MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF KAZAKHSTAN

1 Kazakh-Turkish high school for gifted boys Shymkent SCIENTIFIC NAME OF THE PROJECT:
CONTROL OF BLOWN SAND DISASTERS IN KAZAKHSTAN

Section: Ecology

Done by: Alimbekov Tohtar Yskakov Abilkhair Leader: Teacher of Biology of the KazakhTurkish high school Halil Demiroren Scientific consultants: Doctor of Agriculture Sciences, professor Amir Seytkarimov Candidate of Biology Sciences, senior lecturer Rabiga Shamekenova

Shymkent 2010

THE ABSTRACT
On a theme: CONTROL OF BLOWN SAND DISASTERS IN KAZAKHSTAN

Shymmkent, 2010

Contents 1. Introduction 2. The literature review

1.Experience of the Local People in Controlling Blown Sand Disasters 2.Comprehensive System for Blown Sand Control on the Oases 3.Comprehensive control measures for Tackling Vast Stretches of Winderoded and Drift Sand Land in the Agricultural District of the Oasis.

Introduction
PREVENTIVE MEASURES Through their production practice over the years, the people in Kazakhstan have gained rich experience in combating sand disasters, which has laid a solid foundation for the working out of comprehensive preventive measures by scientific and technological institutions. As early as the 1960s, an experimental station of sand control was set up in Shymkent by the Sand Research Team of the Kazakh Academy of Sciences. In the 1970s, another research station was set up in Shymkent by the Agricultural Scientific Centre of south-western Kazakhstan with a view to bringing under control the vast stretches of wind-eroded drift sand land there. Also joining in the research work on this area were the Academy of Forestry of Kazakhstan, the Shymkent Institute of Desert Research of the Kazakh Academy of Sciences, and the forestry research units of two counties and one municipality of Shymkent prefecture. Working in close cooperation, scientists and the local people have conducted investigations, studies ad experiments at fixed spots, and succeeded in working out a wide range of measures for preventing blown sand disasters in Kazakhstan.

The literature review

1. Experience of the Local People in Controlling Blown Sand Disasters

(1) Agro-technological measures

These measures are as follows: 1) Irrigating the farmland grown with desert crops before the wind comes. This measure is usually adopted for use in farmland where the soil is very sandy and lacks protection. This is because dry sand soil is more easily subjected to wind erosion than wet soil, and also because water will
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prevent crops from being dried up by winds by adding to the humidity of soil.
2)

Heaping soil over the roots of cotton seedlings in their windward. When cotton seedlings have broken through the soil, an earth bank, 10 cm in height, is heaped up in the windward. The bank can protect the young seedlings against strong winds of Force 8. Planting cotton on ditches. On the farmland prepared for sowing ditches are dug, in which cotton seeds are shown. These ditches are about 8-12 cm in depth. The seedlings can be protected in the ditches when strong wind springs up.

3)

4) Planting hemp on the borders of fields. Hemp has tall stalks and grows fast. When planted on the windward border of a field, it can serve as a living sand shield. 5) Deep ploughing on the open ground bordering on the farmland. On the open ground close to field of loam soil, deep furrows are ploughed, parallel to the field, to the field, to increase the roughness of the soil. This measure can prevent drift sand from moving into the farmland when there is a wind of moderate speed. However, it must be adopted with caution, for the soil, thus roughened, will be easily eroded by the wind when it is strong. 6) Postponing intertill and the thinning of seedlings. Both intertill and seedlings thinning will loosen the soil, thus making it possible for sand to be produced on the spot to harm the seedlings during the windy season. By postponing the two processes, the windy season can be avoided.
7)

Sowing melon seeds in furrows parallel to the wind direction. Melon seedlings are liable to be damaged by sand. If the seeds are sown on the edges of furrows parallel to the wind direction, the seedlings on the leeward section will survive even if those in the windward section are damaged. Furthermore, if several seedlings are planted in one hole, they will have an added strength in opcing with the wind.

