Bolshekislinsky Yar

Bolshekislinsky Yar is a geological nature monument in the Asekeyevo district of Orenburg Oblast, 1.4–2 km north of Asekeyevo railway station, on the right bank of the Bolshaya Kisla River. The monument covers 5 hectares.

Asekeyevo railway station, next to which the bluff lies, stands 4 km east of the village of Asekeyevo, the district's administrative centre. The station is a small settlement: according to the 2010 census it had just over 400 residents.

What to see

Four tall bluffs, up to 40 m high, rise along the right bank of the Bolshaya Kisla. They expose a reference section of the Bolshekinel formation of the Tatarian stage of the Upper Permian — one of the regional geological benchmarks. The rock here is mostly red-coloured mudstone, in places greenish-light-grey, along with siltstone, marl and fine-grained sandstone. The bedding within the sequence is mostly horizontal and thin.

Within this thin-bedded mudstone sequence lie thick lenses, 5 to 10 m, of cross-bedded, medium-grained, reddish-brown sandstone. Their size and shape are clearly visible from a distance — from the surface of the first terrace of the Bolshaya Kisla, where the lenses quickly thin out and disappear.

Status

Bolshekislinsky Yar is one of the nature monuments of Western Orenburzhye, a part of the region where such protected sites make up a noticeable share of all the area's protected territories. Geological nature monuments like Bolshekislinsky Yar are more typical of the eastern part of Orenburg Oblast, which makes the outcrops of Permian deposits in the Asekeyevo district a particular point of interest for geologists and local historians.

Getting there

The bluff lies 2 km north of Asekeyevo railway station. The station itself stands 4 km east of the village of Asekeyevo, the administrative centre of the district of the same name in Orenburg Oblast. The outcrop stretches along the right bank of the Bolshaya Kisla and can be reached from the station.

Good to know

Bolshekislinsky Yar is a geological site rather than a recreational one: there is no visitor infrastructure here. Move carefully at the foot of the tall bluffs, especially after rain, when the rock softens and rockfalls become possible.