Glaciers in Georgia are mainly located along the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range. [1] [2]
Glaciers in Georgia are mainly located along the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range. [1] [2]
The spatial distribution of contemporary glaciers in the territory of Georgia is stipulated by the peculiarities of atmospheric processes, morphological-morphometric conditions of the relief and their interaction. Main centers of glaciation are related to the elevated Greater Caucasus watershed range and Kazbegi massif. Individual centers can be found in the Greater Caucasus branch ranges: Bzipi, Kodori, Samegrelo, Svaneti, Lechkhumi Range, Pirikita, etc. According to the data of 2015 there are 637 glaciers in Georgia with a total area of 355.80 km2. Contemporary glaciers are mainly concentrated in the Enguri, Rioni, Kodori and Tergi River basins, where there are the peaks of 4500 m and higher. 89.32% of the amount and 97.15% of the area of glaciers of Georgia are located in these basins.
Contemporary glaciers are unevenly distributed between the different river basins. Here the leading place belongs to the Enguri River basin; 42.22% of the total number of the glaciers of Georgia is the share of it, as well as 62.78% of the total area of the glaciers of Georgia is a share of the Enguri River basin. Except the Enguri River basin the shares of the other river basins in the total number of the glaciers of Georgia are distributed as follows: the Kodori River basin – 22.76%; the Rioni River basin – 15.22%; the Tergi River basin - 9.10%; the Pirikita Alazani River basin – 3.19%; the Bzipi River basin – 2.82%; the Liakhvi River basin – 1.56% and the Khobistskali River basin – 1.41%. As for the basins of the rivers of Arghuni, Assa, Aragvi and Kelasuri, their joint share is 1.72% of the total number of the glaciers of Georgia. Except the Enguri River basin the shares of the other river basins in the total area of the glaciers of Georgia are distributed as follows: the Rioni River basin – 13.11%; the Kodori River basin – 11.25%; the Tergi River basin – 9.99%; the Bzipi River basin – 1.12%; the Pirikita Alazani River basin – 0.68%. As for the basins of the rivers of Liakhvi, Assa, Khobistskali, Arghuni, Aragvi and Kelasuri, their joint share is 1.07% of the total area of the glaciers of Georgia.
Western Georgia features a fairly well-developed glacial system, with numerous glaciers occurring from the source of the Bzyb River in western Abkhazia to the Mamison Pass on the border with North Ossetia. The nation's largest glaciers lie in the Inguri River basin of this region. Eastern Georgia's glaciers generally occur in smaller, isolated groups. In addition, the mountain ranges that rise to the north of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range are more glaciated than the adjacent ranges that branch out from the southern slopes of the Caucasus.
The line of glaciation ranges between 2,800–2,900 meters above sea level in western Georgia to 3,600 meters in extreme eastern Georgia, near Lagodekhi. The contrast occurs mainly due to differences in climate caused by a general west-east reduction in precipitation, which results in a more continental climate in parts of eastern Georgia. [3]
Notable glaciers in Georgia include:
Great Georgian scientist Vakhushti Bagrationi gives the first scientific information on the glaciers of Georgia in the beginning of the 18th century. [“There are big mountains, which have the Caucasus to the North from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, the height of which is of one day walking and the highest of it is permanently frosty, the length of the ice is of k-l arm, and in summer it breaks and, if a man stays there, he cannot endure the cold even for a little time; and under it the rivers flow, and the ice is green and red, as a rock due to its age”].
After almost hundred years the foreign scientists began to describe the glaciers of Georgia. Information about the glaciers of Georgia can be found in the works of von Abich (1865), Gustav Radde (1873), N. Dinnik (1884), [4] N. Rashevskiy (1904), [5] A. L. Reinhardt (1916, 1917) [6] and others. [7] This information is related to the individual glaciers and mostly is of descriptive nature. However, their findings greatly assist us in determining the dynamics of the individual glaciers.
In the years of 1880-1910 the topographical surveying of the Greater Caucasus was carried out. On the basis of the created maps K. I. Podozerskiy (1911) [8] compiled the first detailed catalogue of the glaciers, which still has not lost its importance, but it must be mentioned, that the errors were made during its compilation. A. L. Reinhardt (1916, 1917) noted these errors further, who compiled the new catalogue for many glacial basins of the investigated region and defined the location of the snow line. The research conducted by A. Reinhardt is of high quality and more reliable by its scientific value in comparison with its previous researchers.
