How to draw an aeolian city. Kugsky "Aeolian city"

Africa

This was in 1907. Academician Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev - then just a young scientist - walked along with his party of geologists through deserts and mountains Central Asia, near the border of Kazakhstan.

One day, when the sun was already setting, the caravan unexpectedly found itself on some deserted street of an unknown city, which Obruchev had never heard of. Countries

but... This is probably one of the ancient cities, long destroyed and abandoned by the inhabitants. Here are the ruins of an ancient castle, a fortress, round cannonballs of ancient cannons are stuck in the massive walls, and broken glass lies underfoot.

Vladimir Afanasyevich would very much like to examine these ruins more closely, but the sun was already setting, and a place for spending the night had not yet been chosen, water was needed, the horses needed to be watered. No, you can't linger!

And when the next morning came, I had to move on, not to go back for the sake of some ruins, because the goal of the expedition, its tasks are not archaeological at all, but geological... Still, I would like to... However, Vladimir Afanasyevich did not have time to think through his idea to the end, when I saw ancient ruins ahead again, very similar to yesterday’s! I saw it and immediately understood everything!

So that's it! This means that before him lay a city that had never been a city, people had never lived in it, and it was not built by human hands. The city that he saw last night was the same... It was created by the forces of nature: wind and water, heat and cold!

...Once upon a time, a very long time ago, there stood here mountains of the most ordinary shape, mountains like mountains, and they resembled nothing but mountains. They were composed mainly of soft rocks, soft sandstones, sandy clays, yellow, pink, greenish. These rocks are easily weathered.

In ancient times, the climate here was more humid, mountain rivers and streams rolled their waters with a roar; they made their way through the yielding rocks and ground them down. Centuries passed, the climate became drier, and fast-moving rivers gradually dried up.

And, as if in memory of themselves, these rivers left the channels they had laid. These channels later turned into the streets of the dead city.

Meanwhile, other forces of nature - heat and cold - were working hard. During the day, the sun strongly heats the stone, it expands, at night it cools down greatly and bursts with a noise and crack, like a hot glass bursts if you pour it into it. cold water. Cracks form in the rocks, they cover it everywhere, becoming wider and deeper from the constant change of heat and cold. And in winter, when the sun stops heating, or rather, it warms very weakly, water and ice get to work. Since autumn, all the cracks are filled with droplets of water; in winter, the water turns into ice and pushes the cracks apart. After all, when water freezes, it is distributed.

Try filling a bottle with water, cap it tightly and leave it in the cold. The water will turn to ice and break the bottle.

So, from year to year, from century to century, heat and cold, water and ice destroy the stone.

But the final finishing is done by the wind. He gets into all the cracks and crevices, forcefully sweeping away crumbled fragments and sharp grains of sand. The undermined rocks, ready to crumble, are finally destroyed by the wind, and the stubborn, harder rocks he sharpens and polishes with sharp grains of sand.

This is where the round cannonballs of ancient cannons came from, stuck in the walls of the dead city.

The wind sweeps away veins of white transparent plaster, and then it seems as if shards of broken glass are lying on the ground.

Wind - chief builder, chief architect fancy rocks. That is why Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev called what he discovered amazing city Aeolian, that is, a city created by the wind. Aeolus is the poetic name of the wind, it came to us from Ancient Greece, that’s what they called the god of the winds, the lord of the winds. The venerable academician was never a stranger to a subtle sense of poetry and therefore gave his quaint city the name of the god of the winds - Aeolus!

IN different places globe There are rocks that look like giant mushrooms with caps on tall thin legs, sometimes these caps are jauntily tilted to one side and it is impossible to look at them without smiling. Sometimes the rocks take the form of pyramids or some kind of giant needles; sometimes they look like towers, like castles... But it’s rare to see such a cluster of weathered rocks, reminiscent of a real city built by human hands.

The diligent Eol did a great job here. Over a large area, he created not only castles and fortresses, but also various sculptures. You might think that real sculptors got down to business, carving various works of art from stone. Here is a statue that resembles egyptian sphinx. Here is a chair, and in the chair sits a man, only Aeolus has not yet had time to sculpt his head. Here is a gigantic figure of a kneeling woman in a wide skirt and a hood on her head.

