Dead Kultuk

The Dead Kultuk (Kazakh: Өлі қолтық шығанағы[1] Óli qoltyq shyǵanaǵ; Russian: Мёртвый Култук) is a bay of the Caspian Sea in the coast of Kazakhstan, west of the Ustyurt desert.

Dead Kultuk
Óli qoltyq shyǵanaǵ
Мёртвый Култук
Dead Kultuk
Location in the Caspian Sea
LocationMangystau Region, Kazakhstan
Coordinates45°25′17″N 54°1′50″E
Native nameÓli qoltyq shyǵanaǵ
Ocean/sea sourcesCaspian Sea
Basin countriesKazakhstan
Surface area500 km2 (190 sq mi)
Average depth1 m (3 ft 3 in)
IslandsDurneva Island
Settlements0

The bay was known as 'Tsesarevich Bay' and then as 'Komsomolets Bay' in the past.[2] Durneva Island lies near the entrance to the Dead Kultuk.[3]

It had a distinct coastline in former times, but since the 1990s, with higher Caspian Sea levels, the water penetrates inland through the neck of the bay producing waterlogged marshes. Located at the mainland end of the bay, the Kaydak Inlet cuts deep into the coast extending east and then southwards. Nowadays both the bay and the inlet are filled with Caspian Sea water.[2] Currently there are oil fields in the area.[4]

Cartography

Owing to its special colour the Dead Kultuk is the bay which appears in early maps of the Caspian Sea as 'Blue Sea' (French: Mer Bleue in maps in that language).[5] The area was mapped by Fedor Ivanovich Soimonov during the Caspian Expedition, which surveyed the Caspian Sea from 1719 to 1727, but was not accurately described until G. S. Karelin did so in 1832.[2]

1742 map of the Caspian Sea with the Dead Kultuk as 'Blue Sea'.
1747 map with the Dead Kultuk as 'Blue Sea'.

See also

References
  1. "Маңғыстау облысының шолу картасы" (in Kazakh). Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  2. Igor S. Zonn, Aleksey N Kosarev, Michael H. Glantz & Andrey G. Kostianoy, The Caspian Sea Encyclopedia, p. 156
  3. Ostrov Durneva
  4. "Dunga and Dead Kultuk fields". kmg2.isd.kz. 2012. Retrieved 2013-05-19.
  5. Guillaume de Lisle, Carte des Pays voisins de la Mer Caspiene
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