UDK 551.07 (574)
Koshim A.G.
al-Farabi
Kazakh National University, Almaty, RK
THE ROLE OF OIL INDUSTRY IN RELIEF
FORMING PROCESS OF THE WEST KAZAKHSTAN
Summary
As a result of
production engineering, a human uses a relief that changing its natural appearance
during the commercial development. In this case new man-made types of relief
are forming.
I. Introduction
A human uses natural resources as well as a relief during organization a
production process in order to life support. He creates new asperities of the
ground using relief as a basis of production, which do not carry out natural
functions, but economic-technological or cultural functions. Reliefs, that
being created artificially become part of cultural or man-made landscape,
forming man-made forms of relief. At the same time they create their own
microclimate of the area, and change flow of surface water as well as flow of
groundwater. They developed at certain time, functioning, and then destroyed in
a natural way or replaced by person to something another.
One of
such regions, where the relief is strongly exposed to human impact is the
Western Kazakhstan.
II.
Main part
The 90%
of proven hydrocarbon fields (206 of 230 republican) are located in the west
Kazakhstan, and 98,2% of them are at different operational stages. The most
famous Caspian oil and gas region includes a number of large fields. These are
more than 130 fields, such as Tengiz, Karachaganak, Kenbai, Dossor, Kulsary,
and others [1]. And the largest fields of the Mangistau Oblast are Karazhanbas,
Kalamkas, Ozen, Zhetybai and
Tenge, which have significant reserves of oil and gas condensate.
A large
part of territory where concentrated the main oil fields are located in the
Caspian Depression, representing itself a marine accumulative plain. Its
surface is inclined toward the Caspian Sea; the absolute height varies from
80-50 m on the periphery up to 28 m below the World Ocean level. Lot of number
wells, oil and gas pipelines, roads and other facilities of oil and gas
industry are transform landscape as a whole creating artificial forms.
Following types of relief are outlined having based on the analysis of
anthropogenic relief: mineral, road maintenance, structural, hydro technical.
Such relief type’s selection has been done on basis of dominant territorial
technological complex that determine the nature of anthropogenic stress on the
natural environment [2].
Mineral
relief is widely spread around the numerous of oil and gas fields and mineral
stock fields as well (clay brick, clay loam, kir and bitumen). Various forms of
man-made reliefs are developing as a result of mining and oil and gas
production process: dumps, collapsing conical depression, open cut mining,
trade, platforms, and banks - communication.
Extraction
process of a large amount of passing oilfield waters is going on as a result of
intensive oil and gas production, which is not compensated by 100%
repressuring. As a result reservoir depletion process carries out and
subsidences around the surface are forming. This is a new man-caused form of
reliefs developing around the oil and gas fields. Caving processes are
developing here widely considering that many oil fields are located within
bounds of maritime plain, which composed of clay, loam and sandy fractions.
Development of subsidence could be observed on the region of old oil fields
Dossor and Makat, where the amplitude of subsidence is 1,5-2,5 meters [3].
Communications
or roads in form of spoil dam between fields and individual objects are
building up as a result of field development. Their wideness made up an average
from 4 to 6 m, height 2 m and length depending on the conditions of the area -
from 100 m to 7 km. Also, sites of
different size covered with concrete or asphalt construct around the deposits
for locating the accommodate houses, cars, warehouses, car parking and etc.
Thus,
the relief around the fields completely redesigned by influence of man-made
processes and, the most part of them are newly formed reliefs, areas of
technogenic degradation.
The
line-road type of relief is composed of oil and gas pipelines, railways and
roads, including country roads, field and ground, the various water lines,
power lines and other line and technical facilities. A roadside hole, which are
often fitted in with the mounds, gullies and observed in whole region are
developed as a result of the linear road construction that carry out in order
to flattening of the longitudinal profile of modern road and rail routes.
The
most characteristic form of relief of this type is created artificially aligned
straight sections - the roads: country roads, dirt and road racing, which
differ among themselves not only in size, but also functions. The country roads
have a small width of 1-2 m and ubiquitous. The most developed are the dirt
roads that connect together the various villages, oil fields and other
household objects. Mainly they were created from the local sandy soil and reach
a width of 5 m. An important line artery are asphalted highways that connect
most major towns and industrial facilities with cities and neighboring areas.
So, as a result of the interaction of the line-road relief along the lines of
roads, oil and gas pipelines a man-made soil formation is developed.
Development
of construction type of relief is characterized by the creation of various
forms of relief within the residential and industrial buildings, located in the
oil-producing areas (especially a lot of them in the central part) and
adjoining areas. These are different banks, dumps, quarries, landfills, leveled
ground, which have different sizes. The careers are characteristic type of this
kind of relief, which are almost occurred around every settlement, having round
or square shape, and reaching in places up to 5-6 m depth. As a rule,
vegetation ground cover is greatly faulted here because of traffic movement.
Generally the impact on the environment of industrial and civil construction
now appears localized. It is reflected only within industrial buildings, a
separate construction of a facility and its surrounding areas by the
disturbance of the soil and enhances deflation, gullying, and the formation of
man-made soil.
Hydro
technical type of relief is less developed, because the region is poor watered,
except the main artery of the region in the north - the Ural River. As results
of interaction of this type different forms of this complex are developed:
dams, channels, pits, bridges. Water wells, artesian and hydrogeological wells,
active and destroyed reservoirs are the certain forms of this complex as well.
III.
Conclusions
Thus,
the analysis of man-made environmental changes allowed us to draw a conclusion
that the most sensitive reaction of the environment to human impact is on the
territories with developed sand-clay and unconsolidated sediments. There are
numerous artificial forms that are constantly changing, creating new forms of
relief under the influence of exogenous processes, causing more profound
changes in the environment. In case of emergency situation the man-made
processes may become more complex and dangerous within bounds of any region.
Therefore, it is need to seriously consider environmental measures during the
implementation of any project as it is not allowed to use the natural resources
without that under the today’s conditions.
REFERENCES
1. Abdulin A.A.,
Votsalevsky E.S. Fuel and energy resources of Kazakhstan.
/Geology of Kazakhstan. 2001. ¹ 3-4. p. 86-92
2. Kushimova A.G.
Technogenic factor of modern tehnomorfogeneza of the Priemb oil region. KazNU
Bulletin. Geographically series. ¹ 1. p. 46-50. 2000
3. Materials of the
Atyrau hydrogeological expedition. 1996. Atyrau.