Sarygamysh Lake

Sarygamysh Lake
December 2001
Sarygamysh Lake Show map of Uzbekistan Sarygamysh Lake Show map of Turkmenistan
Coordinates	42°00′N 57°20′E / 42.000°N 57.333°E / 42.000; 57.333
Basin countries	Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
Max. length	125 km (78 mi)
Max. width	90 km (56 mi)
Surface area	3,955 km2 (1,527 sq mi)[1]
Average depth	8 m (26 ft)
Max. depth	40 m (130 ft)
Water volume	68.56 km3 (55,580,000 acre⋅ft)[1]
Surface elevation	5 m (16 ft)

The Sarygamysh Lake, also Sarykamysh or Sary-Kamysh (Turkmen: Sarygamyş köli, Uzbek: Sariqamish ko‘li, Karakalpak: Sarıqamıs kóli, Russian: Сарыкамы́шское озеро), is a lake in Central Asia. It is about midway between the Caspian Sea and the (former) Aral Sea. It is the largest lake in Turkmenistan,^[2] in which three quarters of the entire lake's area is located (a quarter of the area falls on Uzbekistan^[3]). The Sarykamysh basin and the Sarykamysh delta of the Amu Darya river are physical and geographical nature regions of the Dashoguz Region of Turkmenistan.^[4]

Up until the 17th century, the lake was fed by the Uzboy River, a distributary of the Amu Darya River, which continued on to the Caspian Sea. Today, its main source of water is a canal from the Amu Darya but also the runoff water from surrounding irrigated lands, containing high levels of pesticides, herbicides and heavy metals.