[3] With a length of 20 kilometers (12 mi), Gorkoye is one of the longest lakes in Altai Krai and the largest in Tyumentsevsky District.

It lies in one of the wide ravines of glacial origin that cut diagonally across the Ob Plateau.

[1][3] The Kulunda Main Canal, built at the time of the USSR, runs roughly in a SW/NE direction only 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) to the east of the eastern lakeshore.

River Ob flows 27 kilometers (17 mi) to the north of Gorkoye's northern end.

[4] The building of the Kulunda Main Canal disrupted the Gorkoye ecosystem and some fish species died out.