And on the outskirts of the Aeolian city, the god of the winds created a semblance of an ancient cemetery with mausoleums, giant coffins-sarcophagi, like the ancient Egyptians, and even erected a small chapel house, as they once did in ancient cemeteries.

Aeolian city - dead city, there is no greenery, no animals, no birds, you will never see fast lizards, even small insects - unless the wind accidentally carries some bug.

The Aeolian city seems like an enchanted sleeping kingdom on clear nights, when the two-horned silver moon floats among the stars. Quiet. Silently. But... what is this? It rustled and rustled... Small sand tornadoes rushed through the streets and alleys.

This is ruled by the ancient Aeolus, the lord of the winds, the main builder of the quaint city discovered by Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev.

Remember what rocks are.

Rocks are dense or loose masses that make up the earth's crust.

Give examples of rocks. What rocks are found in the area where you live?

These are granite, coal, peat, rock salt, chalk, limestone.

Page 40

1. How do the sun, water and wind change the surface of the land?

Rocks are destroyed by solar heat. During the day, the sun heats the stones and they expand, and at night they cool and contract. This causes cracks to appear in them. At first these cracks are barely noticeable, but then they expand and the surface of the stone or rock gradually collapses.

Water creates ravines on the land surface. Water in rivers erodes the banks, deepens the bottom and gradually forms a river valley. Water erodes the rocks it flows through and carries away small and sometimes larger particles. Where the river's current weakens, these particles are deposited on the bottom and gradually form shoals and islands. If a river flows along a bottom made of very hard rocks, then as a result of erosion of rocks, rapids and waterfalls are formed on the river. Water that penetrates deep into the earth also produces work. It destroys soft rocks, forming voids in the thickness of the earth - caves.

The wind does a lot of work to change the surface of the land. In the mountains, the wind picks up small rock particles, such as grains of sand, and blows them against the rocks. Millions of such impacts knock out depressions on the surface of the rock, gradually destroying them. The work of the wind is also visible in the desert. The wind blows and drives grains of sand, collecting them into hills and mounds - dunes.

2. What contributes to the formation of rapids and waterfalls on rivers?

If a river flows along a bottom made of very hard rocks, then as a result of erosion of rocks, rapids and waterfalls are formed on the river

3. Look at the photographs of the lowland (p. 38) and mountain (p. 34) rivers and explain why the banks of these rivers are so different.

Rivers flowing through mountainous areas rush at high speed. They flow in narrow rocky valleys with steep slopes. It takes hundreds of thousands of years for a river to carve a valley in the mountains. Water in lowland rivers erodes the banks faster, since they are composed of loose rocks. It erodes the rocks through which it flows, and carries with it small, and sometimes larger, particles. Where the river's current weakens, these particles are deposited on the bottom and gradually form shoals and islands.

4. What property of solids is manifested when rocks are destroyed under the influence of the sun?

Solids expand when heated and contract when cooled.

5. Tell us how stalactites and stalagmites are formed in caves.

The water falling from the ceiling of the cave contains many dissolved substances, including lime. Some of the lime is released while the drop is hanging on the ceiling, and the rest is released after the drop falls on the floor. So, little by little, an icicle grows on top - a stalactite, and a column - a stalagmite - forms on the floor.

6. You know that sand allows water to pass through well. Then why do some rivers have a sandy bottom, but the water still does not flow through it into the depths of the earth?

Under the layer of sand there is always an impenetrable layer of clay.

7. The pictures show how the current of the river washes away its banks. What do you think is the reason that the river bank in picture “b” is more eroded than in picture “a”? Discuss this issue with a friend.

Figure “b” shows that the coast is formed by loose rocks (perhaps sand), which are easily washed away by the current. In figure “a” the coast is formed by hard rocks, so it erodes slowly.

8. Find out how a rapids river can be made navigable.

Locks are being built on the river. The use of locks is aimed at making water areas with different water levels more suitable for navigation.

