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The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. [2] [3] [4] An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia, south of the fertile plains of Southern Russia in Eastern Europe, and north of the mountainous Iranian Plateau.
Therefore, mean depth figures are not available for many deep lakes in remote locations. [9] The average lake on Earth has the mean depth 41.8 meters (137.14 feet) [9] The Caspian Sea ranks much further down the list on mean depth, as it has a large continental shelf (significantly larger than the oceanic basin that contains its greatest depths).
The surface of the lake is 455.5 m (1,494 ft) above sea level, while the bottom of the lake is 1,186.5 m (3,893 ft; 648.8 fathoms) below sea level, and below this lies some 7 km (4.3 mi) of sediment, placing the rift floor some 8–11 km (5.0–6.8 mi) below the surface, the deepest continental rift on Earth.
In March 1980, workers blocked the Caspian link, due to concerns that evaporation was accelerating a fall in Caspian Sea. [2] The resulting "salt bowl" caused widespread problems of blowing salt, [ 5 ] reportedly poisoning the soil and causing health problems for hundreds of kilometers downwind to the east.
'Lakes by depth' is not a common comparison, but 'lakes by area' (what most people mean by one lake being bigger than another) is a common comparison, and even in popular usage the rankings ("X is the 4th largest lake" etc.) often only make sense if the Caspian is excluded.
15.3 m 50 ft 25 km 3 6.0 cu mi Largest trans-boundary lake in Europe. 41: Uvs Mongolia Russia. Saline 1.9% (approx.) 3,350 km 2 1,290 sq mi 84 km 52 mi 22 m 72 ft 20 km 3 4.8 cu mi Greatest lake in Mongolia (by area). Very large catchment area (endorheic). 42: North Aral Sea Kazakhstan: Variable: from 0.9 to 1.2% 3,300 km 2 1,300 sq mi 42 m 138 ft
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0.3% (variable) In 1960, the Aral Sea was the world's twelfth-largest known lake by volume, at 1,100 km 3 (260 cu mi). However, by 2007 it had shrunk to 10% of its original volume and was divided into three lakes, none of which are large enough to appear on this list.