The Middle Zarafshan natural-geographic district

The climate is close to that of Uzbekistan’s plain: winters are cold, summers hot and dry. The southern position and the mountains in the north and north-east prevent excessive winter cooling: the January mean is –1…–2°C, sometimes down to –24…–35°C, the summer mean +26…+28°C and the hottest +40…+44°C. There are 213–215 frost-free days. Precipitation increases from west to east: 177 mm at Navoi, 282 mm at Kattakurgan, 328 mm at Samarkand and 881 mm in the mountains at Omonkutan; 49 percent falls in spring, 33 percent in winter and only 4 percent in summer. The Zarafshan begins from the Zarafshan Glacier as the Matcha and is called Zarafshan after the Fandarya joins it. Near Samarkand it splits into the Akdarya and Karadarya and rejoins at Khatirchi; between them lies Miyonkal Island, about 100 km long. Being fed by ice and snow, about 61 percent of its annual flow comes in the irrigation season; the mean discharge is 165 m³/s. No permanent tributary joins the Zarafshan in the district, and about 120 streams are used up for irrigation. The Kattakurgan reservoir serves rational use of water. In irrigated places there are meadow-oasis and grey-oasis soils, and in the foothills light, ordinary and dark grey soils. Natural vegetation has changed greatly and crops dominate. On the lower floodplains reed, tamarisk, willow and sea-buckthorn grow. Because people live densely, animals are few and found on undeveloped land. The Zarafshan Reserve (1975) protects the tugai landscape.