Tavolzhan (), also known as Solyonoye () 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 ...

Sladkovsky District Sladkovsky District () is an administrative district (raion), one of the administrative divisions of Tyumen Oblast, twenty-two in Tyumen Oblast, Russia.Law #53 As a subdivisions of Russia#Municipal divisions, municipal division, it is incorporated ...

Tyumen Oblast Tyumen Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is located in Western Siberia, and is administratively part of the Ural Federal District. The oblast has administrative jurisdiction over two autonomous ...

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The lake is the largest in the district and is located to the southwest of Sladkovo, the district capital. Tavolzhan village lies by the eastern lakeshore, Alexandrovka close to the southwestern end and Mikhailovka near the southern shore. The nearest city is

Petropavl Petropavl ( ; ) is a city on the Ishim River in northern Kazakhstan close to the border with Russia. It is the capital of the North Kazakhstan Region. Population: 218,956. Petropavl is about from Kökşetau, northwest of the national cap ...

in Kazakhstan, to the southwest of the southern end.

Geography

Tavolzhan 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 ...

located in an area dotted with small lakes of the

Ishim Plain Ishim Steppe (, , ''Yesil dalasy'') is a plain in the southern part of Western Siberia, between the Irtysh and Tobol rivers. Administratively it is part of Kurgan, Tyumen, and Omsk oblasts in Russia, and the North Kazakhstan Region in Kazakhstan. ...

, part of the

West Siberian Plain The West Siberian Plain () is a large plain that occupies the western portion of Siberia, between the Ural Mountains in the west and the Yenisei, Yenisei River in the east, and the Altai Mountains on the southeast. Much of the plain is poorly d ...

. The lake extends from northeast to southwest for almost . It has a long island, Tavolzhan Island, stretching along the eastern shore, opposite Tavolzhan village. During dry spells the level of the lake sinks and the island becomes attached to the mainland. Even in periods of drought lake Tavolzhan does not dry out, and in winter its surface gets frozen. Lakes

Akush Akush () or Akysh (), is a salt lake in Kyzylzhar District, North Kazakhstan Region, Kazakhstan and Kazan District, Tyumen Oblast, Russian Federation. The lake is located to the SSW of Kazanskoye, the district capital in Russia, and to the N ...

and

Siverga Siverga (; , is a salt lake in Kyzylzhar District, North Kazakhstan Region, Kazakhstan and Berdyuzhye and Kazan districts of Tyumen Oblast, Russian Federation. The lake is located to the southeast of Berdyuzhye and to the southwest of Kaza ...

are located to the west and Shelegino only to the SSW. The

Kazakhstan–Russia border The Kazakhstan–Russia border is the international border between the Kazakhstan, Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russia, Russian Federation. It is the longest continuous international border in the world and the second longest by total length, ...

lies to the south of the southern lakeshore.

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 ...

Flora and fauna

The area of the lake is mainly

forest-steppe A forest steppe is a temperate-climate ecotone and habitat type composed of grassland interspersed with areas of woodland or forest. Locations Forest steppe primarily occurs in a belt of forest steppes across northern Eurasia from the eastern ...

, with

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

-aspen forest in the southern part of Tavolzhan Island. Yellow-flowered ''Adonis volgensis'' grows near the banks and there are Typha, reed thickets in stretches of the lakeshore. Two species of ''Zannichellia'' submerged aquatic plants are found in the waters. Tavolzhan is located in a major migration route for birds. The protected species permanently living in the lake include the white-tailed eagle, which nests in the southern part of the island, the great grey shrike, the great jerboa and the winter white dwarf hamster. The area around the lake also provides a habitat for the Siberian roe deer.Особо охраняемые природные территории лесостепной зоны
/ref> Tavolzhan is part of the "Tobol-Ishim Forest-steppe" Ramsar site. A officially protected area of the Russian Federation has been proposed to be established in lake Tavolzhan.ООПТ России - Таволжанский
/ref>

References

External links

* {{commons category-inline
ОСТРОВ ТАВОЛЖАН (TAVOLZHAN ISLAND)Tavolzhan salt lake. A in Description of a new species Euphanias sergreevae sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Oxytelinae) from Western Siberia, Russia
Lakes of Tyumen Oblast Endorheic lakes of Asia West Siberian Plain Kazakhstan–Russia border Ramsar sites in Russia

Geography

Flora and fauna

See also

References

External links