Kushmurun ( kk, Құсмұрын; russian: Кушмурун) is a

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 estu ...

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 large ...

in the

Kostanay Region Kostanay Region ( kk, Қостанай облысы, translit=Qostanai oblysy; russian: Костанайская область, translit=Kostanayskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. Its administrative center is the city of Kostanay. The pop ...

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 ...

. Kushmurun is one of largest natural waterbodies of Kazakhstan. It lies in the northern sector 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 * Tu ...

, at the border between Auliekol and Karasu districts, north of the village of Kushmurun. The western side of the catchment area of the lake has been converted to agricultural land, affecting biodiversity.Kushmurun Lake, Kazakhstan - KeyBiodiversityAreas.org
/ref>

Geography

Kushmurun is an elongated fluvial lake located in the Turgay Basin. The lake stretches roughly from SSW to NNE and is crossed by the

Ubagan The Ubagan ( kk, Обаған ''Obağan''; russian: Убаган) is a river of Kazakhstan and Russia, a right tributary of the Tobol. It has a length of , and a catchment area of , with water supplied by melting snow. In the summer the water is b ...

river, a right tributary of the

Tobol The Tobol (russian: Тобол, kk, Тобыл ''Tobyl'') is a river in Western Siberia (in Kazakhstan and Russia) and the main (left) tributary of the Irtysh. Its length is , and the area of its drainage basin is . History The Tobol River wa ...

, from south to north. Kushmurun is fed by snow. To the southwest of Kushmurun rises the Amankaragai forested massif. The level of the lake is subject to variations according to the inflow, reaching a maximum area of in periods of high water and down to in periods of low water. The depth fluctuates between and . The bottom of Kushmurun is flat and has thick strata of clay and loam sediments covered with layers of silt. The banks are mostly gently-sloping or flat and swampy, but in the middle part of the lake they rise steeply up to between and . The water has a greenish-yellow color. During the high water period in the spring it is fresh and suitable for drinking. But it becomes saline the rest of the year.Кушмурун (озеро в Казахской ССР)
''

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. - 3rd ed. - M. Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978. (in Russian) Google Earth

Fauna

Kushmurun lake was a refuge for aquatic birds and

wader 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...

s that used to thrive in the formerly extensive

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 of the lakeshore. Nowadays, however, the reed cover has diminished to the point where almost all of the shoreline consists of muddy shoals.Kushmurun Lake - BirdLife Data Zone
/ref> Among the fish species found in the waters of the lake,

bream Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Acanthopagrus'', ''Argyrops'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', ''Etelis'', '' L ...

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Per ...

and carp are worth mentioning.Кушмурун
(ru) - Vol 3 of 5 (2005).pdf Kusmuryn //Kazakhstan. National Encyclopedia. - Almaty: Encyclopedias of Kazakhstan, 2005. - T. III. ISBN 9965-9746-4-0

References

External links

*
Shalkar-Nura -Tourism
Lakes of Kazakhstan Kostanay Region {{Kazakhstan-geo-stub

Geography

Fauna

See also

References

External links