The Kyzylkum natural-geographic district

The Kyzylkum climate is continental: winter cold, summer hot, dry and sunny. Because the north is open, Arctic and Siberian air often enters and temperatures fall to –31…–35°C; the January mean is –5…–10°C in the north, –2…–4°C in the middle and –1…–2°C in the south. The July mean is +30°C in the centre and south and +26…+28°C elsewhere, the hottest temperature reaches +48°C and the sand surface heats to +75…+80°C. Annual precipitation is very small — 75–100 mm, of which 48 percent falls in spring and 30 percent in winter; possible evaporation is 1000–1500 mm. There is no permanent flowing water: only the transit Amudarya passes through in the south-west, and in spring temporary streams appear in the residual mountains and dry up. Ground water is plentiful: salty ground water, fresh pressure water between Mesozoic and Paleogene layers, and thermal mineral water in the Paleozoic. Soils: sandy and sandy loam on the plain, grey-brown around the mountains and saline in hollows. The Kyzylkum has more than 600 plant species: ephemerals and ephemeroids in spring (sedge, brome, tulip), calligonum, white saxaul, kandym and selin on fixed sands, black saxaul, tamarisk and sarisazan on saline soils, and tugai along the Amudarya. Animals: ground squirrel, sand mouse, jerboa, monitor lizard, snakes, desert cat, gazelle, wolf, fox; scorpion, black widow and solifuge among insects. The Kyzylkum Reserve protects the tugai on the Amudarya and its animals, including the Bukhara deer.