Lake Kopa
Location and description
Lake Kopa is located in the north of Kazakhstan. Lake Kopa is 5.6 kilometres (3.5 mi) long, up to 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) wide and its area is 14 square kilometres (5.4 sq mi). The lake lies near the foot of the Kokshetau Massif, and near the north-western part of the city of Kokshetau. Lake Zholdybay lies about 20 kilometers (12 mi) to the WNW.
Lake Kopa has an area of 14 square kilometres (5.4 sq mi) and an average depth of 2.0–3.0 metres (6 ft 7 in – 9 ft 10 in). Most of the total catchment area of 3,860 square kilometres (1,490 sq mi), is accounted for by the tributaries of the lake: the Shagalaly river to the southwest, and the Kylshakty river to southeast. Only a very small part, 80 square kilometres (31 sq mi), comes from the lake itself.
The south and west sides of the lake are separated from the adjacent beaches by depressed areas, and along the southern and eastern coasts are sand and pebble beaches. The northern and eastern shores of the lake are low, flat, and overgrown with vegetation, meaning that the water surface of the lake is basically open only along the western and northern stretches. The lake bottom is viscous, smooth, and covered with a layer of silt clay, loam, and sand, it averages 2 metres (6 ft 7 in), but can reach a depth of as much as 6 metres (20 ft) in the northern part.
50-70 m-high hills (Bukpa Hill) come close to the lake from south-west. In 1955, the volume of water in the lake was 39,200,000 cubic metres (1.38×10 cu ft), with a surface area of 13.6 square kilometres (5.3 sq mi). From 1955 to 1990 the volume of the lake has decreased by 13,000,000 cubic metres (460,000,000 cu ft) and now stands at only 26,000,000 cubic metres (920,000,000 cu ft). The lake sees amplitude fluctuations of between 0.5 and 1.5 metres (1 ft 8 in and 4 ft 11 in).
Shagalaly flows into the lake from south-west and flows out from the north part, therefore, Lake Kopa regulates flow of Shagalaly river in its lower stream. Administratively, the lake and the adjacent land are within Akmola Region of Kazakhstan.
See also
- Kokshetau – the city at Lake Kopa
References
- ^ Kazangapova, N; Kunshygar, D.Z.; Romanova, Sophia (1 January 2016). "The hydrochemical characteristic of lake Kopa". pp. 79–84.
- ^ Google Earth
- ^ "N-42 Topographic Chart (in Russian)". Retrieved 15 January 2023.
- ^ S.M. Romanova, N.B. Kazangapova. "Quality of Kazakhstan lakes water in contemporaneous period (for example of Kopa lake)" (PDF). Sh. Ualikhanov Kokshetau State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-05-26. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
- ^ Burghard C. Meyer & Lian Lundy. "Integrated Water Cycle Management in Kazakhstan" (PDF). Al-Farabi Kasakh National University Publishing House.
External links
Media related to Lake Kopa at Wikimedia Commons