Kura-Araks Lowland

Kura-Araks Lowland 

a lowland in eastern Transcaucasia, in the Azerbaijan SSR. Located along the lower reaches of the Kura and Araks rivers between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus, it is washed on the east by the Caspian Sea. It is 250 km long and 150 km wide.

The lowland is an alluvial-aggradational plain with elevations not exceeding 200 m; the central and eastern parts are below sea level. The relief is complicated by alluvial cones of rivers, gentle ridges, depressions, and hills with mud volcanoes. The Lower Kura synclinorium forms the foundation of the lowland. Anthropogenic marine deposits are hidden beneath alluvial and diluvial clays, loams, sands, and gravel. The lowland is rich in oil.

The climate is warm and dry with hot summers. The average July temperature is 25°-28°C, and the average January temperature, 1.3°-3.6°C. The annual precipitation totals about 200–400 mm. The lowland lacks a continuous and steady snow cover. The groundwaters are saline. Semidesert landscapes of the dry sub-tropics predominate. Wormwood and wormwood-saltwort associations are encountered on sierozems and gray-brown, often saline, soils and grassy-wormwood and beard-grass associations on dark gray-brown soils. Solonchaks and swamps are found in the east. Willows, poplars, and smooth-leaved elms grow in the floodplains of the rivers. There are cotton plantations, orchards, vineyards, and winter pastures in the lowland.

A. E. FEDINA