Taukum

a massif of semiovergrown packed sands located in the Kazakh SSR, between the northern foot of the Aitau Range to the south, the lower Hi River to the north, and the Kurty River to the east. The Taukum has an area of about 10,000 sq km. It is 240 km long and 40–60 km wide.

It consists mainly of ridge and hilly sands, covered with wormwood-halophyte and, less frequently, wormwood-grassy or shrub vegetation. It is used mainly as winter pasture. There is a pasture and botanical station of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR in the Taukum.