Interesting researches were conducted by F. Rutkovskaia (1936) [9] in connection with the 2nd International Polar Year. In 1932-1933 the glaciations of the Enguri River was studied and the dynamics (in the one-year period) of the individual glaciers were identified. In 1959 P. A. Ivankov gave us the total number and area of glaciers of the study area based on the new topographic maps and the aeroimages of 1946. In the same year P. Kovalev (1961) described in details the glaciers and carried out their labeling. Much work has been conducted by D. Tsereteli for the study of the glaciers of Georgia, who in 1937 together with Al. Aslanikashvili surveyed several glaciers and in 1963 gave us the dynamics of the glaciers during the period of 1937-1960. Particularly should be mentioned the great and versatile work, which was done by the Glaciological Laboratory of Vakhushti Bagrationi Institute of Geography, the multiannual work of which is summarized in the 1975 year’s edition of the Catalogue of Glaciers, as well as by the Hydrographical Division of the Hydro-Meteorological Department, which published the work about the Glaciers of the Greater Caucasus (Editors: V. Tsomaia and E. Drobishev, 1970). It should be also noted the many years research of various glaciers in the major river basins by R. Gobejishvili. It can be considered his honor that after the 1990s the glaciological studies have not been stopped in Georgia. Levan Maruashvili, David Ukleba. T. Kikalishvili, G. Kurdghelaidze, D. Tabidze, R. Khazaradze, O. Nikolaishvili, V. Tsomaia, O. Drobishevi, R. Shengelia, R. Gobejishvili, K. Mgeladze, T. Lashkhi, Sh. Inashvili, N. Golodovskaia, L. Serebryannii, A. Orlov, O. Nadirashvili, N. Zakarashvili, A. Rekhviashvili, O. Samadbegishvili and others studied the glaciers of Georgia according to the river basins. Glacial-geomorphological works were being carried out from 1968 (R. Gobejishvili). The largest glaciers of the different river basins were surveyed by the phototheodolite method, [10] such as: Zopkhito-Laboda, Kirtisho, Brili, Chasakhtomi, Edena, Khvargula, Boko, Buba, Tbilisa, Adishi, Chalaati, Dolra, Kvishi, Ladevali, Shkhara, Namkvani, Koruldashi, Marukhi, Klichi and the cirque type glaciers of the Klichi basin.
Today Glaciological group by the leadership of Levan Tielidze, every year conducts glaciological expeditions to the Caucasus glaciers in the different river basins.
The Kura is an east-flowing river south of the Greater Caucasus Mountains which drains the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus east into the Caspian Sea. It also drains the north side of the Lesser Caucasus while its main tributary, the Aras, drains the south side of those mountains. Starting in northeastern Turkey, it flows through Turkey to Georgia, then to Azerbaijan, where it receives the Aras as a right tributary, and enters the Caspian Sea at Neftçala. The total length of the river is 1,515 kilometres (941 mi).
Kakheti is a region (mkhare) formed in the 1990s in eastern Georgia from the historical province of Kakheti and the small, mountainous province of Tusheti. Telavi is its capital. The region comprises eight administrative districts: Telavi, Gurjaani, Qvareli, Sagarejo, Dedoplistsqaro, Signagi, Lagodekhi and Akhmeta. Kakheti is bordered by the Russian Federation with the adjacent subdivisions, the country of Azerbaijan to the southeast, and with the regions of Mtskheta-Mtianeti and Kvemo Kartli to the west. Kakheti has a strong linguistic and cultural identity, since its ethnographic subgroup of Kakhetians speak the Kakhetian dialect of Georgian.
The Colchis Lowland is a geographical area in Georgia, which consists of a coastal lowland plain of the eastern Black Sea. Named after Colchis, an ancient Greek name for this region, the lowland is nearly triangular, squeezed between the Greater Caucasus and Lesser Caucasus mountains, with its base leaning on the Black Sea and apex directed to the east, reaching the environs of the town of Zestaponi. To the northwest and southwest, respectively, the plain continues as narrow coastal strips in Abkhazia and Adjara.
Likhi Range or Surami Range is a mountain range in Georgia, a part of the Caucasus mountains. It connects the Greater Caucasus and Lesser Caucasus ranges and belongs to the Dzirulula denudative Plateau. It is watershed of the Black and Caspian seas basins and divides the country climatically and geomorphologically.
