Where does the Aral Sea flow into? Aral in the works and maps of scientists of the ancient world

Tour of the villages of fishermen of the Eastern Aral Sea.

“Aral is a sad sea. Flat shores, along them wormwood, sands, erratic mountains.Islands in the Aral - pancakes poured into a frying pan, flat to a gloss, spread out on the water - you can see the shore, and there is no life on them. No birds, no cereal, but the human spirit is felt only in summer. The main island in the Aral Barsa-Kelmes. What it means is unknown, but the Kyrgyz say that "human death." In summer, people from the Aralsk village go to the fishing island. Rich fishing at Bars-Kelmes, water boils from the fish passage. But, as the autumn sailors roar with foamy bunnies, fishing is saved in the quiet bay of the Aral settlement and they don’t show their noses until spring. If the entire catch from the island is not brought to the sailors, the fish will remain to spend the winter in wooden through sheds with salted stacks. In severe winters, when the sea freezes from the Chernyshev Bay to Bars itself, expanse for chekalki. They run across the ice to the island, gorge themselves on salted barbel or carp to the point that they die without leaving the spot. And then, returning in the spring, when it breaks the ice crust of the Syr Darya with the yellow clay of the flood, they do not find anything from the salting abandoned in the fall. Roaring, seamen ride on the sea from November to February. And the rest of the time, storms only occasionally fly in, and in the summer the Aral stands motionless - a precious mirror. Boring sea Aral. One joy in the Aral Sea - blue-color, extraordinary "

Lavrenev Boris Andreevich "Forty-first".

A trip to the Aral Sea in the Eastern Aral Sea.

Ancient history Aral, knew the periods of falling and rising levels. Now this history is quite reliably reconstructed by various methods. Experts have disagreements in some details and dates, but, in general terms, the evolution of the Aral Sea looks something like this.
Originally a basin Aral Sea fed only on the waters of the Syr Darya, which formed a small lake in it. Amu Darya at the same time fell into Caspian Sea(its ancient dry channel towards the Caspian called Uzboy well preserved to this day).
Then, according to various researchers, from 10 to 25 thousand years ago, the channel of the Amu Darya changed, and it went to the Aral Sea. The reason for this was the tectonic movement of the Earth's surface. The fact is that the relief features in the watershed area between the Caspian and the Aral Sea are such that a very slight tectonic uplift is enough to redirect the river from one reservoir to another.
As a result of the inflow of the Amu Darya waters, the level of the Aral Sea rose to approximately the level we are used to at the beginning of the 20th century (53 meters above sea level). Then, from 4 to 8 thousand years ago, the climate became humid, and the river flow into the Aral almost tripled.

As a result, the level rose to record levels of 58-60 meters, and the Aral Sea through Sarakamysh the depression again "flowed" into the Uzboy and connected through it with the Caspian. After some time, a new era of climate aridization followed, and more than three thousand years ago, the level of the Aral again dropped to 35 meters (connection with the Caspian was interrupted again), and then rose to 45 - 55 meters and fluctuated between these marks until 1500 - 1900 years ago, a new regression (drying out) did not occur - so far the deepest in history. At this time, the level dropped to 27 meters, that is, even lower than now. Later, the level gradually rose again, and 400 - 600 years ago there was a new, so-called medieval regression, when the surface of the Aral Sea was at around 31 meters above sea level, which roughly corresponds to the recent situation in the early 2000s. This medieval regression is confirmed not only by geological data, but also by archaeological finds and even chronicle sources. In the ancient history of the Aral Sea, there have already been at least three episodes of drying, comparable to the current one. And every time they were replaced by periods of full-flowing seas. The history of the Aral Sea is controversial and unclear, despite the fact that many folios have been devoted to its study, starting from the beginning of the last millennium, and since the second half of the 19th century, the Aral Sea has become the object of numerous expeditions and works of the Russian Geographical Society and various scientific organizations of the Russian state. The results of these works were summarized in 1908. L. Berg in his well-known work "Essay on the History of the Aral Sea Research", where he states that none of the Greek and Roman authors had a direct or indirect mention of the Aral Sea, but many of them speak of the Oxus (Amu Darya) and Jaxarte (Syr Darya), it is not clear where they fell.
