Academy of Tourism 
 
 
 
 

Project 
 

Lakes of Kyrgyzstan 
 
 
 
 

Done by: N. Muravjeva

                                                                                                              AT-43-4

                                                                                     Checked by: K. Medetbekova 
 
 

Bishkek - 2011 

Content:

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….3 

CHAPTER 1. ESSENCE OF LAKE…………………….…………………………6

    1.1 Meaning of the word ‘lake’ and origin of natural lakes……………………..6

1.2 Types of lakes9 
 

CHAPTER 2. LAKES OF KYRGYZSTAN11

   2.1 Lakes of a tectonic origin11

2.2 Lakes завального origin19

   2.3 Lakes of a glacial origin.26 

CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………..30 

THE LIST OF REFERENCES……………………………………………………32 
 
 

Introduction

    Water resources of Kyrgyzstan are one of the main national wealth playing the major role in ability to live of the person, formation of an animal and flora, development of productive forces not only our republic, but also of some areas of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, China.

    In Kyrgyz there is a saying: «Эл башы болбой, суу башы бол». In English it means: «not be at the head of the people and be at the head of water». The considerable stocks of fresh water fed with glaciers, and also high mountains - here compound water resources of the country.

    Huge volumes of water resources are concentrated in 6580 glaciers which stocks make about 760 billion in cubic meter. Water in glaciers differs high quality, a low mineralization and is suitable for an irrigation and water supply. The total area of all glaciers exceeds 8 thousand in sq. m. the largest square of a freezing in a river basin the Sary-jazz. Glaciers occupy 4,2 % of all territory of Kyrgyzstan. During the summer period at the expense of a glacial drain the considerable part of water resources of the rivers of high-mountainous areas is formed.

Pic. 1

    The total amount of water consumed in republic is estimated in 10-12 billion in cubic m. a year.

    In КR are more than 2000 rivers in length over 10 km, and their general length makes almost 35 thousand in km.

    Huge value in development and functioning of an economic complex, escalating of water-power resources, preservation of the environment, formation of effective water balance lakes have, water basins and ponds. The considerable volume of water is concentrated in lakes, small ponds, and water basins. Their total area makes 6836 sq. km. mainly lakes are located in high mountains zone - 3-4 thousand in m above sea level.

During the Soviet period such major interstate water economic objects, as Toktogulsky, Kurpsajsky, Tash-Kumyrsky, Shamaldy-Sajsky, Uch-Kurgan water-power knots, the Kirov, Najmansky water basins, the Chumyshsky dam, the Big Chujsky channel and other objects are constructed.

    In КR there is a considerable volume of underground waters. The general operational resources of underground waters are estimated approximately in 435 cubic km/s.

Thus, in Kyrgyzstan the interconnected, effective enough water and power infrastructure providing rational functioning of this major complex (the cascade of dams of Hydroelectric Power Station, water basins of long-term and seasonal regulation, irrigational constructions and substations) was generated. It is established, though also insufficiently effective order of water division between republics of the central-Asian region which is based on a seasonal exchange of water resources, the electric power and organic energy carriers. Abundantly clear that the water-power problem is characteristic not only for КR, but also for all Central-Asian region. The permission of these problems lies not only in an economic plane, but in the sociopolitical.

    Now water resources still are used insufficiently effectively practically in all water consuming branches of economy, especially in irrigated agriculture. The general losses reach an order of 35-37 % from volume of water giving to agriculture. In the industry the system of turnaround and repeatedly-consecutive water supply is a little used. Many losses in household sector.

    In water balance excess of volume of water resources formed in republic over volume of their consumption in territory of Kyrgyzstan prevails, therefore they have interstate value. At total amount of a drain of year of 57.3 billion abounding in water in cubic m. outflow for republic limits makes about 45 billion in cubic m., or 78 %. Thus from total amount of consumption of fresh water in republic 89 %, in the industry more than 6 %, household sector - about 3 % and other part - in other kinds of economic activities are spent for an irrigation almost.

    The purpose of the given work is consideration of large lakes of Kyrgyzstan. To achievement of the given purpose following problems are selected, make definition of concept "lake", and consider classification of lakes, to consider lakes as natural-tourist objects of Kyrgyzstan. 

    The objects of this work are the largest lakes of Kyrgyzstan.

    For a writing of the given work works of domestic scientists in the field of preservation of the environment and hydrobiology, and also educational, scientific, help sources of the information were used. At a work writing the method of the analysis of references on the declared theme has been used. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chapter 1. Essence of lake

1.1 Meaning of the word ‘lake’ and origin of natural lakes

    A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which are usually flowing. However most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams.

