Turkmenistan Geography - 2004

Location:
Central Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea, between Iran and Kazakhstan

Geographic coordinates:
40 00 N, 60 00 E

Map references:
Asia

Area:
total: 488,100 sq km
water: negl.
land: 488,100 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly larger than California

Land boundaries:
total: 3,736 km
border countries: Afghanistan 744 km, Iran 992 km, Kazakhstan 379 km, Uzbekistan 1,621 km

Coastline:
0 km; note - Turkmenistan borders the Caspian Sea (1,768 km)

Climate:
subtropical desert

Terrain:
flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes rising to mountains in the south; low mountains along border with Iran; borders Caspian Sea in west

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Vpadina Akchanaya -81 m; note - Sarygamysh Koli is a lake in northern Turkmenistan with a water level that fluctuates above and below the elevation of Vpadina Akchanaya (the lake has dropped as low as -110 m)
highest point: Gora Ayribaba 3,139 m

Natural resources:
petroleum, natural gas, coal, sulfur, salt

Land use:
arable land: 3.6%
permanent crops: 0.1%
other: 96.3% (2003 est.)

Irrigated land:
17,500 sq km (2003 est.)

Natural hazards:
NA

Environment - current issues:
contamination of soil and groundwater with agricultural chemicals, pesticides; salination, water-logging of soil due to poor irrigation methods; Caspian Sea pollution; diversion of a large share of the flow of the Amu Darya into irrigation contributes to that river's inability to replenish the Aral Sea; desertification

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements