The tragedy of the Aral Sea is heard today. Its rapid disappearance from the world map is considered one of the major environmental disasters of our time. In place of the water surface now lies the Aralkum desert. Whether the drying out of the once huge lake-sea is a consequence of climate change or human activity remains a controversial issue. Most likely, a combination of a number of factors led to the current deplorable state. Now Aral Sea It can only boast of a sandy-salt plain, dry grass and lonely lakes of water. Its desert beauty fascinates and continues to attract travelers, lovers of vivid impressions and antiquity.

The birth of the sea in place of the desert

Aral Sea arose on the site of a desert pit twenty-four thousand years ago. By the standards of history, it can be considered quite young.

Probably, the reason for its occurrence was a change in the course of the Amu Darya. The fast and deep river fed the Caspian Sea, however, due to soil erosion and landscape changes, it diverted, carrying its waters to the Aral Sea. Together with it, the Amu Darya filled the Syrykamysh depression, forming a large bitter-salty lake. It was located between the Aral and Caspian seas. When the depression overflowed, water poured out of it into the Caspian Sea, forming a natural outflow - the now dry Uzboy branch.

At the very beginning of its inception Aral Sea They also fed other rivers, such as Turgai, powerful tributaries of the Syr Darya: Zhanadarya and Kuandarya. The abundance of water resources turned the Aral into one of the largest lakes in the world, but not for long.

The Aral Sea in the works and maps of scientists of the ancient world

Famous historians and travelers of Ancient Greece and Rome repeatedly mentioned the Aral Sea in their treatises. Some descriptions may be considered controversial and contradictory. One important fact remains: in ancient times the Aral was known and not only existed as an internal water resource, but was a significant center of the ancient world.

Great ancient historians such as Hecataeus of Miletus, Herodotus, Aristotle, Erastothenes did not know about the Aral Sea. But they were well aware of the existence of the Caspian Sea. It was Herodotus in the 5th century BC. e. concluded, and quite rightly, that the Caspian or Hyrcanian Sea is an independent body of water cut off from large waters, while on ancient maps it was depicted as connected with the world ocean.

The Aral was first mentioned by historians of the late Hellenistic period. In the famous "Geography" of Strabo (1st century AD) Aral Sea called Oxian or Oxian Lake. The name comes from the obsolete name of the Amu Darya river - Oxus. It is interesting that a century later, the second great geographer Claudius Ptolemy, describing the Caspian in detail, does not mention the Aral at all. Meanwhile, the map compiled by him very accurately conveys the outlines of these two seas as if they had merged into one. The scientist, following Herodotus, wrote about him as one.

Aral Sea in medieval view

The first accurate descriptions and maps of the Aral appear among Arab scientists starting in the 10th century. If ancient authors relied on the stories of traders and sailors, theoretical calculations and legends, then medieval historians from Arab countries relied on their own observations.

The tenth century traveler and scholar Al-Istakhri was the first to describe in detail Aral Sea and made a map of it. He calls it the Khorezm Sea. It was here, between the water surface of a salt lake and the sands of the Karakum, that the ancient Khorezm civilization grew.

It is interesting that the Aral Sea as an independent sea does not appear on European medieval maps until the 16th century. According to tradition, originating from the “Geography” of Claudius Ptolemy, it continued to be depicted for a long time as merging with the Caspian Sea.

In 1562, the famous “Jenkinson's Map of Russia” was published, compiled by an English merchant during his trip to Central Asia. It shows a certain lake China (Kitaia), which originates from the Syrdarya River and flows into the Ob. Most likely this is what it is Aral Sea. Despite obvious inaccuracies, mixed up names and the absence of many objects that were unknown to the traveler, Jenkinson's map has long been considered the most detailed guide to the region.

Mysteries of the Aral Sea

The absence of a large natural body of water on maps for many centuries still causes some bewilderment among scientists. As a rule, this is explained by the imperfection of knowledge of that time, however, other versions also appear. One of the possible reasons is the merger of the Aral Sea with the Caspian Sea, as indicated by Herodotus. Perhaps at some period the high water of these two seas reached such proportions that the space between them was flooded. Another reason is the drying up of the sea, which has already taken place in its history.

Due to constant processes of soil degradation and changes in surface topography, the connection with the rivers was severed. The riverbeds deviated, dried up, and were lost in the Karakum sands. As studies show at least twice in twenty-four thousand years of its existence Aral Sea dried out almost to the point of complete disappearance.

