Turan Depression

The lowlands of Turan is about 1.8 million km ² of flat land in Central Asia.

Geography

The lowlands of Turan is located on the territory of Member States Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. It lies between the Caspian Sea in the west and the Central Asian mountains to the east, the north it borders on the Urals and to the Kazakh threshold.

There is on average about 300 m above sea level. Occasionally there are smaller plateaus.

To the south are located in irrigated oases and river valleys with agricultural growing areas of cotton and cereal crops. 80 % of the area of the lowlands of Turan are sand or salt flats. There are only minor herbs and shrubs, of which feed mainly sheep and camels.

A number of rivers flow through the lowlands of Turan. The most important are the Amu Darya and Syr Darya of which opens into the Northern Aral Sea.

Economy

Economically important is the lowlands of Turan because of the oil and natural gas deposits in the Caspian Sea as well as due to salt depletion.