The Dead Kultuk ( kk, Өлі қолтық шығанағы ''Ölı qoltyq şyğanağy''; russian: Мёртвый Култук) is a
bay of the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
in the coast of
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
, west of the
Ustyurt
The Ustyurt or Ust-Yurt (from kk, Үстірт; uz, Ustyurt; tk, Üstyurt; — flat hill, plateau) is a transboundary clay desert shared by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
The plateau's semi-nomadic population raises sheep, goats, a ...
desert.
The bay was known as '
Tsesarevich
Tsesarevich (russian: Цесаревич, ) was the title of the heir apparent or presumptive in the Russian Empire. It either preceded or replaced the given name and patronymic.
Usage
It is often confused with " tsarevich", which is a di ...
Bay' and then as '
Komsomolets Bay' in the past.
[ Durneva Island lies near the entrance to the Dead Kultuk.
It had a distinct coastline in former times, but since the 1990s, with higher Caspian Sea levels, the water penetrates inland through the neck of the bay producing waterlogged marshes. Located at the mainland end of the bay, the Kaydak Inlet cuts deep into the coast extending east and then southwards. Nowadays both the bay and the inlet are filled with Caspian Sea water.][Igor S. Zonn, Aleksey N Kosarev, Michael H. Glantz & Andrey G. Kostianoy, ''The Caspian Sea Encyclopedia'', p. 156] Currently there are oil fields in the area.
Cartography
Owing to its special colour the Dead Kultuk is the bay which appears in early maps of the Caspian Sea as 'Blue Sea' (french: Mer Bleue in maps in that language). Guillaume de Lisle, ''Carte des Pays voisins de la Mer Caspiene''
/ref> The area was mapped by Fedor Ivanovich Soimonov during the Caspian Expedition, which surveyed the Caspian Sea from 1719 to 1727, but was not accurately described until G. S. Karelin did so in 1832.[
]
See also
*Buzachi Peninsula
The Buzachi Peninsula ( kk, Бозащы түбегі, ''Bozaşy tübegı''; russian: Полуостров Бузачи) is a peninsula located in western Kazakhstan. It borders on the Mangyshlak Bay of the Caspian Sea in the west and with the Ma ...
* Dunga oil field
References
External links
Caspian Sea Biodiversity''Overview of oil and natural gas in the Caspian Sea region'' Last Updated: August 26, 2013
Bodies of water of Kazakhstan
Bays of the Caspian Sea
Bays of Europe
Bays of Asia
{{Kazakhstan-geo-stub