Turgay

The Turgay flows south through a long depression of the Kazakh steppe. Formed by the Zhaldama and Kara-Turgay, it branches across a broad floodplain and receives the Irgiz and Ulkayak before ending in the basin of Shalkarteniz. Spring snowmelt fills its channels and a chain of shallow lakes; in summer the rivers shrink, leaving pools and marshes amid the dry plains.