Kyzyl Kum

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Kyzyl Kum

The Kyzyl Kum (), also called Qyzylqum, is the 11th largest 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 the world. Its name means red sand in both Uzbek

Uzbek language

Uzbek is a Turkic languages and the official language of Uzbekistan. It has about 23.5 million native speakers, and it is spoken by the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Central Asia....
and Kazakh

Kazakh language

Kazakh is a Turkic languages language closely related to Nogai language and Karakalpak language.Kazakh is an agglutinative language, and it employs vowel harmony....
. It is located 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....
in the doab

Doab

A Doab is a term used in India and Pakistan for a "tongue" or tract of land lying between two confluent rivers....
between the rivers 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....
and Syr Darya

Syr Darya

Syr Darya is a river in Central Asia, sometimes known as the Jaxartes or Yaxartes from its Ancient Greek name . The Greek name is derived from Old Persian, Yakhsha Arta , a reference to the color of the river's water....
, and is divided between Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan, also Kazakstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a large Eurasian country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the List of countries by area as well as the world's largest landlocked country, it has a territory of 2,727,300 km? ....
, Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan , is a Landlocked_country#Doubly_landlocked_country country in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union....
and (partly) 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 ....
. It covers about 298,000 km² (approximately 115,000 sq mi).
Geography
The territory consists mainly of an extensive plain at an altitude up to 300 m (about 1000 feet) above sea level

Sea level

Mean sea level is the average height of the sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface. Defining the reference level , however, involves complex measurement, and accurately determining MSL can prove difficult....
, with a number of the depressions and highlands (Sultanuizdag, Bukantau).

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Encyclopedia

The Kyzyl Kum (), also called Qyzylqum, is the 11th largest desert

Désert

Uzbek language

Kazakh language

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....
in the doab

Doab

A Doab is a term used in India and Pakistan for a "tongue" or tract of land lying between two confluent rivers....
between the rivers Amu Darya

Amu Darya

Syr Darya

Kazakhstan

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan , is a Landlocked_country#Doubly_landlocked_country country in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union....
and (partly) Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

Geography

The territory consists mainly of an extensive plain at an altitude up to 300 m (about 1000 feet) above sea level

Sea level

Barchan

A barchan dune is an arc-shaped sand ridge, comprising well-sorted sand. This type of dune possesses two "horns" that face downwind, with the slip face at the angle of repose, or approximately 32 degrees....
s); in the North-West large areas are covered with takirs (clay coatings); there are also some oases. There are agricultural

Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
settlements along the river

River

A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or another stream. In some cases a river flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water....
s and in 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....
.

Fauna

Desert fauna include occasional winter migrant in the northern part of the desert the Saiga Antelope (Saiga tatarica) and a large lizard Desert or Transcaspian Monitor (Varanus griseus) that can reach lengths of 1.6 m (5 ft). There is a Kyzyl Kum nature reserve in Bukhara Province, founded in 1971. The area of the reserve amounts to 101,000 km² (approximately 39,000 sq mi) and it is located on flood-land (tugai) drained by the Amu-Darya close to the settlement Dargan Ata. Fauna include: the Bukhara Deer

Bactrian deer

The Bactrian deer , also called the Bukhara deer, Bokhara deer or Bactrian wapiti, is a lowland subspecies of Red Deer that is native to central Asia....
(a local species of Cervus elaphus), Wild Boar (Sus scrofa), Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetus) etc.

Another reserve (or eco-centre), "Djeyran", is located 40 km to the south of Bukhara

Bukhara

Bukhara , also spelled as Bukhoro and Bokhara, from the Soghdian ?uxarak , is the Capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 237,900 ....
. The total area of this reserve is 51,450 km² (approximately 20,000 sq mi). It is a breeding centre for rare animals such as: the Goitered or Persian Gazelle Gazelle

GAZelle

A GAZelle is a series of mid-sized trucks, vans and buses made by Russian car manufacturer GAZ. GAZelles are similar to the later launched GAZ Sobol and GAZ Valdai line of vans and light trucks....
(Djeyran, Gazella subgutturosa
Goitered Gazelle

