Chaqmaqtin Lake

Chaqmaqtin Lake (Persian: كول چقمقتين, romanized: Kōl-e Chaqmaqtīn) is a lake in the Wakhan region of Afghanistan. It lies at an elevation of about 4,024 m in the Little Pamir.[1] It extends for about 9 km and is about 2 km wide.

Chaqmaqtin Lake
View Across Lake Chakmaktin Towards Ak-Tash, Little Pamir
Chaqmaqtin Lake
LocationPamir Mountains
Coordinates37°14′N 74°11′E
Primary outflowsMurghab River
Basin countriesAfghanistan
Max. length9 km (5.6 mi)
Max. width2 km (1.2 mi)
Surface elevation4,024 m (13,202 ft)

Chaqmaqtin Lake lies towards the western end of the Little Pamir valley. The Aksu or Murghab River flows east from the lake through the Little Pamir to enter Tajikistan at the eastern end of the valley. The Bozai Darya (also known as the Little Pamir River) rises a short distance west of the lake and flows 15km west to join the Wakhjir River and form the Wakhan River near the settlement of Bozai Gumbaz. Some accounts state that the Bozai Darya also rises from Chaqmaqtin Lake.[2] Another source calls the lake "a deeper and possibly marshy section within the Aq Su-Little Pamir River drainage divide".[3]

The lake is a glacier basin lake formed when the ice was once very thick here before it melted away a few thousand years ago.[4]

References

  1. "Kōl-e Chaqmaqtīn". Geonames. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  2. See Afghanistan Information Management Service: River basins and Watersheds of Afghanistan" (2004) Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine, p.5.
  3. The International Boundary Study of the Afghanistan-USSR Boundary (1983) "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-17. Retrieved 2019-02-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) by the US Bureau of Intelligence and Research, p.10.
  4. "Distance Learning Module 4 - Afghanistan Lakes". University of Omaha. Center for Afghanistan Studies. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
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