Uzbekistan’s geographic position and relief

About 79 percent (78.7) of Uzbekistan’s territory is plains and the rest is mountains and intermountain depressions; the surface rises from the west and north-west towards the east and south-east. The plain is part of the Turan Plain: in the north-west is the Ustyurt Plateau (120–180 m high) with steep chinks; in the lower Amudarya there is a large delta; east of it lies the Kyzylkum desert with low mountains such as the Bukantau and Sultan Uvays and the Mingbulak Depression (12 m below sea level, the lowest place in Uzbekistan). The mountains are the western branches of the Western Tien Shan (Chatkal, Kurama, Pskem, Ugam) and of the Gissar-Alay. The highest point is Hazrat Sultan Peak (4643 m) in the Gissar range. Between the mountains lie the Chirchiq-Ohangaron, Fergana, Zarafshan, Kashkadarya (Kitab-Shahrisabz) and Surkhan-Sherabad depressions, flat and fertile oases made of deposits carried by rivers.