REVIEW OF M. M. DAVYDOV'S ARTICLE, THE OB' RIVER WILL FLOW INTO THE CASPIAN SEA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600300517-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 7, 2011
• Sequence Number: 517
• Publication Date: May 5, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600300517-4
CLASSIFICATION CGNFIDENTIALCyONFID~I~TIAL
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADfO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
HOW
PUBLISHED
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
Scientific -Geophysics
Geographic - Hydrology
Bimonthly periodical
Moscow
Nov/Dec 1949
DATE OF
INFORMATION
May 195G
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT N0.
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.umocn ru?s I nneoucnoi ui ien row. ni:oeurtaa r?o
Izvestiya pkademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Geologicheskaya, No 6, 1949?
REVIEW OF M. M. DAVYDOV'S ARTICLE,
"THE OB' AIVER WILL FLOW INTO THE CASPIAN SEA"
The problem of eliminating the sharp variations in the level of the Caspian
Sea has recently been studied in connection with the problem of irrigating the
lands oP Central Asis. The first steps in this direction -- i.e., the construction
of the Fergsas and Golodnaye Steppe canals and the Zeravshanskiy reservoir and the
passage of water through the Kelifskiy Uzboy into the Kara Kum desert of Turkmen
SSR -- along with others, substantially increased the area of irrigated land in
Central Asia. There is still much to be done in this direction, but it has become
evident that the water resources of the again river systems of Central Asia, the
Amu-Darya and the Syr-Dar'ys, are not sufficient for the vast areas which must be
irrigated.
Thus, hydrologists and economists began to look toward the higher latitudes
of Central Asia in their search for additional water resources for irrigation pur-
poses. At 48 degrees north latitude, they noted the rivers of the Irtysh River basin
which, rising in Kazakhstan and even in the Mongolian People's Republic and the
Sinkiang Province of China, carry their valuable water stores to the far north and
empty them into the Arctic Ocean. The passibility of turning part of the Siberian
waters back to the south and using them to irrigate the lands of Central Asia and
Kazakhstan and to serve as a source of power along their courses in Central Asia
and Siberia was recognized by these researchers and many projects and suggestions
were advanced. i;ovever, all these nro,jects and suggestions dealt only xith special
problems and none reached the stage of technical economic formulation.
Engineer M. M. Davydov attempts to weld all these disconnected projects and
schemes into a unified whole and discusses the technical measures which would make
it possible to divert part of the floe of the Siberian rivers, the Ob' and the
Yeaisey, into the Aral and Caspian basins. He points out that the droughts which
destroy harvests over considerable areas of the steppe zone of the USSR are formed
mainly in the desert spaces of the Turan and Caspian lowlands. The historic de-
cree of the party and government of 20 October 1948 concerning the plan for forest-
ation to protect Yields outlined a number of necessary and timely measures aimed at
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securing high and stable harvests in the steppe and forest-steppe regions of Euro-
pean USSR. The implementation of these measures has greatly improved physico-
geographic conditions and it would be very desirable to extend the forest belts in-
to the Turan lowland in order to eliminate the drought source. Consequently, xater
must be found for Kazakhstan and Central Asia to prevent droughts is European USSR
as well as to recover the desert areas of these former regions.
Having indicated the necessity for diverting certain Siberian rivers from the
north to the south, Davydov analyzes the problems involved in this process.
