Shoshkaly (; ) 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 ...

Akkol Akkol (, ''Aqköl''), formerly known as ''Alexeyevka'' (, until 1997), is a town in northern Kazakhstan. It is located north of the national capital Nur-Sultan along the highway between Nur-Sultan and the Burabay National Nature Park. The town i ...

and Birzhan sal districts,

Akmola Region Akmola Region (, ; ) is a centrally located regions of Kazakhstan, region of Kazakhstan. It was known as Tselinograd Oblast during Soviet Union, Soviet rule. Its capital is Kökşetau. The national capital, Astana, is enclosed by the region, but ...

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 about southeast of Baimyrza village. The water of the lake is used for local agricultural purposes.

Geography

Shoshkaly 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 ...

of the

Ishim Ishim may refer to: *Ishim (river), a river in Kazakhstan and Russia *Ishim, Tyumen Oblast, a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia *Ishim (angel), a rank of angels in the Jewish angelic hierarchy See also

*Ishimsky (disambiguation) *Ishimbay {{Disam ...

river basin. It lies at the northern end of the

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.

in a

tectonic basin A structural basin is a large-scale structural geology, structural formation of rock stratum, strata formed by tectonics, tectonic warping (Fold (geology), folding) of previously flat-lying strata into a syncline fold. They are geological dep ...

at an elevation of . The bottom of the lake is flat and muddy. The mud layer is between and thick. The lakeshore is flat in the north and the northwest, the other sections are steep, lined with to high cliffs. Among the lakes in its vicinity,

Itemgen Itemgen (; ) is a salt lake in Akkol District, Akmola Region, Kazakhstan. Itemgen is considered a "dead lake" by local people. The town of Stepnogorsk lies about to the east and Zhalgyzkaragay village (former ''Priozernoye'') to the southea ...

lies to the east and

Mamay Mamai (Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet, Mongolian Cyrillic: Мамай, ; 1325?–1380/1381) was a powerful Turco-Mongol tradition, Turko-Mongol military commander in Beylerbey rank of the Golden Horde from Kiyat clan. Contrary to popular misconcep ...

to the northeast.

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 ...

''Kazakhstan National encyclopedia'' / Chief editor A. Nysanbayev -

Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population exceeding two million residents within its metropolitan area. Located in the foothills of the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains ...

" Kazakh Encyclopedia" General editor, 1998 ISBN 5-89800-123-9 , Volume IX Shoshkaly has an oval shape oriented in a roughly southeast–northwest direction. The lake reaches its highest level in the spring and its lowest in the summer. It usually freezes to the bottom in the middle of the winter. The mineralization of its waters varies between and in the spring, to between and in the summer, and between and in the winter when it does not freeze.

Flora and fauna

Lake Shoshkaly is surrounded by steppe vegetation. The basin is flat, with a few low hills rising in the west and southwest. The lakeshore is covered with a to wide belt of reeds. The center of the lake is clear of

aquatic plant Aquatic plants, also referred to as hydrophytes, are vascular plants and Non-vascular plant, non-vascular plants that have adapted to live in aquatic ecosystem, aquatic environments (marine ecosystem, saltwater or freshwater ecosystem, freshwater ...

References

External links

* {{Lakes of Kazakhstan Lakes of Akmola Region Akkol District Birzhan sal District Endorheic basins of Asia Kazakh Uplands