The Karakum desert (Turkmenistan): description, features, climate and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

The sandy desert of the Karakum (Turkmenistan) is the largest in Central Asia and one of the largest on our planet. Its territory is vast. This is ¾ of the area of the whole of Turkmenistan. Where is the Karakum Desert located? It occupies the territory located between the foothills of Karabil, Vankhyz and Kopetdag in the south, as well as on the Khorezm lowland in the northern part of the country. In the east, its territory borders on the Amudarya valley, and in the west, on the Uzboy riverbed.

Geography

The Karakum is the desert of Asia, stretching for almost 800 km along the parallel and 450 km along the meridian. The total area of this sandy sea is more than three hundred and fifty square kilometers. This is larger than the size of countries such as Italy and the UK. It is interesting to compare the Karakum desert with similar natural formations. The Turkmen sandy sea is on the list of the largest. Those who want to know which desert is larger - the Kalahari or the Karakum, should keep in mind that the natural formation of Africa is almost twice as extensive. Its area is 600 square kilometers.

The Karakum desert is diverse in its relief, geological structure, soils andvegetation. In this regard, scientists divide it into the South-Eastern, Lowland (Central) and Zaunguz (Northern) zones. These three parts of the desert are distinguished from one another by origin, weather conditions, and the degree of economic development.

Northern Karakum

Zaunguz part of the Turkmen sandy sea has the most ancient geological structure. Scientists believe that the formation of the Northern Karakum occurred more than a million years ago. This is the most elevated part of the territory, towering over the rest by 40-50 kilometers. This location gives reason to call the Northern Karakum plateau. However, this is not true because of the too large dissection of this zone, on which kyrs are located - meridianally elongated sand ridges, reaching a height of 80-100 m, between which there are closed basins.

Ground waters occurring in the Northern Karakum desert are mostly s alty. This does not allow the full use of these areas for pastures. In addition, the local climate is much harsher than in the other two zones.

From the north-western side, the Zaunguz Karakum limits the relatively well-preserved ancient channel of the Western Uzbay. In the southern part, this desert zone breaks off with a ledge, the height of which varies from 60 to 160 meters. This curving chain of shors, takyrs and sandy basins stretches from the Amu Darya and reaches Uzboy in the west. How these mysterious depressions formed is still unknown. According to some scientists, the edge of the Zaunguz upliftformed due to the accumulation of s alts, which fluttered and destroyed natural rocks. Other researchers believe that this relief is an ancient little preserved channel of the Amu Darya.

South-Eastern and Central Karakum

These territories are low-lying, with absolute elevations ranging from 50 to 200 m. Where the Karakum desert passes from one zone to another is not known for certain. After all, the boundary between these parts is very conditional. But they designate it by the Tenjen-Chardjou railway line.

In terms of their landscape, the South-Eastern and Central Karakum differ from the Northern part by a more flat structure. This, as well as the presence in these territories of rich year-round pastures and many freshwater wells, made it possible to use them more intensively in economic terms. The development of these zones is facilitated by a relatively long period without frost, location near large cities and a high value of the sum of positive temperatures.

Climate

What is the Karakum? This is a vast territory where sharp diurnal temperature fluctuations of air masses are observed. In general, the climate of this desert is classified as sharply continental. Moreover, the average January temperatures in the north are fixed at around minus five degrees, and in the south - plus three. In July, the thermometer rises from 28 to 34 degrees. But here's what's interesting. Due to daily air changes, the Karakum desert is considered one of the hottest on our planet. This is due to the fact that in the daytime in many of its parts the thermometerrises to plus fifty degrees and above. As for the soil, the warming up is much greater. Sometimes the temperature of the sand reaches eighty degrees.

In winter, the Karakum desert is characterized by severe frosts. This season, in the sandy sea, the thermometer drops below thirty degrees.

As for precipitation, it is very scarce here. During the year, in the north of the desert, their number reaches 60 mm, and in the south - 150 mm. The most rainy season in the Karakum Desert is from November to April. At this time, up to seventy percent of the annual rainfall falls here.

Origin of the name

Translated from the Turkmen language "Kara-Kum" means "black sand". But this name is not true. The Karakum desert has no black sands. The name of this natural formation is most likely due to the fact that ninety-five percent of its territory is to some extent covered with vegetation, which loses its green color in summer. The remaining five percent of the desert is sand dunes. Their name in Turkmen sounds like “ak-kum”. Translated, it means "white sand".

There is another version of the origin of the name of the Turkmen desert. Scientists believe that the word "black" is purely symbolic and means a territory that is not adapted to life, hostile to humans.

Archaeological discoveries

According to researchers, the Karakum desert was inhabited by people as early as the fourth millennium BC. The settlements of the ancient tribes werediscovered by scientists in an oasis near the delta of the now defunct Murghaba River. This piece of territory attracted people in later centuries. Even at the end of the third millennium BC, when a vast area from Greece to India was covered by the most severe drought, residents of Northern Syria or Eastern Anatolia moved to this oasis.

An even more significant discovery was made by scientists in 1972. An archaeological expedition led by V. I. Sarianidi discovered the ruins of the ancient temple city of Gonur-Depe in the Karakum Desert, which means “gray hill” in Turkmen. This settlement was a grandiose complex built of stone, in the center of which were the temples of Sacrifices, Fire and other structures. Along the perimeter, all buildings were surrounded by powerful walls, on top of which there were square towers. The inhabitants of the ancient country of Margush came to this city to bow to the fire.

