UDK 551.07

A.G.Koshim

Geographic Faculty, al-Farabi Kazakh National University, al-Farabi 71,

Almaty, RK

FORMATION OF ANTHROPOGENOUS PROCESSES

AT THE WEST KAZAKHSTAN OIL FIELDS

Summary

The article deals with a group of processes that shape the modern landscape oil territories. Reasonable grounds to enhance the natural and anthropogenic formation processes. Тhe factors of their development, dynamics, and peculiarities of their distribution. Recommended ekologichsky integrated approach to address this problem.

I. Introduction

Three groups of processes are widely developed in natural habitant are available to change the environment in general and the relief in particular. Natural process develops independently of human activity. Anthropogenic processes which are appeared exclusively as a result of human activity, are not peculiar to any ground, but artificially created. The anthropogenic processes are those, which were significantly weak before the human activity or led to a significant modification of certain natural processes: deflation, salinity, road erosion, gully formation, flooding. Both process groups are particularly various on the areas of intensive development of natural resources, for example at the West Kazakhstan oil and gas regions.

II. Main part

The West Kazakhstan region is entirely located on the desert and semi-desert zones, where is a very delicate balance between climate change and natural geomorphological processes. Therefore, almost any kind of technological impacts leads to a serious transformation of exogenous relief. The most common form for such intervention is the construction and maintenance of roads, pipeline laying.

The most common process in this area is the eolian process. It is strongly activates as a result of terrain disturbance in the area of oil and gas production. A striking example is the area around the Komsomolsk and Kosshagyl fields, where loose sand dunes are developed, are not typical for this area. The terrain disturbance during industrial development and raw materials export intensified eolian processes which are created 200-1000 metres and more positive arenaceous form of ridges. The ridge height not exceed 1,5 metres. Construction of new and maintenance of existing transport network passing through cohesionless soil with thinned vegetation contributes the activation of the eolian process as well. Anthropogenic damage of soil and active deflation of sand is strikingly observed in the Kulsary Village and among it. This is the largest settlement in the region with 36,4 thousand population, which is involved in to industrial production. All settlements in this area are connected with each other by many network of the pipelines, roads (mostly earth road), which are multiply increase human impacts on soil and vegetative ground cover and sharply activated development of the eolian process. The deflation centre is often developed along the Kulsary - Emba, Kulsary - Kosshagyl, Turgyzba - Tasshagyl, Shokpartorgay - Koisary dirt roads. Such deflation areas are observed along the Karaton - Sarkamys, Makat - Kulsary - Oporniy track.

Thus, the eolian process activates dramatically as a result of increased anthropogenic load, as it good seen on aero photographs and space images - the most clarified some white areas.They pass along the railway and car roads (dirt and ground), particularly at their crossing, constructing of communication lines, along the oil and gas pipelines and other engineering structures. The process of intense deflation continues, and the eolian move occurs on the western and eastern areas if judging by the wind rose of the Oporni and Kulsary weather stations.

A salinization process is typical for the oil-fields of the West Kazakhstan with extremely continental climate, which is also occurring everywhere. The development of this process often relates with lifting of groundwater to the surface due to the strong surface evaporation, with salts crystallization extracted by water from the same rocks themselves, the salts transfer from the weathering sequences massive crystalline rocks, as well as with the salts redistribution and transportation from the sedimentary rocks, previously accumulated in salt mass /1/. Relief making role of this process is very important. Formed by clay, loamy, less by sandy loam and sandy rocks in close proximity of the groundwater level saline lands form in the relief depressions

Almost all of the Caspian Depression is currently the accumulation of mineral salts, carrying to its territory by surface discharge from the Southern Ural, the Obshiy Syrt and Mugodzhar. Annually 385 thousand tons of salts carrying to low grounds border, which from about 90% brining in the period of spring floods / 2 /. High saturation deficit and high evaporation cause the accumulation of large amounts of salts on surface soil, especially within local relief depressions occupied with takyrs (dry-type playas) and sors.

The presence of high-mineralized still dissolutions at large degree determines the general background of the high salinity of soil-forming materials. Low hypsometric location of the territory made it a region of intense salinization. The geochemical processes concerning with salt-dome structures leave its traces on the general background of the salinity in some areas.

The dynamics of the salinization is strengthening. Drilling mud spills and annually extracted stern edge water discharging on to field evaporation (lower areas, sors, saline depressions) is a result of strong salinization (on already existing sors) and occurring of new sor areas and artificial lakes over the oil pipelines, which sizes depend on the amount of the extracted edge water and the lows, in which it is poured. According to our observations, the annual growth of a small salt marsh near the Karaton Village was 10-15 cm at the average on the edge because of the oil spill, in the lower fields it was up to 0,4 m-0, 5 m, in other words the anthropogenic impact 3-5 times increases the growth of the salt marsh. Average speed of the natural salt marsh development is 3.3 cm per year with the close occurrence of the underground water and with the 5.7 m/s average wind speed / 3 / (average wind speed of the area is 5 m/s).

