Its length is about 75.8 kilometres (47.1 mi), its depth about a few hundred meters, its water surface elevation about 3,263 metres (10,705 ft) above sea level, and volume of water over 16 cubic kilometres (3.8 cu mi).

The lake formed in 1911, after a great earthquake, when the Murghab River was blocked by a big landslide.

The area was so isolated and the destruction of mountain tracks so complete that it took six weeks before word reached the Russian posts at Murghab and Khorog.

The principal danger seems to be a partially detached mass of rock of about 3 cubic kilometres that could break loose and fall into the lake.

The result of a global risk analysis carried out by STUCKY for the World Bank was presented at the 2002 IAHR Symposium in St Petersburg[4] and at the 2006 International Congress on Large Dams[5] in Barcelona.