Tajikistan – GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF TAJIKISTAN

GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF TAJIKISTAN

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22

Sep

Water & Rivers

GeoSociety

Irrigation Heritage: Qanats and Old Systems

Beneath the sun-baked fields of Tajikistan lie the traces of another geography—one built not of asphalt and canals, but of tunnels, shafts, and whispers of flowing water. These are the qanats, or karez, ancient irrigation systems that once sustained oases and villages long before Soviet concrete channels drew straight lines across the land. In places
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2

Oct

Water & Rivers

GeoSociety

Erosion in the Vakhsh Valley: How Soil Disappears into Rivers

The Vakhsh flows swift and muddy through its gorges, carrying soil from slopes high above into its depths: a river of dust, rock, and memory. From the ridges of the Pamirs down toward the lowland plains, erosion is never distant; it breathes in every valley, slips through every side stream, and tests every patch of
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19

Sep

Land & Ecosystems

GeoSociety

Habitat Corridors for Snow Leopards

High above the tree line, where scree slopes fade into cloud and silence, the snow leopard still moves. In Tajikistan, these elusive cats—Panthera uncia—are more than a symbol of wilderness. They are indicators of landscape health, a measure of whether the mountains still connect. Yet even the most agile climber cannot leap across fragmentation. As
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4

Jul

Hazards & Safety

GeoSociety

Spatial Patterns of Earthquakes Over a Century

The story of Tajikistan is one of movement—not only of rivers and glaciers, but of the ground itself. Beneath the vast and folded mountains, the Earth never sleeps. Every year, hundreds of tremors ripple through the Gissar, Zarafshan, and Pamir ranges, some too faint to feel, others strong enough to shift rivers, destroy villages, and
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9

May

Land & Ecosystems

GeoSociety

Cotton’s Retreat: Land Use Change

For much of the twentieth century, Tajikistan’s lowlands were white in summer. Cotton—pakhta, the “white gold” of Central Asia—dominated every horizon from the Vakhsh Valley to Sughd. Its geometry defined the land: square fields, irrigation canals, and windbreaks in perfect Soviet symmetry. But step into those same valleys today, and the pattern has changed. Wheat,
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17

Mar

Land & Ecosystems

GeoSociety

Shrinking Wetlands in Sughd

The wetlands of Sughd are easy to miss. Seen from the road between Zafarobod and Istaravshan, they look like shimmering patches of reeds and shallow water, a blur of green against the gray-brown loess plains. But beneath that surface lies one of the most fragile geographies in northern Tajikistan: a network of seasonal lakes, backwaters,
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2

Jan

Hazards & Safety

GeoSociety

Avalanches and Climate Change

Each winter, as the high valleys of Tajikistan disappear under snow, the country holds its breath. In the Pamirs and the Alay ranges, avalanches descend without warning, cutting roads, sweeping away power lines, and, every few years, claiming lives. They are among the most dramatic expressions of mountain geography—sudden, unpredictable, and amplified by change. For
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11

Oct

Land & Ecosystems

GeoSociety

The Vakhsh Valley: Agriculture and Risk

The Vakhsh Valley lies at the center of Tajikistan’s agricultural heartland—a long, sunlit corridor stretching south from the foothills near Danghara to the Afghan border. It is a place of abundance and unease. Here, the geography that makes farming possible also makes it precarious. Fertile alluvial soils spread across ancient river terraces; snowmelt from the
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10

Aug

Climate & Glaciers

GeoSociety

Glacial Monitoring: Science on High Ice

At over 5,000 meters in elevation, the glaciers of Tajikistan look eternal. Their white surfaces crown the Pamirs and feed every major river that sustains life below. Yet to scientists who have spent decades measuring them, the ice no longer feels timeless—it feels fragile, restless, and receding. Glacial monitoring in Tajikistan is a story of
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5

Jul

Land & Ecosystems

GeoSociety

Soils of the Zeravshan Valley

The Zeravshan Valley winds westward from the icy spurs of the Pamir-Alay toward the plains of Sughd, its river slicing through layers of loess, marl, and glacial debris. To most travelers it looks like a simple thread of green cutting through ochre hills, but beneath that surface lies one of Central Asia’s most intricate soil
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