Sarygamysh Lake

Sarygamysh occupies a broad depression west of the lower Oxus, between Khwarazm and the Ustyurt plateau. Its waters have repeatedly expanded and contracted as branches of the river changed course. At times water entering the basin could reach the old Uzboy channel toward the Caspian; at others the depression dried out. Medieval settlement and irrigation left traces along the Daryalyk channel and the shores of the former lake. By the end of the sixteenth century the flow into the basin had ceased and the lake had dried.