Today, archaeological excavations are underway on the exposed surface. The Kedderi Mausoleum and the remains of settlements of the Khorezm culture of the 11th-14th centuries indicate that the sea dried up during this period. Subsequently, the water level recovered, and the buildings were at a depth of 20 meters.

The rapid disappearance of the reservoir in the last 50 years may be either a consequence of man-made factors or a result of a changing climate and a natural cyclical phenomenon.

Why you should go to the Aral

Despite the sand and wind, poor ecology and the remains of a dying, salty lake, the Aral attracts travelers. Fans of wild recreation and harsh nature will love the snow-white Aralkum. The atmosphere of the desert is mesmerizing and seems to transport you millions of years ago. The earth before the beginning of time, and here it stops. People come here for the beauty of nature in order to come into contact with tragedy and think about what unreasonable human intervention leads to.

Among the popular sites is the ship graveyard in the former port city of Muynak. Dozens of forgotten fishing schooners and cargo trawlers lie among the sands and salt marshes, gradually rusting and crumbling. The sea has long retreated, the city is dying, and only the remains of ships appear black against the white background of the desert. It may seem that this is just a fantastic setting for a film, but no - this is the harsh reality of the modern Aral Sea, very impressive.

For history buffs, a trip to the excavation site of the remains of the mausoleum and medieval settlements of Khorezm will be of interest. You should definitely include a visit to Nukus in your program. In the city itself there is a museum with a huge collection of decorative and applied art from Central Asia. In the village of Khodjeyli near Nukus, the architectural ensemble of the White Khanaka caravanserai, the remains of an ancient fortress, and medieval mausoleums of the rulers of Khorezm have been preserved.

The Aral Sea was once the fourth largest lake in the world and provided the region's economy with thousands of tons of fish every year. However, it has been steadily drying up since the 1960s.

In the 1920s, the Soviet Union converted the lands of the Uzbek SSR into cotton plantations and ordered the construction of irrigation canals to provide water for crops in the region's mid-plateau.

These manual irrigation canals took water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, which fed the freshwater Aral Sea.

Until the 1960s, the Aral Sea canal and river system was fairly stable. However, in the 1960s, the Soviet Union decided to expand the canal system and drain more water from the rivers feeding the lake.

Destruction of the Aral Sea

Aral Sea: 2014 on the left and 2000 on the right. The thin black line shows the boundaries of the lake in 1960.

Thus, in the 1960s, the Aral Sea began to shrink rapidly. By 1987, it was divided into two parts: northern and southern lakes. In 2002, the southern lake shrank and split into eastern and western lakes. In 2014, the eastern lake completely evaporated and disappeared.

The Soviet Union considered cotton crops more valuable than the Aral Sea fisheries that had once been the mainstay of the regional economy. Today you can visit former coastal settlements and see long-abandoned piers, harbors and boats.

Before drying up, the Aral Sea provided between 20,000 and 40,000 tons of fish per year. At the height of the crisis, the catch fell by 1,000 tons of fish per year, but now everything is going in a positive direction.

Restoration of the Northern Aral Sea region

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan became home to the drying up Aral Sea. Since then, Kazakhstan has been working to revive the lake.

The first innovation that helped preserve part of the Aral Sea fishery was Kazakhstan's construction of the Kokaral Dam on the southern shore of the northern lake, thanks to support from the World Bank. The dam has ensured that the northern lake has grown by 20% since 2005.

The second innovation is the construction of a fish hatchery on the northern lake, where sturgeon, carp and flounder are grown and released into the Northern Aral Sea. The fish hatchery was built with Israeli support.

Predictions are that the northern Aral Sea lake could soon supply 10,000 to 12,000 tons of fish per year thanks to these two major innovations.

The future of the western lake is not so bright

However, with the flooding of the northern lake in 2005, the fate of the two southern lakes was all but sealed, and the autonomous Uzbek region of Karakalpakstan will experience negative consequences as the western lake continues to evaporate.

Soviet leaders considered the Aral Sea unnecessary, since the water that flowed into it evaporated into nowhere. Scientists believe that the Aral Sea was formed about 5.5 million years ago when geological uplift prevented two rivers from flowing further.

However, cotton continues to grow in the now independent country of Uzbekistan, which does not bode well for the remnants of the Aral Sea.

Ecological catastrophy

The huge dried lake is a source of pathogenic dust, which is carried by winds throughout the region. The dried remains of the lake contain not only salt and minerals, but also pesticides that were once used in huge quantities by the Soviet Union.

