Geology of Kazakhstan

[1] Archean rocks of the Zerenda Group, including schist, diamond-bearing gneiss, eclogite and marble are found in the Kokchetav Massif in the Kazakh Uplands.

Terrigenous volcanic rocks which may have originated from rifting are located in the South Urals, metamorphosed to greenschist grade, with amphibolites in linear folds.

A thin sequence, 200 to 400 meters thick overlies Vendian rocks in the Kazakh Upland, including coal shale, deepwater chert, limestone, phosphate and barite deposits.

Carboniferous deepwater limestone forms a four kilometer flysch in the Cis-Urals Foredeep Basin in the South Urals region, which also includes olistrosomes and a Permian salt-bearing marine molasse.

The North Caspian Depression filled with terrigenous rocks and shallow water carbonates at the edge of the Tethys Ocean, similar to the West Siberian Basin which becomes thicker near the center.

[4] Geological research in Kazakhstan began in the 18th century due to growing Russian influence along the Ob River, Orenburg to Mugodzar and Petropavlovsk to the Kazakh Steppe.

In the 1800s Russian mining groups explored the Kirgiz Steppe north of the Tien Shan mountains and the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway prompted further study.

[5] The North Caspian Depression contains oil and natural gas, together with the Chu Basin, where they are associated with salt diapirs, typically in Cretaceous, Paleogene, Jurassic and Triassic sandstone and clay strata.

Other base metals include aluminum from bauxite in the Turgay Depression and Mugodzhar Mountains, vanadium, titanium-bearing pegmatite or ilmenite-zircon placers, chromium in ophiolites in the South Urals, gold in shale and magmatic arcs, as well as rare earths, lead, zinc, copper and molybdenum.