Large saline lakes of Central Asia

Abstract

In Central Asia, there are many saline lakes, both small and large. They range in salinity from <3 g/L to >l00 g/L. The paper provides a summary review of their major physico-chemical and biological features of Caspian Sea, Aral Sea, lakes Balkhash, Issyk-Kul, Alakol and Tengiz. Several are threatened by human activities in their drainage basins, particularly diversion of inflowing waters.