RESULTS OF THE STUDY OF IMANKARA AND MAKHAMBET CAVES IN WESTERN KAZAKHSTAN
The article presents some results of field karstological and speleological studies included in the list of tasks assigned to the complex scientific and educational expedition “Natural Heritage of the Northern Caspian Sea”. The main purpose of the expedition was a comprehensive study of the natural heritage of the Northern Caspian Sea, including the identification and inspection of unique objects of natural and historical and cultural heritage of regional and republican significance with the subsequent granting them a certain status - a nature reserve, a reserve, a monument of history or nature, a natural, geological, national park, reserve. In terms of the number of specially protected natural territories, Western Kazakhstan is significantly inferior to the eastern part of the republic, which is due to its lesser degree of study and low popularity among the general public. Therefore, the expedition was tasked with a comprehensive interdisciplinary study of the territory of Western Kazakhstan. Special attention was paid to the study of geological, paleontological, geomorphological (including karstological and speleological) and landscape features of the territory, soil, animal and plant diversity, identification of endemic and rare species of plants and animals. During the experimental work, scientists examined and mapped the artificial cave of Imankara (also known as Nobel Cave) on the slope of Mount Imankara and the newly found cave of Makhambet on the Cretaceous plateau of Aktolagai, located on the territory of Western Kazakhstan. Imankara Cave is a monument of national significance of the Early Iron Age and is protected by the state. The cave discovered in the Cretaceous rocks at the Aktolagai uplift did not have a local name and was named “Makhambet” in honor of Makhambet Utemisov, the great Kazakh poet, one of the leaders of the Kazakh uprising that occurred on the territory of Western Kazakhstan in the first half of the XIX century.