The Great Liakhvi is a river in central Georgia, which rises on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in the de facto independent region of South Ossetia and flows into the Kura (Mtkvari). It is 115 km (71 mi) long, and has a drainage basin of 2,311 km2 (892 sq mi). The cities of Tskhinvali and Gori lie along the banks of the Great Liakhvi. The river is mainly fed by the melting snows and glacier runoff of the Caucasus Mountains as well as by underground water sources. The Liakhvi reaches its highest water volume in the spring and summer while the lowest volume is recorded in the winter, when some segments of the river freeze over.
The Duchy of Aragvi was an important fiefdom in medieval and early modern Georgia, strategically located in the upper Aragvi valley, in the foothills of the eastern Greater Caucasus crest, and ruled by a succession of eristavi ("dukes") from c. 1380 until being transferred to the royal crown in 1747.
Adishi Glacier is a valley glacier located in the central part of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in the Svaneti Region of Georgia. The glacier lies on the southern slopes of the Caucasus. The length of the Adishi Glacier is 9 km (5.6 mi) and its surface area is 12.9 km2 (5.0 sq mi). The tongue of the glacier descends down to 2,298 m (7,539 ft) above sea level. The glacier feeds off of the runoff and ice flows from the adjacent glaciers that are located on the southern slopes of Tetnuldi, Gistola and Lakutsia. The Adishi Glacier is the source of the river Adishischala. The glacier takes its name from the nearby village Adishi.
Tsaneri is a valley glacier located on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in the Svaneti Region of Georgia. The glacier lies at and above the source the river Mulkhra. The length of the Tsaneri Glacier is 11.2 kilometres (7.0 mi) and its surface area is 28.8 km2 (11.1 sq mi). Tsaneri consists of two branches that feed off of the adjacent glaciers that are located on the slopes of Mt. Tikhtengeni, Lalveri, Tetnuldi, and Gistola.
The Keli (Qeli) Highland is a volcanic field in Georgia on the western side of the Jvari Pass south to the Greater Caucasus range. More than thirty volcanic edifices on an area of 20x30km2 make up this volcanic field, which consists mostly of monogenetic volcanic structures. The lavas are rhyolites, trachyandesites and andesites.
Liakhvi Strict Nature Reserve is a protected area in the historic region Shida Kartli on the southern slope of the Greater Caucasus range in the northeastern part of Tskhinvali District and in Akhalgori Municipality of Georgia. Reserve main goal is protecting flora and fauna in surrounding mountainous region. In general Patara Liakhvi gorge has many tourist attractions : ethnological, bird-watching and botanical.
The Mulkhra or Mulkhura is a river in Mestia Municipality, Georgia, right tributary of the Enguri. It is located in the region Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, in the northwestern part of the country, 230 km (140 mi) northwest of the capital Tbilisi. Length 27 km (17 mi), basin area 435 km2 (168 sq mi). It originates on the southern slope of the Svaneti Caucasus main ridge, on the Tviberi Glacier and joins the Enguri River near the village Kvanchianari. Mulkhura feeds on glaciers, snow, rain and groundwater. Floods are known from April to October, and water shortages - from October to April, from late November to late March - on the ice and in Toshi. The average annual flow at the confluence is 22.5 m3/s (790 cu ft/s).
Kodori range is a mountain range in the west Greater Caucasus, in the eastern border part of Abkhazia, Georgia.
Abkhaz Ridge or Chkhalta Ridge — mountain range in Abkhazia, on the southern slopes of Greater Caucasus. Ridge provides drainage divide between the Chkhalta River drainage basin and basins of the Amtkeli, Jambali, Kuabchari and Zimi rivers.
Lechkhumi Range is a mountain range in Georgia, a southern part of the Caucasus mountains. The Lechkhumi range serves as a watershed, separating the Tskhenistsqali and Rioni river valleys.
Racha Range is a longitudinal mountain range in Georgia, a southern part of the Caucasus mountains. Administratively, the Racha Range is located in Ambrolauri, Oni, Sachkhere and Tkibuli Municipalities.
Egrisi Range, also known as the Samegrelo Range or the Odishi Range, is an east–west mountain range that runs parallel to the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region of Georgia. The Range is connected to the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range via the Svaneti Range. The length of the Egrisi Range is 62 kilometres and the width is 37 kilometres. The Range is bounded by the Tskhenistsqali River Valley to the east and the Enguri River Valley to the west.
The Main Caucasian Range is a mountain range in the Russian Federation, Georgia and Azerbaijan. It is the dividing range of the Greater Caucasus.
Gligvi is a medieval ethnonym used in Georgian, Russian and Western European sources in the 16th-19th centuries. The ethnonym corresponds to the self-name of the Ingush, Ghalghaï.
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