Tian Shan

This article is about the mountain.

rmqi, see Tianshan District.

For district of

The Tian Shan (Chinese: ; pinyin: Tinshn;

WadeGiles: T'ien1 Shan1 , Old Turkic:
,
Tenri ta), is a large system of mountain ranges located
in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is
Jengish Chokusu, 7,439 metres (24,406 ft).
The Chinese name for Tian Shan may be derived from the
Xiongnu language name Qilian (Tsilien; Chinese: ),
which was described by Sima Qian in the Records of the
Grand Historian as the homeland of the pre-Xiongnu peoples of the region, the Yuezhi, and has been said to refer
to the Tian Shan rather than to the range 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) further east now known by this name.* [1]
The Tannu-Ola mountains in Tuva (Tuvan: -)
bear the same name (heaven/celestial mountainsor
god/spirit mountains).

Tian Shan Mountains from space, October 1997, with Issyk-Kul

Lake in Kyrgyzstan at the northern end

Geography

northerly peaks over 7,000 metres (23,000 ft) in the

Tian Shan lies to the north and west of the Taklamakan world.
Desert and directly north of the Tarim Basin in the border The Torugart Pass, at 3,752 metres (12,310 ft), is located
region of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and northwest China. at the border between Kyrgyzstan and China's Xinjiang
In the south it links up with the Pamir Mountains and to province. The forested Alatau ranges, which are at a
north and east it meets the Altai Mountains of Mongolia. lower altitude in the northern part of the Tian Shan, are
In Western cartography such as National Geographic, the inhabited by pastoral tribes that speak Turkic languages.
eastern end of the Tian Shan is usually understood to be The Tian Shan are separated from the Tibetan Plateau by
east of rmqi, with the range to the east of that city the Taklimakan Desert and the Tarim Basin to the south.
known as the Bogda Shan as part of the Tian Shan. Chinese cartography from the Han Dynasty to the present The major rivers rising in the Tian Shan are the Syr
agrees, with the Tian Shan including the Bogda Shan and Darya, the Ili River and the Tarim River. The Aksu
Canyon is a notable feature in the northwestern Tian
Barkol ranges.
Shan.
The Tian Shan are a part of the Himalayan orogenic
belt, which was formed by the collision of the Indian and Continuous permafrost is typically found in the Tian Shan
Eurasian plates in the Cenozoic era. They are one of the starting at the elevation of about 3,500-3,700 m above the
longest mountain ranges in Central Asia and stretch some sea level. Discontinuous alpine permafrost usually occurs
2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) eastward from Tashkent in down to 2,700-3,300 m, but in certain locations, due to
the peculiarity of the aspect and the microclimate, it can
Uzbekistan.
be found at elevations as low as 2,000 m.* [2]
The highest peak in the Tian Shan is the Victory Peak
( in Russian or Jengish Chokusu in Kyrgyz) One of the rst Europeans to visit and the rst to describe
which, at 7,439 metres (24,406 ft), is also the highest the Tian Shan in detail was the Russian explorer Peter
point in Kyrgyzstan and is on the border with China. The Semenov, who did so in the 1850s.
Tian Shan's second highest peak, Khan Tengri (Lord of Glaciers in the Tian Shan Mountains have been rapidly
the Spirits), straddles the Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan border shrinking and have lost 27%, or 5.4 billion tons annually,
and at 7,010 metres (23,000 ft) is the highest point of of its ice mass since 1961 compared to an average of 7%
Kazakhstan. Mountaineers class these as the two most world wide.* [3] It is estimated that by 2050 half of the
1

ICE AGE

remaining glaciers will have melted.

Ranges

The Tian Shan have a number of named ranges which

are often mentioned separately (all distances are approximate).

Snow-capped peaks of Kyungey Ala-Too seen from an Issyk Kul

Lake beach

Tian Shan with the ancient silk road

In China the Tian Shan starts north of Kumul City (Hami)

with the U-shaped Barkol Mountains, from about 600 to
400 kilometres (370 to 250 mi) east of rmqi. Then the
Bogda Shan (god mountains) run from 350 to 40 kilometres (217 to 25 mi) east of rmqi. Then there is
a low area between rmqi and the Turfan Depression.
The Borohoro mountains start just south of rmqi and
run west northwest 450 kilometres (280 mi) separating
Dzungaria from the Ili River basin. Their north end abuts
on the 200 kilometres (120 mi) Dzungarian Alatau which
run east northeast along Sino-Kazakh border. They start
50 kilometres (31 mi) east of Taldykorgan in Kazakhstan
and end at the Dzungarian Gate. The Dzungarian Alatau
in north, (name?) in middle and Borohoro range in south
make a reversed Z or S, the northeast enclosing part of
Dzungaria and the southwest enclosing the upper Ili valley.

