Lake Issyk-Kul: Its Natural Environment

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. Physical and Chemical Characteristics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Climate and Physical Properties of Water in Lake Issyk-Kul

      • G. D. Shabunin, A. G. Shabunin

      Pages 3-11

   3. Water Chemistry and Ecology of Lake Issyk-Kul

      • A. S. Karmanchuk

      Pages 13-26

   4. Hydrobiology of Lake Issyk-Kul

      • V. V. Romanovsky

      Pages 27-43

   5. Water Level Variations and Water Balance of Lake Issyk-Kul

      • V. V. Romanovsky

      Pages 45-57

   6. Hydromineral Resources of the Issyk-Kul Region

      • V. E. Matychenkov

      Pages 59-70

   7. Groundwater in the Issyk Kul Basin

      • A. N. Mandychev

      Pages 71-76

   8. Currents and Vertical Water Exchange in Lake Issyk Kul

      • V. V. Romanovsky, G. D. Shabunin

      Pages 77-87

   9. Using Transient Conservative and Environmental Tracers to Study Water Exchange in Lake Issyk-Kul

      • R. Kipfer, F. Peeters

      Pages 89-100

   10. Bathymetry and Sedimentary Environments of Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyz Republic (Central Asia): A Large, High-Altitude, Tectonic Lake

       • M. De Batist, Y. Imbo, P. Vermeesch, J. Klerkx, S. Giralt, D. Delvaux et al.

       Pages 101-123

   11. Recent Paleoenvironmental Evolution of Lake Issyk-Kul

       • S. Giralt, J. Klerkx, S. Riera, R. Julia, V. Lignier, C. Beck et al.

       Pages 125-145

   12. Active Tectonics and Seismic Hazard of the Issyk-Kul Basin in the Kyrgyz Tian-Shan

       • K. E. Abdrachmatov, K. D. Djanuzakov, D. Delvaux

       Pages 147-160

   13. The Environmental Risk Resulting from Gold Mining

       • Beishen Imanackunov

       Pages 161-166

3. Case Studies in Other Regions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 167-260

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   2. Hydrochemistry of Lakes of Tajikistan

      • D. N. Pachajanov, D. L. Patina, N. I. Volkova

      Pages 169-179

   3. Zoobenthos and Zooplankton of the Northern Aral Sea and Possible Ways of the Sea Ecosystem Rehabilitation

      • N. V. Aladin, A. A. Filippov, I. S. Plotnikov

      Pages 181-190

   4. Evaluation of the Damage to Environmental State of the Northern-Western Black Sea Shelf Ecosystems

      • V. N. Egorov, G. G. Polikarpov, N. N. Tereshchenko

      Pages 191-206

   5. Does Biomanipulation Work for Warm-Temperate Lakes? First Case Study in an Eutrophic Turkish Lake

      • Meryem Beklioglu

      Pages 207-215

   6. Computed Mean Monthly Water Balance of a Large Lake: The Case of Lake Tanganyika

      • Laurent Bergonzini

      Pages 217-244

Lake Issyk-Kul is a closed lake located in the Tien Shan mountain belt of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. It is the world's fifth deepest lake (668 m) and the second largest high altitude lake in the world (1607 m above sea level). The lake is affected by several environmental threats of both anthropogenic and natural origin: decline of the lake level resulting in progressively increasing salinity, incomplete vertical water exchange, and risk of contamination by past and present industrial activity.
Although the lake has been intensively studied, the information is only available in unpublished reports or local scientific journals. This book presents for the first time to an international audience the main physical, chemical, biological and geological characteristics of the lake, the fruits of many years of observations, complemented by recent results of international projects. Case studies of similar problems in other parts of the world are presented, together with ethical aspects of the environmental protection of the lake.

• Groundwater
• ecology
• ecosystem
• environment
• environmental protection
• ethics
• plankton
• sea level
• hydrogeology

• International Bureau for Environmental Studies, Brussels, Belgium

  Jean Klerkx

• National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

  Beishen Imanackunov

Policies and ethics