According to the famous Khorezm scientist Al Beruni who died in 1048, Khorezmians leading their chronology from 1292 to the birth of Christ testify to the existence of the Aral Sea. Berg makes the same reference to the sacred book of the Avesta, where there is an indication that Vakhsh river or the current Amu Darya flows into Lake Varakhsha, by which some mean the Aral Sea. The first more or no less reliable sources about the existence of the Aral Sea belong to the Arabic scripts, which captured the evidence of the conquerors of Khorezm in 712. These data are described in detail by V.V. Bartold, from which it is clear that already in the 800s the Aral Sea existed, and it was located not far from Khorezm, since its description completely coincides with the character of the eastern coast of the Aral Sea. Other testimonials belong Massoudi ibn Nurusti, Al Balkhi and a number of other Arab writers and explorers-geographers. Geological surveys that were carried out at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century (A.M. Konshin, P.M. Lessor, V. Obruchev) boiled down to the fact that in the post-Pleocene era, part desert Karakum between chinkom of Ustyurt in the north, mouths of Murgab and Tejen in the south, in the west soles Kopetdag was flooded by the Big Aral. Eastern half of the United Aral-Caspian Sea had, in their opinion, as the boundary of the former of the Karakum Bay coastline chink Unguzov. This unified sea covered a wide strip of modern Caspian Sea up to the foot of the western spurs of the Kopetdag and connected with the Karakum and Chilmetkum bays across two straits Big and small Balkh y. The Aral part flooded the entire Sarykamysh hollow and formed up Pitnyaka bay, now occupied by the modern delta of the Amu Darya and Khiva oasis(by the way, this explains the shor deposits at Pitnyak). The Uzboy was a strait that connected both of these water areas, but, obviously, its current form with large slopes was formed as the Caspian Sea was separated from the Aral Sea and the difference in elevations between them increased. During the subsequent geological period up to the present day, the united Aral-Caspian basin into its constituent parts and its gradual reduction to its present limits. First, there was a divide between Aral-Sarykamysh and the Caspian Balla Ishem on Ustyurt, then the channel of Uzboy gradually appeared. The sequence of drying is confirmed by examples of transitional deposits from fresh cemeteries of Caspian mollusks (along the Uzboy, in the sands Chilmetkula, along the southeastern coast of the Caspian Sea), covered with bare loose sands with weak and young vegetation, to ancient formations in the central Karakum, transformed into shors, takyrs, compacted sandy mounds, fixed by woody vegetation. Shores, as the lowest points of the seabed, fed by pressure bitter-salty solutions, have preserved the appearance of ancient coastal lakes. All researchers and historians since ancient times describe the transformation of the Aral Sea and the Caspian depending on the water content of the rivers in their joint basin and the development of irrigation. They state the fact of the final drying up of Sarykamysh from the end of the 16th century, when the Amu Darya no longer broke into Sarikamysh on Kunya - Daria and Daudan and further along Uzboy. Uzboy from the Caspian to the watershed Points Item has a rise of 40 meters over a length of more than 200 km. According to Obruchev, the existence of Sarykamysh took place from the 7th century BC to the 16th century. Jenkinson in 1559 on the way to Khiva noted the existence Sarikamysh, which he mistook for falling Oxusa to the Caspian. He relies on similar evidence. Abdulgazi Khan, Gamdudly and other Khorezm chroniclers. The Aral-Caspian lowland is depicted on more than a dozen maps carefully analyzed by Rene Lethal and Monika Mainglo in their excellent monograph Aral - Aral» (Springler - Verlag France, Paris, 1993). Starting from "Geography" Ptolemy(II century BC), in which there is the Caspian in all its grandeur, but there is no mention of the Aral Sea (Fig. 1), through the scheme Al Idrisi(1132) - where the Aral is through " Catalan Atlas» (1352) to the map Butakova, where the Aral Sea is already shown in the form familiar to us - the entire migration dynamics of the Aral Sea is traced in human perception. Most researchers (B.V. Andrianov, A.S. Kes, P.V. Fedorov, V.A. Fedorovich, E.G. Maev, I.V. Rubanov, A.L. Yanshin, etc.) based on geological and historical surveys came to almost the same conclusion, well formulated by N.V. Aladin: "in prehistoric times, changes in the level and salinity of the Aral took place as a result of changes in the natural climate." During the humid climatic phase, the Syr Darya and Amu Darya were full of water, and the lake reached a maximum level of 72 - 73 meters.