The oil field’s edge water activating the sor formation process is the high- mineralized water (up to 200 g/l and more) / 4 /, which may contain not only soluble, but partially soluble minerals as well (silicates, aluminates, ferrosilicates etc). Naturally, the flow of ready soluble salts on to the evaporation fields could not leave the trace for the physical-chemical composition of soils and subsoil. Prevalence of sodium chloride in the edge water, leads to occlude complex of soils saturated with the sodium which leads to strong alkalinity. Therefore the soils and subsoil are sometimes strongly salt-affected.

Thus, the "artificially" salinization process (through the formation water, drilling spills) is forming the relief, and changes the physical mechanical properties of the rock maker species as well, making them more metamorphic due to other process such as the eolian.

Processes having local development character are distributed limited, but at the same time carry a definite character to the overall distribution of modern processes.

Road erosion process activates along linear facilities, where the formation of anthropogenic soil take place. Along the Kosshagyl - Karaton track 1 m and in length to 10 m gills marked. The anthropogenic gills has also noted along the right side of the Komsomolsk - Kulsary railway line. Here they reach up to 2,5 m depths and 10-12 m length. The same picture observes in the 3-km south of the Kulsary-Toles line, in open pit mining locating at the 8 km east from the Kulsary Village, 5 km north-west from the Makat Village and in the Imankara open pit mining at surface of outwash plains.

Flooding and under flooding process is one of the consequences of modern transgression of the Caspian Sea. Sustainable increase of ground water elevation on the coast due to sea backwater notes at a distance of 1-3 km from the coastline in the sandy rocks with good permeability.

In eastern and southern territory at the region of argillaceous deposits the pore faveolate takyr formation process observes. They are confined to flat topographic law usually forms by karstification having the form of 1.5-2.0 m depth flat closed depression. The areal size of takyrs is varying between very wide limits. For example, within the southern part of the Mangyshlak observed up to 5-6 km² takyr sizes, and the larger of them usually have somewhat elongated shape. The takyr deposits are 10-15 cm and offer a mud filter cake having fractured surface separated to unit cells. This mud cake is often covered with ultra fine salt film, which makes the takyr surface whitish. On a basis of these indication effect, and rounded or slightly elongated configuration they identifiable on space images.

Occurrence of sheet flood is not the equal everywhere, because area is characterized by flat relief having insignificant fall toward the sea. At dividing range area where is many dead-levels the processes are going slow. During the autumn rains and spring snowmelt, they flow actively coinciding generally with dry bottomland narrows and gullies, as well as back-slope of inland basins and catholes, especially in the southern part of the West Kazakhstan. Dead valleys of gullies and narrows are few and short. Only at the head observes the bed and then it rapidly expanded and concentrated flow quickly transfers into the flat flow and vice versa.

Suffosion processes in this area are largely localized and occur only in the elevated areas along the cliffs. Usually it is strongly saline soil areas with deeper groundwater occurrence (5 m and more). Suffosion lows are slightly visible in the relief; they are differing with heavier stand from the rest surface.

III. Conclusions

Thus, a result of human impacts wind erosion and sor formation processes are increasing very much at the West Kazakhstan oil-fields. Other processes become localized, in sparsely populated areas and therefore less exposed to human activities.

Analysis of a regional ecosystem having low resistance to development pressure and low self-restoration capability giving us ground for finding ways for rational use of natural resources and environment protection. To solving this problem we need a comprehensive ecological approach, which consists of the following:

1) to establish a permanent observing and controlling systems over natural constituent: vegetative ground cover, groundwater and surface water, atmosphere;

2) to introduce modern monitoring systems and studying with quantitative and qualitative development assessment of the modern relief-forming processes (to study their development speed, area zones), especially the leading ones: sor forming, eolian processes, flooding on the basis of long-term stationary observations;

3) to attract the experts’ attention for studying and mapping of relief-forming processes in the area of oil and gas exploitation;

4) to implement and accelerate a work development on math modelling of modifying processes, particularly of a regional development nature;

5) to study of modern processes using aerial photographs, space images, geophysical methods;

6) to expand the front of fundamental research on establishment and relationship of the modern relief-forming processes and anthropogenic factors in the oil and gas exploitation areas for scientific forecasting of surface changes under the human activities influence.

Of course, natural factors are not able to stop the growing processes of the anthropogenic influences, which lead to ecological disturbance and nature imbalance. In some cases this process requires an integrated development and environmental facilities’ construction, in another case - large and immediate financial expenses. Considering that the region has great economic perspective operational measures for consequences prevention and elimination must be carried out.

REFERENCES

1. Kovda V.A., 1974, Soil Processes in Arid Regions. Moscow.

2. Sotnikov A.V., 1971, USSR Hydrogeology, The Western Kazakhstan, under the editorship of Sidorenko A.V. Moscow, Nauka.

3. Fedorovich V.A., 1970, Modern Exogenic Relief Forming Processes, The Intensity of Modern Eolian Processes in the USSR Deserts, Moscow, Nauka, pp. 149-159.

4. Panov. G.E., 1986, Environment Protection at the Oil and Gas Companies, Moscow, Nedra.