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‎External links: remove overused {{geological history}} template per discussion at WT:WikiProject Geology using AWB

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{{Unreferenced|date=May 2012}}
'''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'''.

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]].

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]].

==See also==
*[[List of shields and cratons]]

==External links==
*[http://www.es.ucsc.edu/~paleomag/tectonics/chmap.html Map of the Kazakhstan Block and surrounding areas]
*[http://www.jpg.co.uk/ab_jul_03_4.htm Ordovician-Permian paleogeography of Central Eurasia]

{{Continents of the world}}

[[Category:Geology of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Historical continents]]
[[Category:Paleozoic Asia]]
[[Category:Carboniferous geology]]
[[Category:Permian geology]]
[[Category:Geography of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Geography of Xinjiang]]
[[Category:Natural history of Asia]]

{{paleo-geo-stub}}

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