Rock glaciers, Zailiysiky Range, Kungei Ranges, Tienshan, Kazakhstan, Version 1

The Zailiyskiy Alatau is the northernmost parallel latitudinal ranges of the Northern Tien Shan. The highest point of this range is the Talgar peak (4973 m a.s.l.). The central part of the range is strongly glaciated; 380 glaciers of total area about 510 sq. km occur here. There are 504 rock glaciers in the Zailiyskiy Alatau Range. On the morphological signs, 429 of this amount of total area 49.77 sq. km are considered to be active. The best studied rock glaciers are concentrated in the central part of the northern slope of the Zailiyskiy Alatau in basins of the Bolshaya (Big) and Malaya (Small) Almatinka rivers. The investigations of rock glaciers of the Northern Tien Shan started in 1923 by geodetic observations of Russian glaciologist N.N.Palgov near the front of the Gorodetsky rock glacier (Zailiyskiy Alatau). The observations were repeated in 1946, 1960, 1977 and 1994 using the theodolite 2T2 of 1'' accuracy. (Gorbunov et al., 1994). The following parameters of each rock glacier were measured. Location (river basin, geographic extent); Type (morainic/lobate); Activity (active/inactive); Size (length, width), m; Area, sq. km; Orientation; Elevation of the source, m a.s.l.; Elevation of the front, m a.s.l. Since 1975, the investigations of rock glaciers of the Northern Tien Shan are carrying out by the Kazakhstan Alpine Permafrost Laboratory. In order to determine regularities in the distribution of rock glaciers, an inventory using aerial photographs and maps of 1 to 100 000 scale was carried out (Gorbunov, 1979, Titkov, 1988). These data are presented on the CAPS Version 1.0 CD-ROM, June 1998.

扎伊利亚斯阿拉套山脉（Zailiyskiy Alatau）是北天山最北端的纬向山脉。该山脉的最高点为塔尔加峰（Talgar peak），海拔4973米（m a.s.l.）。山脉中部冰川发育强烈，区域内分布380条冰川，总面积约510平方千米。扎伊利亚斯阿拉套山脉内共有504处岩冰川（rock glaciers）。从形态特征来看，其中429处总面积达49.77平方千米的岩冰川被认定为活动型岩冰川。研究程度最高的岩冰川集中于扎伊利亚斯阿拉套北坡中部的大阿拉木图河（Bolshaya (Big) Almatinka）与小阿拉木图河（Malaya (Small) Almatinka）流域。北天山岩冰川的系统性研究始于1923年，俄国冰川学家N.N.帕尔戈夫（N.N.Palgov）在戈罗杰茨基岩冰川（Gorodetsky rock glacier）前缘开展大地测量观测，观测区域位于扎伊利亚斯阿拉套山脉。1946年、1960年、1977年及1994年，研究者使用精度为1角秒的2T2型经纬仪重复开展了此类观测（Gorbunov et al., 1994）。本次数据集对每一处岩冰川均测定了以下参数：位置（所属河流流域、地理范围）；类型（冰碛型/叶瓣状）；活动性（活动型/非活动型）；规模（长度、宽度，单位：米）；面积（单位：平方千米）；朝向；源头海拔（m a.s.l.）；前缘海拔（m a.s.l.）。自1975年起，哈萨克斯坦阿尔卑斯多年冻土实验室（Kazakhstan Alpine Permafrost Laboratory）持续开展北天山岩冰川的调查研究。为厘清岩冰川的分布规律，研究团队采用航空影像与1:10万比例尺地形图完成了岩冰川编目工作（Gorbunov, 1979; Titkov, 1988）。相关数据收录于1998年6月发布的CAPS Version 1.0版光盘中。