View source for Garabogazköl

{{Infobox settlement
| name                    =''Garabogazköl''
| other_name              =Кара-Богаз-Гол
| native_name             = Kara-Bogaz-Gol 
| native_name_lang        = 
| settlement_type         = [[Bay]]
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| pushpin_map             = Caspian Sea <!-- name of a location map as per Template:Location_map -->
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<!-- location ------------------>
| subdivision_type        = Sea
| subdivision_name        = [[Caspian Sea]]
| subdivision_type1       = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name1       = [[Turkmenistan]]
| subdivision_type2       =
| subdivision_name2       = <!-- etc., subdivision_type6 / subdivision_name6 -->
}}
The '''Garabogazköl Aylagy''', alternatively the '''Kara-Bogaz-Gol''' ({{lang-tk|black (or mighty) strait lake}}) is a shallow inundated depression in the northwestern corner of [[Turkmenistan]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Turkmenistan|date=2003|work=Geo-Data: The World Geographical Encyclopedia|via=HighBeam Research|subscription=yes}}</ref> It forms a [[lagoon]] of the [[Caspian Sea]] with a [[surface area]] of about {{Convert|18000|km2|mi2|-2|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Evolution">{{cite report|last1=Kosarev|first1=Aleksey|last2=Kostianoy|first2=Andrey|last3=Zonn|first3=Igor|title=Kara-Bogaz-Gol Bay: Physical and Chemical Evolution|url=http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10498-008-9054-z#page-1|date=2008-11-02}}</ref> It is separated from the Caspian Sea proper, which lies immediately to the west, by a narrow, rocky [[ridge]] having a very narrow opening in the rock through which the Caspian waters flow, cascading down into Garabogazköl (whence the name of the bay &ndash; "Mighty Strait Lake" in the Turkmen language &ndash; comes). The [[water]] [[volume]] of the [[bay]] fluctuates seasonally with the Caspian Sea; at times it becomes a large bay of the Caspian Sea, while at other times its water level drops drastically.

The city of [[Garabogaz]] (formerly Bekdaş) lies on the ridge, about {{convert|50|km|0|abbr=on}} north of the channel between the main Caspian basin and the Garabogazköl lagoon. The town has a population of about 10,000.

==Salt==
The [[salinity]] of the bay is about 35%, compared to the Caspian Sea's 1.2%,<ref>{{cite report|title= Lake Basin Management Initiative - The Caspian Sea|last1=Aladin |first1=Nicolai |last2=Plotnikov |first2=Igor |url=http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/133415.pdf|date=2004}}</ref> and 3–4% for the bulk of [[List of bodies of water by salinity|the world's oceans]]. Because of the exceptionally high salinity, comparable to the [[Dead Sea]], it has practically no marine vegetation. Large [[evaporite]], mostly salt deposits accumulated at the south shore were harvested by the local population since the 1920s, but in the 1930s manual collection stopped and the industry shifted northwest to its present center near Garabogaz. From the 1950s on, ground water was pumped from levels lower than the bay itself, yielding more valuable types of salts. In 1963 construction began at Garabogaz on a modern plant for increased production of salines, all the year round and independently of natural evaporation. This plant was completed in 1973.

{{multiple image
| align     = center
<!-- Header -->
| header            = Three satellite images showing the region
| header_align      = <!-- left/right/center -->
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<!-- Image 1 -->
| width1    = 200
| image1    = kara bogaz gol.jpg
| caption1  = Kara-Bogaz Gol from space, September 1995
<!-- Image 2 -->
| width2    = 200
| image2    = Kara-Bogaz-Gol inlet STS111-E-5485.JPG
| caption2  = Waters flow through the narrow [[inlet]] from the Caspian (left) into the Garabogazköl 
<!-- Image 3 -->
| width3    = 200
| image3    = Caspian Sea from orbit.jpg
| caption3  = The Garabogazköl is visible on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea
}}
In March 1980, the barrier to the Caspian was blocked, due to concerns evaporation was accelerating a fall in Caspian Sea level, reducing water levels.<ref name="Evolution"/> The resulting "salt bowl" caused widespread problems of blowing salt,<ref name=Micklin>Micklin, Philip P. [http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1994-807-04-Micklin.pdf ''Environmental Resources and Constraints in the Former Soviet Republics''] (1994). The National Council for Soviet and Eastern European Research. Page 9.</ref> reportedly poisoning the soil and causing health problems for hundreds of kilometers downwind to the east. In 1984 the lake was completely dry. In June 1992, when Caspian Sea levels were rising again, the barrier was breached, allowing Caspian water to again refill Garabogazköl. The remnants of the breached dam can be seen in the satellite photo of the inlet, near the Caspian Sea entrance.

[[File:Garabogazkol.jpg|thumb|center|600px|Garabogazköl (right) visible from a bridge on a barrier separating it from the Caspian sea (left).]]

==Miscellaneous==
The bay is also the subject of the "socialist-realist" writer [[Konstantin Georgiyevich Paustovsky]]'s, 1932 book ''Kara-Bogaz'', which praised the development of the salt industry in the area by the Soviet government in the 1930s.<ref>Konstantin Paustovsky (1977)  ''The Black Gulf'', Hyperion Press, Westport, Conn. ISBN 978-0-88355-411-1</ref><ref>{{Goodreads book|3255933|Kara-Bugaz}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author= Priestland, David |title=Engineers of the Soul |date=October 1, 2010 |work=History Today |via=Highbeam Research}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Engineers of the Soul: The Grandiose Propaganda of Stalin's Russia |author=Ruch, Julie Ella |work= Canadian Slavonic Papers |volume=55 |issue=1/2 |date=Spring 2013 |pages=246–247 |publisher=Canadian Association of Slavists |location=Edmonton, Canada |issn=0008-5006 |via=ProQuest Research Library |subscription=yes}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=41.07538,52.904277&spn=0.00292,0.00456&t=k&om=1 Google Maps Detail showing the current in the strait]

{{coord|41|21|07|N|53|35|43|E|region:TM_type:waterbody_scale:2500000|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garabogazkol}}
[[Category:Bodies of water of Turkmenistan]]
[[Category:Caspian Sea]]
[[Category:Lagoons of Asia]]
[[Category:Balkan Province]]
[[Category:Bays of the Caspian Sea]]