    Natural lakes are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing glaciations. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers. In some parts of the world there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will slowly fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them.

    Many lakes are artificial and are constructed for industrial or agricultural use, for hydro-electric power generation or domestic water supply, or for aesthetic or recreational purposes.

Etymology, meaning of "lake"

    The word lake comes from Middle English lake ("lake, pond, waterway"), from Old English ("pond, pool, stream"), from Proto-Germanic *lakō ("pond, ditch, slow moving stream"), from the Proto-Indo-European root *leg'- ("to leak, drain"). Cognates include Dutch laak ("lake, pond, and ditch"), Middle Low German lāke ("water pooled in a riverbed, puddle"), German Lache ("pool, puddle"), and Icelandic lækur ("slow flowing stream"). Also related are the English words leak and leach.

    There is considerable uncertainty about defining the difference between lakes and ponds, and no current internationally accepted definition of either term across scientific disciplines or political boundaries exists.  For example, limnologists have defined lakes as water bodies which are simply a larger version of a pond, which have wave action on the shoreline or where wind-induced turbulence plays a major role in mixing the water column. None of these definitions completely excludes ponds and all are difficult to measure. For this reason there has been increasing use made of simple size-based definitions to separate ponds and lakes. One definition of lake is a body of water of 2 hectares (5 acres) or more in area, however others have defined lakes as water bodies of 5 hectares (12 acres) and above or 8 hectares (20 acres) and above.  

Origin of natural lakes

    There are a number of natural processes that can form lakes. A recent tectonic uplift of a mountain range can create bowl-shaped depressions that accumulate water and form lakes. The advance and retreat of glaciers can scrape depressions in the surface where water accumulates; such lakes are common in Scandinavia, Patagonia, Siberia and Canada. The most notable examples are probably the Great Lakes of North America.

    Lakes can also form by means of landslides or by glacial blockages. An example of the latter occurred during the last ice age in the U.S. state of Washington, when a huge lake formed behind a glacial flow; when the ice retreated, the result was an immense flood that created the Dry Falls at Sun Lakes, Washington.

    Salt lakes (also called saline lakes) can form where there is no natural outlet or where the water evaporates rapidly and the drainage surface of the water table has a higher-than-normal salt content. Examples of salt lakes include Great Salt Lake, the Aral Sea and the Dead Sea.

    Small, crescent-shaped lakes called oxbow lakes can form in river valleys as a result of meandering. The slow-moving river forms a sinuous shape as the outer sides of bends are eroded away more rapidly than the inner side. Eventually a horseshoe bend is formed and the river cuts through the narrow neck. This new passage then forms the main passage for the river and the ends of the bend become silted up, thus forming a bow-shaped lake.

    Crater lakes are formed in volcanic craters and calderas which fill up with precipitation more rapidly than they empty via evaporation. Sometimes the latter are called caldera lakes, although often no distinction is made. An example is Crater Lake in Oregon, located within the caldera of Mount Mazama. The caldera was created in a massive volcanic eruption that led to the subsidence of Mount Mazama around 4860 BC.

Gloe Lakes are freshwater lakes that have emerged when the water they consist of has been separated, not considerably long before, from the sea as a consequence of post-glacial rebound.

    Some lakes, such as Lake Jackson in Florida, USA, come into existence as a result of sinkhole activity.

    Lake Vostok is a sub glacial lake in Antarctica, possibly the largest in the world. The pressure from the ice atop it and its internal chemical composition mean that, if the lake were drilled into, a fissure could result that would spray somewhat like a geyser.

    Most lakes are geologically young and shrinking since the natural results of erosion will tend to wear away the sides and fill the basin. Exceptions are those such as Lake Baikal and Lake Tanganyika that lie along continental rift zones and are created by the crust's subsidence as two plates are pulled apart. These lakes are the oldest and deepest in the world. Lake Baikal, which is 25-30 million years old, is deepening at a faster rate than it is being filled by erosion and may be destined over millions of years to become attached to the global ocean. The Red Sea, for example, is thought to have originated as a rift valley lake.