In addition, on one of the islands in the Aral Sea, the USSR set up a laboratory for testing biological weapons. Although it is now closed, there is a risk of deadly rodent infestations spreading to surrounding areas.

In 1989, the lake split into two isolated reservoirs - the Northern (Small) and Southern (Big) Aral Sea. As of 2003, the surface area of ​​the Aral Sea is about a quarter of the original, and the volume of water is about 10%. In 2014, the eastern part of the South (Great) Aral Sea completely dried up, reaching a historical minimum area of ​​the entire sea in that year of 7297 km². Having temporarily overflowed in the spring of 2015 (up to 10,780 km² of the entire sea), by the autumn of 2015 its water surface had again decreased to 8,303 km².

During the historical era, significant fluctuations in the level of the Aral Sea occurred. Thus, on the retreated bottom, the remains of trees that grew in this place were discovered. However, since the beginning of systematic observations in the 19th century, the level of the Aral Sea has remained virtually unchanged. In the 1930s, large-scale construction of irrigation canals began, which was especially intensified in the early 1960s. From 1960 to 1990, the area of ​​irrigated land in Central Asia increased from 4.5 million to 7 million hectares. Water requirements in the national economy have increased from 60 to 120 km³ per year, of which 90% is for irrigation. Since 1961, sea level has dropped at an increasing rate from 20 to 80-90 cm/year.

The climate in the Aral Sea area (above the former water area and within a radius of 50-100 km from it) has become more continental and arid, winters have become colder (by 1-3 degrees). A sand-salt desert formed in place of the bottom of the retreated sea; with strong winds (which are observed in this region for 30-50 days a year), intense dust storms develop over the dried bottom, the dust plume reaches a length of 200-300 km, and, depending on the wind direction, reaches cities such as Kzyl -Horda, Baikonur, Chelkar, Nukus, etc., manifesting itself in the form of a whitish haze that impairs air transparency (visibility range). Since salt deposits on the dried bottom contain large amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides (used in agriculture and washed from fields into rivers and then into the sea), inhalation of such air can negatively affect the health of people and animals in these regions.

As a result of shallowing, the salinity of the Aral increased sharply, which caused the extinction of many species of flora and fauna adapted to lower salinity. The sea has lost its fishing significance. The ports of Aralsk, Muynak and Kazakhdarya lost their importance and were closed. Most experts do not see any way to restore the level of the entire sea, except for the Soviet project to divert Siberian rivers. In 2005, Kazakhstan built the Kokaral Dam, which separated the Small Sea from the Big Sea. Thanks to this, the waters of the Syr Darya accumulate in the Small Sea, the level here has increased, and the salinity has decreased.

In Karakalpakstan, Charzhou Abdirov, academician, Vice-President of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, worked a lot to improve the environmental situation for the population of the coastal regions of the Aral Sea. Since 1994, in addition to medical research and organization of medical events, as a deputy of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, he headed the Committee on Environment and Nature Conservation, and took an active part in the preparation of legislative acts on environmental issues and solving problems of the population of this region. However, on the Uzbek side, the process of drying out of the sea is most active (the waters of the Amu Darya do not reach the sea).

This article will talk about one of the corners of the earth that has turned into a barren desert as a result of improper agricultural practices by people.

general information

Previously, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest body of water in the world in terms of size. The death of the Aral Sea was the result of excessive water withdrawal to irrigate the vast agricultural lands of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Everything that happens to the Aral Sea is an irreparable environmental disaster.

A little more detail about this and much more concerning this natural reservoir will be discussed later in the article.

It’s even scary to imagine, but the area of ​​the Aral Sea and its volume today are, respectively, only a quarter and about 10% of the original values.

The meaning of the name of the sea

This natural body of water contains 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.”

The Aral Sea today: general characteristics, location

In fact, today it is drainless, salty, its location is Central Asia, the border areas of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Due to changes in currents and the Amu Darya that feed the sea, since the mid-20th century there has been a huge loss of water volume with a corresponding decrease in its surface, which caused an environmental disaster of unimaginable proportions.

Back in 1960, the Great Aral Sea was indeed like that. The surface of the water surface was 53 meters above sea level, and the total area was 68,000 square kilometers. Its extension was approximately 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 has gone 100 km from its previous coastline (for example, near the Uzbek city of Muynak).