8) Interplanting sorghum and cotton. It is usual practice in Kazakhstan to plant wheat, cotton and melons first, and to plant sorghum and sesame after the wheat is gathered in. However, if wheat and sorghum are interplanted, the sorghum, which has a tall stalk and a better ability to resist wind, will give protection to the cotton against drift sand.
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9) Using sand-resisting varieties. Wheat and sorghum are planted in the frontal part of the farmland subjected to sand disasters instead of cotton, because improved varieties of wheat and sorghum having a better resistance to stand are available. This will reduce possible losses and increase the relative yields. The above measures were in wide use before the construction of protective systems in the agricultural districts in Kazakhstan. However, with the completion and have been falling in importance. Today, they are still being used by a few peasant households living on the wind line. (2) Mechanical measures for keeping off the sand The adoption of these measures to fix sand and cope with blown sand disasters has a long history in Kazakhstan. Chief among these measures are: 1) Building mud walls to keep off sand. This measure was first introduced in Shymkent, and is still in wide use there, as can be evidenced by the presence of numerous such walls on the oasis. These walls are usually 2-2.5 m high, built at a right angle with the direction of the wind; they are of different lengths which are determined by the scope of protection they are expected to provide. These walls, allowing no passage of winds, can effectively keep off the sand as well as the wind. As is usually the case, a wall of a height of 2-5 m will give effective protection to an area of a length of 40-50 m behind it. However, such walls take a lot of labour and costs to construct. Besides, the offer no permanent solution, for they will be buried in sand or topple as a result of wind erosion on the course of time. 2) Placing a single row or rows of mechanical devices to keep off the sand. This measure is usually adopted in an area on the wind line or at the wind gap where the sand supply is ample and the winds are strong. The devices are made up of reeds, tree twigs, wild bush, and stalks of sorghum and cotton. They are placed in a single row about 20 m from the young forests, or in rows 20 m apart from each other. They are generally 1-2 m in height, and 20-30 cm in width, of a structure which is more densely constructed in the lower part than in the upper part. These devices can protect the young forests by fixing the sand or keeping it off.
3)

Installing latticed mechanical devices to keep off the sand. Devices of this kind can effectively fix drift sand, heighten the water content of sandy land and speed up the growth of grass. They come in two
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categories. One is small interstices, 2 m x 2 m. A device of this type is made up of sorghum and cotton stalks and Alhagi sparsifolia, having a total height of 40 cm, and half of it is buried in the ground; the other is of large interstices, 10m x 10m. Such a device is made up of sorghum stalks, reeds and tree branches, so constructed that it goes 40 cm into the ground and stands above the ground et a height of 1 m. As the construction of these devices needs a lot of material and labour, they are not in wide use in Kazakhstan.
4)

Using earth lumps of grass bunches to protect melon seedlings, and paving herbs on as windward side of irrigation canals to prevent wind erosion. These measures, also classified as agrotechnological measures, are chiefly the following: on the windward of melon seedlings are heaped earth lumps, or are buried bunches of kind of grass (Sophoraalopecuroides, a plant mainly used as green manure for melons), which can give fairly good protection to the seedlings when a Force 8-10 wind blows. Local herbal plants, such as Alhagi sparsifolia and Scorzonera ramosa, are used to pave the windward side of an irrigation ditch to protect it against wind erosion. This is because such a ditch in the sand areas, usually built of sandy soil, do not hold water well once they are eroded by winds.

(3) Closing sand areas to facilitate the growth of grass or channeling water to irrigate sand areas to restore vegetation.

These are important measures effectively adopted by people in Kazakhstan in combating sand disasters. 1) Closing sand areas to facilitate the growth of grass. This measure is adopted for use in areas on oasis fringes where vegetation has been destroyed. The so-called closing sand areas means closing these areas to livestock grazing and feul gathering to facilitate the restoration of vegetation. To ensure the success of this measure, a pledge is concluded by people living in such areas, and special guards are assigned to see to the execution of the pledge. The closing may be unconditional or flexible, as is called for by the actual conditions of the vegetation. The unconditional closing is applied to areas seriously damaged or with low vegetation coverage. Usually, after many years unconditional closing, the
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vegetation can be in the main restored. In areas where sand dunes have been successfully fixed, livestock may be allowed to graze on a rotation basis, or people may be allowed to cut perennial herbal plants such as Alhiga sparsifolia on a rotation basis so as to meet their needs for forage grass. 2) Irrigation sand areas to facilitate the multiplication of grass. As it happens, there is a surplus of water in winter in Kazakhstan. Such water is channeled into sandy wasteland so that the plant seeds it carries will grow into grass in due course. Another practice is to sow seeds of desert plants on sandy wasteland after it is duly prepared and ploughed, and then to irrigate it with winter water. By restoring the vegetation and increasing the land-surface roughness, wind erosion can be reduced, sand production or drift sand fixed.