After the discovery of Gonur by the archaeological expedition of Sarianidi, traces of another two hundred settlements were found. At the same time, scientists argue that Margush in former times was not inferior in its significance to Mesopotamia, Egypt, China or India.

However, at the end of the second millennium BC, people had to leave this fertile oasis in search of a more full-flowing source of water. The sands subsequently simply swept away the traces of the once powerful civilization, which some scholars tend to consider the first bearer of Zoroastrianism.

Education version

The Karakum desert was formed relativelyrecently. Thus, the age of its Zaunguz area is about a million years. This is significantly less than the age of the Namib Desert, which has existed for 55 million years.

The western part of the Karakums is even younger. It was formed from the steppes only 2-2.5 thousand years ago.

What is the geological pedigree of the Karakum Desert? There are two hypotheses for this. According to one of them, put forward by the mining engineer A. M. Konshin, the formation of the desert occurred on the territory of the ancient dried up Aral-Caspian Sea, which was part of the prehistoric Tethys ocean.

According to the second hypothesis, according to which most scientists agree, the territory of the Karakum was formed thanks to the Murgab, Amu Darya and many other rivers, which carried clay, sand and other products from the destruction of rocks of the southern ridges of the Kopetdag mountains. This process took place at the beginning of the Quaternary period. At this time, the cold snap was abruptly replaced by warming, and the melted glaciers contributed to the fact that the rivers became swift and full-flowing. This theory was confirmed by further research by geologists.

Flora and fauna

The amazing world of the Karakum desert is interesting for those researchers who constantly strive to expand their horizons. The sandy sea of Turkmenistan is the place where only sun-loving representatives of flora and fauna are concentrated, able to live in the absence of a large amount of moisture.

The Karakum desert was chosen by dozens of different species of reptiles and more than one thousand speciesarthropods. Three dozen species of birds and two hundred and seventy species of plants feel comfortable in this territory. They consider the desert their home, which means that there is something mysterious and unknown to man himself.

Vegetation

Various shrubs grow on the sandy territory of the Karakum Desert. Among them are black and white saxaul, cherkez, kandym and astragalus. There is also a sandy acacia. Of the grass cover in the desert, most of all swollen sedge, there are saxaul, s altwort, ephemeral and other communities here.

Xerophytic shrubs and semi-shrubs grow in areas of arid Karakum plains. Many of them lack foliage or shed it when drought sets in.

The roots of plants growing in the desert are branched and long. They are forced to penetrate to great depths. For example, camel thorn. Its root system goes deeper into the sandy soil for more than twenty meters.

Desert plants reproduce by seeds, which are usually pubescent or have peculiar wings. This structure facilitates their movement in the air. Many of the plants of the Karakum desert easily take root even when they get into moving soils. Tugai are especially distinguished. These are thickets of white willow and poplar, giant cereals, comb and other moisture-loving plants that can be found on the banks of the Karakum Canal.

Animal world

There are many representatives of the fauna in the Karakum Desert. These are animals well adapted to existence in sandy areas. Most of them prefer tonocturnal, and are also able to do without water for a long time. In addition, the animals that can be found in the desert are excellent runners. They travel long distances with ease.

Among the representatives of mammals in the Karakum Desert, one can meet a wolf and a jackal, a goitered gazelle and a ground squirrel, a steppe and dune cat, a jerboa and a corsac fox. The world of reptiles here is represented by monitor lizards and cobras, sand boas and an arrow snake, agamas and steppe turtles. Desert crows and larks, saxaul jays and sparrows, as well as buckwheat finches fly in the sky above the sandy sea.

Scorpions, phalanxes, beetles and karakurt spiders are found in this territory. More than fifty species of fish live in the Amu Darya, the Karakum Canal and in reservoirs, among which there are herbivorous silver carp and grass carp.

Desert Cat

The lynx from the Karakum desert deserves special attention. So often called caracal. Indeed, these animals are similar in their habits. However, an ordinary lynx is not able to survive in a desert where there is no forest. For the caracal, these territories are their home. And this is not surprising. The desert animal is painted light brown, which allows it to be almost invisible among the foothill ledges and sand dunes. The main food of the caracal is birds, rodents and lizards.

Between what is the Karakum desert, which is the habitat of this amazing beast? These are sections from the Aral Sea to the Caspian Sea. But unfortunately,the development of these territories has led to a catastrophic decrease in the number of desert cats, and today only about 300 individuals remain in natural conditions.

Repetek Nature Reserve

It is advisable to start acquaintance with the flora and fauna of the Karakum desert from the central part of its Eastern zone. It was here, at a distance of 70 kilometers south of the city of Chardzhou, in 1928 that the unique Repetek Nature Reserve was organized. Its main task is to protect and study the natural complex, which is rich in the Karakum desert.

Repetek Nature Reserve covers an area of about thirty-five thousand hectares, which contains the main plant communities of the sandy sea of Turkmenistan and its diverse fauna.

This is interesting

The Karakum desert has a namesake. This relatively small sand formation - Karakum - is located in Kazakhstan. It is located between two lakes - Sassikol and Balkhash.

In the Karakum desert, many tourists are attracted by a burning well. It is located near the village of Darvaza. This is a former exploration well that collapsed due to a nearby underground void.

There is a lot of groundwater in the Karakum desert. Their especially large reserves are located near the Amu Darya.

Twenty thousand wells have been dug in the Karakum desert. Moreover, water from them, as a rule, is extracted in an ancient way, for which camels walking in a circle are used.