The Tian Shan, also spelled Tien Shan, is a large system of mountain ranges located in Central Asia. The highest peak in the Tian Shan is Victory Peak, 7,439 metres.
The Chinese name for Tian Shan may be derived from the Xiongnu language name Qilian, which was described by Sima Qian in the Records of the Grand Historian as the homeland of the pre-Xiongnu peoples of the region, the Yuezhi, and has been said to refer to the Tian Shan rather than to the range 1,500 kilometres further east now known by this name. The nearby Tannu-Ola Mountains bear the same name.
On the north margin of the Tarim basin between the mountain chain of the Kokshaal-Tau in the south and that one of the Terskey Alatau in the north there stretches the 100 to 120 km wide Tian Shan plateau with its set up mountain landscape.The Kokshaal-Tau continues with an overall length of 570 km from W of Pik Dankowa up to east-north-east to Pik Pobedi and beyond it. This mountain chain as well as that of the 300 km long parallel mountain chain of the Terskey Alatau and the Tian Shan plateau situated in between, during glacial times were covered by connected ice-stream-networks and a plateau glacier. Currently the interglacial remnant of this glaciation is formed by the only just 61 km long South Inylschek glacier. The outlet glacier tongues of the plateau glacier flowed to the north as far as down to Lake Issyk Kul at 1605 m asl calving in this 160 km long lake. In the same way strongly glaciated was the in excess of 50 km wide high mountain area of the Kungey Alatau connected north of Issyk Kul and stretching as far as the mountain foreland near Alma Ata. The Kungey Alatau is 230 km long. Down from the Kungey Alatau the glacial glaciers also calved into the Issyk Kul lake.Its Chon-Kemin valley was glaciated up to its inflow into the Chu valley.the glacial glaciers flowed down as far as into the mountain foreland down to 900 m asl. Among others the Ak-Sai valley glacier has developed there a mountain foreland glacier. Altogether the glacial Tian Shan glaciation occupied an area of c. 118 000 km² .The glacier snowline as altitude limit between glacier feeding area and melting zone had decreased about 1200 altitude metres compared with today. Under the condition of a comparable precipitation ratio there would result from this a depression of the average annual temperature of 7.2 to 8.4°C for the Würm-ice age compared with today
The Tian Shan holds important forests of Schrenk's Spruce at altitudes of over 2,000 metres the lower slopes have unique natural forests of wild walnuts and apples.
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