No matter how interesting the composition and properties of water manifestations may be, it is clear that it is not these properties themselves that interest the curious reader, but rather how they will affect, first and foremost, those who will use a particular water.
Waters without 'specific' components are distinguished only from a balneological point of view as waters that do not contain any of the components considered for therapeutic purposes in conditioning quantities, except for the total salt content, for which the lower limit of concentration is set at 2 g/l.
Among thermomineral waters, waters of this type occupy a special place; as a rule, being therapeutic, they are most widely used in industry from underground waters. It is from these waters that we obtain all industrial bromine and about 3/4 of iodine. Iodobromine waters are used for treatment both externally and internally; in the latter case, their mineralization should not exceed 10-15 g/l, and if dilution with fresh water is needed, the concentration of bromine when diluted should not fall
Medicinal iron mineral waters are those that contain at least 20 mg/l of dissolved iron. There are not many such waters in our country, but it was precisely at the iron-rich Marcial waters (located 50 km from Petrozavodsk) that the first resort in Russia was established in 1719 by a decree of Peter I. They are named Marcial in honor of Mars, the ancient Roman god of war, as it was believed at that time that consuming iron mineral water made a person strong.
Rishtan Deposit is located 15 km south of the city of Rishtan in Uzbekistan and 20 km east of the river Sokh. The mineral springs are associated with the limestones of the Alai and Turkestan strata, which lie in the core of the local anticlinal fold. The water has a mineralization of 3-6 g/l, a chloride-sulfate calcium-sodium composition, and contains 50-110 mg/l of total hydrogen sulfide. The flow rate of the Rishtan springs exceeds 4 l/s, which is sufficient to provide water for a medical
While the identification of most mineral waters requires various water analyses, and radon waters even need a specially designed device — an emanometer, the presence of hydrogen sulfide waters can be recognized by the characteristic smell of this gas from a considerable distance from the spring or the flowing sulfide water from a well. Hydrogen sulfide waters are among the most valuable in balneology — they are what gives the fame to Greater Sochi as a world health resort, having been
Of all the gases found on Earth, radon is the rarest and most expensive, although it is difficult to take a sample of soil air or groundwater in which it is not detected, even in small amounts. Radon is a gas, a product of the radioactive decay of radium, with a half-life of 3.86 days, meaning it cannot accumulate since it decays relatively quickly. This feature has earned it the status of the most dangerous among radioactive poisons.
The origin of thermal waters is a topic of debate among specialists, no less than that of carbonic waters. At the same time, we will set aside cases like Yangang-Tau and, probably, Tashkumyr — here we have burning material, heat being released, and strict contours of the oxidation zone (after all, combustion is a relatively rapid oxidation) in a confined space, although even here, to be honest, there is no complete consensus among professionals. For the explanation of most other cases of
Tashkumyr Thermal Springs are located on the eastern outskirts of the city of Tashkumyr, on the cliff of the right bank of the Naryn River at the latitude of the "Severny" mine, a few meters above the river at an absolute elevation of just over 600 m. Here, for a hundred meters, one can observe about half a dozen jets of warm and hot water (in June 1978, geologist S. G. Shulgin recorded a temperature of 45°C in one of the springs). Its composition is consistently sodium sulfate with
Sary-Jaz Springs are located 3.5 km south of the village of Sary-Jaz at the foot of a nearly hundred-meter cliff on the left bank of the river of the same name at an absolute height of about 2400 m.
Pchansky Spring is well known to the residents of the western part of the Ak-Tal district and geologists in Kyrgyzstan. Its fame among the local population is due to the elevated water temperature (20°C) and high flow rate (about 15 l/s), as well as the memorable dome-shaped orifice with a diameter of 0.5 m; for geologists, it is notable as the only spring with anomalous temperature and water composition from the largest Talas-Fergana fault in the region, which defines the geological boundary
Kokomerensky Thermal Springs are located 14 km upstream from the confluence of the Kokomerena River with the Jumgal River, on the right bank at the base of the embankment of the road that runs here, which has incidentally shifted the location of the springs' emergence; the absolute elevation of the springs is close to 1650 m.