1.2 Types of lakes

• Per glacial Lake: Part of the lake's margin is formed by an ice sheet, ice cap or glacier, the ice having obstructed the natural drainage of the land.
• Sub glacial Lake: A lake which is permanently covered by ice. They can occur under glaciers, ice caps or ice sheets. There are many such lakes, but Lake Vostok in Antarctica is by far the largest. They are kept liquid because the overlying ice acts as a thermal retaining energy introduced to its underside by friction, by water percolating through crevasses, by the pressure from the mass of the ice sheet above or by geothermal heating below.
• Glacial Lake: a lake with origins in a melted glacier, such as a kettle lake.
• Artificial Lake: A lake created by flooding land behind a dam, called an impoundment or reservoir, by deliberate human excavation, or by the flooding of an excavation incident to a mineral-extraction operation such as an open pit mine or quarry. Some of the world's largest lakes are reservoirs like Hirakud Dam in India.
• Endorheic Lake: terminal or closed: A lake which has no significant outflow, either through rivers or underground diffusion. Any water within an endorheic basin leaves the system only through evaporation or seepage. These lakes, such as Lake Eyre in central Australia or the Aral Sea in central Asia, are most common in desert locations.
• Meromictic Lake: a lake which has layers of water which do not intermix. The deepest layer of water in such a lake does not contain any dissolved oxygen. The layers of sediment at the bottom of a meromictic lake remain relatively undisturbed because there are no living aerobic organisms.
• Fjord Lake: a lake in a glacially eroded valley that has been eroded below sea level.
• Oxbow Lake: A lake which is formed when a wide meander from a stream or a river is cut off to form a lake. They are called "oxbow" lakes due to the distinctive curved shape that results from this process.
• Rift lake or sag pond: A lake which forms as a result of subsidence along a geological fault in the Earth's tectonic plates. Examples include the Rift Valley lakes of eastern Africa and Lake Baikal in Siberia.
• Underground Lake: A lake which is formed under the surface of the Earth's crust. Such a lake may be associated with caves, aquifers or springs.
• Crater Lake: A lake which forms in a volcanic caldera or crater after the volcano has been inactive for some time. Water in this type of lake may be fresh or highly acidic, and may contain various dissolved minerals. Some also have geothermal activity, especially if the volcano is merely dormant rather than extinct.
• Lava lake: A pool of molten lava contained in a volcanic crater or other depression. Lava lakes that have partly or completely solidified are also referred to as lava lakes.
• Former: A lake which is no longer in existence. Such lakes include prehistoric lakes and lakes which have permanently dried up through evaporation or human intervention. Owens in California, USA, is an example of a former lake. Former lakes are a common feature of the Basin and Range area of southwestern North America.
• Ephemeral lake: A seasonal lake that exists as a body of water during only part of the year.
• Intermittent lake: A lake with no water during a part of the year.
• Shrunken: Closely related to former lakes, a shrunken lake is one which has drastically decreased in size over geological time. Lake Agassiz, which once covered much of central North America, is a good example of a shrunken lake. Two notable remnants of this lake are Lake Winnipeg and Lake Winnipegosis.

Chapter 2. Lakes of kyrgyzstan

    In total, there are almost 2000 lakes in the Kyrgyz Republic, with a combined area of 6836 sq km. Most of them are small mountain lakes, located at altitudes between 2500 and 4000 meters above sea level and were formed as a result of glaciations. Only 16 of the lakes have a surface area of over 1 sq. km. (Table 1)

    In Kyrgyz, the word for lake is “kul” – as in Issyk-Kul, Son-Kul and Chatyr-Kul.

The largest lakes of Kyrgyzstan.

Table 1.

2.1 Lakes of a tectonic origin

Issyk-Kul Lake.

    Lake Issyk Kul has a length of 182 , a width of up to 60 kilometers , and covers an area of 6,236 square kilometers. This makes it the second largest mountain lake in the world behind Lake Titicaca in South America. Located at an altitude of 1,607 meters,it reaches 668 meters in depth.

    About 118 rivers and streams flow into the lake; the largest are the Djyrgalan and Tyup. It is fed by springs, including many hot springs, and snow melt-off. The lake has no current outlet, but some hydrologists hypothesize that, deep underground, lake water filters into the Chu River. The bottom of the lake contains the mineralmonohydrocalcite: one of the few known lacustrine deposits.

    The lake's southern shore is dominated by the ruggedly beautiful Teskey Ala-Too Range of the Tian-Shan mountains. The Kyngey Ala-Too of the Tian Shan runs parallel to the north shore.

The lake water has salinity of approx. 0.6%—compare to 3.5% salinity of typical seawater—and its level drops by approximately 5 cm per year.

    Administratively, the lake and the adjacent land are within Issyk-Kul Province of Kyrgyzstan.

