KAZAKSTAN, formerly an autonomous republic of the R.S.F.S.R., but since Dec. 5, 1936, a state member of the U.S.S.R., lying between 4o° 15' N. and 3o' N., and 46° 3o' E. and 87° E. Its area, 2,714,500 sq.km., is second in the U.S.S.R. only to Yakutsk (q.v.). Its boundaries are Bashkiria, the Ural Moun tains, and the Siberian area on the north ; the Oirat autonomous area, and Chinese Turkistan on the east ; the Kirghiz S.S.R., Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan on the south ; the Caspian sea, and the provinces of Astrakhan, Stalingrad and Samara on the west. It is essentially a steppe area in a region of increasing desiccation, and much of it is characterised by salt lakes, some temporary and rapidly drying, and by rivers which once reached the sea by linking with larger streams, but now lose themselves in the desert sands. In the west the low Mugojar hills, c. I,000 ft., are really a plateau-like extension of the Urals. They are built up of Permian and Cretaceous deposits and deeply entrenched by rivers. To the west of them lies the Kazak province of Uralsk, a region of steppe and desert inclining imperceptibly to the Caspian, much of it lying below sea-level. It is drained by the Ural or Yaik river, many of whose former tributaries, both on the left and right bank, now lose themselves in the desert. The Emba river, flowing from the Mugojar hills, reaches the Caspian by a series of rapidly drying shallow lagoons which even as late as the 18th century were navigable. The winter climate of Uralsk (ay. Jan. temp. 3° F) is colder than that of Finland (average July tempera ture 73° F). It is under the regime of the Asiatic winds, and is a drought area, with sandstorms in summer and snowstorms and biting winds in winter. The Ural river is frozen from November to mid-March at Guryev and farther north until mid-April, and is sufficiently full to flood its banks in spring, but is otherwise so shallow that it is not navigable. Pallas found 19 branches of the delta in 1769, but in 1821 only 9 remained and of these only three now remain, except in spring. To the north the Mugojar hills join the undulating plateau, built up of sandstones and marls, which separates the tributaries of the Tobol and the Ural and falls by steep crags, a former coast line, to the Turgai steppe. Remains
of aquatic plants, and shells of Mytilus and Cardium, both still found in the sea of Aral, show that during the glacial period the Aral-Caspian sea covered the Turgai steppe, which is now about. 30o ft. above sea-level. It is dotted with lakes, of which Chalkar Teniz, into which the Turgai river and its tributary, the Irgiz, drain, is the largest. At a recent epoch the Turgai river received tributaries now lost in the sands and was of sufficient volume to reach the Sea of Aral. The climate of the Turgai steppe is extreme, average January temperature —4° F, average July temperature F in N.W., and 7° F and 77° F in the south. The west winds are parched before they reach the area, and the north-east winds in summer bring sandstorms and in winter dry, cold, sting ing snow. Precipitation varies from I o to 12 in., about 3 in. falling in summer.
Shrubs such as the wild cherry (Cerasus chamaecerasus) and dwarf almond (Amygdalus nana) grow on the hilly slopes, while the rich black earth of the northern steppe is clothed with feather grass (Stipa pennata). In spring the grass vegetation is abundant, and geese and cranes are attracted in vast numbers from the heart of the steppe by the fields of the Kirghiz. The jerboa (Dipus jaculus) and the marmot (Spermophilus rufescens), another spe cies of marmot (Arctomys bobac) and the steppe fox (Canis corsac) are characteristic. The Central Asian saiga antelope is occasionally met. Farther south the black earth is replaced by chestnut brown and alkaline soils and the Stipa pennata gives place to S. capillata. River willows and pseudo-acacia or Siberian pea-tree (Caragana microphyla) grow near the streams. The clayey soil of the centre is covered with wormwood (Artemisia fragrans and A. monogyna), with a few grassy plants near the rivers and lakes. Large areas consist of shifting sands and saline clays clothed with Salsolaceae, and the desiccated beds of old lakes. Thickets haunted by wild boars surround many lakes.