Climate

The territory of the Aral Sea is characterized by continental climate with a large amplitude of temperature changes, with very hot summers and rather cold winters.

Insufficient precipitation (approximately 100 mm per year) does little to balance evaporation. The factors determining the water balance are river water supply from existing rivers and evaporation, which previously were 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 decline rapidly and systematically. This was led to by the artificial reversal of currents and the Amu Darya in order to irrigate local fields. The USSR authorities began to transform the vast 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 gradually decrease. Already since the 1980s, during the summer months, two huge rivers began to dry up, not reaching the sea, and the reservoir, deprived of these tributaries, began to shrink. The Aral Sea is in a deplorable state today (the photo below demonstrates this).

The sea naturally split into two parts. This is how two bodies of water were created: in the south the Great Aral Sea (Big Aral); in the north - the Small Aral. Salinity has increased 3 times compared to the 50s.

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

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

Thus, the Aral Sea was divided. Its depth has decreased significantly. Over time, almost 3 separate small lakes formed: the Big Aral (western and eastern lakes) and the Small Aral.

According to scientists, the southern part of the reservoir is expected to disappear by 2020.

Consequences

By the end of the 80s, the dried up Aral Sea had lost more than 1/2 of its volume. In this regard, the amount of salts and minerals sharply increased, which led to the extinction of the once rich fauna in this region, especially many species of fish.

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

In the 1960s, the total fish catch 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 adapted to life in salty sea water (it was introduced in the 1970s). It disappeared from the Great Aral Sea 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 sea water, which is usual for such fish.

The state in which the Aral Sea is today has led to severe climate change and an increase in temperature amplitude.

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

In the process of lowering in both reservoirs, the groundwater level fell, respectively, and this, in turn, accelerated the inevitable process of desertification of the area.

Renaissance Island

Fr. became the subject of special attention and care in the late 90s. Renaissance. In those days it was only 10 km. water separated the island from the mainland. The rapidly increasing accessibility of this island has become a particular problem, as during the Cold War the site was the center of various research related to Union biological weapons.

Also, in addition to such research, hundreds of tons of dangerous anthrax bacteria were buried there. Scientists were worried that in this way anthrax could spread again in areas inhabited by people. In 2001, Fr. Vozrozhdeniya has already connected to the mainland on its southern side.

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

Much of the lake's open bottom is responsible for numerous dust storms, carrying 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 began to experience 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 flora and fauna

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

Also, only 1/2 of the local species of birds and mammals have survived here due to climate change within 100 km from the original coastline (strong changes in temperature and air humidity).

Conclusion

The catastrophic ecological state that the once rather large Great Aral Sea has today brings a lot of trouble to distant regions.

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

The huge sea dried up almost completely in just a few decades. The team of the multimedia eco-project "LOWER. Living Asia" visited the Aral Sea on an expedition and brought a photo report about the sea, which has become a desert, especially for the site.

“Tablet” (as the locals call the all-wheel drive UAZ), every now and then dangerously tilting and creaking from the effort, drives and drives along the sand. If you break away from the feeling that you are about to be smeared across the seat and realize yourself as some kind of abstraction, and not like a sprat in a jar, then a very strange feeling comes over you. We are driving along the dry seabed. 60 years ago there was 25 meters of water directly above our heads.

This has never happened in the history of the Earth. In just a few decades, the huge lake (the fourth largest in the world) almost entirely turned into desert. In 1960, the area of ​​the Aral water surface was 68,900 square meters. km. In 2009 (this was the absolute minimum) - 7,300.

The drying process of the Aral Sea / Illustration by livingasia.online

Closed sea

It is interesting that the tragedy of the situation is most clearly felt in foreign, and not in Kazakh or Uzbek (the Aral Sea is located on the territory of these states) studies and publications. Here's an example headline: Aral Sea "one of the planet"s worst environmental disasters"(“The Aral Sea is one of the largest environmental disasters on the planet”).

Dry bottom of the Aral Sea / Photo livingasia.online

Perhaps the reason that little is said and written about the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is a long period of secrecy. Until perestroika, only scientists, high-ranking officials and local residents knew about the situation with the Aral Sea. Since the late 1970s, the drying sea has been studied by all the largest research institutes of the Kazakh and Uzbek SSR, Moscow and Leningrad. But the research results were published only in collections marked “secret”. They could only be read by those who had the appropriate access.

