Betpak-Dala is a region in Kazakhstan. Betpak-Dala (from Turkic batpak, “swampy,” or Persian bedbaht, “unlucky” and Turkic dala, “plain”), also known as the Northern Hungry Steppe, a desert in the former Kazakh SSR, located between the lower reaches of the Sarysu River, the Chu River, and Lake Balkhash. In the north, near the 46°30’ parallel, Betpak-Dala borders on the Kazakh melkosopochnik (area of low, rounded, isolated hills). Its area is approximately 75,000 km². Betpak-Dala is a flat, gently rolling plain with an average elevation of 300–350 m and a general southwestern incline. Elevations are greatest in the east. In the southeast the Zhel’tau highland reaches an elevation of 974 m (Mount Dzhambul). The western part of Betpak-Dala is composed of folded Mesozoic rock and horizontally layered Paleogene friable rock (sand, sandstone, clay, and conglomerates). The eastern hilly region has a plicate structure and is composed of Lower Paleozoic sedimentary-metamorphic rock series and granite. The climate is sharply continental.