Khan Tengri. West of this, the Tian Shan split into an

eye, with Issyk Kul Lake in its center. The south side
of the lake is the Terskey Alatau and the north side the
Kyungey Ala-Too (shady and sunny Ala-Too). North of
the Kyungey Ala-Too and parallel to it is the Trans-Ili
Alatau in Kazakhstan just south of Almaty. West of the
eye, the range continues 400 kilometres (250 mi) as the
Kyrgyz Ala-Too, separating Chui Province from Naryn
Oblast and then Kazakhstan from the Talas Province.
This oblast is the upper valley of the Talas River, the south
side of which is the 200 kilometres (120 mi) Talas AlaToo Range ('Ala-too' is a Kirgiz spelling of Alatau). At
the east end of the Talas Alatau the Suusamyr Too range
runs southeast enclosing the Suusamyr Valley or plateau.
As for the area south of the Fergana Valley there is a
800 kilometres (500 mi) group of mountains that curves
west-southwest from south of Issyk Kul Lake separating
the Tarim Basin from the Fergana Valley. The Fergana
Range runs northeast towards the Talas Ala-Too and separaties the upper Naryn basin from Fergana proper. The
southern side of these mountains merge into the Pamirs
in Tajikistan (Alay Mountains and Trans-Alay Range).
West of this is the Turkestan Range, which continues almost to Samarkand.

3 Ice Age

Kyrgyzstan (borders marked in red) The indentation on the west

is the Fergana Valley

In Kyrgyzstan the main line of the Tian Shan continues as

(name?) from the base of the Borohoros west 570 kilometres (350 mi) to the point where China, Kazakhstan
and Kyrgyzstan meet. Here is the highest part of the
range the Central Tian Shan, with Peak Pobeda and

On the north margin of the Tarim basin between the

mountain chain of the Kokshaal-Tau in the south and that
one of the Terskey Alatau in the north there stretches
the 100 to 120 km wide Tian Shan plateau with its set
up mountain landscape.The Kokshaal-Tau continues with
an overall length of 570 km from W of Pik Dankowa
(Dankov, 5986 m) up to east-north-east to Pik Pobedi
(Tumor Feng, 7439 m) and beyond it. This mountain
chain as well as that of the 300 km long parallel mountain chain of the Terskey Alatau and the Tian Shan plateau
situated in between, during glacial times were covered
by connected ice-stream-networks and a plateau glacier.

3
Currently the interglacial remnant of this glaciation is 5 Chinese religion
formed by the only just 61 km long South Inylschek
glacier. The outlet glacier tongues of the plateau glacier In Daoism, Xi Wangmu, the Queen Mother of the West,
owed to the north as far as down to Lake Issyk Kul is believed to guard the peach trees of immortality in the
(Lake) at 1605 (1609) m asl calving in this 160 km long Tian Shan.
lake.
In the same way strongly glaciated was the in excess of
50 km wide high mountain area of the Kungey Alatau
connected north of Issyk Kul and stretching as far as the
mountain foreland near Alma Ata. The Kungey Alatau
is 230 km long. Down from the Kungey Alatau the
glacial glaciers also calved into the Issyk Kul lake.Its
Chon-Kemin valley was glaciated up to its inow into
the Chu valley.* [4]* [5]* [6] From the west-elongation of
the Kungey Alatau that is the Kirgizskiy Alatau range
(4225N/74 - 75E) - the glacial glaciers owed down
as far as into the mountain foreland down to 900 m asl
(close to the town Bishkek). Among others the Ak-Sai
valley glacier has developed there a mountain foreland
glacier.* [7]* [8]* [9]
Altogether the glacial Tian Shan glaciation occupied an
area of c. 118 000 km .The glacier snowline (ELA) as
altitude limit between glacier feeding area and melting
zone had decreased about 1200 altitude metres compared
with today. Under the condition of a comparable precipitation ratio there would result from this a depression of
the average annual temperature of 7.2 to 8.4 C for the
Wrm-ice age (Last Glacial period = MIS 2) compared
with today. * [10]

Ecology

6 Tengrism
In Tengrism, Khan Tengri is the Lord of the Spirits and
the religion's supreme deity.

7 World Heritage Site

At the 2013 Conference on World Heritage, the eastern
portion of Tian Shan in western China's Xinjiang Region
was listed as a World Heritage Site.* [12]

