beetles, sharks, rays, bony fish, frogs, salamanders, turtles, crocodylomorphs, pterosaurs, and a varied fauna of small early mammals. Paleontologists that have worked in this area include J. David Archibald, Alexander Averianov, Sergei Kurzanov, Lev Nesov, Anatoly Riabinin, Anatoly Rozhdestvensky, and Hans-Dieter Sues. Economy The local population uses the large spaces of the Kyzylkum Desert as a pasture for livestock (mostly sheep, Bactrian camels and dromedaries). The desert is well known for its deposits of gold, uranium, copper, aluminium and silver, natural gas and oil. The development of the most famous gold-field at Muruntau began in the early 1970s. The centres for the mining and smelting industry at the region are Navoi, Zarafshan, Uchkuduk. The major industrial enterprises are: НГМК (Navoi Mining and Smelting Complex) and the Uzbek U.S.A. Joint Venture "Zarafshan-Newmont". The centres of the gas-production industry are Gazli and Mubarek. Gallery See also Andronovo culture Aydar Lake, large artificial lake Central Asian northern desert, an ecoregion largely corresponding with the Kyzylkum Desert Karakum Desert, another desert of Central Asia List of deserts by area Sarmishsay, ancient monuments of anthropogenic activity References External links Slideshow: Across Central Asia’s Empty Core – Walking the caravan routes of the Kyzyl Kum desert Deserts of Central Asia Deserts of Kazakhstan Deserts of Turkmenistan Deserts of Uzbekistan Ergs