Barsakelmes

Barsakel’mes

 

(from Kazakh, literally, “if you go, you won’t return”).

(1) A low-lying island in the northwest of the Aral Sea. Area, 133 sq km. The basic mass of the island is composed of Oligocene gypsiferous clay, sandstone, and marl. Maximum elevation, 113 m (Mount Chaika). The island is covered with desert vegetation. The Barsakel’mes sanctuary is located on it.

(2) A solonchak in the southeast of the Ustiurt Plateau, located on the flat bottom of an internal-drainage basin less than 100 m above sea level.