Kok usn

Köke Usn, “blue water” in Kalmyk, is a shallow lake in the dry lowlands west of the Caspian. It belongs to the Sostinsk lakes, a chain of basins amid the steppe and sandy ground. The lake has no natural outlet and can dry out; salt gathers as its waters recede. Tamarisk grows on sandy ridges around it, breaking the open horizon of a landscape where water levels change greatly with the seasons.