Kara Kum

Kara Kum or Garagum, desert, occupying most of Turkmenistan; its name is Turkic for “black sand”. The desert extends from the Ust-Urt plateau on the north to the Amu Darya River on the east to the Koppeh Dāgh Mountains on the south, and nearly to the Caspian Sea on the west. Consisting chiefly of large expanses of hard-packed clay and rolling sand dunes, the terrain is generally devoid of vegetation. Certain species of steppe bushes and a few varieties of flowering plants occur in limited areas of the region, mainly in the south-east. The area of the Kara Kum is about 285,000 sq km (110,000 sq mi).