- Climate
- Flora and fauna
- Darvaz craters
- Desert tracts and gorges
- Cities
- Rivers and reservoirs
- Oases and resorts
- Video
The Karakum Desert, or Garagum, is located in the south of Central Asia and covers most of Turkmenistan. Stretching for 350 thousand square kilometers, it borders on the Karabil, Badkhyz, Kopetdag heights in the south, the Khorezm lowland in the north, in the west with the Balkhanam and the channel of Western Uzboy, in the east with the Amu Darya valley. Garakum in translation from the Turkmen language means black sand.
The hilly surface with sandy dunes creates the impression that you are walking on the waves of a rippled sandy ocean. The sand seems to be moving.
Climate
The Karakum desert is one of the hottest deserts in the world. The temperature in some areas reaches 50 degrees, and the surface of the sand warms up to 80, which makes it impossible to walk on it without shoes. In winter, the temperature can drop to minus 25. Due to the great dryness and frequent winds, the air is saturated with dust, standing above the earth's surface. Dust storms and scarcity of precipitation make it impossible to use the territory of the Karakum Desert in agriculture.
Flora and fauna
Spring comes to the desert at the end of January. The entire surface of the desert, with the exception of the dune sands, is covered with lush vegetation for several weeks. Pink, purple, yellow and bright red tulips, scarlet poppies, wild calendula, astragalus, capers with white flowers, sandy acacia bloom against the background of sand sedge and green saxauls, creating a colorful carpet. Plants mature quickly and, with the onset of a drought period, throw off their leaves until the next spring.
Animals adapted to life in the desert become active at night and can go without water for a long time. They are very hardy to move quickly over great distances. Among the animals there are jackal, wolf, gazelle, sand and steppe cats, gopher, jerboa and fox - korsak. From birds - lark, saxaul and desert sparrows, jay, cattle, finch, raven. From reptiles - gyurza, cobra, sand boa, turtle, monitor lizard, agama, efa.
In the central region of the Eastern Karakum, south of the city of Chardzhou, there is the Repetek International Biosphere Reserve, founded in 1928.
Darvaz craters
In 1971, not far from the village of Darvaza, while drilling, geologists discovered a large cavity (void) filled with a huge accumulation of gas, into which drilling equipment fell. To prevent gases harmful to people and animals from coming to the surface, they were set on fire.
Natural gas has been burning continuously since that time. Columns of flame up to 15 meters high are erupting from its depths. The height of the crater is twenty meters, the crossbar is sixty. "The gate to the underworld" - this is how the locals call it. Curious tourists are happy to take photos and videos of this phenomenon. The fiery red glow of the blazing gas is especially visible at night. There are two more such craters not far from Dervaz, but they do not burn.
Desert tracts and gorges
- Kyrkdzhulby is a picturesque tract in the Karakum desert, located among sand dunes with a bright reddish tint of the earth.
- Archabil Gorge is a narrow intermountain valley with virgin nature along the banks of the Firyuzinka River.
- Mergenishan Gorge is a winding rocky canyon, formed in the 13th century, as a result of the eruption of the waters of Lake Tyunyuklyu into Sarikamysh through a gentle plain.
Cities
Mary, the third largest city in Turkmenistan, is located in a large oasis in the middle of the Karakum Desert. The city has a large museum of historical finds, Turkmen carpets, silver and national costumes.
Several settlements formed the protected historical and architectural region "Bayramali": the archaeological ensemble Gonur-Depe, the national historical and cultural park Merk (Sultan-Kala 9th century, Gyaur-Kala 3rd century BC - 9th century AD, Erkkala 1st century BC, Mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar, 12th century, Khara castle - Keshk, 13th century).
In Turkmenbashi, the tomb of Shir-Kabib of the 10th century, the Parau-Bibi mosque, which is the center of the pilgrimage of Muslim women, the Tasharvat caravanserai and the ruins of the ancient settlement of Misrian with two remaining twenty-meter minarets, are of interest.
In Turkmenabat - the city of Amul-Charjuy, the Atamurat museum with the tomb of Almutasir and Astana-baba, the ancient caravanserai Bai-Khatyn, in which frescoes with picturesque stone carvings have survived. The Repetek Reserve Park, a section of the Karakum Desert, is the most sultry region in Central Asia.
Rivers and reservoirs
The Karakum canal originates from the Amu Darya river and follows through the sands in the southeast of the Karakum Desert, crosses the Murghab oasis and the Murgab and Tejen interfluve to the foothills of the Kopetdag. It is used for shipping. The valley of the main river Amu Darya borders on the Karakum Desert, and the channels of the Tejen and Mugrab rivers are lost in the sands of the desert. Sarakamysh (drying up) and Turkmen (Altyn-Asyr) are designed to solve the problem with water in the desert.
Oases and resorts
Amudarya, Tezhensky and Mervsky are the largest oases of the Karakum Desert. The most famous are the climatic resorts of Firyuza and Bayram, the balneological resorts Archman and Mollakara.
