Baitakkol ( kk, Байтақкөл; russian: Байтакколь), is a lake in

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 Regions of Kazakhstan, region of Kazakhstan. The name ''Aktobe'' comes from Kazakh language, Kaz ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

The nearest inhabited locality is Belcher, located to the north of the northern end of the lakeshore. The area surrounding the lake is

arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...

, featuring an extremely

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in the middle latitudes (40 to 55 north), within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing som ...

and cold winters with little snowfall. Summers are hot with strong winds.

Geography

Baitakkol lies in the southern part of the

Turgay Depression The Turgay Depression, also known as Turgay Basin, Turgay Trough, and Turgay Hollow ( kk, Торғай қолатый; rus, Тургайская ложбина), is a structural basin in Kazakhstan.

at above sea level. It is a long lake, the largest of the group of lakes in the valley of the lower Turgay.Lakes of Aktobe region.
/ref> It is roughly aligned from SW to NE, in the same direction as smaller lakes and salt pans nearby. Lake Keltekol () lies to the south of the central part. The northwestern end of the lake connects via an intermittent channel with the right bank of the Turgay, which flows southwards to the east of the lake cluster.''Kazakhstan National Encyclopedia'', Vol, 2 / Ch. ed. B.O. Jakyp. — Almaty: « Kazakh encyclopedia» ZhSS, 2011. ISBN 9965-893-64-0(T.Z.),ISBN 9965-893-19-5 Baitakkol is a

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

lake that is filled during the spring floods of the Turgay river. During that period the water becomes fresh. After the spring flood is over, water flows back towards the Turgay river through the channel at the northeastern end. In the dry seasons the lake shrinks and its water turns

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 ...

. In recent years the lake has become critically shallow owing to lack of floodwater inflow.«Kazakhstan Today» (www.kt.kz) В Актюбинской области Иргизско-Торгайская система озер оказалась под угрозой исчезновения
/ref>

Fauna

There are

reedbed A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As ...

s along the lakeshore and

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...

s grow in the floodplain meadows. Baitakkol is a key refuge for

aquatic bird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

s, including the critically endangered

siberian crane The Siberian crane (''Leucogeranus leucogeranus''), also known as the Siberian white crane or the snow crane, is a bird of the family Gruidae, the cranes. They are distinctive among the cranes: adults are nearly all snowy white, except for their ...

.Atlas of Key Sites for the Siberian Crane and Other Waterbirds in Western/Central Asia
/ref>

References

External links

Turgay nature reserve - Sightseeing tours in Kazakhstan. В Актюбинской области под угрозой исчезновения находится уникальный Иргиз-Торгайский природный заказник
{{Lakes of Kazakhstan Lakes of Aktobe Region Endorheic lakes of Asia

Geography

Fauna

See also

References

External links