The name of which desert in Central Asia is translated as "dark sand"?

The Karakum Desert, also spelled Kara-Kum is a desert in Central Asia. Its second word means sand; its first is a contraction of garaňky: "dark" or may pre-date that (be a derivation from a likely broader meaning which the word for black bore: gara) in this language family. This refers to the shale-rich sand generally beneath the sand of much of the desert. It occupies about 70 percent, 350,000 km2, of Turkmenistan.

The population is sparse, with an average of one person per 6.5 km2 (2.5 square miles). Rainfall is also rare, ranging from 70 to 150 mm per year.

The Karakum Desert is home to the Darvaza Gas Crater. The area has significant oil and natural gas deposits.