Lake Amik

[citation needed] Sedimentary analysis has suggested that Lake Amik was formed, in its final state, in the past 3,000 years by episodic floods and silting up of the outlet to the Orontes River.

[citation needed] Lake Amik was an extremely valuable habitat on the migratory routes of waterfowl and other birds, especially white storks and pelicans, and was noted for an isolated breeding population of the African darter.

A ray-finned fish species Hemigrammocapoeta caudomaculata was only known from Lake Amik, while the cyprinid Jordan himri was found nowhere else in Turkey.

Draining and reclamation of areas around the lake commenced in 1940, in order to free land for growing cotton and to eliminate malaria.

A major drainage project, channeling the lake's tributary rivers (the Karasu, the ancient Labotas, and the Afrin, the ancient Arceuthus or Arxeuthas) directly to the Orontes was undertaken from 1966 by the State Hydraulic Works, with further works completed by the early 1970s; by this time the lake had been completely drained, and its bed reclaimed for farmland.