The Turan Depression, Turan Lowland or Turanian Basin is a low-lying desert basin region stretching from southern

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

through

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Geography

The

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of p ...

region lies to the east of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

and southeast of the Aral Sea in the vast Aral–Caspian Depression but extends to parts above sea level as well. It is one of the largest expanses of sand in the world, covering an area of around 3 million km². On average, the region receives less than 15 inches (381mm) of

rainfall Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

per year. The

Karakum Karakum may refer to: *Karakum Desert, a desert in Central Asia * ''Karakum'' (film), a 1994 Turkmen film *Karakum Canal, Turkmenistan * Karakum District, Turkmenistan See also * Karakoram, a large mountain range spanning the borders of India, Pak ...

desert lies at the southern portion of the Turan Lowlands. The part of the depression adjacent to the Aral Sea is drainless. It includes a network of temporary streams usually ending in

solonchak Solonchak ( Russian and Ukrainian: Солончак) is a Reference Soil Group of the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB). It is a pale or grey soil type found in arid to subhumid, poorly drained conditions. The word is Russian for "sa ...

terrain and salt flats ''(sor)'', as well as a number of salt lakes. Three of the largest cities in the Turan Depression are Daşoguz in

Nukus Nukus ( kaa, Nókis / ; uz, Nukus / ; kk, Нүкіс / ) is the sixth-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan. The population of Nukus as of January 1, 2022 was 329,100. The Amu Darya river passe ...

, and Urganch, also in Uzbekistan. Vpadina Akchanaya in Turkmenistan is 267 feet (81 meters) below

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. The Amu Darya River runs in a southeast–north-westerly direction through the lowlands. In the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

, the territory of the modern Turan depression was the bottom of the vast Turan Sea, which was divided into the modern Caspian and Aral seas about ten thousand years ago.

References

Depressions of Kazakhstan Depressions of Turkmenistan Depressions of Uzbekistan Depressions (geology) Endorheic basins of Asia {{Kazakhstan-geo-stub