A new issue of the international scientific and practical journal “Problems of Desert Development” has been published. The journal has been issued in Ashgabat since January 1967. The editorial office is located in the building of the National Institute of Deserts, Flora and Fauna of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan. Its editorial board, as well as its circle of authors, includes prominent desert researchers from Turkmenistan, Russia, China, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Israel.
The publication provides an opportunity for members of the scientific community to present their research, discoveries, and achievements — the results of many years of study.
The current issue contains more than eleven extensive articles and several short reports. Among the regular topics are issues related to the Aral Sea, mineral resource development, innovations in science and technology, expedition reports, proposals for the fuel and energy complex and the petrochemical industry, as well as anniversary features. In particular, Anatoly Bushmakin, scientist of Turkmenistan, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, has turned 90. This issue includes an article by him on the mud volcanoes of the Western Turkmen Depression. One of the articles is dedicated to Amangylych Babayev, Doctor of Geographical Sciences, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan, who passed away this year.
The journal’s monographs and joint publications by groups of scientists address issues of integrated land and water use in agricultural landscapes of the arid climatic zone, deflationary (wind-blown sand transport) processes in Western Turkmenistan, technical justification of parameters for agro-reclamation machinery, and the search for heat-accumulating materials from local raw resources for solar power plants. Valuable insights are provided in thematic articles on the history of research into the formation of the aeolian relief of the Garagum Desert, on the wild fruit species of southwestern Turkmenistan that are predecessors of cultivated varieties, on the avifauna of the Koytendag State Nature Reserve and its medicinal flora, on seismic risk assessment, as well as on new discoveries in the world of reptiles. Among the articles under the section “Science for Production” are: a geological justification for addressing the issue of industrial and technical water supply in the oil and gas–bearing area of the Zeagli-Darvaza structural uplift (based on underground water reserves), the possibility of extracting iodine from formation waters, including by ion-exchange methods, and an analysis of soil conditions at the construction site of the second phase of the Baherden Cement Plant in Ahal velayat.
The electronic version of the journal is available on the website of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan. In addition to this publication, visitors can also access the journals “Miras”, “Science and Technology in Turkmenistan” and “Science and Technology for Youth”.
