a peninsula on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, in the Kazakh SSR.
Owing to the decline in the level of the Caspian and the retreat of a large part of the Komsomolets Gulf, the peninsular nature of Mangyshlak is changing. The Mangystau Hills, which reach an elevation of 556 m (Mount Besshoky), occupy most of the peninsula. The plateau-like Tiub-Karagan Peninsula is a western extension of the upland. On the south the upland is adjoined by the Mangyshlak Plateau, which has deep drainless saline depressions along the edges—Karagie (-132 m) and Kaundy (—57 m). In the northern part of Mangyshlak there is the accumulative plain of the Buzachi Peninsula. The landscape of Mangyshlak consists of clay, wormwood, solonchak, and sandy or rocky deserts. There are major deposits of oil.
an urban-type settlement in Mangyshlak Oblast, the Kazakh SSR. Railroad station on the Beineu-Novyi Uzen’ line. Situated 20 km from the city of Shevchenko, Mangyshlak has enterprises that serve the railroad and petroleum industries.