What physical features in Central Asia and the Caucasus shape settlement patterns?

Settlement in Central Asia and the Caucasus is not uniform, certain areas of the region are inhabited and some others don't even have population in.

Settlement patterns are strongly shaped by climate conditions and geography off course, throughout ages, the region has witness how nomadic civilizations interacted with the geography and weather, molding oasis civilizations, where deserts and mountains are the physical features impacting predominantly the settlement patterns.

There are a variety of physical features in Central Asia and the Caucasus, they are: in the southeastern part, we can see the Tien Shan and Pamir-Alai mountain ranges. In Tajikistan, there is The Fedchenko Glacier. The Syr Darya and the Amu Darya rivers are found in the west. Another important feature is the Climate that is arid or semi-arid. There are the Kara Kum (Turkmenistan) and Kyzyl Kum (Uzbekistan) deserts in the East. And Grasslands created the rich topsoil in Kazakhstan--chernozem in the north.