Page 41

1. a) Who do you think created the Aeolian city?

An aeolian city is a city created by the work of the wind.

c) Find out what the word “Aeolus” means.

Aeolus from the Greek "wind".

Aeolian means windy, from the Greek word aeolus - wind. An aeolian city is a city created by the forces, the work of the wind. And the reader has the right to ask: how can the wind create a city?
A city is a collection of buildings of various shapes, sizes and purposes, located on the sides of streets, alleys, squares, gardens and parks, often decorated with monuments in honor of remarkable people or events. A city is built by man from various materials for the joint life of many people in a limited space. In the aeolian city, the creative art of man is completely replaced by the forces of nature - the work of the wind, which is helped by heat and frost, raindrops and streams of water, using the peculiarities of the composition, structure and conditions of occurrence of rocks and as a result creating forms that are more or less similar to human structures. We find such forms created by the forces of nature quite often.
In the mountains there are individual cliffs that look like towers, sometimes even entire castles. On the ridges of mountains and hills, especially in deserts, where the aeol reaches its greatest strength and works more often and longer, we sometimes find rocks that are very similar to pillars, tables, needles, mushrooms, pyramids, balls, attracting the attention of the traveler with their shape and causing surprise by their similarity with works of human hands. In addition to all such forms that can be called positive, the forces of nature also create negative ones: in the form of depressions of various sizes - from small cells that make the surface of the cliff look like a honeycomb, to large niches in which a person can sit or stand, sometimes connected in depth one with the other and representing galleries with windows separated by columns.
But nowhere in nature or in descriptions have I found such a combination of forms of different natures in such quantity and over such a large area that an idea of an Aeolian city could arise, with the exception of what is described below.
This aeolian city is located in Chinese Dzungaria, on the banks of the Dyam River. Dzungaria constitutes the northern part of the Xinjiang province of the Republic of China, located between mountain systems Eastern Tien Shan in the south, Mongolian Altai in the north and Dzungarian Alatau in the west. On three sides, the vast depression of Dzungaria is limited by these high mountain ranges, but in one place, in the northwestern corner, these mountains are significantly reduced and thinned out; here, in the interval between the Dzungarian Alatau and the Mongolian Altai, from the steppe, which was called Kyrgyz there (now it became part of the Kazakh SSR), the lower chains of Tarbagatai and Saur penetrate quite far into Dzungaria. They are adjoined from the south by the Barlyk, Urkashar and Semistai ridges; A little to the south is the Maili-Jair chain, constituting a continuation of the Dzungarian Alatau to the east, separated from the latter by a deep valley called the Dzungarian Gate. These mountain ranges are separated from one another by more or less wide valleys, along which Soviet Union You can travel to the Republic of China without having to overcome any high passes, steep ascents and descents. Only in places there are small areas of desert

Aeolian "Two Walruses" from granite of the Koi-Tas massif on the northern step of Jair

Aeolian city- rocky landscape formed by winds. In 1906, in Border Dzungaria, at the foot of the Karaarat Mountains, to the outflow of Lake Ulyungur (a lake in the northern part of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region), in the Orhu tract, Obruchev’s expedition discovered the “Aeolian City”.

Opening of the "Aeolian City"

The “Aeolian City” was discovered by the expedition of V.A. Obruchev at the second stage of research in Border Dzungaria in 1906. Having completed the study of Jair, the expedition went to mountain range Semisty, the peaks of which rose to more than 2600 meters. Along the way, many lakes, rivers, and valleys encountered along the way were studied.

In the Orkhu tract, everyone was greatly impressed by the weathered mountains, built on loose rocks painted in different colors. From a distance, the weathered mountains gave the impression of destruction ancient city with numerous castles, towers and squares. Obruchev called this area the Aeolian city. Over time, this name became known throughout the world.

