Kirghiz Range

Kirghiz Range 

(also Kirghiz Alatau), a mountain range in the Kirghiz SSR, extending along its border with the Kazakh SSR in the west. The range is 375 km long, stretching from the city of Dzhambul to the Boam Gorge of the Chu River, with elevations of up to 4,875 m (Zapadnyi Alamedin Peak in the east). It is composed of sedimentary and metamorphic rock, porphyrites, and granites. The northern slope, gentler and longer than the southern, borders on the Chu Valley to the south. To an elevation of 2,500 m the slopes are covered with steppes and forests (spruce and juniper), and higher lie subalpine and alpine meadows. At an elevation of 3,700 m there are snow fields and glaciers, the latter covering a total area of 223 sq km.