Climate, waters, soils, plants and animals (Lower Amudarya)
The climate of the Lower Amudarya is continental: winters are long and cold, summers hot and relatively dry. Because the north is flat, the Siberian anticyclone and Arctic air enter unhindered: the January mean is –4.5…–7.6°C with coldest days at –32…–33°C. The July mean is +27…+28°C and the hottest temperature +44…+46°C. Annual precipitation is 80–100 mm, one of the lowest in the republic; evaporation is about 20 times precipitation (about 2000 mm). The district’s only river is the Amudarya. Before 1961 it poured about 31 km³ of water a year into the Aral; later so much was taken for irrigation that inflow fell sharply. Water goes to irrigation through canals such as Shavat, Tashsaka, Kyzketken and Suenly; drainage water goes through the Daryalyk and Ozerny collectors into Lake Sarykamysh, and part into hollows (Sudochye, Karategin, Khojakul). The Tuyamuyun reservoir improves water supply. Ground water is shallow (1–2.5 m in irrigated land) and salty. The most widespread soil is meadow-oasis soil (humus about 2 percent); away from the river there are saline soils and takyrs. In the tugai grow reed, tamarisk, turanga poplar, wild oleaster and camel-thorn; animals: jackal, boar, pheasant, jungle cat, geese and ducks. The Lower Amudarya State Biosphere Reserve (Badai-Tugai) protects the tugai and the Bukhara deer, and the Sudochye zakaznik protects the delta fauna.
“Water path”: draw a scheme of the path from the Amudarya to irrigation canals and drainage collectors (canals blue, drains brown). Do not play at the edge of rivers and canals.