Geographia Polonica (1984) vol. 50

Water circulation in the steppe zone of Mongolia

Wojciech Chełmicki

Geographia Polonica (1984) vol. 50, pp. 345-356 | Full text

Abstract

The upland steppes of Mongolia cover over 25 per cent of the total area ofthat country. Due to the abundance of grassland it is an important economicregion. On account of a considerable deficiency of precipitation in relation to thepotential evaporation, estimated at about 760 mm/year (Mirovoy... 1974), the knowledgeof water circulation and evaluation of conditions of the formation of waterresources are of great practical significance.

There is a lack of thorough studies on water circulation in the region of-theMongolian steppes. Earlier hydrological investigations of water conditions of steppe,carried out by Russians (Kuznetsov 1964, 1968, 1973, Kuznetsov and Murzaev1963, Marinov 1956, Marinov and Popov 1963, and others), had a general character.The results of the most recent investigations carried out in the steppe and foreststeppezones are to be found in publications by the Mongolian-Polish GeographicExpeditions: "Khangai 1974-1975" and "Transmongolia 1976-1978" (Froehlich et al.1975, Słupik 1975, 1980, Chełmicki and Tserev 1980, Chelmicki 1982, Glazik1980, Michalczyk et al. 1980, Soja 1980).

Wojciech Chełmicki, Institute of Geography. Jagiellonian University. Cracow