It lies in the Shalkar Basin, a wide tectonic depression between the Mugalzhar Hills to the west and the Barsuki Desert to the east.

The lake presently consists in a roughly oval string of residual pools with an expanse of dry terrain at the center.

In 1937 a stone and concrete dam was built in order to decrease the salinity of the northern part of the lake.

This dam divided lake Shalkar into two sections, with the southern pools increasing in salinity as the fresh water from the Kauylzhyr rarely reached them.

These provide a habitat for birds such as the egret, spoonbill, glossy ibis, whooper swan, demoiselle crane, little bustard and the Pallas's gull.