Shalkarteniz (Kazakh: Шалқартеңіз; Russian: Шалкартениз) is a salt lake in the Yrgyz District, Aktobe Region, Kazakhstan.

[1] Shalkarteniz lies in the northeastern sector of the Turan Depression, 160 kilometers (99 mi) northwest of the city of Aralsk.

[2][3] Until the end of the 16th century, the Shalkarteniz basin was regularly filled by the formerly more abundant waters of the Turgay river, which at that time reached the Aral Sea.

By the 20th century, at the time of the Kazakh SSR, the degradation of the forest cover and extraction of water from the Turgay and Irgiz rivers increased.

The waters of the Zhyngyldyozek, Tegene, Turgay and Irgiz rivers fill the dry basin when the snow melts in the spring, turning it into a bittern salty lake.