Bulunkul is a shallow, freshwater lake in

Gorno-Badakhshan Gorno-Badakhshan, officially the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan, in the Pamir Mountains. It makes up nearly forty-five percent of the country's land area but only two percent of its popul ...

, in southeast

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

, about 130 km east of the provincial capital of

Khorog Khorog ( ), also Khorugh ( ) or Kharagh ( ), is the capital of Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. It is also the capital of the Shughnon District of Gorno-Badakhshan. It has a population of 30,500 (2020 ). Khorog is above sea level in the Pamir Mou ...

. Lying in the upper Gunt valley of the

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a Mountain range, range of mountains between Central Asia and South Asia. They are located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun Mountains, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya ...

, it has an area of 3900 ha with a maximum depth of 6 m. Dense vegetation covers much of its surface. It is 1.5 km from a similar lake, Yashilkul, both of which are surrounded by other

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s as well as

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

and

pebble A pebble is a clastic rocks, clast of rock (geology), rock with a grain size, particle size of based on the Particle size (grain size), Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than Granule (geology), gra ...

plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...

s. It forms part of the Bulunkul and Yashilkul lakes and mountains Important Bird Area. The lake was stocked with 37 000 gibel carp in 1967. The village of Bulunkul is known as one of the coldest inhabited places in Central Asia with a record minimum temperature of -63 degrees Celsius. The lake and village of Bulunkul are featured in a short environmental film by the United Nations University.

References

External links

* Lakes of Tajikistan Important Bird Areas of Tajikistan Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region {{Tajikistan-geo-stub