Geography of Uzbekistan in Uzbekistan is best exemplified by the catastrophe of the Aral Sea. Because of diversion of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya for cotton cultivation and other purposes, what once was the world's fourth largest inland sea has shrunk in the past thirty years to only about one-third of its 1960 volume and less than half its 1960 geographical size. The desiccation and salinization of the lake have caused extensive storms of salt and dust from the sea's dried bottom, wreaking havoc on the region's agriculture and ecosystems and on the population's health. Desertification has led to the large-scale loss
Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan border the border in 2000-2001 with an initial delimitation treaty being signed on 5 July 2001. The border was fully demarcated on the ground during the period 2003-2005. In 2013 a new cross-border railway was opened by Presidents Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan and Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan border The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan border is 413km (257m) in length and runs from the Caspian Sea to the tripoint with Uzbekistan. It is the shortest international boundary of both states. The land border starts at the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea at Cape Sue, just to the north of the Turkmen town of