The Great Aral Sea: causes of death, history, photo

In this article we will talk about one of the corners of the earth, turned into a barren desert as a result of improper conduct of people's agricultural activities.

general information

Earlier in size, the Aral Sea was the fourth reservoir in the world. The death of the Aral Sea was the result of excessive water abstraction for irrigation of huge agricultural lands of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Everything that happens to the Aral Sea is an irreparable ecological disaster.

A little more about this and many other things relating to this natural reservoir, will be discussed further in the article.

Even scary to imagine, but the area of the Aral Sea and its volume for today account for only a quarter and about 10% of the original values.

Meaning of the sea name

There is a considerable number of islands in this natural reservoir. In connection with this, it was called the Aral Sea. From the indigenous language of these places this word is translated as "the sea of islands".

The Aral Sea today: general characteristics, location

In fact, today it is a drainless, salty, relict lake. Its location is Central Asia, the borders of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Due to the changing currents of the Syr Darya and Amudarya rivers feeding the sea, from the middle of the 20th century, a huge loss of water volume occurred with a corresponding decrease in their surface, which caused an ecological catastrophe of unimaginable proportions.

Back in 1960, the Great Aral Sea was really so. The surface of the water mirror was 53 meters above sea level, and the total area was 68,000 square kilometers. Stretching it was about 435 km from north to south and 290 km from east to west. Its average depth reached 16 meters, and the deepest places - 69 meters.

The Aral Sea today is a drying lake that has shrunk in size. It went 100 km from its former coastline (for example, in the Uzbek city of Muynak).

Climate

The territory of the Aral Sea is characterized by a continental desert climate, with a large amplitude of temperature changes, with a very hot summer and a fairly cold winter.

Insufficient precipitation (approximately 100 mm per year) slightly balances evaporation. Factors determining the water balance are river water supply from existing rivers and evaporation, which used to be approximately equal.

On the causes of the disappearance of the Aral Sea

In fact, over the past 50 years, the death of the Aral Sea occurred. Approximately since 1960, the level of the surface of its waters began to decline rapidly and systematically. This led to the artificial deployment of the currents of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers to irrigate local fields. The authorities of the USSR began to transform the vast territories of wastelands of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan into beautiful cultivated fields.

In connection with such large-scale actions, the amount of water entering the natural reservoir began to decrease gradually. Already since the 1980s, during the summer months, two huge rivers began to dry out, not flowing to the sea, and the reservoir deprived of these tributaries began to decline. The Aral Sea is in a deplorable state today (the photo below shows this).

The sea naturally divided into 2 parts. So two ponds were created: in the south the Great Aral Sea (the Great Aral); In the north - Small Aral. Salinity at the same time increased by 3 times compared with the 50-mi years.

According to the data of 1992, the total area of both reservoirs decreased to 33.8 thousand square meters. Km, and the water surface level decreased by 15 meters.

Of course, there have been attempts by the governments of the Central Asian countries to establish a policy of water-saving agriculture in order to stabilize the level of the Aral Sea by releasing the volumes of river waters. However, the difficulties in coordinating decisions between the countries of Asia made it impossible to complete the projects on this issue to the end.

Thus, the Aral Sea was divided. Its depth has greatly diminished. Over time, there were almost three separate small lakes: the Great Aral (western and eastern lakes) and the Small Aral.

Under the assumptions of scientists, until 2020, the disappearance of the southern part of the reservoir is expected.

Effects

The dried up Aral Sea by the end of the 80s lost more than 1/2 of its volume. In connection with this, the number of salts and minerals sharply increased, leading to the extinction of a fauna rich in the past in the region, especially of many species of fish.

The existing ports (in the north of Aralsk and in the south of Muynak) are now many kilometers distant from the shore line of the lake. Thus, the region was devastated.

In the 1960s, the catch of fish in general reached 40 thousand tons, and in the mid-80s commercial fishing in the area already ceased to exist. Thus, approximately 60 thousand jobs were lost.

The most common inhabitant of the sea was a Black Sea flounder, adapted to life in the conditions of salt water (imported in the 1970s). It disappeared in the Great Aral in 2003, as the salinity of the water began to reach values of more than 70 g / l, which is almost 4 times more than in the sea water habitual for such fish.

The current state of the Aral Sea today has led to a strong climate change and an increase in the temperature amplitude.

And shipping stopped here due to the retreat of water for many kilometers from the main ports of the Aral Sea.

In the process of lowering the water level in both bodies of water, the level of groundwater dropped, respectively, and this, in turn, accelerated the inevitable process of desertification of this area.

Renaissance Island

The subject of special attention and concern in the late 90's was Fr. Renaissance. In those days, only 10 km. Water separated the island from the mainland. The rapidly increasing availability of this island became a special problem, since during the Cold War this place was the center of various studies related to the Union's biological weapons .

Also, in addition to similar studies, hundreds of tons of bacteria of a dangerous anthrax were buried there. The disturbances of scientists were connected with the fact that in this way anthrax can again spread in areas inhabited by people . In 2001, Fr. The renaissance was already connected from the south to the mainland.

The Aral Sea (photo of a modern reservoir above) is in a terribly deplorable state. And the living conditions in the district began to deteriorate. For example, the residents of Karakalpakstan living in the territories south of the Aral Sea suffered most.

Most of the open bottom of the lake is the cause of numerous storms of dust that carry toxic dust with salts and pesticides throughout the region. In connection with these phenomena, people living there, where there is the so-called Great Aral Sea, began to appear serious health problems, especially many cases of larynx cancer, kidney disease and anemia. And the infant mortality rate in this region is the highest in the world.

About vegetation and fauna

Already in the 1990s (in the middle), instead of greenery of lush trees, grasses and shrubs, only rare bundles of plants (xerophytes and halophytes), somehow adapted to dry and highly saline soils, were seen on the former magnificent sea shores.

Also preserved here is only half of the local species of birds and mammals due to climate change within 100 km of the coastline of the original (a strong change in temperature and humidity).

Conclusion

The catastrophic ecological state, which is formerly once rather big, the Great Aral Sea, brings a lot of trouble to distant regions.

Surprisingly, dust from the areas of the Aral Sea is found even on the glaciers of Antarctica. And this is evidence that the disappearance of this water area has strongly affected the global ecosystem. One should think about the fact that humanity should conduct its life activity thoughtfully, without causing such catastrophic harm to the environment that gives life to all life.