The name is composed of zrê (“sea”) and the suffix –bar (which in Kurdish means “lake”). The water of the lake is sweet and is provided from a number of spontaneous springs and precipitation.
The lake is situated in the Iranian province of Kordestan west of Marivan and has a length of 5 km (3.1 mi) and a maximum width of 1.6 km (0.99 mi).
In most winters, the surface of the lake is completely frozen. The size of the lake is variable due to variations in the volume of water in different seasons and its maximum depth is 5.5 meters.