Sarpa Lakes

a chain of brackish lakes on the right bank of the Volga, at the foothills of the Ergeni region, in the Kalmyk ASSR and Volgograd Oblast, RSFSR. The largest lakes are Sarpa (also Severn, 42.6 sq km), Barmantsak (25.8 sq km), Tsa-gan-Nur (23.5 sq km), and Batyr-Mala (21.9 sq km). Their area is very variable. The lakes are fed primarily by snow. In spring they fill up with water from melted snow and are interconnected by channels. In summer almost all of them dry up. The bottom of some of the lakes, Lake Sarpa, for example, are tilled, and the others turn into salt marshes. The Sarpa irrigation system was established in the region of the Sarpa Lakes.