8 See also
Tectonics of the Tian Shan

9 Notes and references

[1] Liu, Xinru (2001), Migration and Settlement of the
Yuezhi-Kushan: Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies, Journal of World History (Journal of World History), Volume 12 (Issue 2, Fall
2001): 261291
[2] Gorbunov, A.P. (1993),Geocryology in Mt. Tianshan,
PERMAFROST: Sixth International Conference. Proceedings. July 5-9, Beijing, China 2, South China University of
Technology Press, pp. 11051107, ISBN 7-5623-0484-X
[3] Naik, Gautam (August 17, 2015). Central Asia Mountain Range Has Lost a Quarter of Ice Mass in 50 Years,
Study Says. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 18,
2015.
[4] Kuhle, M. (1994):New Findings on the Ice-cover between
Issyk-Kul and K2 (Tian Shan, Karakorum) during the
Last Glaciation. Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Karakorum and Kunlun Mountains (ISKKM),
Kashi, China, June 1992. (Eds: Zheng Du; Zhang Qingsong; Pan Yusheng) China Meteorological Press, Beijing,
185-197.

In the Trans-Ili Alatau (Shymbulak Valley)

The Tian Shan holds important forests of Schrenk's

Spruce (Picea schrenkiana) at altitudes of over 2,000
metres (6,600 ft); the lower slopes have unique natural
forests of wild walnuts and apples.* [11]

[5] Grosswald, M. G., Kuhle, M., Fastook, J. L.,

(1994):Wrm Glaciation of Lake Issyk-Kul Area,
Tian Shan Mts.: A Case Study in Glacial History of
Central Asia. Kuhle, M. (Ed.). Tibet and High Asia.
Results of the Sino-German and Russian-German Joint
Expeditions (III). GeoJournal, 33, (2/3), Dordrecht,
Boston, London, Kluwer, pp. 273-310.

10

[6] Kuhle, M. (2004):The High Glacial (Last Ice Age and

LGM) glacier cover in High- and Central Asia. Accompanying text to the mapwork in hand with detailed references
to the literature of the underlying empirical investigations.
Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P. L. (Eds.). Extent and Chronology
of Glaciations, Vol. 3 (Latin America, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica). Amsterdam, Elsevier B.V., pp. 175199.
[7] Kuhle, M. (1994):New Findings on the Ice-cover between
Issyk-Kul and K2 (Tian Shan, Karakorum) during the
Last Glaciation. Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Karakorum and Kunlun Mountains (ISKKM),
Kashi, China, June 1992. (Eds: Zheng Du; Zhang Qingsong; Pan Yusheng) China Meteorological Press, Beijing,
185-197.
[8] Kuhle, M. & Schrder, N. (2000):New Investigations and
Results on the Maximum Glaciation of the Kirgisen Shan
and Tian Shan Plateau between Kokshaal Tau and Terskey
Alatau. Zech, W. (Ed.). Pamir and Tian Shan. Contribution of the Quaternary History. International Workshop
at the University of Bayreuth. Abstracts. Bayreuth, University Bayreuth, p. 8.
[9] Kuhle, M. (2004):The High Glacial (Last Ice Age and
LGM) glacier cover in High- and Central Asia. Accompanying text to the mapwork in hand with detailed references
to the literature of the underlying empirical investigations.
Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P. L. (Eds.). Extent and Chronology
of Glaciations, Vol. 3 (Latin America, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica). Amsterdam, Elsevier B.V., pp. 175199.
[10] Kuhle, M. (1994):New Findings on the Ice-cover between
Issyk-Kul and K2 (Tian Shan, Karakorum) during the
Last Glaciation. Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Karakorum and Kunlun Mountains (ISKKM),
Kashi, China, June 1992. (Eds: Zheng Du; Zhang Qingsong; Pan Yusheng) China Meteorological Press, Beijing,
185-197.
[11] http://www.salon.com/2011/10/25/how_the_apple_
took_over_the_planet/
[12]

Bibliography
The Contemporary Atlas of China. 1988. London: Marshall Editions Ltd. Reprint 1989. Sydney:
Collins Publishers Australia.
The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World.
Eleventh Edition. 2003. Times Books Group Ltd.
London.

10

External links

Russian mountaineering site

Tien Shan

EXTERNAL LINKS

United Nations University (2009) digital video

Finding a place to feed: Kyrgyz shepherds & pasture loss": Shepherd shares family's observations
and adaptation to the changing climate in highland
pastures of Kyrgyzstan's Tian Shan mountains Accessed 1 December 2009

11
11.1

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