The deserts are dunes, with a little vegetation, and salty, clay basins between them. In the southwest the desert is called the Kyzylkum and in the northeast, the Muyunkum. Between them is the Syrdarya River, which flows from the south, northwest into the Aral Sea, a shallow salt lake(1). The Chu River flows through the Muyunkum desert to nowhere, east to west.
(1) At least until the mid-20th century, this 'sea' was Asia's second largest lake, the world's fourth. It is, however, drying up and getting smaller.