The closed Lake Balkhash is situated in a land depression of tectonic origin. The orography of its drainage basin is very complex: there are high mountain systems, low mountains, plains and sands partly bordering the lake.

The Balkhash depression is under the influence of arid continental climate with annual precipitation less than 150-200 mm. There is semi-dessert vegetation along the lake shore. The area and water volume of the lake vary considerably in due course depending on the large amplitude of long-term and secular fluctuations of its water level. 

During the latest years, the problem of the Balkhash Lake became more explicit, because of the start of the filling of the Kaptchagayskoye Reservoir on River Ili.