The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum and Gara Gum (“Black Sand”) (Turkmen: Garagum, Russian: Karakumy) is a desert in Central Asia. It occupies about 70 percent, or 350,000 km², of the area of Turkmenistan.
The Murghab and Tejen rivers flow out of the Hindu Kush Mountains to the south and empty into the desert, providing water for irrigation.
The desert is crossed by the largest irrigation canal in the world, the Qara-Qum Canal. The canal was started in 1954, is 1,375 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 Caspian KaraKum ("Black Sand"), the larger desert at over 300,000 km², is east of the Caspian Sea, with the Aral Sea to the north and the Amu Darya river and Kyzyl-Kum 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 Kara-KumCanal at 1375 km in length.
The Aral KaraKum desert (40,000 km²) lies north of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan.
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