This article will talk about one of the corners of the earth that has turned into a barren desert as a result of poor agricultural practices by people.
general information
Previously, the Aral Sea was the fourth body of water in the whole world. The death of the Aral Sea was the result of excessive abstraction of water for irrigation of the vast agricultural lands of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Everything that happens to the Aral Sea is an incurable environmental disaster.
A little more about this and much more, concerning this natural reservoir, will be described later in the article.
It’s even scary to imagine, but the area of the Aral Sea and its volume today are only a quarter and about 10% of the initial values, respectively.
The meaning of the name of the sea
On this natural reservoir there are a considerable number of islands. In this regard, it was called Aral. From the language of the indigenous population of these places, this word is translated as "sea of islands."
Aral Sea today: general characteristics, location
In fact, today it is a closed, salty, relict lake. Its location is Central Asia, the territory of the borders of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In connection with the change in the currents of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers that feed the sea, a huge loss of water volume occurred with a corresponding decrease in their surface since the mid-20th century, which caused an ecological catastrophe of unimaginable proportions.
As early as 1960, the Great Aral Sea was indeed such. The surface of the water mirror was 53 meters above sea level, and the total area was 68,000 square kilometers. Its extension 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, near the Uzbek city of Muynak).
Climate
The Aral Sea is characterized by a continental desert climate, with a large amplitude of temperature changes, with very hot summers and rather cold winters.
Insufficient rainfall (approximately 100 mm per year) does not balance evaporation slightly. Factors determining the water balance are river water supply from existing rivers and evaporation, which used to be approximately equal.
About the reasons for the disappearance of the Aral Sea
In fact, over the past 50 years, the death of the Aral Sea has occurred. Since about 1960, the surface level of its waters began to rapidly and systematically decline. The artificial unfolding of the rivers of the Syr Darya and Amudarya rivers with the aim of irrigating local fields led to this. The authorities of the USSR began to transform the vast territory of the 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 from the 1980s, during the summer months, two huge rivers began to dry up without reaching the sea, and the reservoir deprived of these tributaries began to decline. The Aral Sea is in a deplorable state today (the photo below demonstrates this).
The sea was naturally divided into 2 parts. Thus, two reservoirs were created: in the south, the Great Aral Sea (Great Aral); in the north is the Small Aral. At the same time, salinity increased by 3 times compared with 50 years.
According to 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 were attempts by the governments of the Central Asian countries to establish a policy of water-efficient agriculture in order to stabilize the level of the Aral Sea by releasing the volume of river water. However, difficulties in coordinating decisions between Asian countries made it impossible to complete projects on this issue.
Thus, the Aral Sea was divided. Its depth is much reduced. Over time, almost 3 separate small lakes formed: Big Aral (western and eastern lakes) and Small Aral.
According to scientists, before 2020, the disappearance of the southern part of the reservoir is also expected.
Effects
The dried-up Aral Sea by the end of the 80s lost more than 1/2 of its volume. In this regard, the number of salts and minerals sharply increased, leading to the extinction of the fauna rich in the old days in this region, especially many fish species.
The existing ports (in the north of Aralsk and in the south of Muynak) are already many kilometers distant from the lake shore line. Thus, the region was devastated.
In the 1960s, the total catch of fish reached 40 thousand tons, and in the mid-80s, commercial fishing in the area ceased to exist. Thus, approximately 60 thousand jobs were lost.
The most common inhabitant of the sea was the Black Sea flounder, adapted for life in conditions of salty sea water (it was introduced in the 1970s). It disappeared in the Big Aral Sea in 2003, since the salinity of the water began to reach values of more than 70 g / l, which is almost 4 times more than in sea water, which is usual for such fish.
The state in which the Aral Sea is today has led to a strong climate change and an increase in 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 reservoirs, the groundwater level fell, respectively, and this, in turn, accelerated the inevitable process of desertification in this area.
Renaissance island
The subject of special attention and care in the late 90s was about. Rebirth. In those days, only 10 km. water separated the island from the mainland. The rapidly increasing availability of this island has become a particular problem, since during the Cold War this place was the center of various research related to the biological weapons of the Union.
In addition to similar studies, hundreds of tons of dangerous anthrax bacteria were buried on it. The excitement of scientists was due to the fact that in this way, anthrax can again spread in areas inhabited by people. In 2001, Fr. The Renaissance has already connected to its southern side with the mainland.
The Aral Sea (photo of a modern reservoir above) is in a terribly deplorable state. And the living conditions in the area began to deteriorate. For example, the residents of Karakalpakstan living in territories located south of the Aral Sea suffered the most.
Most of the open bottom of the lake is the cause of numerous dust storms that carry toxic dust with salts and pesticides throughout the region. In connection with these phenomena, people living where the so-called Great Aral Sea is located have serious health problems, especially many cases of laryngeal cancer, kidney disease, and anemia. And the infant mortality rate in this region is the highest in the world.
About vegetation and wildlife
Already in the 1990s (in the middle) instead of the greenery of lush trees, grasses and shrubs on the former magnificent sea shores, only rare bunches of plants (xerophytes and halophytes) were visible that somehow adapted to dry and highly saline soils.
Only 1/2 of the local species of birds and mammals have been preserved here due to climate change within 100 km of the original coastline (strong change in temperature and air humidity).
Conclusion
The catastrophic ecological state, which the former once rather big Great Aral Sea has today, brings a lot of trouble to distant regions.
Surprisingly, dust from the Aral Sea was found even on the glaciers of Antarctica. And this is evidence that the disappearance of this area has greatly affected the global ecosystem. It should be thought that humanity must conduct its life activities deliberately, without causing such catastrophic harm to the environment, giving life to all living things.