<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Van</span>

Lake Van

<p><b>Lake Van</b> (<a href="/en/Turkish_language" title="Turkish language" class="wl">Turkish</a><span>: </span><i lang="tr">Van Gölü</i>; <a href="/en/Armenian_language" title="Armenian language" class="wl">Armenian</a><span>: </span><span>Վանա լիճ</span><span>, </span><small about="#mwt26"><a href="/en/Romanization_of_Armenian" title="Romanization of Armenian" class="wl">romanized</a>:<span>&nbsp;</span></small><span><i lang="hy-Latn">Vana lič̣</i></span>; <a href="/en/Kurdish_language" title="Kurdish language" class="mw-redirect wl">Kurdish</a><span>: </span><span dir="rtl">Gola Wanê</span>) is the largest lake in <a href="/en/Turkey" title="Turkey" class="wl">Turkey</a>.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-3"><a href="#cite_note-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-4"><a href="#cite_note-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[4]</span></a></span> It lies in the <a href="/en/Eastern_Anatolia_Region" title="Eastern Anatolia Region" class="wl">far east of Turkey</a>, in the provinces of <a href="/en/Van_Province" title="Van Province" class="wl">Van</a> and <a href="/en/Bitlis_Province" title="Bitlis Province" class="wl">Bitlis</a> in the <a href="/en/Armenian_highlands" title="Armenian highlands" class="wl">Armenian highlands</a>. It is a <a href="/en/Salt_lake" title="Salt lake" class="wl">saline</a> <a href="/en/Soda_lake" title="Soda lake" class="wl">soda lake</a>, receiving water from many small streams that descend from the surrounding mountains. It is one of the world's few <a href="/en/Endorheic_lake" title="Endorheic lake" class="wl">endorheic lakes</a> (a lake having no outlet) of size greater than <span>3,000 square kilometres (1,200</span><span>&nbsp;</span><span>sq</span><span>&nbsp;</span><span>mi)</span> and has 38% of the country's surface water (including rivers). A volcanic eruption <a href="/en/Volcanic_dam" title="Volcanic dam" class="wl">blocked</a> its original outlet in prehistoric times. It is situated at <span>1,640</span><span>&nbsp;</span><span>m (5,380</span><span>&nbsp;</span><span>ft)</span> above sea level. Despite the high altitude and winter highs below <span>0</span><span>&nbsp;</span><span>°C (32</span><span>&nbsp;</span><span>°F)</span>, <a href="/en/Brine" title="Brine" class="wl">high salinity</a> usually prevents it from freezing; the shallow northern section can freeze, but rarely.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTE&quot;Lake_Van&quot;1998_5-0"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTE&quot;Lake_Van&quot;1998-5" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[5]</span></a></span></p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Large salt lake in eastern Turkey</div>
<p class="mw-empty-elt"></p>
<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt4">Body of water</div><span>
</span><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Lake Van, Location, Coordinates, Type, Primar...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox vcard mobile-collapse-element"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-above fn org notheme" style="background-color: #cedeff; font-size: 125%;">Lake Van</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image" style="line-height: 1.2; border-bottom: 1px solid #cedeff;"><span class="mw-image-border"><a href="/en/File:STS079-781-53.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:STS079-781-53.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/STS079-781-53.jpg/264px-STS079-781-53.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="4037" data-file-height="4037" data-file-type="bitmap" height="264" width="264" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/STS079-781-53.jpg/396px-STS079-781-53.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/STS079-781-53.jpg/528px-STS079-781-53.jpg 2x" alt="STS079-781-53.jpg"></a></span><div class="infobox-caption">From space, September 1996<br>(top of image is roughly northwest)</div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image" style="line-height: 1.2; border-bottom: 1px solid #cedeff;"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r997900035" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .locmap .od{position:absolute}.mw-parser-output .locmap .id{position:absolute;line-height:0}.mw-parser-output .locmap .l0{font-size:0;position:absolute}.mw-parser-output .locmap .pv{line-height:110%;position:absolute;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .locmap .pl{line-height:110%;position:absolute;top:-0.75em;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .locmap .pr{line-height:110%;position:absolute;top:-0.75em;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .locmap .pv>div{display:inline;padding:1px}.mw-parser-output .locmap .pl>div{display:inline;padding:1px;float:right}.mw-parser-output .locmap .pr>div{display:inline;padding:1px;float:left}</style><div class="center"><div class="locmap" style="width:256px;float:none;clear:both;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"><div style="width:256px;padding:0"><div style="position:relative;width:256px"><span class="notpageimage"><a href="/en/File:Turkey_relief_location_map.jpg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" title="Lake Van is located in Turkey" data-hash="File:Turkey_relief_location_map.jpg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Turkey_relief_location_map.jpg/256px-Turkey_relief_location_map.jpg" decoding="async" data-file-width="1579" data-file-height="677" data-file-type="bitmap" height="110" width="256" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Turkey_relief_location_map.jpg/384px-Turkey_relief_location_map.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Turkey_relief_location_map.jpg/512px-Turkey_relief_location_map.jpg 2x" alt="Turkey_relief_location_map.jpg"></a></span><div class="od" style="top:55.243%;left:88.862%"><div class="id" style="left:-3px;top:-3px"><span class="notpageimage"><span><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Red_pog.svg/6px-Red_pog.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="64" data-file-height="64" data-file-type="drawing" height="6" width="6" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Red_pog.svg/9px-Red_pog.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Red_pog.svg/12px-Red_pog.svg.png 2x" alt="Red_pog.svg"></span></span></div><div class="pl" style="font-size:91%;width:6em;right:4px"><div>Lake Van</div></div></div></div><div style="padding-top:0.2em"></div></div></div></div></td></tr><tr class="adr"><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Location</th><td class="infobox-data region"><a href="/en/Armenian_highlands" title="Armenian highlands" class="wl">Armenian highlands</a><br>
