The Shagan ( kk, Шаған - ''Şağan'') is a river in the east of

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 ...

and a tributary of the

Irtysh The Irtysh ( otk, 𐰼𐱅𐰾:𐰇𐰏𐰕𐰏, Ertis ügüzüg, mn, Эрчис мөрөн, ''Erchis mörön'', "erchleh", "twirl"; russian: Иртыш; kk, Ертіс, Ertis, ; Chinese: 额尔齐斯河, pinyin: ''É'ěrqísī hé'', Xiao'e ...

. The river is long and the area of its basin is .

Geography

The Shagan has its sources in the northwestern slopes of the

Chingiztau Chingiztau ( kk, Шыңғыстау) is a range of mountains in Abai Region, Kazakhstan.''Kazakhstan National Encyclopedia'' / Ch. ed. B.O. Jakyp. — Almaty: « Kazakh encyclopedia» ZhSS, 2011. ISBN 9965-893-64-0 (T.Z.), ISBN 9965-893-19-5 The ...

, a subrange of the

Kazakh Uplands The Kazakh Uplands ( kk, Сарыарқа, ''Saryarqa'' - "Yellow Ridge", russian: Казахский мелкосопочник, Kazakhskiy Melkosopochnik), also known as the Kazakh Hummocks, is a large peneplain formation extending throughout th ...

. It heads mainly northwards along semi-desert areas all along its course. Finally it meets the left bank of the Irtysh to the west of

Semey Semey ( kk, Семей, Semei, سەمەي; cyrl, Семей ), until 2007 known as Semipalatinsk (russian: Семипала́тинск) and in 1917–1920 as Alash-kala ( kk, Алаш-қала, ''Alaş-qala''), is a city in eastern Kazakhst ...

, former Semipalatinsk, city. Its food is mainly snow and the river is under ice between November and April. It flows during the spring floods, from May to June. In the summer it dries up or breaks up into disconnected pools. Its main tributary is the

Ashchysu The Ashchysu ( kk, Ащысу) is a river in the Abai Region, Kazakhstan and a tributary of the Shagan, of the Irtysh basin. The river is long and the area of its basin is .Google Earth Geography The Ashchysu has its sources in the northeas ...

from the right,Шаган
''

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)

History

It is located in the area of the

Semipalatinsk Test Site The Semipalatinsk Test Site ( Russian: Семипалатинск-21; Semipalatinsk-21), also known as "The Polygon", was the primary testing venue for the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons. It is located on the steppe in northeast Kazakhstan (then ...

, which was used as the primary testing venue for the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons. The river flows along the eastern boundary of the test site and fills the "Atomic Lake"

Lake Shagan Lake Chagan (russian: Чаган) or Lake Shagan ( kk, Шаған, ''Şağan''), also known as Lake Balapan, is a lake in Kazakhstan created by the Chagan nuclear test on January 15, 1965, which was conducted as part of the Soviet Union Nucle ...

(or Lake Balapan), a lake created by the Chagan nuclear test. The lake was formed at the confluence with the

in January 1965.International Nuclear Information System (INIS)
/ref>

References

External links

Radioactive contamination of the Shagan River ecosystem
Rivers of Kazakhstan {{Kazakhstan-river-stub

Geography

History

See also

References

External links