(4) Afforestation

In Kazakhstan where blown sand disasters are serious and the temperature is high in summer, afforestation has become a tradition. People there plant trees around their houses; grapes, mulberry and apricot trees in their gardens or courtyards; willows along irrigation ditches and ponds ; and shelter belts in the farmland. They do all the work on their own-selecting seeds, grown seedlings and planting trees. Shelterbelts built in the basin fall in the following categories: 1) Shelterbelts for protecting the farmland. As Kazakhstan has a large land gradient, narrow shelterbelts planted to form a small network are preferred. This is because such shelterbelts, while giving good protection to crops, occupy just a small amount of land. In an area where water supply is abundant, the shelterbelt is made to consist chiefly of Populus alba var pyramidalis, flanked by a row of Murus spp. or Prunus americana. In an area where water supply is scantly, drought-enduring trees such as Ulmus spp. are planted. In an area where the soil has a high salinity and alkalinity, Elaeagnus spp. is chosen as the dominant species. In an area where the groundwater table is high, Salix are adopted. Such a shelterbelt is usually
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composed of 4-5 rows, and the trees in a row are 1-1.5m apart. The distance between principal shelterbelts is 200m or so in most cases. 2) Shelterbelts to keep off the sand. Shelterbelts planted in the forward areas confronting the sand, each consisting 10 rows or so of trees, can effectively prevent drift sand from moving into the farmland. In places with poor irrigation facilities, it is the usual practice to plant Tamarix spp., Elaeagnus spp. or Ulmus spp. or a mixture of them; in places with good irrigation facilities, Populus alba var Pyramidalis and Morus spp. are planted, usually in ditches a practice which serves a double purpose of facilitating irrigation and washing away the sand. 3) Shelterbelts to protect ditches and ponds. Trees are planted densely along ditches and around ponds to prevent them from being buried in sand. Trees selected for this purpose are mostly Salix L.

(5) Using water to wash sand away, and removing sand to create farmland

Sand accumulated in Kazakhstan is an indispensable material for sand disasters. It often poses a threat to the farmland. Therefore, it is the customary practice among the local people to use the water made surplus in winter by the suspension of agricultural production to wash away the sand accumulation. This practice not only gives added water content to the sandy land so that the growth of shelterbelts and other can be promoted, but also makes it possible to create new farmland and to improve soil quality.

1) Using water to wash sand away, and removing sand to create farmland. In winter, water is collected from karizes to wash away sand in areas with a certain slope. Usually, two able-bodied persons can handle three karizes to wash 350 tons of sand in one night. After such washing, the land is prepared without delay so that it can be used for planting shelterbelts or turned into fields or orchards. The sand can also be removed by manpower to be mixed with the clayey soil of certain fields to improve its soil quality. A good example is the oasis in Kyzylorda of Kazakhstan Municipality, where very
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remarkable results have been achieved by treating the mobile sand dunes there in this summer. 2) Using water to wash away sand on roads, in ditches and shelterbelts. In the course of land irrigation in the oases, water is also used to wash away the sand accumulated on roads, in ditches and shelterbelts. This practice can ensure the smooth flow of traffic as well as the normal operation of peasants. It is usually applied in areas with a slope and without much sand accumulation.

(6) Transforming the Gobi

The zone of gravel Gobi is an important source of sand supply for blown sand disasters in the Basin. Therefore, if the Gobi is turned into an oasis, sand supply will be reduced and the area of cultivation enlarged. To achieve this, what the local people do is make use of the slack seasons and their spare time in farming to dig, in areas of the Gobi where water supply is ensured, ditches which are 7-10 m apart, 0.5 m deep, 0.5 m wide at the bottom and 1.5 m wide at the top. Then they dig, at in interval of 2 m on the bottom of ditch, pits which are 0.5 m deep and wide. These deep ditches, while protecting the vines against strong winds up to the time they bear fruit (5 years), will greatly reduce blown sand, or bring it under effective control.

2. Comprehensive System for Blown Sand Control on the Oases

In their long practice in combating sand disasters, the people of Kyzylorda of Kazakhstan Municipality have been able to develop gradually a complete protective system suited to the local conditions. To sum up this experience, a joint investigation has been conducted by the agricultural scientific centre of south-western Kazakhstan. Through the investigations, it has been established that the protective system is a comprehensive one consisting of three components. Outermost is the zone on the border of the
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oasis, sand and wind; innermost is a network of shelterbelts crisscrossing the farmland (Fig. 1). The three components, working in conjunction with one another, and by combining sand control with sand prevention, successively reduce the force of drift sand as it moves inward. This kind of system is, therefore defined as suitable for use in areas on the oasis suffering from serious blown sand disasters.