The Goitered, Black-tailed or Persian gazelle is a gazelle found in a large area of central Asia, including part of Iran and southern west Pakistan in the western end of the range, as well as the Gobi desert....
), Przewalski's Horse

Przewalski's Horse

Przewalski's Horse is a rare and endangered subspecies of Wild Horse native to the steppes of central Asia. At one time extinct in the wild, it has been reintroduced to its native habitat in Mongolia at the Khustain Nuruu National Park, Takhin Tal Nature Reserve and Khomiin Tal....
(Equus przewalskii), the Koulan (Onager

Onager

The Onager is a large mammal belonging to the genus Equus of the family Equidae and native to the deserts of Syria, Iran, Pakistan, India, Israel, and Tibet....
, Equus hemionus) and Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata). The reserve was founded in 1977 on the enclosed area in 5,131 ha.

Paleontology

The Kyzul Kum has exposed rock formations

Geologic formation

A formation or geological formation is the fundamental unit of lithostratigraphy. A formation consists of a certain number of rock stratum that have a comparable lithology, sedimentary facies or other similar properties....
that have yielded a number of fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or trace fossil of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous Rock formations and sedimentary rock layers is known as the fossil record....
s. Of particular interest is the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan, from the early Late Cretaceous

Late Cretaceous

Late Cretaceous refers to the second half of the Cretaceous Period , named after the famous white chalk cliffs of southern England, which date from this time....
, which has produced several species of early bird

Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s: Enantiornis
Enantiornis

Enantiornis is a genus of predatory Enantiornithes bird. The type species and only currently accepted species E. leali is from Late Cretaceous rocks at El Brete, Argentina....
martini and E. walkeri, Kizylkumavis
Kizylkumavis

Kizylkumavis was an enantiornithine bird. It lived during the Late Cretaceous about 75 mya and is known from fossils found in the Bissekty Formation of the Kyzyl Kum, Uzbekistan....
cretacea, Kuszholia
Kuszholia

Kuszholia is the name given to a genus from the Late Cretaceous. It was possibly a coelurosaur close to the ancestry of birds, although most scientists consider it an avian and a member of the Enantiornithes....
mengi, Lenesornis
Lenesornis

Lenesornis was an enantiornithine bird. It lived during the Late Cretaceous about 78 mya and is known from fossils found in the Bissekty Formation in the Kyzyl Kum, Uzbekistan....
kaskarovi, Sazavis
Sazavis

Sazavis was an enantiornithine bird from the Late Cretaceous. It might have been related to Alexornis and Kizylkumavis and lived in what is now the Kyzyl Kum of Uzbekistan....
prisca, Zhyraornis
Zhyraornis

Zhyraornis is a genus of prehistoric bird from the Late Cretaceous . Its fossils have been found in Bissekty Formation deposits near Dzharakuduk in the Kyzyl Kum, Uzbekistan; the only accepted species is Zhyraornis kashkarovi....
kaskarovi, and Z. logunovi are recognized as valid species. Tyrannosaurid

Tyrannosauridae

Tyrannosauridae is a family of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs which comprises two subfamilies containing up to six genus, including the eponymous Tyrannosaurus....
, therizinosaur

Therizinosaur

Therizinosaurs are Theropoda dinosaurs belonging to the clade Therizinosauroidea. Therizinosaur fossils have been found in Early through Late Cretaceous deposits in Mongolia, the People's Republic of China and Western North America....
id, ostrich-mimic

Ornithomimosauria

The Ornithomimosauria, ornithomimosaurs or ostrich dinosaurs were theropod dinosaurs which bore a superficial resemblance to modern ostriches....
, oviraptorosauria

Oviraptorosauria

Oviraptorosaurs are a group of feathered maniraptoran dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period of what are now Asia and North America. They are distinct for their characteristically short, beaked, parrot - like skulls, with or without bony crests atop the head....
n, troodontid

Troodontidae

Troodontidae is a Family of bird-like Theropoda dinosaurs. In previous decades, troodontid fossils were few and scrappy and they have therefore been allied, at various times, with nearly every major coelurosaurian lineage....
, armored

