Karakum Desert

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Karakum Desert

The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara Gum (“Black Sand”) (Turkmen

Turkmen language

Turkmen is the name of the national language of Turkmenistan. It is spoken by approximately 3,430,000 people in Turkmenistan, and by an additional approximately 6,000,000 people in other countries, including Iran , Iraq , Syria , Afghanistan , and Turkey ....
: Garagum, Russian

Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
: ????????) is a desert

Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
in Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
. It occupies about 70 percent, or 350,000 km², of the area of Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is a Turkic peoples country in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic ....
.

The population is sparse, with an average of one person per 6.5 km² (one person per 2.5 square miles). Rainfall is equally sparse, where precipitation comes maybe once a decade.

Location
Covering much of present day Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is a Turkic peoples country in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic ....
, the Karakum Desert lies east of the Caspian Sea

Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the List of lakes by area or a full-fledged sea. It has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometers and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometers ....
, with the Aral Sea

Aral Sea

The Aral Sea is a landlocked endorheic basin in Central Asia; it lies between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south....
to the north and the Amu Darya

Amu Darya

The Amu Darya is the longest river in Central Asia. Its name is sometimes represented in a single word, Amudarya .Amu is said to have come from the city of Amul, now known as T?rkmenabat....
river and the Kyzyl Kum

Kyzyl Kum

The Kyzyl Kum , also called Qyzylqum, is the 11th largest desert in the world. Its name means red sand in both Uzbek language and Kazakh language....
desert to the northeast.

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Encyclopedia

The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara Gum (“Black Sand”) (Turkmen

Turkmen language

Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
: ????????) is a desert

Désert

?D?sert? is ?milie Simon's debut single, released in October 2002. The song was a huge success both critically and commercially in her homeland....
in Central Asia

Central Asia

Turkmenistan

Location

Covering much of present day Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

Caspian Sea

Aral Sea

Amu Darya

Kyzyl Kum

The Kyzyl Kum , also called Qyzylqum, is the 11th largest desert in the world. Its name means red sand in both Uzbek language and Kazakh language....
desert to the northeast. In modern times, with the shrinking of the Aral Sea, the extended "Aral Karakum

Aral Karakum

Aralkum is the name given to the new desert that has appeared on the seabed once occupied by the Aral Sea. It lies to the south and east of what remains of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan....
" has appeared on the former seabed, with an estimated area of 15,440 sq mi/40,000 km². Although the level of the Aral Sea has fluctuated over its existence, the most recent level drop was caused by the former Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
building massive irrigation projects in the region. Although the North Aral Sea

North Aral Sea

The North Aral Sea is the portion of the former Aral Sea that is fed by the Syr Darya river. It split from the South Aral Sea in 1987 as water levels dropped due to river diversion for agriculture....
is currently rising, the South Aral Sea

South Aral Sea

The South Aral Sea is a lake in the basin of the former Aral Sea which formed in 1987 when that body divided in two, due to diversion of river inflow for agriculture....
is still dropping, thus expanding the size of the desert.

The sands of the Aral Karakum are made up of a salt-marsh consisting of finely-dispersed evaporite

Evaporite

Evaporites are water-soluble mineral sedimentary rock that result from the evaporation of bodies of surficial water. Evaporites are considered sedimentary rocks....
s and remnants of alkaline mineral deposits, washed into the basin from irrigated fields. The dusts blown on a powerful east-west airstream carry pesticide residues that have been found in the blood of penguins in Antarctica

Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
. Aral dust has also been found in the glaciers of Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is a member country of the Kingdom of Denmark located between the Arctic Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago....
, the forests of Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
, and the fields of Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
.

Hydrography

To the south the Murghab and Tejen rivers flow out of the Hindu Kush

Hindu Kush

The Hindu Kush is a mountain range located in eastern and central Afghanistan, northwestern Pakistan and northeastern India.The origin of the name Hindu Kush is disputed, despite its coinage apparently dating back no further than c.1330....
Mountains, flow west, and empty into the vangeli.

The desert is crossed by the largest irrigation canal

Canal

Canals are artificial channels for water. There are two types of canals: Aqueduct canals, which are used for the conveyance and delivery of water, and waterways, which are navigable transportation canals used for passage of goods and people, often connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans....
in the world, the Qaraqum Canal

Qaraqum Canal

The Qaraqum Canal in Turkmenistan is the largest irrigation and water supply canal in the world. Started in 1954, and completed in 1988, it is navigable over much of its 1,375 km length, and carries 13 km? of water annually from the Amu-Darya River across the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan....
. The canal was started in 1954, is 1,375 km in length, and carries 13-20 km³ of water annually. Unfortunately, leakages from the canal have created lakes and ponds along the canal and the rise in groundwater

Groundwater

Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil porosity spaces and in the fractures of lithologic formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water....
has caused widespread soil salination

Soil salination

Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil.Salt affected soils are caused by excess accumulation of salts, typically most pronounced at the soil surface....
.

Archaeology

Within the Karakum are the Bolsoi (Big) Balkan, a mountain range in which archaeologists have found human remains dating back to the Stone Age

Stone Age

The Stone Age is a broad prehistory time period during which humans widely used Rock for toolmaking.Stone tools were made from a variety of different kinds of stone....
.

Economy and resources

The oases

Oasis

In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source. Oases also provide habitat for animals and even humans if the area is big enough....
of Mary

Mary, Turkmenistan

Mary is a city of Turkmenistan, capital of the Mary Province. Former names include Merv, Meru and Margiana. In 1999 its population was 123,000 ....
and Tejen

Tejen

Tejen is an oasis city in the Karakum Desert, in Ahal Province of Turkmenistan. It is located at latitude 37.3786 North; longitude 60.4961 East at an altitude of 161 meters....
are noted for cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa....
growing.

Geology

The Karakum Desert is home to the Darvaza

Darvaza

Derweze is a Turkmenistan village of about 350 inhabitants, located in the middle of the Kara-Kum desert, about 260 km north from Ashgabat.Darvaza inhabitants are mostly Turkmen of the Teke tribe, preserving a half-nomadic lifestyle....
Gas Craters

The area has significant oil

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds....
and natural gas

Natural gas

Natural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills....
deposits.

Transport

The desert is crossed by the Trans-Caspian railway

Trans-Caspian railway

The Trans-Caspian Railway is a railway that follows the path of the Silk Road through much of western Central Asia. It was built by the Russian Empire during its expansion into Central Asia in the 19th century....
.

Karakum Desert

Location

Hydrography

Archaeology

Economy and resources

Geology

Transport

See also

External links