Taukum () is a

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

in the

Almaty Region Almaty Region ( ), formerly known as the Alma-Ata Region until 1993, is a region in Kazakhstan, located in the southeastern part of the country. It surrounds, but does not include, the eponymous city of Almaty. Its capital is Qonaev. Geography ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

Geography

Taukum is a sandy desert that is located in the southwestern part of the

Balkhash-Alakol Basin The Balkhash-Alakol Basin or Balkhash-Alakol Depression(; ), is a flat structural basin in southeastern Kazakhstan.Ili River The Ili River (, , ; ; ; zh, 伊犁河, ; , ; , ) is a river in Northwest China and Southeastern Kazakhstan. It flows from the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region to the Almaty Region in Kazakhstan. It ...

, from the southern end of

Lake Balkhash Lake Balkhash, also spelt Lake Balqash (, , ), is a lake in southeastern Kazakhstan, one of the largest lakes in Asia and the 15th largest in the world. It is located in the eastern part of Central Asia and sits in the Balkhash-Alakol Basin, ...

to the Bozoi Plateau. The

Maizharylgan Maizharylgan (; ) is a mountain range located in Jambyl Region, Kazakhstan. Mirny, a mining town in the Moiynkum District, lies roughly to the northeast of the Maizharylgan. The area is a seasonal grazing ground for local cattle. Geography Th ...

, part of the

Chu-Ili Range The Chu-Ili Range () is a mountain range in Kazakhstan. Administratively it is part of the Almaty and Zhambyl regions. The M36 Highway skirts the range along its northeastern flank.Google Earth Geography The Chu-Ili Range is ancient and heav ...

rises to the west, and the Zhusandala Plain stretches to the south of the desert. Lake Itishpes lies at the northwestern end. The height of the sand dunes is between and .Таукум
''

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

'' in 30 vols. — Ch. ed.

A.M. Prokhorov Alexander Mikhailovich Prokhorov (born Alexander Michael Prochoroff, ; 11 July 1916 – 8 January 2002) was an Australian-born Russian physicist and researcher on lasers and masers, in the former Soviet Union. He shared the Nobel Prize in Ph ...

. - 3rd ed. - M. Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978. (in Russian)

Flora

The vegetation between sandy areas is made up of shrubs and grasses typical of arid zones, including

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia (plant), Artemisia''. The best-known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrush is native to the western half of North Amer ...

saltwort Saltwort is a common name for various genera of flowering plants that thrive in salty environments, typically in coastal salt marshes and seashores, including: :*'' Salsola'' and related genera within subfamily '' Salsoloideae'' :*''Salicornia'' :* ...

, dzhuzgun, wormwood,

saxaul ''Haloxylon'' is a genus of shrubs or small trees, belonging to the plant family Amaranthaceae. ''Haloxylon'' and its species are known by the common name saxaul. "Saksaul" is a common Turkic word that entered Russian through Kazakh. Descripti ...

and

wheatgrass Wheatgrass is the freshly sprouted Cotyledon, first leaves of the Wheat, common wheat plant (''Triticum aestivum''), used as a food, drink, or dietary supplement. Wheatgrass is served Freeze-drying, freeze dried or fresh, and so it differs from ...

. There is a narrow stretch of

riparian forest A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, Sink (geography), sink, or reservoir. Due to the broad nature of the definitio ...

by the banks of the Ili river, at the northern limit of the desert.''Kazakhstan National Encyclopedia.'' - Almaty: Kazakh encyclopedias, 2006. - T. V. -ISBN 9965-9908-5-9

References

External links

*
Kazakhstan (2/6): Kolshengel, Taukum Desert & Topar Lakes
Deserts of Central Asia Deserts of Kazakhstan Almaty Region {{AlmatyRegion-geo-stub

Geography

Flora

See also

References

External links