Shalkarteniz ( kk, Шалқартеңіз; russian: Шалкартениз) is an extensive
salt flat and
seasonal lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...
in the
Yrgyz District
Yrgyz District ( kk, Ырғыз ауданы, ) is a district of Aktobe Region in Kazakhstan. The administrative center of the district is the selo of Yrgyz. Population:
Geography
The area of Yrgyz District is . Shalkarteniz is located in the ...
,
Aktobe Region
The Aktobe Region ( kk, Ақтөбе облысы, Aqtöbe oblysy; russian: Актюбинская область, translit=Aktyubinskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. The name ''Aktobe'' comes from Kazakh ''aq'' 'white' and ''töbe'' 'hill' ...
,
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 Shalkarteniz lies in the northeastern sector of the
Turan Depression
The Turan Depression, Turan Lowland or Turanian Basin is a low-lying desert basin region stretching from southern Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan.
Geography
The lowland region lies to the east of the Caspian Sea and southeast ...
, northwest of the city of
Aralsk
Aral, also known as Aralsk or Aral'sk, (Kazakh: Арал, ''Aral'', ارال; Russian: Аральск, ''Araljsk'') is a small city in south-western Kazakhstan, located in the ''oblast'' (region) of Kyzylorda. It serves as the administrativ ...
. It is part of the
Kazakh semi-desert ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas o ...
. There are no settlements in the immediate vicinity.
History
Until the end of the 16th century, the Shalkarteniz basin was regularly filled by the formerly more abundant waters of the
Turgay Turgay is a Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkis ...
river, which at that time reached the
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic lake lying between Kazakh ...
. In the centuries that followed the river became shallow and carried less water, so the Shalkarteniz could not overflow. Thus the Turgay stopped flowing south and the depression lost its connection with the Aral Sea. By the 20th century, at the time of the
Kazakh SSR
; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы)
*1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы)
, linking_name = the ...
, the degradation of the forest cover and extraction of water from the
Turgay Turgay is a Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkis ...
and
Irgiz rivers increased. Finally by 1960 Shalkarteniz completely dried up and the
greater flamingo
The greater flamingo (''Phoenicopterus roseus'') is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family. It is found in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and in southern Europe.
Taxonomy
The greater flamingo was desc ...
colonies stopped nesting in the place.
However, the snowy winter of 1969-1970 filled again the rivers of the
Turgay Basin Turgay is a Turkish given name for males. People named Turgay include:
* Turgay Avcı, Turkish Cypriot politician
* Turgay Bahadır, Turkish-Austrian footballer
* Turgay Gemicibasi, Turkish footballer
* Turgay Semercioğlu, Turkish footballer
* Tur ...
, causing early and exceptionally heavy floods. Such unusual floods happened again in 1971 and 1972. As a result, the lake basin filled seasonally and the flamingos returned, establishing summer nesting colonies as before.
Zoogeographical results of the Bicentennial study of the northern part of the Asian population of Phoenicopterus roseus
/ref>
Geography
Shalkarteniz 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 as a result of being unable to get rid of solutes left in the l ...
basin located at the bottom of a plain at the southern limit of the Turgay Basin Turgay is a Turkish given name for males. People named Turgay include:
* Turgay Avcı, Turkish Cypriot politician
* Turgay Bahadır, Turkish-Austrian footballer
* Turgay Gemicibasi, Turkish footballer
* Turgay Semercioğlu, Turkish footballer
* Tur ...
, north of the Turan Depression and northeast of the Aral Sea
The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic lake lying between Kazakh ...
. Arid areas surround the Shalkarteniz and to the south stretches the sandy desert of the Aral Karakum
Aral Karakum ( kk, Арал қарақұмы, '; rus, Приара́льские Караку́мы, p=prʲɪjɐˈralʲskʲɪjə kərɐˈkumɨ) is a desert in Kazakhstan, situated northeast of the Aral Sea.
Most of the desert territory is lo ...
.
The lake is fed by snow. Its surface is usually dry and partly swampy. When the snow melts in the spring, the waters of the Zhyngyldyozek
The Zhyngyldyozek ( kk, Жыңғылдыөзек; russian: Жынгылдыозек) is a river in Kazakhstan. It has a length of and a catchment area of . , Tegene
The Tegene ( kk, Тегене; russian: Тегене) is a river in the Aktobe Region and Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan. It has a length of and a drainage basin of . Google Earth
The Tegene flows wholly across uninhabited territory. Its basin is ...
, Turgay Turgay is a Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkis ...
and Irgiz rivers fill the dry basin, turning it into a bittern salty lake. The seasonal lake lasts around three months with an average depth between and . Lakes Karakol
Karakol ( ky, Каракол, Karakol, قاراقول, ; zh, 卡拉科尔), formerly Przhevalsk (russian: Пржевальск), is the fourth-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, near the eastern tip of Lake Issyk-Kul, about from the Kyrgyzstan– ...
and Kurdym lie close to the south of Shalkarteniz. Lake Akkol
Akkol ( kz, Ақкөл, ''Aqköl'', zh, 阿科尔), formerly known as ''Alexeyevka'' (russian: italic=yes, Алексеевка, until 1997), is a town in northern Kazakhstan. It is located north of the national capital Nur-Sultan along the hig ...
lies about to the NNE of the Shalkarteniz northern end.[Шалкартениз](_blank)
''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)[ Google Earth]
See also
*Kamyshlov Log
The Kamyshlov Log ( rus, Камышловский лог or ''Урочище Камышловский лог''; kk, Камыстысай), is a former river valley of Siberia. Administratively it falls within Omsk Oblast, Siberian Federal Distr ...
*List of lakes of Kazakhstan
Excluding the northernmost districts, Kazakhstan consists of endorheic basins, where rivers flow into one of the numerous lakes. The most important drainage system is known as Yedisu, meaning "seven rivers" in Turkic languages. Below is the list o ...
References
External links
*
Shalkar-Nura -Tourism
Index maps of the geographical location of the Kazakh deposits where tapiroids remains were found
Lakes of Kazakhstan
Endorheic lakes of Asia
Aktobe Region
{{Kazakhstan-geo-stub