In contrast to this, during the phases of the arid climate, both rivers became low-water, the level of the Aral Sea also fell, and the degree of salinization of the Aral Sea region increased. In historical time, since the existence of ancient Khorezm, level changes depended, to some extent, on climate change, but mainly on irrigation activities in the region along both rivers. During periods of intensive development of the countries adjacent to the Aral Sea, an increase in land irrigation led to the withdrawal of most of the water for this purpose, and the water level in the Aral Sea immediately decreased.
During unfavorable periods in the region (wars, revolutions, etc.), irrigated lands were reduced, and the rivers and the Aral were again filled with water. Geological and hydrological surveys carried out A.S. Kes and a number of prominent geographers in the 80s of the last century showed that Amu Darya and Syrdarya, constantly changing their routes and migrating through the system of Central Asia in the historical period, they often did not reach the Aral Sea, the Aral Sea dried up, and a desert area formed on its territory. At the same time, during the drying of the sea, the mineralization of water rose sharply and contributed to the precipitation of salts, which were discovered by geologists at the bottom of the Aral Sea. Large layers of mirabilite cages are especially striking. The migration of the deltas of both the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya created a very peculiar territory of the lower reaches, in which depressions filled with bog deposits are interspersed with a significant amount of desert, fine-silty, sandy loam deposits, which created the delta and most of the channel itself and the channels of the Amu Darya. On the other hand, as evidenced by the studies of zoologists, in particular Polishchuk, Aladin from the Zoological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1990, the very Aral Sea It is distinguished by a very poor original fauna; many groups of animals that are developed in the Caspian Sea, which is close in origin, are absent here. At the same time, original species are found in the Aral Sea, and all this indicates that salinization, which periodically occurred with the Aral Sea, was reflected in these huge transformations. The analysis carried out by zoologists showed that in the Aral Sea, mainly a small number of marine oceanic species survived, and a huge complex of brackish-water groups, up to the Caspian-estuary fauna, was destroyed here.
All the rivers flowing into the Aral did not preserve marine types of fish, or at least some remnant of this fauna. This indicates that the waters of the Amu Darya and other rivers, in one way or another, penetrated both into the Aral depression and through the valley of the lower Uzboy and fell into the Caspian Sea. At the same time, the very developed deltas of both the Syr Darya and the Amudarya should be noted, which included fairly large areas. According to N.M. Novikova, during a stable inflow into the Amudarya delta, about 41 km3. water, the total area of land flooded by floods exceeded 3800 sq. km, the area of the lakes was 820 sq. km. The delta of the Syr Darya also received significant development. At the same time, an intense vegetation background was widespread in the local deltas. Periodically flooded deltas were characterized by huge areas of fruit-bearing reeds, tugai, hayfields and pastures. In particular, until 1970 the area of reed beds was up to 700 thousand hectares, tugai - 1.3 million hectares, hayfields - 420 thousand hectares, pastures - 728 thousand hectares only in the Amudarya delta. The corresponding areas were occupied by delta and other vegetation in the delta of the Syrdarya. A.S. gives a different picture. Kes. Agreeing with multiple watering periods Aral depression since the late Pliocene, first by the waters of the Akchagyl and then the Apsheron sea, she does not consider the existence of a single Aral-Caspian Sea to be proven and insists on the absence of a connection between the Aral and the Caspian, although she supports the opinion that the highest marks of the early Apsheron lake date back to the 80s, towards the end of the Apsheron going down to zero. Akchagyl the period was marked, in her opinion, by the partial existence of the Aral Sea below the modern one (about or below 40 m).