Specifics

Aeolian processes

V.A. Obruchev

The aeolian city occupies an area of several tens of square kilometers south of the Kara-Arat mountain range and east of the lower reaches of the Dyam River. This entire area is composed of relatively loose sandstones and sandy clays of yellow, pink and greenish colors, easily eroded and dispersed. In the thickness of these rocks there are harder layers and quite a lot of solid calcareous concretions, that is, concretions rich in lime, in the form of regular balls of different diameters, as well as the most bizarre shapes. When rocks weather, hard layers act as cornices and, together with nodules, cause the formation of a wide variety of relief forms. Veins of white transparent gypsum present in the thickness fall out in the form of fragments similar to window glass. Such qualities of the composition of this bedrock sequence, lying almost horizontally over a large area, determined the variety and bizarreness of the weathering and dispersal patterns that characterize this area.

Based on the relief features, the aeolian city can be divided into three parts. The first, occupying the largest area and closest to the valley of the Dyam River, is separated from the latter by flat hills, behind which the pillars and towers of the city rising higher are visible from the valley. Here, streets and alleys of varying lengths and widths alternate one another, in places there are squares, furnished with massive walls 2-3 floors high, with cornices, with round cores sticking out in the walls, towers - round and square - of different sizes, pyramids, pillars, needles , figures separately and in groups.

The processes and landforms associated with the work of the wind are called aeolian in honor of the ancient Greek god Aeolus, the lord of the winds. There is deflation - the removal by wind of products of rock destruction; corrosion - grinding, gouging out the surface with solid particles carried by the wind; transfer of aeolian material and its accumulation (accumulation).

Aeolian processes occur wherever there is loose, loose sediment, such as on sandy river banks. Even in the tundra, among the swamps, you can see the tops of sandy hills scattered by the wind, where the vegetation has been broken by the hooves of deer or the tracks of all-terrain vehicles. The wind demonstrates its strength especially clearly during storms and hurricanes, when spinning, quickly moving columns of air - tornadoes - destroy houses and bridges, pick up and carry small objects that get in their way.

When alternating layers of different rocks, wind and weathering destroy first of all the more pliable ones, carving out the most bizarre figures from the rocks (deflationary remains).

V.A. Obruchev

Obruchev Vladimir Afanasyevich (09/28/10/10/1863, Klepenino village, Rzhevsky district, Tver province, Russian empire– 06/19/1956, Moscow, RSFSR, USSR) – an outstanding scientist - geologist, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, researcher of the geology of Siberia, Central, Central Asia, organizer and first dean of the mining department of the Tomsk Technological Institute (worked at TTI (TPU) in 1901-1912), founder of the Siberian scientific mining and geological school.

Literature

I.T. Lozovsky “V.A. Obruchev in Tomsk". – Tomsk: NTL publishing house, 2000. – 180 p.

A.V. Gagarin "Professor Tomsky" Polytechnic University" T,1. Tomsk: NTL Publishing House, 2000–300 pp.

That is why we sometimes hear the sad voice of the nymph Echo in the forest. And Pushkin, captivated by the poetry of the forest echo, created wonderful poems about it:

Does the beast roar in the deep forest,

Is the horn blowing, is the thunder roaring,

Is the maiden behind the hill singing?

Every sound has its own response in the empty air

You will give birth suddenly.

Aeolian city

This was in 1907. Academician Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev - then just a young scientist - walked with his party of geologists through the deserts and mountains of Central Asia, not far from the border of Kazakhstan.

One day, when the sun was already setting, the caravan unexpectedly found itself on some deserted street of an unknown city, which Obruchev had never heard of. Strange... This is probably one of the ancient cities, long ago destroyed and abandoned by its inhabitants. Here are the ruins of an ancient castle, a fortress, round cannonballs of ancient cannons are stuck in the massive walls, and broken glass lies underfoot.

And, as if in memory of themselves, these rivers left the channels they had laid. These channels later turned into the streets of the dead city.

Meanwhile, other forces of nature - heat and cold - were working hard. During the day, the sun strongly heats the stone, it expands, at night it cools down greatly and bursts with a noise and crack, like a hot glass bursting if cold water is poured into it. Cracks form in the rocks, they cover it everywhere, becoming wider and deeper from the constant change of heat and cold. And in winter, when the sun stops heating, or rather, it warms very weakly, water and ice get to work. Since autumn, all the cracks are filled with droplets of water; in winter, the water turns into ice and pushes the cracks apart. After all, when water freezes, it is distributed.

