Kara Kum Desert Uzbekistan Turkmenistan

The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara Kum and Gara Gum is a desert in Central Asia. It occupies about 70 percent, or 350,000 km?, of the area of Turkmenistan. Covering much of present day Turkmenistan, the Karakum Desert lies east of the Caspian Sea, with the Aral Sea to the north and the Amu Darya river and the Kyzyl Kum desert to the northeast. In modern times, with the shrinking of the Aral Sea, the extended Aral Karakum has appeared on the former seabed, with an estimated area of 15,440 sq. The sands of the Aral Karakum are made up of a salt marsh consisting of finely dispersed evaporites 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.