Airtash Warm Waters were brought to the surface by wells drilled by the Makmal Geological Exploration Party in 1974 for purposes far removed from the search for underground water.
Thermal Springs of Chon-Kyzylsuu are located 20 km southeast of the village of Pokrovka in the southeastern part of the Issyk-Kul region at an absolute altitude of 2400 m on the right bank of the Chon-Kyzylsuu River, below the confluence with its right tributary, the Jilisu stream.
Thermal waters of Ugut are located on the left bank of the Naryn River, 110 km west of the city of Naryn, 3.5 km downstream from the confluence of the Ala-Buga River at an absolute elevation of 1500 m.
Gulchinsky Spring is located 5 km southwest of the village of Gulcha on the left bank of the valley of the Jilisu stream at an absolute elevation of about 1900 m. The water is of the sulfate-bicarbonate magnesium-sodium-calcium type with a mineralization of just under 0.5 g/l, which is not unique and does not hold great value. The spring's discharge is close to 1.5 l/s — there are thousands of springs with such discharge in Kyrgyzstan. Finally, the water of Gulchinsky Spring contains just
Altyn-Arashan Spring is located 22 km southeast of the city of Karakol in the valley of the Arashan River. In this area, several groups of springs with anomalously high water temperatures are known, but only the middle group, located on the right bank of the Arashan River 200 m below the mouth of its right tributary, the Anarty River, at absolute elevations just over 2400 m, is used more or less regularly. A local balneotherapy center has been organized here, utilizing two small bathing pools
The Alamedin Deposit is located 28 km south of Bishkek city in the middle reaches of the Alamedin River at absolute elevations slightly below 1800 m. Like many other thermal water springs, it has been known for a long time and was used by the ancient population of the Chui Valley, as evidenced by archaeological finds in its vicinity.
Issyk-Ata Deposit is located 78 km southeast of Bishkek in the middle part of the picturesque valley of the same name river at absolute elevations of about 1750-1800 m. Good roads lead from Tokmak and Kant through the village of Yurievka to the Issyk-Ata resort, providing all-weather and year-round access for the settlements of the Chui Valley to this resort.
Dzhergalan Thermal Water Deposit was discovered accidentally during the drilling of a parametric well by the "Kyrgyzneft" management in the early 1960s in the valley of the Dzhergalan River, 200 meters upstream from the bridge over it on the Tyup-Karakol highway. The absolute elevation of the area here is 1630 m, which is about twenty meters higher than the level of Lake Issyk-Kul.
Jalal-Abad Deposit is located on the left bank of the Kugar River valley on the southeastern outskirts of the city of Jalal-Abad, the second largest industrial and cultural center in the south of the republic. The mineral springs of Hazret-Ayub-Paygambara (the name of the village that existed before the war on the slope to the north of the modern resort) have been known to the local population for a long time, in times that can be called archaeological, as their traces are usually established
The Aksu Deposit is located in Eastern Prissykul, 15 km southeast of the town of Krakal, in the river mouth area of the Ak-Suu River — a right tributary of the Arashan River, at absolute elevations of about 1750 m. The first descriptions of the deposit were made in the mid-20th century by the famous geographer P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, although local residents were undoubtedly aware of it long before that.
The question of the origin of carbonated waters is one of the most controversial in hydrogeology and is pivotal in the problem of mineral water formation.
Carbonated water in the Chaek well. For now, this is the only well of its kind in the republic that has revealed water with increased CO2 content in a place where there were no serious grounds for such an expectation.
Mineral Springs of Shilbeli contain the least mineralized naturally carbonated water in Kyrgyzstan. They are located in the basin of the Karakuldja River, 80 km directly east of the city of Uzgen, on the right bank of the Shilbeli stream valley, which is a left tributary of the middle course of the Surtaš River. The absolute elevation of the area where the Shilbeli springs are located is close to 3200 m. There are two groups of springs at a distance of 350 m from each other; in terms of carbon
Kacharaltur Area is located on the same left bank of the Yassy River as Kara-Shoro, but 200 meters downstream. At the base of the slope and along the riverbed, there are about half a dozen springs of mineral water and gas emissions. In the most concentrated flows, the water has a mineralization of about 6 g/L, with carbon dioxide content up to 1.88 g/L, otherwise closely resembling the indicators of Kara-Shoro. The flow rate of mineral water here is close to 0.5 L/s.