<a href="/en/Western_Asia" title="Western Asia" class="wl">Western Asia</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><span>Coordinates</span></th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1073938472" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}</style><span class="plainlinks nourlexpansion"><a rel="mw:ExtLink" href="//geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Lake_Van&amp;params=38_38_N_42_49_E_region:TR_type:waterbody" class="external text" target="_blank"><span class="geo-default"><span class="geo-dms"><span class="latitude">38°38′N</span> <span class="longitude">42°49′E</span></span></span></a></span><span style="font-size: small;"></span></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Body_of_water#Types" title="Body of water" class="wl">Type</a></th><td class="infobox-data category"><a href="/en/Lake#Tectonic_lakes" title="Lake" class="wl">Tectonic lake</a>, <a href="/en/Saline_lake" title="Saline lake" class="mw-redirect wl">saline lake</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Inflow_(hydrology)" title="Inflow (hydrology)" class="mw-redirect wl"><span>Primary inflows</span></a></th><td class="infobox-data">Karasu, Hoşap, Güzelsu, Bendimahi, Zilan and Yeniköprü streams<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTECoskunMusaoğlu2004_1-0"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTECoskunMusaoğlu2004-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Discharge_(hydrology)" title="Discharge (hydrology)" class="wl"><span>Primary outflows</span></a></th><td class="infobox-data">none</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Drainage_basin" title="Drainage basin" class="wl">Catchment area</a></th><td class="infobox-data">12,500<span>&nbsp;</span>km<sup>2</sup> (4,800<span>&nbsp;</span>sq<span>&nbsp;</span>mi)<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTECoskunMusaoğlu2004_1-1"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTECoskunMusaoğlu2004-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Drainage_basin" title="Drainage basin" class="wl">Basin</a><span>&nbsp;</span>countries</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Turkey" title="Turkey" class="wl">Turkey</a></td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="border-bottom: #cedeff 1px solid"></th></tr><tr class="note"><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Max. length</th><td class="infobox-data">119<span>&nbsp;</span>km (74<span>&nbsp;</span>mi)</td></tr><tr class="note"><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Surface area</th><td class="infobox-data">3,755<span>&nbsp;</span>km<sup>2</sup> (1,450<span>&nbsp;</span>sq<span>&nbsp;</span>mi)</td></tr><tr class="note"><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Average depth</th><td class="infobox-data">171<span>&nbsp;</span>m (561<span>&nbsp;</span>ft)</td></tr><tr class="note"><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Max. depth</th><td class="infobox-data">451<span>&nbsp;</span>m (1,480<span>&nbsp;</span>ft)<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEDegensWongKempeKurtman1984_2-0"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEDegensWongKempeKurtman1984-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span></td></tr><tr class="note"><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Water volume</th><td class="infobox-data">607<span>&nbsp;</span>km<sup>3</sup> (146<span>&nbsp;</span>cu<span>&nbsp;</span>mi)<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-FOOTNOTEDegensWongKempeKurtman1984_2-1"><a href="#cite_note-FOOTNOTEDegensWongKempeKurtman1984-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span></td></tr><tr class="note"><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Shore length<sup>1</sup></th><td class="infobox-data">430<span>&nbsp;</span>km (270<span>&nbsp;</span>mi)</td></tr><tr class="note"><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Surface elevation</th><td class="infobox-data">1,640<span>&nbsp;</span>m (5,380<span>&nbsp;</span>ft)</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header" style="border-bottom: #cedeff 1px solid"></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="/en/Category:Islands_by_body_of_water" title="Category:Islands by body of water" class="wl">Islands</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Akdamar_Island" title="Akdamar Island" class="wl">Akdamar</a>, <a href="/en/Çarpanak_Island" title="Çarpanak Island" class="wl">Çarpanak</a> (Ktuts), <a href="/en/Adır_Island" title="Adır Island" class="wl">Adır</a> (Lim), <a href="/en/Kuş_Island" title="Kuş Island" class="wl">Kuş</a> (Arter)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Settlements</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Van,_Turkey" title="Van, Turkey" class="wl">Van</a>, <a href="/en/Tatvan" title="Tatvan" class="wl">Tatvan</a>, <a href="/en/Ahlat" title="Ahlat" class="wl">Ahlat</a>, <a href="/en/Erciş" title="Erciş" class="wl">Erciş</a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-below" style="font-size: smaller; border-bottom: 1px solid #cedeff; border-top: 1px solid #cedeff"><sup>1</sup> Shore length is <a href="/en/Coastline_paradox" title="Coastline paradox" class="wl">not a well-defined measure</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>