    The lake has been held in high regard by the Kyrgyz – it is known as the “pearl of the Tian- Shan” – and in 2004, the government declared the lake as the “property of the nation”.  One source even suggests that, at one time, it was even forbidden to swim in the lake.   
    The area relishes in some 2900 hours of sunshine a year.  Because of the effect of the mountain ranges North and South, it does not suffer from extreme Continental climatic conditions.  Summer temperatures are usually around 25-28 degrees, but as the lake lies at an altitude of some 1606m, it can get quite chilly, especially at night.  Winter temperatures can be around –5 degrees. (Table 1)

Table 1.

    Due to its size it sometimes appears like an inland sea, and it has a fair number of

beaches.  Most of these are on the Northern shore and have long acted as a magnet for tourists.  There are a large number of hotels, sanatoria, guesthouses and home stays at various points around the lake, many of which can make arrangements for services to the neighboring mountains. Some of the sanatoria have hydrothermal springs and offer mud baths.  
    The tourist season usually runs from June until September – but the peak season is from about 25 th July until 25 th August – and it may be difficult to find places and prices are at a premium.  A number of the sanatoria, hotels, guesthouses and home stays around the lake operate all year round – although some are open only during the summer season.  
The area was basically unknown to the Western world until Russian “explorers” like Tianshansky Semeyenov ventured into the mountains nearby.  There was greater contact with the East, however, and the Chinese traveler Jan Chan Tzan reached the lake in about 128 BC as part of a 6-year journey of exploration (1138-126BC).  The first written account of the lake comes from another Chinese traveler, Suan Zsan, when describing his 16-year journey of exploration.  The first written example of the use of the name, Issyk-Kul, dates from an anonymous work – “The boundaries of the world from East to West” – written in Tajik in 982 AD.  It also accurately states the size of the lake.

History

    Lake Issyk-Kul was a stopover on the Silk Road, a land route for travelers from the Far East to Europe. Many historians believe that the lake was the point of origin for the Black Death that plagued Europe and Asia during the early and mid-14th century. The lake's status as a byway for travelers allowed the plague to spread across these continents via medieval merchants who unknowingly carried infested vermin along with them. A 14th century Armenian monastery was found on the northeastern shores of the lake by retracing the steps of a medieval map used by Venetian merchants on the Silk Road.

    The lake level was some 8 meters (26 ft) lower in medieval times. Divers have found the remains of submerged settlements in shallow areas around the lake. In December 2007, a report was released by a team of Kyrgyz historians, led by Vladimir Ploskikh, vice president of the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences, that archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 2500-year-old advanced civilization at the bottom of the Lake. The data and artifacts obtained suggest that the ancient city was a metropolis in its time. The discovery consisted of formidable walls, some stretching for 500 meters (1,600 ft) as well as traces of a large city with an area of several square kilometers. Other findings included Scythian burial mounds eroded over the centuries by waves, as well as numerous well-preserved artifacts, including bronze battleaxes, arrowheads, self-sharpening daggers, objects discarded by smiths, casting molds, and a faceted gold bar that was a monetary unit of the time.

    Articles identified as the world's oldest extant coins were also found underwater with gold wire rings used as small change and a large hexahedral gold piece. Also found was a bronze cauldron with a level of craftsmanship that is today achieved by using an inert gas environment. In 1916 the monastery at Issyk-Kul was attacked by Kyrgyz rebels, seven monks were killed.

Fish

    The lake contains highly endemic fish biodiversity, and some of the species, including four endemics, are seriously endangered. In recent years catches of all species of fish have declined markedly, due to a combination of over-fishing, heavy predation by two of the introduced species, and the cessation of lake restocking with juvenile fish from hatcheries. At least four commercially targeted endemic fish species are sufficiently threatened to be included in the Red Book of the Kyrgyz Republic: Schmidt's Dace(Leuciscus schmidti), Issyk-Kul Dace , Marinka (Schizothorax issyk-kuli), and Sheer or Naked Osman. Seven other endemic species are almost certainly threatened as by-catch or are indirectly impacted by fishing activity and changes to the structure and balance of the lake's fish population.

    Sevan trout, a fish endemic to Lake Sevan in Armenia, was introduced into Issyk-Kul in the 1970s. While this fish is an endangered species in its "home" lake, it has a much better chance to survive in Lake Issyk-Kul where it has ravaged the indigenous species.

