Kyzylkum Desert


The Kyzylkum Desert is the 15th largest desert in the world. Its name means Red Sand in Turkic languages. It is located in Central Asia in the doab between the rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya, a region historically known as Transoxania or Sogdiana. Today it is divided between Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It covers about.

Geography

The territory consists mainly of an extensive plain at an altitude up to above sea level, with a number of depressions and highlands. Most of the area is covered with dunes ; in the northwest large areas are covered with takirs ; there are also some oases. There are agricultural settlements along the rivers and in the oases. Temperatures can be very high during the summer months, from mid-May to mid-September. Kerki, one extreme inland city located on the banks of the Amu Darya River, recorded in July 1983. It is mainly located in Uzbekistan.

Fauna

Desert fauna include the Russian tortoise and a large lizard known as the Transcaspian or desert monitor, which can reach lengths of. The saiga antelope also occasionally migrates through the northern part of the desert.
Kyzylkum Nature Reserve in Bukhara Province was established in 1971. The area of the reserve amounts to and it is located on flood-land drained by the Amudarya close to the settlement Dargan Ata. Fauna include: Bactrian deer, wild boar, common pheasant, golden eagle.
Djeyran Reserve is located south of Bukhara. The total area of this reserve is. It is a breeding centre for rare species such as goitered gazelle, Przewalski's horse, Turkmenian kulan and MacQueen's bustard. The reserve was founded in 1977 on the enclosed area in.

Paleontology

The Kyzylkum Desert has exposed rock formations that have yielded a number of fossils. Of particular interest is the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan, from the early Late Cretaceous, which has produced several species of early birds: Incolornis martini, Explorornis walkeri, Kizylkumavis cretacea, Kuszholia mengi, Lenesornis kaskarovi, Sazavis prisca, Zhyraornis kaskarovi and Z. logunovi are recognized as valid species. Tyrannosaurid, therizinosaurid, ornithomimosaur, oviraptorosaurian, troodontid, ankylosaur, hadrosaur, and ceratopsian dinosaurs are also known from this rock unit. Other fossils from the Cretaceous rocks of the Kyzylkum include tree trunks, pelecypods, beetles, sharks, rays, bony fish, frogs, salamanders, turtles, crocodylomorphs, pterosaurs, and a varied fauna of small early mammals. Paleontologists that have worked in this area include J. David Archibald, Alexander Averianov, Sergei Kurzanov, Lev Nesov, Anatoly Riabinin, Anatoly Rozhdestvensky, and Hans-Dieter Sues.

Economy

The local population uses the large spaces of the Kyzylkum Desert as a pasture for livestock.
The desert is well known for its deposits of gold, uranium, copper, aluminium and silver, natural gas and oil. The development of the most 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: НГМК and the Uzbek U.S.A. Joint Venture "Zarafshan-Newmont". The centres of the gas-production industry are Gazli and Mubarek.

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