(1) The outermost zone of the oasis closing off sand for growing grass

This zone, 300-500 m in width, lies on the forward part oh the oasis where the land surface is loosened as a result of serious wind erosion and wind sedimentation. Closed to livestock grazing and feul gathering are forbidden to protect the natural vegetation, and at the same time, the land is irrigated in winter to facilitate the growth of grass to enlarge the vegetation coverage. As investigations show, winter irrigation can increase the water content of the soil and promote the natural tillering of prammophilous and xerophilous plants. On the average, there is an increase of 7 seedlings on one m of sandy land, and in 3 years time, the vegetation coverage can go up to 60%. Once the vegetation coverage of the whole zone exceeds 60% livestock grassing and feul gathering can be allowed, first in one part and then in another, so as to increase the ecological economic benefits.

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(2) Tall shelterbelts on the oasis border

These shelterbelts are supposed to play the role of reducing the speed of the wind that has crossed over the protective zone, and of keeping off and bringing down the sand it carries so as to reduce the blown sand flow damages. Based on this principle, the shelterbelts in Kyzylorda of Kazakhstan Municipality show a number of strong points such as afforestation with ditch construction, alternation of wide shelterbelts with narrow ones, and multi-line deployment. In Kyzylorda, the shelterbelts are made to extend along the contour line of the oasis border. Before the afforestation, ditches are dug, which are 1.5 m wide, and 4.5 m apart form each other. This arrangement has many good points on the one hand, water can be saved when the land is irritated for afforestation, and alkaline and saline damages can be prevented; on the other hand, water in the ditches can be used to wash away the accumulated sand. It is the usual practice there to plant two rows of Elaeagnus spp. on the edges of the first ditch because such trees can withstand the wind, even when they are young, and can give greater compactness to the shelterbelt. Inside the shelterbelts, there are two sublateral canals. On the windward of one canal, a row of Populus alba var Pyramidalis are planted; on the windward of the other, a row of Ulmus pumila are planted. On the leeward of two canals, a row of Populus alba var Pyramidalis and a row of Morus spp. are planted respectively. This kind of
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deployment, characterized by an alternation of long-living with fast-growing species, and tall with low species, provides structural stability to the shelterbelt zone , and increases the roughness of the shelterbelt canopy to make the zone better able to weaken the force of the air flow.

(3) Central link of the system farmland-protecting network of shelterbelts. The network is aimed at further reducing the wind speed to create a more favourable microclimate for the growth of crops, and also at preventing sand production in fields whose surface has been destroyed by ploughing. This explains why the network is the key component of the whole comprehensive protective system. The trees suitable for use in the network include Ulmus aumila, Populas alba var Pyramidalis, Morus spp., Elaeagnus spp., America valgaris, etc., all of which have a strong ability to resist bending. The shelterbelt is a composite one, narrow and sparsely structured. The key species in such a shelterbelt are Ulmus pumila and Populus alba var Pyramidalis, which, being tall, fast-growing and of a long length of life, can provide the shelterbelt with the necessary height and long-lasting effectiveness in protecting the farmland. On the windward side of the shelterbelt are planted Elaeagnus spp., which, with their thick foliage, can protect the farmland as bushes when young, and, when ripe, can make the key species to grow straight by providing shade at the side. On the leeward of the shelterbelt are planted Morus spp. and America valgaris, which can increase the width of the shelterbelt canopy and bring in economic benefits by yielding fruit. The shelterbelt is 6-12 m wide, consisting of 4-8 rows of trees. The distance between rows is 1.5 m, and that between trees is 1-1.5 m. The principal shelterbelts are usually 200-250 m apart from each other; the whole network, which is small, measures less than 14 hectares. The above is a general survey of the comprehensive protective system made up of various components. With the completion of such a system, not only can blown sand disasters be brought under control, the man-created ecological system of the desert oasis can also be stabilized. 3. Comprehensive control measures for Tackling Vast Stretches of Winderoded and Drift Sand Land in the Agricultural District of the Oasis. Lying in the agricultural district in the heartland of the basin is the winderoded and drift sand land devoid of any vegetation, which can not possibly dealt with by simply building a comprehensive protective system as described above. This is because such land is large in area and rich in sand supply. Situated on the principal wind line in the basin, it is subjected to the attack of very vigorous sand flows; being devoid of vegetation, it can hardly be irrigated in winter to promote
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the growth of grass. In 1973, an effort was made to irrigate the level part of the land in winter and to plant on it sand-fixing plants. However, all the seeds sown failed to emerge and natural grass also failed to grow. Nor did the attempt to build a shelterbelt of bending-resistant arbores such as Ulmus pumila and Elaeagnus spp. meet with any success. In 1975, a 3000 m-long shelterbelt consisting of 20000 trees was built in this area, but again it failed to survive except one single plant of Populus euphratica. All these failures have driven home the importance of the fact that protective measures taken should be suited to the local conditions and the characteristics of the disasters. On the basis of this principle, a program has been formulated for the overall control of the sand disasters, and a new protective system worked out through experiments and research, which can work effectively under the peculiar conditions of this area. The system retains the key component of the abovemention system the network of shelterbelts for the protection of the oasis farmland, but two more tree species are added Populus euphratica which endures salinity and alkalinity, and Robinia pseudoacacia, which can improve the soil. The other two components are both replaced by sand-fixing forests (Fig. 2). Following is an account of the technical measures adopted to build such forests.