Or maybe it's all about mentality

“The people of Kazakhstan in general have always lived in harsh natural conditions - climatic, ecological. It was quite difficult for the people to survive, and they got used to these difficulties. This is probably why they do not consider the tragedy of the Aral Sea to be as catastrophic as it is perceived at the international level. The people are accustomed to difficulties and have learned to overcome them,” says Taisiya Ivanovna Budnikova, Candidate of Geographical Sciences, International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS). She has been studying the Aral Sea since 1977 and has written more than 100 scientific papers about this problem. Colleagues jokingly call her “Tais Aralskaya”.

Rescue plans

Taisiya Ivanovna says: “Then, at the end of the 70s, no one could believe that the sea would dry up. It seemed that this was just a fluctuation in the water level, soon everything would fall into place. At first, the sea was losing more than a few centimeters a year. From the beginning of the 80s x in the Eastern Aral Sea region, where the coast was always shallow, the sea receded several kilometers per year.

Photo livingasia.online

When it became clear that the sea would not return on its own, they began to figure out how to save the Aral Sea. The options were sometimes the most unexpected. Stop taking water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya and irrigate the land using wind-powered water-lifting installations. Send water from the Caspian Sea to the Aral Sea. Or here’s another: the famous “gigantomaniacal” project for the transfer of Siberian rivers.”

IFAS Director Bolat Bekniyaz in the 70s was a junior researcher at the Institute of Geological Sciences named after. Satpayeva. He was engaged in research, studying the route along which a canal was supposed to be launched from Siberia to Central Asia. The plans were the most ambitious. The canal was supposed to stretch over a distance of 2,550 km.

Photo livingasia.online

“The canal was supposed to go from under the Russian Kurgan to the region of Kazakhstan’s Kyzylorda,” says Bolat Bekniyaz. “Cross the Syr Darya River and reach the Amu Darya River. The purpose of the canal’s construction is to irrigate fields and provide water to Central Asian cities. The second, additional purpose is to recharge the Aral Sea The project was supposed to be implemented already in 1986. And in 1986 it was closed - there was no funding.

Current situation

Until the mid-2000s, the situation with the sea was catastrophic. Then many scientists prophesied: soon the Aral Sea would dry out completely. In 2005, the Kokaral dam was built on Kazakh territory, between the Big and Small Aral. The construction made it possible to fill the Small Aral up to 42 meters.

The Great Aral Sea can no longer be saved. To restore the entire sea, it is required that 60-70 cubic kilometers of water enter it per year. Now the Syrdarya gives 6 cubic kilometers, the Amu Darya - zero, all the water is used for irrigation.

Photo livingasia.online

After the Small Sea was filled, life in the coastal villages changed dramatically. The fish has arrived. Fish is now at a premium - for one catch from a boat you can earn 100 or 200 thousand tenge.

Photo livingasia.online

New schools, medical posts and fish receiving factories appeared in the villages.

School in the Aral Sea region / Photo livingasia.online

Currently, 8.4 thousand tons of fish are caught in the Small Aral Sea per year (2015); before the disaster, annual catches reached 40 thousand tons.

What will happen to the Aral

The Kazakh side predicts a long but progressive restoration of the Aral Sea.

There are several options for the development of the event. Here are the most feasible ones.

The first is to raise the Kokaral dam by another 6-7 meters. This will raise the level of the Small Aral to 48 meters, and the volume of water will increase by a third.

Dam in the Aral Sea / Photo livingasia.online

The second option is to build another dam at sea, in the Sarashyganak area. This will make it possible to create another reservoir 50 meters deep in the Aralsk region.

Briefly about the Aral Sea

The Aral Sea is located on the territory of two countries - Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Sea levels have begun to decline since the 1960s. Until this time, the Aral Sea provided about 13% of the total fish catch in the USSR. In 1984, fishing at sea ceased completely.

The reason for the drying up of the Aral Sea is the transfer of most of the flow of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya to irrigate fields. In 1960, in the Amu Darya and Syr Darya basin there were 4.1 million hectares of irrigated land, in 1990 - 7.4 million hectares.

Due to the drying up of the Aral Sea in the region, the incidence of typhoid fever, cholelithiasis, chronic gastritis, esophageal cancer, and tuberculosis has sharply increased in the region.

Due to dust blowouts, the turbidity of the atmosphere in the Aral Sea region increased almost threefold. The air became twice as dry.

The former territory of the Aral Sea contains about 10 billion tons of salt. If it is scattered on the ground in an even layer of 5 cm, it will cover an area of ​​approximately 10 million hectares.