Karaschor

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Karashor is a natural depression in northwestern Turkmenistan , south of the Sarykamysh Depression in the Karakum Desert . It is over 100 km long, about 15 km wide and tapers to the south-southeast. The border between the Balkans and Daşoguz provinces runs through the middle of the valley . The depression fills seasonally with rainwater. Its main tributary is at the southwest end when the Usboi , which collects groundwater in this area, breaks into the depression. It is then swampy and has its deepest point in the northernmost part, Lake Karakum. The lowest point is 28 meters below sea level, which corresponds to the coastline of the Caspian Sea .

Lake of the Golden Age

The Lake of the Golden Age is to be created in the Depression , a 2,000 square kilometer inland lake that will absorb wastewater from 450,000 hectares of agricultural land (mainly cotton growing) in order to prevent further salinization of the soil. There are two canal collectors: the 432-kilometer-long Daschogus-collector from the east (about half of which follows a former arm of the Usboi) and the 720-kilometer-long Great Turkmen collector, which begins in the province of Lebap and the valley of the Ungus about in the middle of the Karakum drained to the northwest, should fill the new lake within many years. Construction began under President Saparmurat Niyazov in 2000. Since July 2009, water has been flowing into the Karaschor Depression .

There is a suspicion that the water to be filtered could still leave a toxic lake through overfertilization and pesticides. In addition, the increased evaporation could promote the salinisation of the soil instead of preventing it through drainage. In this case, analysts fear that Turkmenistan would drain even more water from the Amu Darya and cut Uzbekistan off from its main source of water. The farmers affected had already requested this before.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Relief of Turkmenistan on geografictm.narod.ru (in the web archive)
  2. ^ Turkmenistan to create desert sea. bbc.co.uk, July 16, 2009, accessed April 22, 2019
  3. ↑ A lake in the middle of the desert. Die Presse, June 11, 2008, accessed April 22, 2019

Coordinates: 40 ° 42 ′ 22 "  N , 56 ° 47 ′ 35"  E