Saumalkol (; ) is a

salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...

in northwestern

Karkaraly District Karkaraly District (, ) is a district of Karaganda Region in central Kazakhstan. The administrative center of the district is the town of Karkaraly. As of 2019, the district is home to a population of 36,025 people. Geography Karasor, an endorheic ...

Karaganda Region Karaganda Region (; ) is a region of Kazakhstan. Its capital is Karaganda. The region borders Akmola and Pavlodar Region to the north, Abai Region to the east, Jetisu, Almaty, and Zhambyl Regions to the south, and Kostanay and Ulytau regio ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. The lake is located to the northwest of

Karkaraly Karkaraly (, ''Qarqaraly'') (, ''Karkaralinsk''), also known as Karkaralinsk, is the capital of the Karkaraly District in the Karaganda Region of Kazakhstan. Permanent settlement in the area began as a Cossack settlement, which evolved into a ...

city. The nearest inhabited place is Saumalkol railway station to the southwest. The lake is a

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

part of the

Korgalzhyn Nature Reserve Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve (, ''Qorğaljyn memlekettık tabiği qoryğy'') is a protected area in Akmola Region, Aqmola and Karaganda Region, Karaganda regions of Kazakhstan, located west of the city of Astana. It is part of the UNESCO herita ...

Geography

Saumalkol is an

endorheic lake An endorheic lake (also called a sink lake or terminal lake) is a collection of water within an endorheic basin, or sink, with no evident outlet. Endorheic lakes are generally Saline water, saline as a result of being unable to get rid of solutes ...

in the central

Kazakh Uplands The Kazakh Uplands or the Kazakh Hummocks, known in Kazakh as the ( , ; ), is a large peneplain formation extending throughout the central and eastern regions of Kazakhstan.

. It lies at the feet of the southern slopes of the Ayr Mountains. Located to the west of the western end of lake

Karasor Karasor (; ),
''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' in 30 vols. — Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M. Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-197 ...

, it is the second largest of the lakes of the

Karasor Basin The Karasor Basin (; ) or Karasor Depression, is a Depression (geology), depression in Karkaraly District, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan.Google EarthJilili Abuduwaili, Gulnura Issanova, Galymzhan Saparov. ''Hydrology and Limnology of Central Asia ...

, a vast depression. The southern shore of the lake is flat, but the northern is steep with up to high cliffs. There is a small peninsula in the northern shore. The lake is shallow, with a maximum depth of to . Its water is salty and hard and the bottom of the lake is muddy, having a smell of

hydrogen sulfide Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is toxic, corrosive, and flammable. Trace amounts in ambient atmosphere have a characteristic foul odor of rotten eggs. Swedish chemist ...

. The lake is fed mainly by snow and groundwater. Two rivers having their sources in the Ayr Mountains, a long and a long one, flow from the northwest into the lake. They dry up in the summer. long river Zharly used to flow from the south into the lake, but presently its waters get lost in the ground before reaching it.

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

Saumalkol Lake - BirdLife Data Zone
/ref>

Flora and fauna

Steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropica ...

vegetation grows in the area surrounding the lake. There is a narrow belt of reeds along the shoreline. There are no fish in the waters. The

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

white-headed duck The white-headed duck (''Oxyura leucocephala'') is a small diving duck some long. The male has a white head with black crown, a blue bill, and reddish-grey plumage. The female has a dark bill and rather duller colouring. Its breeding habitat is ...

Record numbers of Endangered White-headed ducks counted in Kazakhstan
/ref> and the

common goldeneye The common goldeneye or simply goldeneye (''Bucephala clangula'') is a medium-sized sea duck of the genus ''Goldeneye (duck), Bucephala'', the goldeneyes. Its closest relative is the similar Barrow's goldeneye. The genus name is derived from th ...

are among the migratory bird species found in Saumalkol.Saumalkol Lake - IBA Criteria - BirdLife Data Zone
/ref>

References

External links

Озера и реки Казахстана
(in Russian)
Record numbers of White-headed Duck in KazakhstanBirds of Kazakhstan. Rare Birds Records
{{Lakes of Kazakhstan Lakes of Kazakhstan Endorheic lakes of Asia Karaganda Region Kazakh Uplands Important Bird Areas of Kazakhstan Karasor Basin

Geography

Flora and fauna

See also

References

External links