Towns and some villages around the lake, listed clockwise from the lake's western tip:

• Balykchy (the railhead at the western end of the lake)
• Koshkol'
• Tamchy
• Cholpon-Ata (the capital of the north shore)
• Karakol (the provincial capital near the eastern end of the lake)
• Tyup
• Barskon

Son-Kul Lake.

    Son Kul is a mountain lake in the Central Tian-Shan range, virtually in the centre of Kyrgyzstan. One translation of the name is “The Last Lake”. 

    At an altitude of 3016m a.s.l.; 29km long and 18km wide and a maximum depth of 13.2m - it is Kyrgyzstan’s second largest lake. The average temperature is about -3.5°C, and in summer it is about 11°C .  Winter temperatures can fall as low as -20°C , and there are something like 200 days of snow. In winter is often impossible to reach the plateau. Unlike Issyk -Kul it does freeze over in the winter – between September and June. It is situated on a treeless, high mountain plateau, and is surrounded by lush mountain meadows (jailoo). As such it is used by the shepherds of the Kochkor, Naryn and At-Bashi regions for summer pastures for their flocks. In fact, there is evidence that it has been used for pasture from very ancient times. (There are some strange arrangements of ‘standing stones' and stone circles – nothing on the scale of Stonehenge – but they provide an interesting stimulation to speculation about how they got there and what was their purpose). 

    The shepherds drive the livestock (sheep and/or horses) up into the mountains, establish a camp where they will live for the summer months – setting up their yurts. 

Yurts, round felt tents over a wooden frame are the typical nomadic dwelling found throughout Central Asia, you will see several scattered throughout the plain. Many shepherd will be happy to welcome tourists and serve a cup of Kumyz – fermented mare's milk - and even to let visitors sleep overnight, (usually on mats on the floor), but it may be best to make arrangements beforehand. There are several camps (or ‘Yurt Inns') established during the summer months to accommodate tourists … with kitchens, toilets and washing facilities. It is also possible to arrange horse riding and trekking lasting anything from an hour to a day.

    There are four roads up from the valleys. One from Sary-Bulak in the North East; a second passing through a dramatic sequence of over thirty serpentine, hairpin bends towards Naryn in the South East (if you have time you can take a detour to a beautiful waterfall surrounded by woods); the third goes to Ak-Tal in the South West and the fourth goes past the coal mines of Kara Keche towards Chaek in the North West.

In the winter, however – and often in spring and autumn months too – these roads are closed by snow. 

    It is possible for the visitor to feel that they are experiencing “pristine nature”. Even though there are no trees on the plain … there is abundance of herbs (such as chamomile, sagebrush, lichen, friar's cap and golden root) – many of which are prized for the medicinal qualities, and flowers are plentiful in the spring (especially Edelweiss). There are some 66 different species of waterfowl that make their homes on the shores of the lake or in the surrounding area – about two thirds of all the varieties found throughout Kyrgyzstan. Amongst the ones that a luck tourist might see are:  several different species of gulls and ducks; cranes, storks, mergansers, bald-coots, plovers, falcons, golden eagles, shags and the very rare Indian mountain goose. Animals that you might be luck enough to see on the plain include deer, foxes, marmots, Marco Polo Sheep, lynx, leopards and wolves. There were no fish in the lake until 1959 – when fish were specially introduced into the lake and now, fish from the lake could be found on sale in the markets of Naryn and Kochkor.

Chatyr-Kul Lake.

    Chatyr-Kul (also Chatyr Köl, Chatyrkol) is an endorheic alpine lake in the Tian-Shan mountains in At-Bashi District of Naryn Province, Kyrgyzstan; it lies in the lower part of Chatyr-Kul Depression near the Torugart Pass border crossing into China. The name of the lake means “Celestial Lake” in Kyrgyz. The lake and 2 km buffer zone around it is part of the Karatal-Japyryk State Nature Reserve. The lake is a Ramsar site of globally significant biodiversity (Ramsar Site RDB Code 2KG002).

    The water of Chatyr Kul Lake is yellowish-green with water transparency of up to 4 metres (13 ft). The mineralization of the lake ranges from 0.5 to 1.0 milligrams per liter (chloride, hydrocarbonate, sodium and magnesium type of mineralization). Thesalinity of the lake is 2 ppt. Mineral sources in the south part of the lake have mineralization of from 5 to 7 grams (0.18 to 0.25 oz) per liter and pH = 5,8-6,0. Flow rate is 1,866 m³ (65,900 cu ft) in winter and 3,629 cubic meters (128,200 cu ft) during summer.