The Ustyurt or Ust-Yurt (from kk, Үстірт; uz, Ustyurt; tk, Üstyurt; — flat hill, plateau) is a transboundary clay

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

shared by

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. The plateau's semi-nomadic population raises

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s, and

camel A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...

Geography

The Ustyurt is located between the

Dead Kultuk The Dead Kultuk ( kk, Өлі қолтық шығанағы ''Ölı qoltyq şyğanağy''; russian: Мёртвый Култук) is a bay of the Caspian Sea in the coast of Kazakhstan, west of the Ustyurt desert. The bay was known as 'Tsesarevich ...

Mangyshlak Peninsula Mangyshlak or Mangghyshlaq Peninsula ( kk, Маңғыстау түбегі, translit=Mañğystau tübegı; russian: Полуостров Мангышла́к, translit=Poluostrov Mangyshlák) is a large peninsula located in western Kazakhstan. It ...

and Kara-Bogaz-Gol of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

to the west, and the

Aral Sea The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic basin, endorheic lake lyi ...

Amudarya The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central A ...

Delta and

Sarygamysh Lake The Sarygamysh Lake, also Sarykamysh or Sary-Kamysh (, , ), is a lake in Central Asia. It is about midway between the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea. It is the largest lake in Turkmenistan, in which three quarters of the entire lake's area is loca ...

to the east. It extends roughly , with an average altitude of . Its highest point rises to in the south-west. At its northeastern edge it drops steeply to the Aral Sea and the surrounding plain.

Protected areas

Kazakhstan created the

Ustyurt Nature Reserve Ustyurt Nature Reserve ( kz, Үстірт мемлекеттік табиғи қорығы, ''Üstırt memlekettık tabiği qoryğy''; russian: Устюрт национальный заповедник, ''Ustyurt natsional'nyy zapovednik''), or ...

(223,300 hectares) in July, 1984 in the south of Mangystausky district in Eralievsky region. It preserves rare fauna and flora such as the

Ustyurt Mountain sheep The Ustyurt mountain sheep (''Ovis vignei cycloceros''), often referred to as the Turkmenian mountain sheep, is a subspecies of the urial that inhabits the mountain plateau regions of parts of Central Asia, especially the Ustyurt plateau from whic ...

and the

Saiga antelope The saiga antelope (, ''Saiga tatarica''), or saiga, is a critically endangered antelope which during antiquity inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe spanning the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in the northwest and Caucasus in t ...

. Among its features are Sherkala Mountain and the concretions found in the Torysh ('Valley of Balls') near the town of

Shetpe Shetpe (, ''Шетпе'', ''شەتپە'') is a selo and the administrative center of Mangystau District in Mangystau Region in western Kazakhstan. Population: Climate Shetpe has a cold desert climate (Köppen climate classification Th ...

References

External links

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Hundreds of desert kites in the Ustyurt
Nat. Geographic Plateaus of Kazakhstan Landforms of Uzbekistan Plateaus of Asia {{Kazakhstan-geo-stub

Geography

Protected areas

See also

References

External links