Sarez Lake

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Sarez Lake
Coordinates 38°12′06″N, 72°45′27″ECoordinates: 38°12′06″N, 72°45′27″E
Primary inflows Murghab River
Primary outflows Murghab River
Basin countries Tajikistan
Max. length 55.8 km
Max. width 3.3 km
Surface area 79.7 km²
Average depth 201.8 m
Max. depth 505 m
Water volume 16.074 km³
Shore length1 162 km
Surface elevation 3,263 m
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Sarez Lake is a lake in Rushon district of GBAO, Tajikistan. Length about 55.8 km, depth few hundred meters, water surface elevation about 3,263 m over sea level. The mountains around come up more than 2,416 m over the lake level.

The lake formed in 1911, after a great earthquake, when the Murghab River was blocked by a big landslide. Scientists believe that the landslide dam formed by the earthquake, known as the Usoi Dam, is unstable given local seismicity, and that the terrain below the lake is in danger of catastrophic flood if the dam were to fail during a future earthquake.[1]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Bolt, B.A., W.L. Horn, G.A. Macdonald and R.F. Scott, (1975) Geological hazards: earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, avalanches, landslides, floods Springer-Verlag, New York, ISBN 0-387-06948-8

[edit] External links