Fig. 2 Sketch map of shelterbelt system (1) Selecting plant varieties good for sand-fixation Bushes have been widely used both in China and abroad to fix or keep off drift sand, increase the roughness of land surface, to reduce the force of blownsand flow and improve the microclimate. To apply this measure to Kazakhstan, the most important thing to do is to select varieties which can withstand high temperature and drought, and survive even when buried in sand. In the basin, nearly 20 species have been introduced for trial planting. Out of the twenty, 9 have been selected (Table 1), all of which feature a high utilization value and a good ability to withstand drought, to resist wind erosion and to fix sand. (2) Water supply for sand-fixing afforestation Water supply is crucial to the survival of plants growing on winderoded and drift sand land. It is one of the important factors to be taken into account when trees are planted to fix the sand. In this area, the groundwater table is about 10 m; the layer of earth 2-3 m below the surface cannot provide effective water supply to plants as it is extremely dry for lack of water replenishment; the drift sand or sand dunes spread on the wind-eroded land is dry, too, which the scanty precipation
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cannot make wet enough for the growth of plants. Such being the case, the only possible solution is to collect water from karizes in winter and channel it to the wind-eroded drift sand land for irrigation. Before such irrigation, land preparation is necessary. On level and slightly undulating sandy land, ridge-bordered plots are built, manually or by mechanical means, to divide into rectangular pieces, each 5-6 m wide, aligned along the contour line. In the case of hard wind-eroded land and drift sand land with great undulation, the usual practice is to use a bulldozer to push earth together to build water-retaining banks in accordance with the terrain so that reservoirs of different sizes can be formed in the course of winter irrigation; another method is to dig ditches, into which water is supplied. In the case of interdune lowland and deep wind-eroded pits, irrigation is done by supplying water directly into them. The amount of water needed for irrigation is about 1500-300 m per ha. In the year following the winter irrigation, the biggest change in water content takes place in the 0-40 cm earth layer of drift sand land, and the 0-40 cm earth layer of wind-eroded land - both have a higher humidity in spring. Humidity of the earth below the above-mentioned sandy earth layers is relatively stable, with water content standing at 3-5% in the case of sandy land, and 10-18% in the case of wind-eroded land (Table 2). A survey has been conducted to determine the wilting humidity of plants on sandy and wind-eroded land. As shown by the results of the survey, in the case of sandy land, the wilting humidity is 1.56% for C. caputmedusac; in the case of wind-eroded land, it is 6.80% for Haloxylon ammodendron, and 6.72% for C. caput-medusac. If these figures are compares with the water content of wind-eroded and drift sand land irrigated in winter, it can be seen that such land can effectively provide water sufficient for use by the sandfixing arbores there.

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According to observations, plants growing in C. caput medusac-dominated sand-fixing forests of moderate density (1050 trees per ha on the average) on land given one winter irrigation, begin to show signs of suffering from drought in the 3rd year. If plants growing on land which has not been winter-irrigated for 5 successive years are compared with those growing on land which is winterirrigated in the 4th year, a great difference can be found between them both in growth and biological amount (Table 3). It can therefore be concluded that in such sandy areas sand-fixing forests are grown, additional winter irrigation should be carried out at an interval of 3-4 years to ensure the normal growth of the forests.

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Process of desertation

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Calligonum- Apyllum

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C. Caput-Medusac

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Holoxylon ammodendron

Calligonum
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