A dam 78 meters high will be raised on the Ob' River below the mouth of the
Irtysh at the village of Belogor'ye. This will create a water reaervolr four times
larger than the Aral Sea in the trough of the Ob' River and its right and left
tributaries. About 90 percent of the area which would be flooded by the reservoir
is swamp and swampy stretches of forests and brush, only 10 percent being suitable
for agricultural utilization. Through the Tobol River, the water will drop to the
bottom of the water divide between the Turgay and West Siberian lowlands, i.e., to
the so-called Turgay gateways. The canal which would have to be dug here would be
the largest hydrotechnical constructio^ Sn the world and would recreate the condi-
tions of the Ice Age when the Ob' River, deflected downward by the Ural and Taymyr
ice covers, overflowed into the West Siberian lowlands acd discharged to the south
through the Turgay meridional depression which extends along the eastern foothills
of the Urals. Even earlier, however, i.e., in the Tertiary Period, a wide strait
which discharged the waters of the Tertiary Sea to the south into the Aralo-Caspian
depression passed through the same Turgay depression. Thus, the proposed Turgay
canal only re-establishes the hydrographic network which existed in this period.
After crossing the Turgay divide, the water would enter the Aral Sea from the
Turgay River and Lake Chelkar-Tengiz and raise its level. The water would then pees
through the dry bed of the Dar'yala into the Sary-Kamysh basin, fill it, and flow
into the Caspian Sea through the bed of the Uzboy. ip system of dried-up river beds
and basins in the Kara-Kum., The proposed Belagor'ye dam is about 4,000 kilometers
from the Caspian Sea; about 1,800 kilometers of this route are over the Aral Sea
and through existing or extinct lakes (Chelkar, Sary-Kemysh, Uzboy) and about 950
kilometers are through the dry beds of former rivers where hardly any excavation
work would be required.
However, about 300-35o cubic kilometers of water per year are needed to ir-
rigate the lands of Central Asia and Kazakhstan and maintain the Caspian's level.
This is approximately the yearly flow of the Ob' River itself, and therefore Davy-
dov proposes that the Yenisey River also be included in the project. Water will be
diverted from the Yenisey into the Ob' through the Kas ttiver and the canal after the
dam is built. This will raise the Yenisey to the level of the Ob' end create a
large reservoir on the Yenisey from the town of Yeniseysk an the north almost to the
mouth of the Kan River on the south.
After the Yenisey and the Ob' are ,joined, the water resources in the Ob' reser-
voir will be sufficient to irrigate the vast land areas in Central Asia and Kazakh-
stan and to maintain the water level in the Caspian. This will also guarantee nor-
mal operation of the power stations, which will provide electric power to industrial
and agricultural regions of the Urals, West Siberia, Kazakhstan, Turlonen, and Uzbeki-
stan
The proposed project cannot be executed immediately. It must be conducted on
a priority basis with consideration of the urgency for constructing the separate
links.
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The author establishes three stages that differ from each other by the amount
of stater which would pass through the Turgay eater divide canal into Central Asia.
Each of these stages specifies a definite area for irrigation, the power of hydro-
electric stations, the capacity of canals, and the amount of avatar entering the
Caspian. The first stage would not call for the construction oY the canal from the
Yeaisey into the Ob' end would give Central Asia and Kazakhstan about 1,000 cubic
meters oP water per second; the second stage would require up to 5,000 cubic meters
and would include the Yeaisey; and th^ third stage would call for 10,000 cubic meters
of water to carry out the entire net of measures for irrigation, power engineering,
sad navigation facilities.
In the lest part of his article, Davydov lists the accomplishments to be gained
by carrying out his project: (1) the area of irrigated land in Kazakhstan and Central
psis will be increased by more than five times; (2) more than 80 billion kilowatt-
houre of electric power will flox to industrial regions; (3) the level of the Caspian
xould be held at an optimal height and the region where droughts originate would be
attacked; (4) a deep-water transportation route connecting the Kara Sea, the Caspian
Sea, and Lake Baykal would be established; and (5) the climate of Kazakhstan, Central
Asia, and Nest Siberia would be substantially improved.
Material benefits from the proposed pro,}ect will include increased agricultural
production, mining and mineral gains due to use of the electric power made available
by the project, expanded Yorestatioa and livestock raising, and improved living
conditions. Although tremendous in scope, the project can be accomplished without
excessive difficulty and enormous expenditures.
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