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Tien Shan
The Tien Shan (Celestial Mountains)
extends nearly 3,000 km from Kyrghyzstan, through Sinkiang,
to the Mongolian frontier as a barrier between vast
depressions. The range has more than thirty peaks approaching
6,000m or more. In contrast to the north arcuate structure
of the neighbouring Pamir, strike lines of the Tien
Shan are distinctly east-west oriented. This is expressed
by a series of parallel ranges around the drainage of
the Naryn River and the Issyk-Kul Lake (Plate 13) which,
it is claimed, is the second largest mountain lake in
the world.
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© Pitamber
Sharma |
| 13. Tornado over Issyk-Kul Lake, Kyrghyzstan |
These western ranges, called Alai or
Alay, average 4,600m in altitude and enclose numerous
inland lakes. East of the Issyk-Kul Lake, the range
becomes narrower and reaches the highest point on Tomur
Feng (7,435m). Continuing east, a southern spur separates
the Tarim and Turfan depressions, while the main eastern
range separates the deserts of Turfan and Dzungaria.
The Bogda Feng (5,570m) in the latter range, due north
of Turfan Pendi, lies 154 masl. West of Turfan, a subsidiary
range, the Borohoro Shan, trends north-west to join
Dzungarkij Alatan on the Kazakhstan border. The Tien
Shan is a land of extremes in terms of temperature range.
The ranges average from 3,000 - 5,000 masl and the northern
slopes are exposed to air currents from the Arctic Ocean
and are moister than the southern ones. The Kazakh and
Kyrghyz inhabitants are pastoralists with large herds
of animals, mainly of horses, yaks, sheep, and goats.
Since the abandonment of state farms that emphasised
large herds, animal stocks in the Kyrghyz Republic have
declined from 18 million in 1989 to 14 million in 1994
(Wilson 1997). The region is important for mining copper,
gold, lead, antimony, and tungsten. Gas, oil, and hydropower
are important energy resources of these mountain republics.
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