Saline soils are widespread in the southern and central parts of Kazakhstan. In these arid areas, the annual precipitation is 100–150 mm, while the evaporation exceeds the precipitation. The soils in these areas are medium and highly saline. In the framework of this study, numerous cartographic materials pertaining to the saline soils of Kazakhstan and Central Asia have been reviewed and researched. Four soil–halo–geochemical salt accumulation provinces have been identified in Kazakhstan on the basis of generalization and analysis of the available materials. The provinces differ from each other by their genesis, composition, and salt transportation patterns. ArcMap software was used as the main tool for the analysis of the soil–halo–geochemical provinces and the production of a salt accumulation map of Kazakhstan. The research of the salt accumulation geochemistry in the soils, mineral rocks, and groundwaters, salt accumulation types, and patterns of soil migration in the biosphere are the basis for the assessment of regions with irrigation activities. Therefore, the research of the saline soils and salt accumulation processes is of high practical importance.

Water is an essential element for life, and development would not be possible without its availability. This study identified the main water consumers and their likely impact on water lake level for the case of Issyk-Kul Lake Basin, Kyrgyzstan. Data on precipitation, lake level, irrigation, household and industrial water consumption from 1980 to 2014 were provided by the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation, Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of the Kyrgyz Republic. The input data was analyzed with OriginPro 8.5 for Statistical Analysis. The results indicated a decreasing irrigation water consumption from 2029.42 to 461.76 million·m³ in 1980 and 2014, respectively. Likewise, households consumed 27.02 million·m³ in 1980 falling to 16.55 million·m³ in 2014, similar to the manufacture’s water consumption. However, it was noted that agriculture is a high water consumer, whose water demand for irrigation rises from April to August, the period during which the precipitation also increases. Nevertheless, manufactures and household water consumption do not have timed limits of use like in agriculture, which in turn affects the lake water level. Therefore, as the rainfall increases by April to August, we suggest to harvest and only use the rainfall water during its abundance period. This would help in restoring the lake’s water level during the time of rainwater uses, and leads to water consumption balance, flood management and lake biodiversity conservation as well.

The dramatic shrinkage of the Aral Sea in the past decades has inevitably led to an environmental calamity. Existing knowledge on the variations and potential transport of atmospheric aerosols from the Aral Sea Basin (ASB) is limited. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study tried to identify the variations and long-range transport of atmospheric aerosols from the ASB in recent years. The Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) data were used to gain new insight into the types, variation and long-range transport of atmospheric aerosols from the ASB. The results showed five types of tropospheric aerosols and one type of stratospheric aerosol were observed over the ASB. Polluted dust and dust were the dominant subtypes through the year. Sulfate/other was the only stratospheric aerosol detected. The occurrence frequency of aerosols over the ASB showed obvious seasonal variation. Maximum occurrence frequency of dust appeared in spring (MAM) and that of polluted dust peaked in summer (JJA). The monthly occurrence frequency of dust and polluted dust exhibited unimodal distribution. Polluted dust and dust were distributed over wide ranges from 1 km to 5 km vertically. The multi-year average thickness of polluted dust and dust layers was around 1.3 km. Their potential long-range transport in different directions mainly impacts Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and eastern Iran, and may reach as far as the Caucasus region, part of China, Mongolia and Russia. Combining aerosol lidar, atmospheric climate models and geochemical methods is strongly suggested to gain clarity on the variations and long-range transport of atmospheric aerosols from the Aral Sea Basin.

In the Syr Darya River watershed, 225 samples from three different layers in 75 soil profiles were collected from irrigated areas in three different spatial regions (I: n = 29; II: n = 17; III: n = 29), and the spatial and vertical variation characteristics of potentially toxic elements (Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, and Zn) and a metallic element (Mn) were studied. The human health risks and enrichment factors were also evaluated in the Syr Darya River watershed of the Aral Sea Basin in Kazakhstan. There were significant differences in the contents of heavy metals in the different soil layers in the different sampling regions. Based on element variation similarity revealed by hierarchical cluster analysis, the elemental groupings were consistent in the different layers only in region I. For regions II and III, the clustered elemental groups were the same between surface layer A and B, but differed from those in the deep layer C. In sampling region I, the heavy metals in surface soils were significantly correlated with the ones in deep layers, reflecting that they were mainly affected by the elemental composition of parent materials. In region II, the significant correlations only existed for Cu, Mn, and Zn between the surface and deep layers. The similar phenomenon with significant correlation was also observed for heavy metals in sampling region III, except for Cd. Finally, enrichment factor was used to study the mobilization and enrichment of potentially toxic elements. The enrichment factors of Zn, Cu, and Cd in surface layer A that were greater than 1.5 accounted for 1.16%, 6.79%, and 24.36% of sampling region I, respectively. In sampling region II, the enrichment factors of Zn, Cu, Cd, and Co that were greater than 1.5 accounted for 0.03%, 4.76%, 0.54%, and 9.03% of the total area, respectively. In sampling region III, only the enrichment factors of Zn, Cu, and Cd that exceeded 1.5 accounted for 0.24%, 4.90%, and 6.89% of the total area, respectively. Although the contents of the heavy metals were not harmful to human health, the effects of human activities on the heavy metals in the irrigated soils revealed by enrichment factors have been shown in this study area.

Desertification and land degradation are common processes in arid and semi-arid regions of Kazakhstan, especially southern parts, where areas are covered by a great variety of desert types. In deserts, soil-forming processes take place in conditions of severe water shortage, and high level of soil degradation and desertification. The main natural factors for these processes are a flat terrain, a high degree of arid climate, soil salinity, carbonate content, a lack of structure and low natural soil fertility. However, the anthropogenic factors of desertification and soil degradation became dominant last decades. The study considers the actual problems of natural and anthropogenic factors of desertification and land degradation within Kazakhstan. The desertification of huge territories is accompanied by soil contamination, waterlogging by surface water and groundwater, soil salinization, erosion (water, wind), degradation of vegetation cover, dehumidification and a decrease in general regional biological capacity. Analysis of the current status of the soil cover has shown intensive land degradation 43 % of the territory of Kazakhstan is subjected to degradation in significant degree; over 14 % of pastures have reached an extreme degree of degradation or are completely degradated. The Aral Sea region, Northern Caspian Sea and Southern Balkhash deserts can be observed as areas of intensive soil desertification, salinization and deflation processes. As well as the desertification process are progressing in the irrigated soils of the deltas of Syrdarya, Shu, Ile and Karatal rivers.