Dead Kultuk
Kazakhstan
The Dead Kultuk (Kazakh: Ölıqoltyq) is a bay of the Caspian Sea in the coast of Kazakhstan, west of the Ustyurt desert. The bay was known as 'Tsesarevich Bay' and then as 'Komsomolets Bay' in the past. Durneva Island lies near the entrance to the Dead Kultuk. 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. Currently there are oil fields in the area. By 2010, with the fall in the level of the Caspian Sea Kaydak and Dead Kultuk have again dried up, turning into a large sor (salt flat).
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