Shalkar ( kk, Шалқар; russian: Шалкар) is a

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

lake in

Terekti District Terekti ( kk, Теректі ауданы, ) is a district of West Kazakhstan Region in western Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Easter ...

West Kazakhstan Region West Kazakhstan Region ( kk, Батыс Қазақстан облысы, translit=Batys Qazaqstan oblysy; russian: Западно-Казахстанская область, translit=Zapadno-Kazakhstanskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. The re ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental coun ...

. The lake lies about to the SSE of the city of

Oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid **Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or ora ...

. Shalkar lake is an

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 ...

.Shalkar Lake - BirdLife Data Zone
/ref>

Geography

Lake Shalkar lies at the bottom of a depression located in the northernmost sector of the

Caspian Lowland The Caspian Depression ( kk, Каспий маңы ойпаты, ''Kaspıı mańy oıpaty''; rus, Прикаспи́йская ни́зменность, p=prʲɪkɐˈspʲijskəjə ˈnʲizmʲɪnnəsʲtʲ, Caspian Lowland) or Pricaspian/Peri-Casp ...

. It is a brackish lake bound by

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

es on the northern side.Шалкар
''

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

'' in 30 vols. — Ch. ed.

A.M. Prokhorov Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov (born Alexander Michael Prochoroff, russian: Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Про́хоров; 11 July 1916 – 8 January 2002) was an Australian-born Soviet-Russian physicist known ...

. - 3rd ed. - M. Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978. (in Russian) The lake is fed by snow, as well as groundwater. It freezes in November and stays under ice until May. The main inflowing rivers are the Sholakankaty and

Yesenankaty The Yesenankaty ( kk, Есенаңқаты) is a river in Syrym District, West Kazakhstan Region, Kazakhstan. It is long and has a catchment area of . The river is fed mainly by groundwater and rain. Its waters are used to irrigate agricultur ...

, having their mouths in the eastern shore. The outflowing Solyanka connects the lake basin with the

Ural River The Ural (russian: Урал, ), known before 1775 as Yaik (russian: Яик, ba, Яйыҡ, translit=Yayıq, ; kk, Жайық, translit=Jaiyq, ), is a river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan in the continental border between Europe and Asia ...

basin and is mostly dry. Google Earth

Flora and fauna

Among the fish species found in the lake,

bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Acanthopagrus'', '' Argyrops'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', ''Etelis'', ' ...

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including the British Isles east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is als ...

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus o ...

, catfish and

gudgeon A gudgeon is a socket-like, cylindrical (i.e., '' female'') fitting attached to one component to enable a pivoting or hinging connection to a second component. The second component carries a pintle fitting, the male counterpart to the gudgeon, ...

deserve mention. There are

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * Re ...

thickets on the Shalkar shores and in the areas of the river mouths. These provide a habitat for birds such as swans, geese, ducks, flamingos, seagulls and herons, among others.Словарь современных географических названий. — Екатеринбург: У-Фактория. Под общей редакцией акад. В. М. Котлякова. 2006.

References

External links

*
Shalkar Lake - ''Kazakhstan rivers and lakes.''Tourism and recreational potential of the salt lakes of Western Kazakhstan
Lakes of Kazakhstan West Kazakhstan Region Ural basin Important Bird Areas of Kazakhstan {{Kazakhstan-geo-stub

Geography

Flora and fauna

See also

References

External links