Tengiz Lake ( kk, Теңіз көлі, ''Teñız kölı''; russian: Тенгиз) is a

saline lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salt (chemistry), salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of ...

in north-central part 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 ...

. On 16 October 1976, the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

Soyuz 23 Soyuz 23 (russian: Союз 23, ''Union 23'') was an October, 1976, Soviet crewed space flight, the second to the Salyut 5 space station. Cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Valery Rozhdestvensky arrived at the station, but an equipment malfunction ...

unintentionally splashed down into the northern part of the lake, which was frozen, crashing through the ice. The crew was saved thanks to a very difficult but successful rescue operation.

Geography

Tengiz is a shallow lake, subject to seasonal variations in water level. Its eastern shore is deeply indented and includes the

Tengizi Islands The Tengizi Islands (also Tengiz Islands) are an archipelago in Korgalzhyn District, Akmola Region, Kazakhstan. Located in Lake Tengiz, the archipelago is about long and wide. It is formed by roughly 70 small and medium-sized islands. These fo ...

. The lake is located in an

intermontane basin Intermontane is a physiographic adjective formed from the prefix " inter-" (''signifying among, between, amid, during, within, mutual, reciprocal'') and the adjective "montane" (inhabiting, or growing in mountainous regions, especially cool, moi ...

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 ...

and is the largest of the area.Казахский мелкосопочник (Kazakh Uplands)
''

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) The Nura and Kulanotpes are the main rivers flowing into the lake. Lake

Korgalzhyn Korgalzhyn ( kz, Қорғалжын, ''Qorğaljyn'') is a village in the Akmola Region, Kazakhstan. It serves as the administrative center of Korgalzhyn District. The Nura River slowly flows around the selo. It is situated 120 km south-west of ...

is located in the eastern part, and

Kypshak Kypshak ( kk, Қыпшақ), also known as Azhibeksor ( kk, Әжібайсор; russian: Ажибексор), is a salt lake in Nura District, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan.Google Earth In the 1930s Kypshak dried up and turned into a Salt pan (geol ...

and Kirey to the southwest of lake Tengiz.

Ecology

Lake Tengiz is an important wetland site for birds. It is a part of a Ramsar wetland site of international importance, the Tengiz-Korgalzhyn Lake System. 318 species of birds have been recorded at Lake Tengiz, 22 of which are endangered."Tengiz Lake and Korgaljinski Lakes"
It is the most northerly nesting site for the

Greater flamingo The greater flamingo (''Phoenicopterus roseus'') is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family. It is found in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and in southern Europe. Taxonomy The greater flamingo was desc ...

; in the years 2006-2011 around 45,000 members of that species were noted. In 2015, however, the number dropped to less than 15,000. The lake is part of the

Korgalzhyn Nature Reserve Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve ( kk, Қорғалжын мемлекеттік табиғи қорығы, ''Qorğaljyn memlekettık tabiği qoryğy'') is a protected area in Aqmola and Karaganda regions of Kazakhstan, located west of the city of ...

, for which it was nominated in 2008 together with the

Naurzum Nature Reserve Naurzum State Nature Reserve ( kk, Наурызым мемлекеттік табиғи қорығы, ) is a nature reserve in Kostanay Region, Kazakhstan. It is part of the UNESCO heritage site Saryarka — Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan ...

as the first natural

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in Kazakhstan ( Saryarka — Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan). File:Tengiz lake, Kazakhstan, near natural colors satellite image LandSat-5, 1998-09-15.jpg, Tengiz Lake with a relative high level,
15 September 1998,
photo taken by

Landsat 5 Landsat 5 was a low Earth orbit satellite launched on March 1, 1984, to collect imagery of the surface of Earth. A continuation of the Landsat Program, Landsat 5 was jointly managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Aeronaut ...

satellite. File:Tengiz lake, Kazakhstan, near natural colors satellite image LandSat-5, 2011-09-03.jpg, Tengiz Lake with a relative low level,
3 September 2011, north-east part and lake margins dried up,
photo taken by

satellite.

References

Lakes of Kazakhstan Ramsar sites in Kazakhstan Saline lakes of Asia Kazakh Uplands {{Kazakhstan-geo-stub