Kara-Shoro Deposit includes 3 areas of carbonated mineral water distribution — namely Kara-Shoro itself, Kacharaltur, and Konurtebe, and is remarkable primarily for two indicators: it features carbonated water with the highest salt content in Kyrgyzstan (over 40 g/l) and has the most diverse types of mineral waters among those found in the republic; furthermore, the water from this deposit contains the highest concentrations of microelements such as iron, zinc, and barium. Among all the
Source Arkarsur is the most frequently visited outlet of carbonated waters by wild animals. Not to mention that the marked feature is clearly expressed in the name of the spring (arkar — a direct reference to argali, while "shur" can be easily recognized as a somewhat distorted Turkic "shor" — salt).
The carbonated water of Kara-Kiche is the most sulfate-rich among the carbonated mineral waters of the republic and closely resembles the composition of the most popular sulfate narzan in the country, Kislovodsk narzan, in terms of macrocomponent ratios.
Uselik Carbonated Springs are the highest located outlets of carbonated mineral waters in Kyrgyzstan — they emerge at an absolute height of over 3600 m in the same area as the Chatyr-Kul deposit, but 15 km east of the lake, in the Torugart-Tau mountains. A distinctive feature of the geological structure of this area is the presence of young (Cenozoic) magmatic rocks (basalts), which may be related to the existence of the local mineral waters to some extent.
The Chatyr-Kul Deposit has the largest resources of carbonated water in Kyrgyzstan: they are estimated at 50 l/s, which theoretically allows each resident of our country to receive 12 bottles of mineral water per year.
Beshbelchir-Arashan Deposit has the warmest water among all manifestations of carbonated mineral waters in Kyrgyzstan. It is located at the foot of the southern slope of the Atbashy Range, 70 km southeast of the city of Naryn, in the valley of the Arachan River at an absolute height of about 3300 m. Although this area is widely known for its permafrost, which is sometimes exaggeratedly referred to as "eternal" frost, the temperature of the carbonated water here at the surface is
The Aksu mineral water deposit is the most intensively exploited deposit of therapeutic table carbonated water in the republic. It is located 30 km south of the village of Belovodskoye in the Moscow district, in the valley of the Jartash River — a right tributary of the upper Aksu River. The absolute elevation at the mineral water outcrop sites is close to 2300 m. A good road accessible to all types of transport leads to the deposit, which was previously manifested by two groups (lower and
Currently, there are 28 known deposits and occurrences of carbonated waters in Kyrgyzstan, containing free carbon dioxide in amounts of 500 mg/l or more. Most of them are located in the Fergana Range: in the basin of the Yassy River — areas of Arkarshur, Baibiche, Jol-Chavay, Kara-Shoro, Kacharalatour, Konurtebe, Kokdjar, Kolubek, Tuyde, Chitty, Chon-Chavay; in the basin of the Tar River — areas of Kulun, Suek, Terek, Tuz-Ashu; in the basin of the Arpa River — Karakol (eastern) and
The Arashans of Kyrgyzstan have been known to the local population for their healing properties since ancient times. This is evidenced by numerous stone monuments at the sites of thermal springs, as well as various legends associated with the names of mineral water deposits.
The components and indicators that provide grounds for assessing water as mineral can include the degree of mineralization, the composition and ratio of dissolved substances in the water, gas content, pH reaction, and radioactivity.
On a hot summer day on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul, one can observe a strange sight. Adults, seemingly respectable, walk covered in mud. Their legs and arms are especially abundantly coated in clay. Some even manage to smear their bellies. Others—what a wonder!—completely bury themselves, leaving only their heads above the fine sandy shore of the lake.
Groundwater is one of the main water resources of the Kyrgyz Republic (KR). They are characterized by a high content of biologically active mineral (and less often organic) components and possess specific physicochemical properties (radioactivity, etc.), which underlie their effects on the human body and therapeutic applications.
Therapeutic Resources of Kyrgyzstan Currently, more than 120 natural mineral water springs have been discovered in the territory of the republic. Among them, mineral waters of almost all known types are noted.