Aralo-Caspian Lowlands
The Aralo-Caspian Lowlands is a vast depression in Azerbaijan , Kazakhstan , Iran , Russia , Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan ( Asia ).
designation
There are various alternative names in use, each consisting of a combination of the components Aral / Aralo / Aralian, Caspian / Caspo / Caspian and basin / basin / subsidence / depression / depression / depression / depression / depression / plains / lowlands / Consists of deepening, for example "Aral-Kaspi-Senke"
geography
The Aralo-Caspian Lowland consists of the great Caspian Depression , in which, for example, the great Caspian Sea and the marshland bordering it lie, and the lowlands around the remains of the Aral Sea . Between these lakes there is another lake in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the Sarykamysch Depression , in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan the Ustyurt plateau (up to 370 m ) and in Kazakhstan the Mangyshlak plateau (up to 555 m ). The Great Balkans (up to 1880 m ) rises in Turkmenistan on the southern edge of the lowland .
Depression
Due to the aforementioned plateau-like ridges between the two lakes, the area of the Aralo-Caspian Lowlands is not completely a depression, i.e. an area below sea level , but only as a historical or colloquial term for the entire low-lying area to understand.
However, in the valleys between the above-mentioned plateaus there are some land points that are still partly well below sea level: west of the Ustyurt plateau is a 70 m deep point, south-west and south of the Aral Sea, the terrain falls in two different places to 45 m or 80 m below the sea. The deepest point is in the aforementioned Caspian Depression . It is located on the Mangghystau peninsula, which protrudes into the Caspian Sea, southeast of Aktau , where the area in the Karagije Depression is 132 m below the 0-meter contour line.
history
To and shortly after the end of the ice ages - as the vast ice sheets of the glacier abtauten - formed the Aral-Caspian Depression to the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea and other smaller lakes a big sea , which over the Manych valley with the Azov and the Black Sea connected was. Several islands and islets protruded from this sea - for example on the Ustyurt and Mangyshlak plateau and on the Great Balkans. According to Canadian researchers, a connection with the Mediterranean and thus with the oceans was only established ten to twelve thousand years ago.
It was only when the water flow resulting from the disappearing ice masses of the glaciers decreased and the Manytsch lowlands were filled with sediments that the Aralo-Caspian lowlands lost their connection to the Black Sea. In the period that followed, the water level sank further due to increasing warming and evaporation, so that the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea remained as individual lakes. Most of the valleys between the former, previously mentioned islands and islets were also filled with sediments.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Researcher: The Flood did not take place on the Black Sea. On: Wissenschaft.de from April 26, 2002.
- ↑ Valentina Yanko-Hombach, Pavel M. Dolukhanov: The Black Sea flood question: changes in coastline, climate and human settlement . Springer Verlag 2007, ISBN 978-1-4020-4774-9 , p. 347. Google book preview
literature
- J. Heinrich Schmick, The Aralo-Kaspi-Niederung and its findings in the light of the theory of the secular fluctuations of the lake level and the warm zones. Leipzig 1874.