Shalkar () is a

brackish lake 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 ...

in Shalkar District,

Aktobe Region Aktobe Region (; ) is a region of Kazakhstan. The name ''Aktobe'' comes from Kazakh ''aq'' 'white' and ''töbe'' 'hill' or 'top (of something)'; supposedly, Aktobe's initial settlers were able to see white mountains far to the north. The Aktobe ...

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 ...

. Shalkar city lies by the northeastern lakeshore. The lake provides water to the city and adjacent railway stations.

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 ...

Geography

Shalkar is located km to the NNW of the

Aral Sea The Aral Sea () was an endorheic lake lying between Kazakhstan to its north and Uzbekistan to its south, which began shrinking in the 1960s and had largely dried up into desert by the 2010s. It was in the Aktobe and Kyzylorda regions of Kazakhst ...

. It lies in the Shalkar Basin, a wide tectonic depression between the

Mugalzhar Mugalzhar (), also known as Mugodzhar Hills or Mugodzhar Range (),

Barsuki Desert to the east. The Kauylzhyr river flows from the north into the northern end. The lake presently consists in a roughly oval string of residual pools with an expanse of dry terrain at the center. The pools forming the lake freeze on average by early November and thaw in late March to early April. The ice thickness in the middle of the winter reaches between and .

History

Shalkar is a drying lake. It had been larger and deeper until the 20th century. In 1937 a stone and concrete dam was built in order to decrease the salinity of the northern part of the lake. This dam divided lake Shalkar into two sections, with the southern pools increasing in salinity as the fresh water from the Kauylzhyr rarely reached them. The southern section is known as "Old Shalkar" and it often dries up in the summer.Zhusandala - ''Kazakhstan National Encyclopedia.'' - Almaty: Kazakh encyclopedias, 2006. - T. V. -ISBN 9965-9908-5-9 The lakeshore retreated as it became covered in

reeds 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 ...

and a thick layer of silt accumulated at the bottom. At the beginning of the 20th century the volume of the lake had been but nowadays it is hardly . Meanwhile the maximum depth of the lake decreased from to .Impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on water and biological resources of Lake Shalkar, western Kazakhstan
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Flora and fauna

Shalkar is located on the path of seasonal migrations of water birds. 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 ...

s growing on the Shalkar lakeshore and in the area of the Kauylzhyr river mouth. These provide a habitat for birds such as the

egret Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...

spoonbill Spoonbills are a genus, ''Platalea'', of large, long-legged wading birds. The spoonbills have a global distribution, being found on every continent except Antarctica. The genus name ''Platalea'' derives from Ancient Greek and means "broad", refe ...

glossy ibis The glossy ibis (''Plegadis falcinellus'') is a water bird in the order Pelecaniformes and the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The scientific name derives from Ancient Greek ''plegados'' and Latin, ''falcis'', both meaning "sickle" a ...

whooper swan The whooper swan ( /ˈhuːpə(ɹ) swɒn/ "hooper swan"; ''Cygnus cygnus''), also known as the common swan, is a large northern hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, and the type species for the genu ...

demoiselle crane The demoiselle crane (''Grus virgo'') is a species of crane found in central Eurosiberia, ranging from the Black Sea to Mongolia and Northeast China. There is also a small breeding population in Turkey. These cranes are migratory birds. Birds f ...

little bustard The little bustard (''Tetrax tetrax'') is a bird in the bustard family, the only member of the genus ''Tetrax''. It breeds in Southern Europe and in Western and Central Asia. Taxonomy The little bustard was formally described in 1758 by the S ...

and the

Pallas's gull Pallas's gull (''Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus''), also known as the great black-headed gull, is a large bird species. As is the case with many gulls, it has traditionally been placed in the genus ''Larus''. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. ' ...

. Among the fifteen fish species found in the lake, the

Caspian tyulka Caspian tyulka, ''Clupeonella caspia'', is a species of fish in the family Clupeidae. It is found in the Caspian Sea, also in the lower reaches of the rivers Volga, Ural, and possibly Terek. This is a brackishwater pelagic-neritic The n ...

and

Caspian roach The Caspian roach (''Rutilus caspicus'') is a species of brackish water ray-finned fish belonging to the family Leuciscidae, which includes the daces, Eurasian minnows and related fishes. This fish is found in the Caspian Sea, commonly known as v ...

deserve mention. The fish fauna has greatly diminished in recent decades.

References

External links

*
Drying Lakes: A Review On The Health Conditions and Restoration Strategies
Lakes of Kazakhstan Aktobe Region {{Aktobe-geo-stub

Geography

History

Flora and fauna

See also

References

External links