Try filling a bottle with water, cap it tightly and leave it in the cold. The water will turn to ice and break the bottle.

So, from year to year, from century to century, heat and cold, water and ice destroy the stone.

This is where the round cannonballs of ancient cannons came from, stuck in the walls of the dead city.

The wind sweeps away veins of white transparent plaster, and then it seems as if shards of broken glass are lying on the ground.

The wind is the main builder, the main architect of bizarre rocks. That is why Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev called the amazing city he discovered Aeolian, that is, a city created by the wind. Aeolus is the poetic name for the wind; it came to us from Ancient Greece, as the god of the winds, the lord of the winds, was called there. The venerable academician was never a stranger to a subtle sense of poetry and therefore gave his quaint city the name of the god of the winds - Aeolus!

In different places of the globe there are rocks that look like giant mushrooms with caps on tall thin legs; sometimes these caps are jauntily tilted to one side and it is impossible to look at them without smiling. Sometimes the rocks take the form of pyramids or some kind of giant needles; sometimes they look like towers, like castles... But it’s rare to see such a cluster of weathered rocks, reminiscent of a real city built by human hands.

The diligent Eol did a great job here. Over a large area, he created not only castles and fortresses, but also various sculptures. You might think that real sculptors got down to business, carving various works of art from stone. Here is a statue that resembles an Egyptian sphinx. Here is a chair, and in the chair sits a man, only Aeolus has not yet had time to sculpt his head. Here is a gigantic figure of a kneeling woman in a wide skirt and a hood on her head.

And on the outskirts of the Aeolian city, the god of the winds created like an ancient cemetery with mausoleums, giant coffins, sarcophagi, like the ancient Egyptians, and even erected a small chapel house, as they once did in ancient cemeteries.

The aeolian city is a dead city, there is no greenery, no animals, no birds, you will never see fast lizards, even small insects - unless the wind accidentally carries some bug.

This is ruled by the ancient Aeolus, the lord of the winds, the main builder of the quaint city discovered by Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev.

Bluebell in the desert

Once upon a time, the famous Russian traveler and geographer, a student of the famous Przhevalsky, Vsevolod Ivanovich Roborovsky, traveling through Central Asia, stopped for the night near a small salt lake.

Desert, lifeless sands stretched around. On the way to the lake, the travelers did not meet a single living soul, except for the occasional antelope. Sometimes timid rodents flashed by and a flock of larks flew overhead.

It was a windy day. But by evening the wind died down and silence reigned.

Tired travelers pitched a tent on the shore of the lake, fed the horses, lit a fire from the desert tree saxaul, and boiled tea.

Roborovsky's guide, Hodgement, sat on the ground, cross-legged, and with pleasure drank from a bowl a greenish liquid filled with lard. This is the kind of tea they drink in these places, and Roborovsky got used to it and fell in love with it during his travels.

The sun has long since set. The sky was dark, all filled with large stars. From the branches of saxaul, a thin stream of fragrant smoke stretched upward, as if incense was being smoked in an ancient pagan temple. Silence... All you could hear was horses crunching nearby.

But what is it?.. As if a bell was ringing?.. It looks like a cart is coming, a local cart, it’s with bells. Roborovsky became wary. He looked questioningly at the conductor. He calmly sipped his tea.

And the ringing became louder. The horses stopped chewing and moved their ears restlessly.

Do you hear me, Hodgement? - Roborovsky said quietly.

Hodgement did not answer. The bell rang.

Hodgement,” Roborovsky again called out to his guide, “why are you silent? Maybe it’s a cart coming and the travelers have lost their way? Maybe we should go out to meet them? - And he made a movement to stand up.

But then Hodgement grabbed his arm with force.

How to draw an aeolian city. Kugsky "Aeolian city"

Opening of the "Aeolian City"

Specifics

V.A. Obruchev

Links

Literature