The Caspian Sea, which is a saltwater lake that borders Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Iran, covers 143,244 square miles (371,000 sq km), and is the biggest saltwater lake in the world.
The Caspian Sea is a remnant of the ancient Paratethys Sea just like the Black Sea, and became landlocked about 5.5 million years ago due to tectonic uplift and a fall in sea level.
The ancient people who lived by the Caspian Sea thought it was an ocean, probably because of its saltiness and large size.
The Aral Sea is the second largest saltwater lake in the world, and is a saline endorheic basin in Central Asia.
It lies between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south.
The Aral Sea means “Sea of Islands”, referring to more than 1,500 islands that once dotted its waters.
The salt lake with the highest elevation is Namtso, and the one with the lowest elevation is the Dead Sea, which is also the lowest exposed point on the Earth’s surface.
