Kara Kum

Qara-Qum is the name of two deserts: The Caspian Qara Qum ("Black Sand") is the larger desert at over 300,000 km². It lies east of the Caspian Sea, with the Aral Sea to the north and the Amu Darya river and Qyzyl-Qum desert to the northeast, and covers 90 per cent of Turkmenistan. It is crossed by the Trans-Caspian railway and the largest irrigation canal in the world, the Qara-Qum Canal. The canal was started in 1954, is 1375 km in length, and carries 13 km³ of water annually. Unfortunately, leakages from the canal have created lakes and ponds along the canal and the rise in groundwater has caused widespread salinization. The area also has significant oil and natural gas deposits. The Aral Qara Qum desert (40,000 km²) lies north of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan.