Katynkol
Қатынкөл
Sentinel-2 image of the lake in September
Katynkol
Location	Kazakh Uplands
Coordinates	49°44′21″N 75°09′30″E / 49.73917°N 75.15833°E / 49.73917; 75.15833
Type	endorheic
Primary inflows	Zharym
Catchment area	364 square kilometers (141 sq mi)
Basin countries	Kazakhstan
Max. length	5.5 kilometers (3.4 mi)
Max. width	2.2 kilometers (1.4 mi)
Surface area	9.5 square kilometers (3.7 sq mi)
Max. depth	3.2 meters (10 ft)
Water volume	17.04 cubic kilometers (4.09 cu mi)
Residence time	UTC+6
Shore length1	16.3 kilometers (10.1 mi)
Islands	none
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Katynkol (Kazakh: Қатынкөл) is a salt lake in Karkaraly District, Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan.^[1][2]

The lake is located 40 kilometers (25 mi) to the northwest of Karkaraly city.^[3] Katynkol usually freezes in November and thaws in April.^[4]

Geography

Katynkol is an endorheic lake part of the wide Karasor basin. Its water is salty, containing sodium and magnesium chlorides.^[5][4] It lies less than 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) to the southwest of the western end of lake Karasor and lake Saumalkol lies 11 kilometers (6.8 mi) to the northwest of the northwestern shore. There is a headland in the northeastern lakeshore forming a wide bay in the northern sector of the lake. There are as well several small inlets, forming indentations up to 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) in length. Part of the shore is steep, bound by grey sandstone cliffs of moderate height.^[3][5][6]

The lake stretches from north to south for 5.5 kilometers (3.4 mi). It is fed mainly by melted snow and groundwater, as well as some precipitation and rarely dries in the summer. River Zharym, having its sources in the northern slopes of the Karkaraly Range, flows from the south into the southern end of the lake.^[3]

Flora

The land around Katynkol consists largely of plowed agricultural fields.^[7] The vegetation of the flat terraced areas by the lakeshore includes fescue, wormwood, licorice and needlegrass.^[4]