchanges and mixing) between the past pastoral ethics in the parkland-steppe and semi-desert areas north of Lake Balkhash between the Aral Sea and the southern Urals in the West and the Alatau–Altai Mountain systems in the East. Whereas the hydronyms of the Sary-Arka may have a rather complex and not fully clear origin with a connection to the Turkic-Tatar medieval tribes and nations’ occupancy in northern Central Asia eventually modified into the present Kazakh language forms, the oronyms of the East Kazakhstan mountain ranges indicate the Mongolian roots.

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USING OF THE ILI RIVER DELTA ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Land Degradation and Desertification: Problems of Sustainable Land Management and Adaptation ◽

10.29003/m1700.978-5-317-06490-7/158-165 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Oksana Lipka ◽

G. Mazmaniants ◽

Maria Isupova ◽

A. Aleynikov ◽

Dmitry Zamolodchikov ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Supply ◽

River Flow ◽

Hydrological Regime ◽

Underground Water ◽

Large River ◽

River Delta ◽

Aral Sea ◽

Adaptation To Climate Change ◽

Groundwater Supply ◽

Lake Balkhash

Ecosystem-based adaptation can be applied as an option for sustainable land management. Methodologies that not only prevent land degradation but also contribute to the maintenance of a hydrological regime have become a priority in arid Central Asian climate. Large river deltas can be used as a natural counter-regulator, which accumulates water in wet seasons/years and gradually gives it back to low-water ones. To do so the land-use regime must prevent the degradation of ecosystems and the reduction of their functions. The hystorical anthropogenic damage must be eliminated. In the case of the Ili River delta the restoration of tugai forests is required on an area of at least 30% of the territory, i.e. more than 200 thousand hectares. Afforestation can lead to an increase in the underground water supply of the river at 30 - 70%. The groundwater supply to the river branches in the delta can increase by 1.26 - 2.94 km3/year (up to 21% annual river flow), which, in turn, will lead to additional water supply to Lake Balkhash and reduce the risk of the Aral Sea crisis repetition.

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Overview of retrospective and modern data on arrival fodder organisms in lake Balkhash

Rybovodstvo i rybnoe hozjajstvo (Fish Breeding and Fisheries) ◽

10.33920/sel-09-2111-02 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 16-31

Author(s):

Natalya Nikolaevna Sadyrbaeva ◽

Farizat Amangeldievna Altayeva ◽

Olga Ivanovna Kirichenko

Keyword(s):

Juvenile Fish ◽

Aral Sea ◽

Bottom Fauna ◽

Commercial Development ◽

Food Items ◽

Current State ◽

Gradual Loss ◽

Lake Balkhash ◽

The Republic ◽

Continue Work

The article analyzes the acclimatization work carried out, the current state of the food supply and the feasibility of introducing new food items. Lake Balkhash, in the first years of commercial development, was characterized by extreme poverty of the food base, especially the bottom fauna. During the period of planned acclimatization work, 1958–1965, 10 species of valuable food items were introduced into the reservoir. Many species, as expected, settled in the western part of the lake, where they not only expanded the species composition of bentonts, but also increased the feeding capacity of the reservoir — from 1.3 to 20 times. However, with an increase in salinity from west to east, the composition of benthos became poorer and its biomass decreased due to the gradual loss of mysids, corophiids, polychaetes and monodacnae from its composition. At the present stage, the biomass of zoobenthos in the eastern part of Lake Balkhash is 20–40 times lower than the indicators of the western part. To increase feed in Eastern Balkhash in 2012–2014. Experimental work was carried out on the survival in the Balkhash water of euryhaline invertebrates from the Aral Sea — polychaetes and bivalve molluscs. Based on the positive result, a biological justification was developed for the acclimatization of these invertebrates in the lake. Balkhash, but due to lack of funding, the work itself was not carried out. Within the framework of the above program, it is necessary to continue work on the introduction of brackish-water benthic organisms from the Aral Sea, as well as to ensure the feeding needs of juvenile fish throughout the growing season, there is a proposal for the introduction of Calanipeda aquae-dulcis Kritsch into the reservoir. Research on the issues raised in the article is funded by the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Grant No. BR10264205,).

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