The Chu-Ili Range () is a mountain range in Kazakhstan. Administratively it is part of the Almaty Region and Zhambyl Region regions.
The M36 Highway skirts the range along its northeastern flank.[Google Earth]
Geography
The Chu-Ili Range is ancient and heavily eroded. It is part of the
Trans-Ili Alatau, a northern extension of the
Tian Shan. It begins to the north of Otar, west of the
Kurty, one of the main tributaries of the Ili river, and stretches in a roughly northwestern direction for less than . The
Chu River flows to the west of the range and to the northeast stretches the
Zhusandala Plain and the
Taukum desert of the Balkhash-Alakol Basin.
The highest point of the range is Anyrakay (Аңырақай), a high summit. Aitau is a subrange in the northern section. Its highest point is high Sunkar, located in the Khantau Massif, right to the east of Khantau village. The Maizharylgan and the Zhambyl stretch northwestwards from the northern end of the range, parallel to the Zheltau, and the Betpak-Dala desert to the WNW. To the south stretches the Kindyktas, a higher and more massive spur of the northwestern Trans-Ili Alatau. The Ashchysu is the main river having its sources in the range.[ Kazakhstan National Encyclopedia. - Almaty: Kazakh encyclopedias, 2006. - T. V. -ISBN 9965-9908-5-9]
Flora
Generally, the mountains of the range have a barren look. The slopes are covered with rough desert-
steppe vegetation of
sagebrush and
fescue. Grasses, tulips, irises and poppies bloom in spring when water flows in the ravines, including
Tulipa regelii, a rare species of tulip endemic to the range.
[ Чу-Илийские горы; Great Soviet Encyclopedia in 30 vols. — Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M. Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978. (in Russian)][ Tulipa regelii - Tulips in the Wild]
See also
External links
