The Karakum Desert (/ˈkærəkʌm/ KARR-ə-kum; Russian: Каракумы, IPA: [kərɐˈkumɨ]), also spelt Qaraqum and Garagum (Turkmen: [ɢɑɾɑˈʁʊm]; lit.

The delta is that of the Amu Darya river to the northeast, demarcating the long border with the Kyzylkum Desert of Uzbekistan.

The sea has fluctuated over millennia, but its majority loss during the Soviet Union's existence coincided with great irrigation projects.

The two flows merged and formed or expanded Horezm Lake, which had been formed by the earlier Khvalinian period, and as it overflowed northwards it carved its link with the Aral Sea along the Akcha Dar'ya population corridor of that low, gentle valley (a remote community of Western Uzbekistan and north-east Turkmenistan).

[7] The sands of the Aral Karakum are made of finely-dispersed evaporites and remnants of alkaline mineral deposits, washed into the basin from irrigated fields.

The tolai hare, goitered gazelle, and corsac fox are examples of mammal species in the Karakum Desert.

[1] Within the Karakum are the Uly Balkan, a mountain range in which archaeologists have found human remains dating back to the Stone Age.

The Dashoguz Collector, spanning a distance of 432 kilometers, traces approximately half of its course along the historic path of the Uzboy River.