The sandy desert of Karakum (Turkmenistan) is the largest in Central Asia and one of the largest on our planet. Its territory is vast. This is ¾ area of the whole of Turkmenistan. Where is the Karakum desert? It occupies the territory located between the foothills of Karabil, Vanhyz 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 Amu Darya valley, and in the west - with the Uzboy channel.
Geography
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 exceeds the size of countries such as Italy and the UK. An interesting comparison of 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 greater - Kalahari or Karakum, should bear 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, soil and vegetation. In this regard, scientists divide it into the Southeast, Low (Central) and Zaunguz (Northern) zones. These three parts of the desert distinguish one from another origin, weather conditions, as well as the degree of economic development.
Northern Karakum
The Zaunguz part of the Turkmen sandy sea has the oldest 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, rising above the rest by 40-50 kilometers. This arrangement gives reason to call the Northern Karakum Plateau. However, this is not true due to the too large fragmentation of this zone, on which the kyr are located - meridially elongated sand ridges reaching a height of 80-100 m, between which there are closed basins.
Groundwater occurring in the North Karakum is mostly salty. This does not allow the full use of these territories for pastures. In addition, the local climate is much more severe than in the other two zones.
From the north-western side, the Zaunguz Karakum is limited by the relatively well-preserved ancient channel of Western Uzbay. In the southern part, this desert zone ends with a ledge, the height of which ranges from 60 to 160 meters. This curving chain of shores, takyrs and sand depressions stretches from the Amu Darya and in the west reaches Uzboy. About how these mysterious depressions formed, is still unknown. According to some scientists, the edge of the Zaunguz uplift was formed due to the accumulation of salts, which scattered and destroyed natural rocks. Other researchers believe that this relief is an ancient little-preserved channel of the Amu Darya.
Southeast and Central Karakum
These territories are low-lying, with absolute elevation marks ranging from 50 to 200 m. It is not known for certain where the Karakum desert passes from one zone to another. After all, the border between these parts is very arbitrary. But they designate it along the Tenjen-Chardzhou railway line.
According to its landscape, Southeastern and Central Karakum is distinguished 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 fresh wells made it possible to more intensively use them economically. The development of these zones is also facilitated by the relatively long period without frost, the location near large cities and the high value of the sum of positive temperatures.
Climate
What is Karakum? This is a vast territory on which sharp daily changes in temperature 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 minus five degrees, and in the south - plus three. In July, the thermometer rises from 28 to 34 degrees. But here is the interesting thing. 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 hours in many of its parts the thermometer rises to plus fifty degrees and above. As for the soil, the heating on it is much greater. Sometimes the temperature of the sand reaches eighty degrees.
In winter, severe frosts are characteristic of the Karakum desert. This season, on the territory of the sandy sea, the thermometer column drops below thirty degrees.
As for precipitation, they are 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 Karakum is considered to be the period from November to April. At this time, up to seventy percent of the annual rainfall falls here.
origin of 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 more or less 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, this 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 man.
Archaeological discoveries
According to researchers, the Karakum desert was inhabited by people in the fourth millennium BC. Settlements of ancient tribes were discovered by scientists in an oasis near the delta of the now defunct Murghaba River. This part of the territory attracted people in later centuries. Even at the end of the third millennium BC, when the vast area from Greece to India was covered by a severe drought, the inhabitants of Northern Syria or Eastern Anatolia moved to this oasis.
Scientists made an even more significant discovery in 1972. An archaeological expedition led by V. I. Sarianidi discovered the ruins of the ancient temple city of Gonur-Depe in Karakum, which means “gray hill” in Turkmen. This settlement was a grandiose complex erected from stone, in the center of which were the churches of the Sacrifice, Fire and other structures. On the perimeter, all the 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 two hundred more settlements were found. At the same time, scientists argue that Margush in former times was not inferior in importance 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. Sands later simply swept over 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 relatively recently. So, the age of its Zaunguz site 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 section of the Karakum is even younger. It was formed from the steppes only 2-2.5 thousand years ago.
What geological pedigree does the Karakum desert have? Scientists have two hypotheses on this score. According to one of them, put forward by mining engineer A.M. Konshin, desert formation occurred on the territory of the ancient dry Aral-Caspian Sea, which was part of the prehistoric Tethys Ocean.
According to the second hypothesis, which, according to most scientists, the Karakum territory was formed thanks to the Murgab, Amu Darya and many others, which carried clay, sand and other products from the destruction of rocks of the southern ridges of the Kopetdag mountains. This process occurred at the beginning of the Quaternary. At this time, the cooling suddenly changed to warming, and the melted glaciers contributed to the fact that the rivers became fast 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 are constantly striving to expand their horizons. The sandy sea of Turkmenistan is the place where only the 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 several dozen diverse species of reptiles and not one thousand species of arthropods. Three dozen bird species and two hundred and seventy plant species feel comfortable in this area. They consider the desert their home, which means that there is something mysterious and unknown to man in it.
Vegetation
A variety of shrubs grow on the sandy territory of the Karakum. Among them are black and white saxaul, Circassian, Kandym and astragalus. Sand acacia is also found here. Of the grass cover in the desert, the most swollen sedge, there are saxaul, hodgepodge, ephemeral and other communities.
Xerophytic shrubs and shrubs grow in the areas of arid Karakum plains. Many of them lack leaf cover or they dump it when a drought occurs.
The roots of plants growing in the desert are branched and long. They are forced to penetrate to great depths. For example, a camel thorn. Its root system penetrates more than twenty meters into the sandy soil.
Desert plants propagate by seeds, which, as a rule, are pubescent or have peculiar wings. This structure facilitates their movement in the air. Many of the plants of the Karakum desert easily root even when they enter mobile soils. Tugai stands out especially. 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 exist in sandy areas. Most of them prefer to lead a nocturnal lifestyle, and are also able to do without water for a long time. In addition, the animals that can be found in the desert are magnificent runners. They easily travel long distances.
Among the representatives of mammals in Karakum you can find a wolf and a jackal, a gazelle and a gopher, a steppe and a sand dune, a jerboa and a fox-corsac. The world of reptiles is represented by lizards and cobras, sand boas and an arrow snake, agamas and steppe turtles. Desert crows and larks, saxaul jays and sparrows fly in the sky over the sandy sea, as well as mule reels.
From invertebrates in this territory there are scorpions, phalanges, beetles and karakurt spiders. More than fifty species of fish live in the Amu Darya, the Karakum Canal and in the reservoirs, among which there are herbivorous silver carp and grass carp.
Desert cat
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 caracal, these territories are home. And this is not surprising. The deserted beast is painted in light brown color, which allows it to be almost invisible among the foothill ledges and sand dunes. The main food of caracal are 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 led to a catastrophic decrease in the number of desert cats, and today in natural conditions there are only about 300 individuals left.
Repetek Nature Reserve
Familiarity with the flora and fauna of the Karakum desert is desirable to begin with the central part of its Eastern zone. It was here, at a distance of 70 kilometers south of Chardzhou, in 1928 a unique Repetek Nature Reserve was organized. Its main task is to protect and study the natural complex with which the Karakum desert is rich.
The Repetek 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 wildlife.
