Issyk-Kul
Issyk-Kul | |
---|---|
Primary outflows | Evaporation |
Catchment area | 15,844 square kilometres (6,117 sq mi) |
Basin countries | Kyrgyzstan |
Max. length | 178 kilometres (111 mi)[1] |
Max. width | 60.1 kilometres (37.3 mi)[1] |
Surface area | 6,236 square kilometres (2,408 sq mi)[1] |
Average depth | 278.4 metres (913 ft)[1] |
Max. depth | 668 metres (2,192 ft)[1][2] |
Water volume | 1,736 cubic kilometres (416 cu mi)[3][2] |
Residence time | ~330 years[2] |
Salinity | 6g/L[1][2] |
Shore length1 | 669 kilometres (416 mi)[1] |
Surface elevation | 1,607 metres (5,272 ft)[1] |
Settlements | Balykchy, Cholpon-Ata, Karakol |
Official name | The Issyk-kul State Nature Reserve with the Issyk-kul Lake |
Designated | 12 November 2002 |
Reference no. | 1231[4] |
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. |
Issyk-Kul (also Ysyk-Köl,
The lake is a Ramsar site of globally significant biodiversity[7] and forms part of the Issyk-Kul Biosphere Reserve.
Geography
Issyk-Kul Lake is 182 kilometres (113 mi) long, up to 60 kilometres (37 mi) wide and its area is 6,236 square kilometres (2,408 sq mi). It is the second-largest mountain lake in the world behind Lake Titicaca in South America. It is at an altitude of 1,607 metres (5,272 ft) and reaches 668 metres (2,192 ft) in depth.[8]
About 118
The lake's southern shore is dominated by the ruggedly beautiful
The lake water's salinity is approx. 0.6% – compared to 3.5% salinity of typical seawater – and, although the lake level is still currently some 8 metres (26 ft) higher than in medieval times, its level now drops by approximately 5 centimetres (2.0 in) per year due to water diversion.[12]
Administratively, the lake and the adjacent land are within Issyk-Kul Region of Kyrgyzstan.
Tourism
During the Soviet era, the lake became a popular vacation resort, with numerous sanitoria, boarding houses and vacation homes along its northern shore, many concentrated in and around the town of Cholpon-Ata. These fell on hard times after the break-up of the USSR, but now hotel complexes are being refurbished and simple private bed-and-breakfast rentals are being established for a new generation of health and leisure visitors.[citation needed]
The city of
History
Issyk-Kul Lake was a stopover on the
Many historians believe that the lake was the point of origin for the Black Death that plagued Europe and Asia during the early and mid-14th century.[13] In 2022, researchers reported on the analysis of preserved genetic material from seven individuals buried in two cemeteries near Issyk-Kul and determined that the Black Death was present there in 1338 or 1339.[14] The plague first infected people in a small, nearby settlement of traders eight years before it devastated Eurasia, killing 60 percent of the population, having traveled along trade routes.[15] The lake's status as a byway for travelers allowed the plague to spread across these continents via medieval merchants who unknowingly carried infested vermin along with them.
The lake level is some 8 metres (26 ft) higher than in medieval times. Divers have found the remains of submerged settlements in shallow areas around the lake.
Articles identified as the world's oldest extant coins were found underwater, with gold wire rings used as small change and a large hexahedral goldpiece. Also found was a bronze cauldron with a level of craftsmanship that is today achieved by using an inert gas environment.[16][17]
In 1916 the monastery at Issyk-Kul was attacked by Kyrgyz rebels, and seven monks were killed.[18]
Environment
Specially protected areas
The first nature reserve in Kyrgyzstan, Issyk-Kul State Reserve was established in 1948 to protect unique nature landscapes and
Fish
The lake contains highly
Sevan trout, a fish endemic to Lake Sevan in Armenia, was introduced into Issyk-Kul in the 1970s. While this fish is an endangered species in its native waters, it has a much better chance to survive in Lake Issyk-Kul where it has actively predated on other species, but is limited in habitat for reproduction and in food.[20]
Dead Lake
There is a small lake below the water level of Issyk Kul at the south west side of the lake. This lake is called Tyz köl (salt lake) in Kyrgyz due to its very high saline content and swimming in the Issyk Kul salt lake is a very different experience from less salty water. The lake receives its water from small cold springs at the beach which lead the cold, less heavy water to the top of the lake and often the salty, heavy water below is oddly more warm than the water on the surface.[21]
During the
Lakeside towns
Towns and some villages around the lake, listed clockwise from the lake's western tip:
- Balykchy (the railhead at the western end of the lake)
- Kosh-Köl
- Tamchy
- Cholpon-Ata (the capital of the north shore)
- Tüp
- Karakol (the regional capital near the eastern end of the lake, formerly named Przhevalsk)
- Barskoon
Notable inhabitants
- Tugelbay Sydykbekov, writer
See also
- Lake Ala-Kul
References
- ^
- ^
- ^ Kodayev, G.V. (1973), "Морфометрия озера Иссык-Куль" [Morphometry of Lake Issyk-Kul], News of the All-Union Geographic Society (Izvestiya VGO) (in Russian)
- ^ "The Issyk-kul State Nature Reserve with the Issyk-kul Lake". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ISBN 9789400709676. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
- ^ "Extreme cold weather freezes Issyk-Kul lake | Copernicus". www.copernicus.eu. Retrieved 2023-06-10.
- ^ Ramsar Site RDB Code 2KG001
- ^ International Lake Environment Committee Foundation Archived 2005-09-06 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ V. V.Romanovsky, "Water level variations and water balance of Lake Issyk-Kul", in Jean Klerkx, Beishen Imanackunov (2002), p.52
- Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR. 24: 131–133.
- ^ Gruche, P.A. (1940). Геологическая карта Средней Азии. Лист К-44-А. Юго-западная четверть (Пржевальск). Масштаб 1:500000 [Geological Map of Central Asia. Sheet K-44-A. South eastern Quarter (Przhevalsk). Scale 1:500000] (in Russian). Leningrad, Moscow: Committee for Geology at the Soviet of Peoples' Commissaries. Geological Service of Kirghiz SSR.
- ^ Lake Profile: Issyk-Kul (Isyk-Kul)
- ^ The Silk Route – Channel 4
- PMID 35705810.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-06-20.
- ^ ANI (2007-12-28). "Archaeologists discover remains of 2500-year-old advanced civilization in Russia". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on 2008-01-01.
- ^ "Advanced Russian civilization found". The Times Of India. Archived from the original on December 31, 2007.
- ^ Islam in the Russian Federation and the Post Soviet Republics: a Historical perspective by Spyros Plakoudas, p. 10
- ^ Specially protected nature areas in Kyrgyzstan. Archived 2010-03-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "FISH AND FISHERIES AT HIGHER ALTITUDES: ASIA - TECHNICAL PAPER NO. 385". www.fao.org. Retrieved 2023-10-28.
- ^ "Issyk Kul Dead lake - Central Asia Guide". Central Asia Guide.
- ^ Kommersant-Vlast, 'Vys Rossiya Armia', 2005
- ^ RFE/RL NEWSLINE 14 March 2008
- ^ India to develop state of the art torpedo testing centre in Kyrgyzstan. September 18, 2011. Times of India
External links
- World Lake Database entry for Issyk-Kul Lake
- The Issyk-Kul Hollow at Natural Heritage Protection Fund
- Remains of ancient civilization discovered on the bottom of Issyk-Kul Lake
- Views of lake Issyk-Kul from Abasayyoh
- Jean Klerkx, Beishen Imanackunov (eds.): "Lake Issyk-Kul: Its Natural Environment". Springer, 2002.