Tyrnyauz, Russia

 

Tyrnyauz (Karach-balk. Tyrnyauuz) is a city in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. Forms the urban settlement Tyrnyauz. The administrative center of the Elbrus region.

 

Geography

The city is located in the southwestern part of the republic, on both banks of the Baksan River, 90 km southwest of the city of Nalchik and 40 km northeast of Mount Elbrus. Through Tyrnyauz, along the Baksan river valley, the Baksan-Elbrus motor road goes to the foot of Mount Elbrus. The river Tyrnyauz of the same name flows nearby.

The area of ​​the territory of the urban settlement is 61.80 km². Of these, the city line accounts for about a quarter of the area of ​​the territory.

It borders on the lands of settlements: Bylym in the north and Verkhniy Baksan in the south.

The city is located in the mountainous part of the republic, at an altitude of more than 1300 meters above sea level, and is one of the highest located cities in Russia. The relief is an area rugged by ridges, with narrow gorges in river valleys. The entire city is located in the valley of the Baksan gorge. The highest point of the urban settlement is Mount Toturbashi (2786 m.). The elevation changes are significant and range from 1500-2000 meters.

The bowels of the territory of the urban settlement are rich in deposits of tungsten, molybdenum, stucco, various types of marble (including black), high-strength granite gneisses, facing granites, talc, feldspar raw materials, roofing slates, aplite (porcelain stone), argallite clays, lime and other useful fossils. The volume of profitable reserves of the Tyrnyauz deposit can provide up to one third of the needs of the Russian economy for tungsten-molybdenum raw materials.

The hydrographic network within the city is represented by the Baksan and Girkhozhan-su rivers, as well as by smaller streams flowing from the ridges. There are sources and deposits of mineral waters.

The climate is temperate. Due to the proximity of the mountains and the location in the gorge, the climate in the city differs sharply from the climate of the foothill and flat parts of the republic. In early spring, with sharp temperature changes, strong dry winds (foehn) blow from the mountains. The average temperature ranges from + 16.5 ° С in August to -4.5 ° С in winter. The average annual air temperature is 6.5 ° C. The average annual rainfall is about 850 mm.

 

Etymology

According to J. N. Kokov, the toponym is translated from the Karachai-Balkarian language as "crane gorge", where turna - "crane", akuz - "gorge". The name "crane gorge" is justified by the fact that in low clouds and fogs, cranes fly low over the river, along the gorge (this was reported by a local resident Yu. M. Murzaev, who often observed this phenomenon). According to PS Rototaev, the name of the toponym contains the Balkarian element tyrna - "to scratch" (tyrnauuch - "harrow", "rake"). Before the construction of the city, this area was a fairly wide valley, abundantly heaped with gravel. It looked like a terrain over which the harrow passed at a considerable depth. Obviously, later the word tyrnauuch was somewhat transformed or the word ahuz was added to the word tyrna - "gorge", "gorge", since there is a gorge higher up the gorge. Thus, the toponym can be translated as “furrowed gorge”. The name is sometimes translated as "gorge of the winds", although there is no reason for this.

 

History

The city was founded as the village of Gerkhozhan in 1934, at the discovery of the Tyrnyauz tungsten-molybdenum deposit.

In 1937, the construction of the first plants began in the upper reaches of the Baksan gorge. In the same year, the village of Gerkhozhan was renamed into the working settlement of Nizhny Baksan.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR dated June 10, 1955, the working settlement of Tyrny-Auz of the Elbrus region of the Kabardian ASSR was transformed into a city of regional subordination with the assignment of a name to it - the city of Tyrnyauz. In 1963, the city received the status of a city of republican (ASSR) subordination.

In 1958, when the village of Upper Baksan was restored, it was included in the city council of Tyrnyauz. In 1995, with the formation of the Elbrus district, the village of Verkhniy Baksan was separated from the Tyrnyauz City Council and transformed into an independent rural settlement.

In 1994 Tyrnyauz was transferred to the city of regional subordination and transformed into the administrative center of the newly formed Elbrus region.

With the collapse of the USSR and the closure of the Tyrnyauz molybdenum plant, the number of residents began to decline rapidly, and the city lost a third of its population during the census period from 1989 to 2002. The rapid decline in the city's population was also facilitated by a series of mudslides in 2000.

Currently, the city's population continues to decline slowly. Attempts are being made to restore the tungsten-molybdenum plant, to return the city to its previous value (there is a plan for the construction of a railway line with a length of 95 km from the Soldatskaya station, which should greatly contribute to the indicated restoration of the GOK-a).

 

Elbrus Mining Plant, a subsidiary of Rostec State Corporation, plans to resume mining and processing of tungsten-molybdenum ores at the Tyrnyauz deposit at the end of 2023. The first stage of the project has already been completed: a license for the right to use subsoil has been acquired, a feasibility study has been developed in accordance with international standards with an assessment of the deposit's reserves, and mining operations have been acquired at the Tyrnyauz Tungsten-Molybdenum Combine.

 

Tyrnyauz tragedy

On July 18, 2000, at 11:15 pm, a powerful mudflow poured into Tyrnyauz from the Gerkhozhan tract. According to the EMERCOM of Russia, as a result of the passage of mudflows on July 18 and 19, residential buildings were flooded, a road bridge across the river was destroyed. Baksan. Due to the threat of a repeated mudflow, it was decided to temporarily resettle the residents of three houses. In total, 930 people were resettled from the damaged houses. The EMERCOM of Russia restored a pedestrian bridge in the central part of the city, and also installed a pontoon bridge across the river. Gerkhozhan-Su. The complex of measures taken made it possible to restore the life support system. During the mudflows, 8 people died, 8 were hospitalized. Almost 40 people were reported missing.