BALKASH, or BALKHASH (called by the Kirghiz Ak-denghiz or Ala-denghiz and by the Chinese Si-hai)

This article appears in Volume V03, Page 262 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BAI-BAR

BALKASH, or BALKHASH (called by the Kirghiz Ak-denghiz or Ala-denghiz and by the Chinese Si-hai) , a lake of Asiatic Russia, in the Kirghiz steppes, between the governments of Semipalatinsk and Semiryechensk, in 450 to 470 N. and 730 30' to 79 E., about 600 m. to the

east

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

of Lake

Aral

ARAL

. It is fourth in size of the lakes in Eurasia, having an area of 7115 sq. m., and lies at an altitude of goo ft. It has the shape of a broad

crescent

CRESCENT (Lat. crescens, growing)

, about 430 M. long from W.S.W. to E.N.E., having its concave side turned southwards; its width varies from 36 to 53 M. Its north-western shore is bordered by a dreary

plateau

term
- TERM
_older_pl.html">PLATEAU (a French
term
- TERM
, older platel, for a flat piece of wood, metal, &c., from plat, flat)
PLATEAU, JOSEPH
ANTOINE
- ANTOINE, ANDRE (1858- )
FERDINAND (1801-1883)

, known as the

Famine

FAMINE (Lat. fames, hunger)

Steppe (Bek-pak-dala). The

south

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

east

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

shore, on the contrary, is low, and bears traces of having extended formerly as far as the Sasyk-kul and the Ala-kul. The Kirghiz in 1903 declared that its surface had been rising steadily during the preceding ten years, though prior to that it was dropping. The

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

feeder of the lake is the Ili, which rises in the Khantengri group of the Tian-shan Mountains. The Karatal, the Aksu and the Lepsa also enter from the

south

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

-east, and the Ayaguz from the north-east. The first three rivers make their way with difficulty through the sands and reeds, which at a quite

recent

RECENT

time were covered by the lake. Although it has no outlet, its waters are relatively fresh. It freezes generally from November to April. Its greatest depth, 35 ft., is along the north-west shore. The fauna of the lake and of its tributaries explored by Nikolskyis more akin to the fauna of the rivers of the Tarim basin than to that of the

Aral

ARAL

; it also does not contain the common frog. It seems, therefore, probable that Lake Balkash stood formerly in communication through lakes Ebi-nor and Ayar (Telli-nor) with the lake that formerly filled the Lukchun depression (in 891 E. long. and 422 N. lat.), but researches show that a connexion with Lake Aralat least in

recent

RECENT

timeswas improbable. The lake has been investigated by L. S. Berg (see Petermanns Mitteilungen, 1903).

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