https://en.encyclopedia.kz/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Hike395 2026-07-03T05:14:43Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.23.15 https://en.encyclopedia.kz/index.php/Kazakhstania 2015-10-04T06:57:58Z

<p>Hike395: /* External links */remove overused {{geological history}} template per discussion at WT:WikiProject Geology using AWB</p> <hr /> <div>{{Unreferenced|date=May 2012}}<br /> '''Kazakhstania''', also known as the '''Kazakhstan Block''', is a small geological region in the interior of [[Asia]]. It consists of the area north and east of the [[Aral Sea]], south of the Siberian [[craton]] and west of the [[Altai Mountains]] and [[Lake Balkhash]]. Politically, it comprises most of [[Kazakhstan]] and has a total area of around 1.3 million km². The [[Junggar basin]] in [[Xinjiang]], [[China]] is also part of Kazakhstania, though sometimes referred to as the '''Junggar Block'''.<br /> <br /> It is believed that present-day Kazakhstania is chiefly a mélange of early [[Paleozoic]] [[volcanic]] [[island arc]]s and some small continental [[terrane]]s. These were joined together during the [[Ordovician]] to form what was at the time an isolated continent of its own. During the [[Carboniferous]] and [[Permian]], [[Siberia (continent)|Siberia]] collided with Kazakhstania to form the [[Altai Mountains]], later [[Baltica]] collided in the [[Ural orogeny]], creating the basis for most of present-day [[Eurasia]].<br /> <br /> Kazakhstania is mainly flat: only in the east near [[Karaganda]] are there mountains and these only rise to 1,565 metres (5,130 feet) in the [[Tarbagatai Mountains|Tarbagatay Range]]. Although most of Kazakhstania is arid and practically no water flows from the region to the oceans, there is extensive grazing of [[cattle]], [[sheep]] and [[Bactrian camel|camels]] on the grasslands which cover most of the region today. Kazakhstania was too dry for extensive [[glaciation]] during the [[Quaternary]]. Kazakhstania contains as much as a quarter of the world's proven [[uranium]] reserves and is also one of the world's major source of [[lead]], [[zinc]], and [[antimony]] ores. On the southern boundary in the [[Turan Depression]] are large deposits of [[natural gas]].<br /> <br /> ==See also==<br /> *[[List of shields and cratons]]<br /> <br /> ==External links==<br /> *[http://www.es.ucsc.edu/~paleomag/tectonics/chmap.html Map of the Kazakhstan Block and surrounding areas]<br /> *[http://www.jpg.co.uk/ab_jul_03_4.htm Ordovician-Permian paleogeography of Central Eurasia]<br /> <br /> {{Continents of the world}}<br /> <br /> [[Category:Geology of Kazakhstan]]<br /> [[Category:Historical continents]]<br /> [[Category:Paleozoic Asia]]<br /> [[Category:Carboniferous geology]]<br /> [[Category:Permian geology]]<br /> [[Category:Geography of Kazakhstan]]<br /> [[Category:Geography of Xinjiang]]<br /> [[Category:Natural history of Asia]]<br /> <br /> <br /> {{paleo-geo-stub}}</div>

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