Ankylosauria

Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with Armour in the form of bony osteoderms....
, duckbilled

Hadrosaurid

Hadrosaurids or duck-billed dinosaurs are members of the family Hadrosauridae, and include ornithopods such as Edmontosaurus and Parasaurolophus....
, and horned

Ceratopsia

Ceratopsia or Ceratopia is a group of herbivore, beaked dinosaurs which thrived in what are now North America and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period , although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurassic....
dinosaur

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
s are also known from this rock unit. Other fossils from the Cretaceous rocks of the Kyzyl Kum include tree trunks, pelecypods

Bivalvia

Bivalves are molluscs belonging to the class Bivalvia. They have two-part animal shells, and typically both valves are symmetry along the hinge line....
, beetle

Beetle

Beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are placed in the order Coleoptera , which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms....
s, shark

Shark

Sharks are a type of fish with a full Cartilage skeleton and a highly Streamlines, streaklines and pathlinesd body. They respire with the use of five to seven gill slits....
s, rays

Batoidea

Batoidea is a superorder of Chondrichthyes containing more than 500 described species in thirteen families. They are commonly known as rays, but that term is also used specifically for batoids in the order Rajiformes, the "true rays"....
, bony fish

Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
, frog

Frog

Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . The name frog derives from Old English language frogga, , cognate with Sanskrit plava , probably deriving from Proto-Indo-European language praw = "to jump"....
s, salamander

Salamander

Salamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by slender bodies, short noses, and long tails....
s, turtle

Turtle

Turtles are reptiles of the Order Testudines , most of whose body is shielded by a special bone or cartilage animal shell developed from their ribs....
s, crocodylomorphs

Crocodylomorpha

The Crocodylomorpha are an important group of archosaurs that include the crocodilians and their extinct relatives.During Mesozoic and early Tertiary times the Crocodylomorpha were far more diverse than they are now....
, pterosaur

Pterosaur

Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the clade or Order Pterosauria. They existed from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous Period . Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight....
s, and a varied fauna of small early mammal

Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s. Paleontologists that have worked in this area include J. David Archibald, Alexander Averianov, Sergei Kurzanov

Sergei Kurzanov

Sergei Kurzanov is a Russian paleontologist at the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is known mainly for his work in Mongolia and the ex-USSR republics in Central Asia....
, Lev Nessov, Anatoly Riabinin, Anatoly Rozhdestvensky

Anatoly Konstantinovich Rozhdestvensky

Anatoly Konstantinovich Rozhdestvensky is a Russian paleontologist responsible for naming many dinosaurs, including Aralosaurus and Probactrosaurus....
, and Hans-Dieter Sues

Hans-Dieter Sues

Hans-Dieter Sues is a German-born paleontologist who is currently the Associate Director for Research and Collections at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC....
.

Economy

The local population uses the large spaces of the Kyzyl Kum as a pasture for livestock (mostly sheep

Sheep

#REDIRECT Domestic sheep...
, Bactrian Camel

Bactrian camel

The Bactrian Camel is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of north eastern Asia. It is one of the two surviving species of camel....
s and dromedaries

Dromedary

The Dromedary camel is a large even-toed ungulate. It is often referred to as the one-humped camel, Arabian camel, or simply as the "dromedary"....
).

The Kyzyl Kum is well known for its deposits of gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
, uranium

Uranium

Uranium is a silvery-gray metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table that has the chemical symbol U and atomic number 92....
, copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity....
, aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white and ductile member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al; its atomic number is 13....
and silver

Silver

Silver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal....
, 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....
and oil. The development of most the famous gold-field at Muruntau began in the early 1970s. The centres for the mining and smelting industry at the region are Navoi, Zarafshan city, Uchkuduk. The major industrial enterprises are: ???? (Navoi Mining and Smelting Complex) and the Uzbek U.S.A. Joint Venture "Zarafshan-Newmont". The centres of the gas-production industry are Gazli and Mubarek.

Kyzyl Kum

Geography

Fauna

Paleontology

Economy

Photo-gallery

See also

External links