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GEOGRAPHY
Location:
Central Asia, north of Afghanistan
Map
references: Commonwealth of Independent States - Central Asian
States
total
area: 447,400 sq km
comparative
area: slightly larger than California
Land
boundaries: total 6,221 km, Afghanistan 137 km, Kazakhstan
2,203 km, Kyrgyzstan 1,099 km, Tajikistan 1,161 km, Turkmenistan
1,621 km
note:
Uzbekistan borders the Aral Sea (420 km)
Maritime
claims: none; landlocked
International
disputes: none
Climate:
mostly midlatitude desert, long, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid
grassland in east
Terrain:
mostly flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes; broad, flat intensely
irrigated river valleys along course of Amu Darya and Sirdaryo
Rivers; Fergana Valley in east surrounded by mountainous Tajikistan
and Kyrgyzstan; shrinking Aral Sea in west
Natural
resources: natural gas, petroleum, coal, gold, uranium, silver,
copper, lead and zinc, tungsten, molybdenum
meadows
and pastures: 47%
Irrigated
land: 41,550 sq km (1990)
current
issues: drying up of the Aral Sea is resulting in growing
concentrations of chemical pesticides and natural salts; these
substances are then blown from the increasingly exposed lake bed
and contribute to desertification; water pollution from industrial
wastes and the heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides is the
cause of many human health disorders; increasing soil salinization;
soil contamination from agricultural chemicals, including DDT
international
agreements: party to - Climate Change, Environmental Modification,
Ozone Layer Protection
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