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Uzbekistan: Geography
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Location:
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Central Asia, north of Afghanistan
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Geographic coordinates:
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41 00 N, 64 00 E
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Map references:
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Asia
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Area:
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total: 447,400 sq km
water: 22,000 sq km
land: 425,400 sq km
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Area - comparative:
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slightly larger than California
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Land boundaries:
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total: 6,221 km
border countries: Afghanistan 137 km, Kazakhstan 2,203 km, Kyrgyzstan 1,099 km, Tajikistan 1,161 km, Turkmenistan 1,621 km
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Coastline:
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0 km (doubly landlocked); note - Uzbekistan includes the southern portion of the Aral Sea with a 420 km shoreline
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Maritime claims:
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none (doubly landlocked)
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Climate:
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mostly midlatitude desert, long, hot summers, mild winters; semiarid grassland in east
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Terrain:
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mostly flat-to-rolling sandy desert with dunes; broad, flat intensely irrigated river valleys along course of Amu Darya, Syr Darya (Sirdaryo), and Zarafshon; Fergana Valley in east surrounded by mountainous Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan; shrinking Aral Sea in west
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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point: Sariqarnish Kuli -12 m
highest point: Adelunga Toghi 4,301 m
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Natural resources:
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natural gas, petroleum, coal, gold, uranium, silver, copper, lead and zinc, tungsten, molybdenum
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Land use:
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arable land: 10.8%
permanent crops: 0.91%
other: 88.29% (1998 est.)
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Irrigated land:
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42,810 sq km (1998 est.)
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Natural hazards:
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NA
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Environment - current issues:
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shrinkage 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 salination; soil contamination from buried nuclear processing and agricultural chemicals, including DDT
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Environment - international agreements:
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party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
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Geography - note:
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along with Liechtenstein, one of the only two doubly landlocked countries in the world
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