Salt Lake Elton is located in Russia, in the east of the present Volgograd region, in the Volga steppes. The border with Kazakhstan passes nearby. The area of the lake is 152 square kilometers, the depth in summer is 5-7 cm, during spring floods up to one and a half meters.
Elton is an internal drainage lake located on the territory of the Elton rural settlement of the Palassovsky district of the Volgograd region. The reservoir, which is 18 meters below sea level, is fed by 7 rivers, as well as underground salt springs. It is the largest salt lake in Europe.
The lake is practically unsuitable for swimming, since it is based on a saturated salt solution - brine. It mainly consists of sodium chloride and potassium chloride, under which there is a layer of mineral hydrogen sulfide mud.
The brine is an oily liquid that tastes bitter and salty. However, algae live in the lake, which gives it a reddish-pink hue. Therefore, Elton is quite comparable with the Dead Sea, except that the concentration of minerals in it is much higher.
From the salt mine to the resort
Lake Elton became known in Russia after the conquest of the Astrakhan Khanate by Ivan the Terrible. Then in these places began to extract salt, the production of which grew from year to year. Its peak came during the reign of Empress Elizabeth, when salt tracts were laid from the lake to Nikolaevskaya and Pokrovskaya settlements. Today these are the cities of Nikolaevsk and Engels. From here, salt began to flow to the Russian provinces.
Salt mining in 1705, by decree of Peter I, became a state monopoly, and in 1747 the Russian Senate issued a decree establishing a commissariat for salt mining on Lake Elton.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the salt mines were replaced by a mud and balneological resort. The lake began to be used for medicinal purposes. In 1945, the Elton sanatorium began its work, located in the village of the same name, six kilometers from the lake. Currently, it is a modern sanatorium-resort complex, where they treat:
- joint diseases;
- skin diseases;
- diseases of the digestive system;
- diseases of the peripheral nervous system;
- diseases of the central nervous system;
- diseases of the ear, throat, nose;
- diseases of the female genital organs;
- diseases of the male genital organs;
- respiratory diseases.
Mud and brine from Lake Elton have a rejuvenating effect on the body, stimulate blood circulation, accelerate skin renewal, improve metabolism and strengthen the nervous system.
How the resort began
On the last day of May 1910, the head of the medical service of the Ryazan-Ural railway received a letter from the local sanitary doctor Mozhaikin justifying the opening of a mud bath on Lake Elton. The main argument is that the healing properties of the lake's mud are higher than the Tinak mud and mud of the Buskunchak lake, which were previously used for medicinal purposes, which are now located on the territory of the Astrakhan region.
This proposal did not meet with bureaucratic delays; the very next day - June 1, 1910 - the railway departments and services, as well as district doctors working in the province, the railway manager sent a decision to open a medical institution near the lake.
The results of his work turned out to be so effective that five years later, at the congress of doctors in Petrograd, the same Mozhaikin in his report will note: "In my deep conviction, the mud of Lake Elton is the best in the whole world."
More than a hundred years have passed since then, during which many thousands of people have been cured of various ailments here. Elderly residents of these places say that there used to be a museum of abandoned crutches at the sanatorium. People with problems of the musculoskeletal system came to the sanatorium with crutches and left without them.
Over time, so many crutches accumulated that there was nowhere to store them, and then all the crutches were taken by a local resident, who built a fence of them in his garden. Well, the deep roots come down to the ancient Kazakh legend. She tells that the heavenly ruler Tengri Khan descended into Lake Elton to ensure his eternal youth.
From which it follows that the healing properties of local mud were noticed by people for a very long time.
Than the lake heals
Elton mud and brine. The first are a homogeneous oily mass of dense consistency. It retains heat for a long time, has the smell of hydrogen sulfide and is a high-salt, sulphide mud liquid.
Mud contains:
- potassium;
- calcium;
- chlorine;
- sulfate;
- iron sulfide;
- bromine;
- magnesium;
- silicic acids;
- 13 metals, including beryllium, selenium, cadmium, zinc, cobalt, copper, chromium.
In terms of its composition and medicinal properties, this mud is the only one in the world that can be compared with the mud of the Dead Sea. The long-term medical practice of the Elton sanatorium notes the beneficial effect of mud treatment on the functions of internal organs, hematopoiesis processes, as well as a calming effect, an increase in the tone of the autonomic nervous system, a change in the body's immunological reactivity, a decrease in the intensity of allergic reactions, a favorable course of tissue regeneration processes.
Another substance of Lake Elton that has a beneficial effect on the body is brine. It is a sodium-magnesium chloride brine with a salinity of 200 to 463 g / l with a bromine content. The percentage of brine mineralization changes with the seasons - the spring waters reduce it, and the summer heat brings it to the maximum concentration.
In the Elton sanatorium, brine is used in the form of baths, which are designed to treat the same ailments as mud. During the procedures, salt crystals settle on the patient's skin, which continue to have an effect even after they are over. They have a tonic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, revitalizing and rejuvenating effect. As a result, brine normalizes mineral metabolism, accelerates skin renewal, and activates blood supply.
For indications
Before deciding on mud spa treatment, it is imperative to consult with your doctor. Not everyone can benefit from mud treatments. In the sanatorium "Elton" it is not advised to refer to the mud treatment method for those who have:
- pregnancy;
- any diseases in the acute stage;
- venereal diseases;
- all blood diseases in acute form;
- tuberculosis;
- severe forms of hypertension;
- any bleeding;
- mental illness;
- drug addiction and alcoholism.
But resting here is good for everyone
The local air, saturated with ions and salts, has a therapeutic effect in many diseases of the respiratory system, cardiovascular system, and nervous disorders. Therefore, just living next to Lake Elton will be useful to everyone.
