Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Dust Storms and Aeolian Processes in the Southern Balkash Deserts in Kazakhstan, Central Asia

Gulnura Issanova, Azamat Kaldybayev, Yongxiao Ge (), Jilili Abuduwaili and Long Ma
Additional contact information
Gulnura Issanova: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Azamat Kaldybayev: Faculty of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty 050040, Kazakhstan
Yongxiao Ge: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Jilili Abuduwaili: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
Long Ma: State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: Sand and dust storms are hazardous to the environment and have a significant role in desertification. Under the influence of climate change and human activities, dust storms and aeolian processes have been common phenomena in the Southern Balkash deserts in Kazakhstan, Central Asia. However, knowledge gaps on spatial and temporal characteristics of dust storms and aeolian process in the Southern Balkash deserts still exist. Therefore, in present study, meteorological observations and numerous cartographic materials were used to identify the powerful sources with the highest frequency of dust storms and aeolian processes in the Southern Balkash deserts. The result showed that the Southern Balkash deserts were covered mainly by transverse parabolic sands (48%), dome dunes (24%), and transverse dome dunes (23%), where the aeolian processes occurred to a significant degree. Significant and strong degrees of aeolian processes occurred in most of the Southern Balkash deserts. The eastern part of the Taukum and the northern part of the Zhamankum and Karakum deserts were prone to aeolian processes to a substantial degree. The Moiynkum, Bestas, Saryesikatyrau, and Taukum deserts had the most frequent storms, occuring, on average, 17 to 43 days/per year. The occurrence of dust storms has been of a stable decreasing trend since the 1990s, except for 2008–2009. Aeolian dust in the Southern Balkash deserts flowed mainly from the western and southwestern to the eastern and northeastern. The results of the present study shed light on the temporal and spatial characteristics of dust storms and aeolian processes in the Southern Balkash deserts. This is of great importance in helping to monitor and predict dust storms and motion patterns of aeolian dust in this region.

Keywords: aeolian process; sand and dust storms; soil deflation; desert; Kazakhstan; Central Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/3/668/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/3/668/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:3:p:668-:d:1095204

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().