Karakul (Tajikistan)

Karakul lies within a circular depression, which has been interpreted as an impact crater with a rim diameter of {{cvt|52|km|mi}}. Some estimates say the impact is relatively recent. A preliminary estimate dated it to between 25 Ma and 23 Ma.{{cite conference |title=Karakul: a young complex impact crater in the Pamir, Tajikistan |last1=Bouley |first1=S. |last2=Baratoux |first2=D. |last3=Baratoux |first3=L. |last4=Colas |first4=F. |last5=Dauvergne |first5=J. |last6=Losiak |first6=A. |last7=Vaubaillon |first7=J. |last8=Bourdeille |first8=C. |last9=Jullien |first9=A. |last10=Ibadinov |first10=K. |bibcode=2011AGUFM.P31A1701B |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011AGUFM.P31A1701B/abstract |conference=American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011 |publisher=American Geophysical Union |access-date=2020-07-08 |archive-date=2020-07-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200710031056/https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011AGUFM.P31A1701B/abstract |url-status=live }} However, it may be from the recent Pliocene epoch (5.3 to 2.6 Ma).{{cite journal |author1=Gurov, E. P.|author2= Gurova, H.P.|author3= Rakitskaya, R.B. |author4= Yamnichenko,A.Yu. (1993) |title=The Karakul depression in Pamirs - the first impact structure in central Asia |journal=Lunar and Planetary Science XXIV, Pp. 591-592 |year=1993 |page=591 |bibcode=1993LPI....24..591G |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19940011739.pdf |access-date=2017-07-07 |archive-date=2019-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190509165302/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19940011739.pdf |url-status=live }} The Earth Impact Database (EID) also lists it as younger than 5 Ma. It is larger than the Eltanin impact (2.5 Ma), which has already been suggested as a contributor to the cooling and ice cap formation in the Northern Hemisphere during the late Pliocene.{{cite web |url=http://phys.org/news/2012-09-pacific-ocean-meteor-trigger-ice.html |title=Did a Pacific Ocean meteor trigger the Ice Age? |last=University of New South Wales |date=19 September 2012 |access-date=8 October 2012 |archive-date=8 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008060956/http://phys.org/news/2012-09-pacific-ocean-meteor-trigger-ice.html |url-status=live }}

The Karakul impact structure was first identified around 1987 through studies of imagery taken from space.Gurov, E. P., The Kara-Kul Lake depression in the Pamirs - A Probable Astrobleme (abstract). Eighth Soviet-American Microsymposium, pp. 37-39. 1988

File:Karakul lake Tajikistan.jpg]]

The lake/crater lies at an elevation of {{cvt|3960|m|ft}} above mean sea level. A peninsula projecting from the south shore and an island off the north shore divide the lake into two basins: a smaller, relatively shallow eastern one, between {{cvt|13|and|19|m|ft}} deep, and a larger western one, {{cvt|221|to|230|m|ft}} deep.{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Kara-Kul|volume=15|page=675}} It is endorheic (lacking a drainage outlet) and the water is brackish. There is a small village with the same name on the eastern shore of the lake.{{cite web |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/karakul-lake-and-mountains-iba-tajikistan |title=Karakul lake and mountains |year=2013 |work=Important Bird Areas factsheet |publisher=BirdLife International |access-date=2013-04-04 |archive-date=2018-07-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180719203502/http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/karakul-lake-and-mountains-iba-tajikistan |url-status=live }}

The lake level was 35 m higher after the last ice age.{{cite journal |last1=Komatsu |first1=Tetsuya |last2=Tsukamoto |first2=Sumiko |title=Late Glacial Lake-Level Changes in the Lake Karakul Basin (a Closed Glacierized-Basin), eastern Pamirs, Tajikistan |journal=Quaternary Research |date=2015 |volume=83 |issue=1 |pages=137–149 |doi=10.1016/j.yqres.2014.09.001|bibcode=2015QuRes..83..137K |s2cid=129373530 }}{{cite journal |last1=Aichner |first1=Bernhard |last2=Makhmudov |first2=Zafar |last3=Rajabov |first3=Ilhomjon |last4=Zhang |first4=Qiong |last5=Pausata |first5=Francesco S. R. |last6=Werner |first6=Martin |last7=Heinecke |first7=Liv |last8=Kuessner |first8=Marie L. |last9=Feakins |first9=Sarah J. |last10=Sachse |first10=Dirk |last11=Mischke |first11=Steffen |title=Hydroclimate in the Pamirs Was Driven by Changes in Precipitation-Evaporation Seasonality Since the Last Glacial Period |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |date=2019 |volume=46 |issue=23 |pages=13972–13983 |doi=10.1029/2019GL085202|s2cid=210256535 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2019GeoRL..4613972A |hdl=20.500.11815/1505 |hdl-access=free }}

Although the lake lies within a national park, much of the surroundings are used as pasture. The lake, with its islands, marshes, wet meadows, peat bogs, and pebbly and sandy plains, has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports significant numbers of the populations of various bird species, either as residents, or as breeding or passage migrants.

These species include bar-headed geese, ruddy shelducks, common mergansers, saker falcons, Himalayan vultures, lesser sand plovers, brown-headed gulls, Tibetan sandgrouse, yellow-billed choughs, Himalayan rubythroats, white-winged redstarts, white-winged snowfinches, rufous-streaked accentors, brown accentors, black-headed mountain finches and Caucasian great rosefinches. The lake's islands are the main places where waterbirds rest and nest.

The only fish in the lake are Triplophysa lacusnigri.{{Citation |doi=10.1134/S0032945223050132|title=Preliminary Data Indicate a Wider Distribution of the Little-Known Karakul Stone Loach Triplophysa lacusnigri (Nemacheilidae) in the Inland Waters of Tajikistan|author=Vasil’eva, E.D., Nazarov, R.A.|journal=Journal of Ichthyology |year=2023|volume=63 |issue=5 |pages=869–877 |s2cid=260393795 }}

Higher than Lake Titicaca, Karakul hosted the Roof of the World Regatta from 2014 to 2017.{{Cite web |url=https://caravanistan.com/tajikistan/pamirs/karakul/ |title=Karakul, Tajikistan: a Travel Guide |website=Caravanistan |language=en-US |access-date=2019-01-14 |archive-date=2019-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190114210745/https://caravanistan.com/tajikistan/pamirs/karakul/ |url-status=live }} This replaced the Alpine Bank Dillon Open, held on the Dillon Reservoir in Colorado, United States as the highest sailing regatta in the world.{{Cite web |url=https://www.thekitemag.com/news/roof-of-the-world-regatta/ |title=Roof of the World Regatta |website=TheKiteMag |date=12 August 2015 |language=en |access-date=2019-01-08 |archive-date=2019-01-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108102402/https://www.thekitemag.com/news/roof-of-the-world-regatta/ |url-status=live }}

{{Reflist}}

{{Impact cratering on Earth}}

Category:Lakes of Tajikistan

Category:Impact craters of Tajikistan

Category:Impact crater lakes

Category:Neogene impact craters

Category:Pliocene Asia

Category:Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region

Category:Important Bird Areas of Tajikistan

Category:Ramsar sites in Tajikistan