In the Neolithic, the Amu Darya, having filled the Khorezm depression with alluvium, broke into Sarykamysh and created here and in Assake-Audane a vast lake, from which water in the amount of approximately 20% of its flow (this she determined by the hydraulic parameters of Uzboy) flowed through Uzboy into the Caspian Sea. This flow lasted during the III - IV millennium BC. and periodically in the second - the beginning of the first millennium BC. The Syr Darya at that time flowed into the Aral Sea. Although A.L. Yanshin proved the presence of transgression during this period, but subsequent studies by Kiryukhin L.G., Kravchuk and Fedorova P.V. (1966) rejected this as well as later studies by E.G. Maeva, Yu.A. Kornicheva (1999), and before that I.V. Rubanov (1982).
It is more or less clear now that the Aral has undergone five or seven (according to the latest radiocarbon studies of bottom sediments) transgressions, the most powerful of which belong to the highest terraces, obviously related to the early Pliocene (A.V. Shitikov) or Akchagyl. The source of such a high watering is not clear - these are either the results of the melting of the northern ice masses, as suggested in his work "Regularities of Salt Accumulation in the Aral-Caspian Lowland" of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1956, V.A. Kovda and V.V. Egorov, or the flow of the waters of the Praamudarya, which is mentioned in Avesta(presumably, this is a river that united the waters of all the great tributaries of the Amu Darya, including not only Zeravshan, Tejen, Murgab, but also the Syr Darya and Chu before overlapping Buamsky isthmus. Here, proven A.S. Kes the results of P.I. Chalova and others (1966). The first stage of flooding of the Aral depression occurred in the Late Pliocene. At this time the western plains Central Asia were flooded by the waters of the vast Akchagyl, and then the Apsheron Sea. Their eastern border has not been established, but fauna, terraces and coastal ridges of this age are found in Sarikamyshe and Assake-Audan e, in the Aral Sea and in some depressions Kyzylkum. The modern period of watering the Aral began in the 1st millennium BC. e., when the Amu Darya, having formed Prisarykamysh and Akchadarya delta, advanced into the Aral depression and, together with the Syr Darya, which then flowed through Gendarya and Kuvandarya, began to fill it and formed the modern sea. At the beginning of the 19th century, the level of the Aral Sea was low. In 1845 and after the 1860s, some level increases were noted.
In the early 80s, the level became especially low, in connection with which the researchers of those times came to the conclusion that there was a progressive decrease in water in Central Asia. However, in the 1980s, the level of the Aral began to rise, at first rather slowly, and then more rapidly. This continued until 1906. 1907 is characterized by a stop, 1908 - an increase, 1909 - a decrease. An increase was noted again in 1910, 1911, 1912, and then until 1917 the level changed little. The decline began after 1917, known for its dryness in Central Asia. By 1921, the level of the Aral Sea had dropped by 1.3 meters compared to 1915. But observations in 1924 gave a new increase (slightly less than 1/2 meter). The amplitude of fluctuations during half a century of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was no more than three meters. The natural water resources of the Amudarya (without drainless regions of Tejen, Murgab, etc.) are 75 km3/year in the runoff formation zone and 37 km3/year of the Syrdarya (in total 112 km3/year). Fluctuations in the annual values of the natural water resources of the Amudarya and Syrdarya are quite significant (variation coefficients Cv, respectively, 0.15 and 0.21) and are characterized by significant synchronism (correlation coefficient 0.83), which makes it difficult to provide water to the main consumers of river runoff in dry years. The Amudarya and Syrdarya basins are areas of ancient irrigation that change the natural flow of these rivers for a long time. Until the beginning of the 1950s, the volumes of irrevocable withdrawals of runoff fluctuated insignificantly both in individual river basins and in the sea basin as a whole and reached 29-33 km3/year. The increase in water intake from rivers in the 1950s to 35-42 km3/year, due to the expansion of irrigated agriculture and water management measures (construction of reservoirs on the Syr Darya, supply of Amudarya water to the Karakum Canal), was compensated by some decrease in channel runoff losses, and also by the natural abundance of this decade (total natural water resources were about 9% above the norm).
As a result, until the beginning of the 1960s, the inflow of river waters to the sea and its regime remained relatively stable. The period of time from the beginning of systematic instrumental observations of the level and other characteristics of the sea regime (1911) to the 1960s can be defined as conditionally natural. The approximate equality of the incoming and outgoing components of the sea water balance (table) determined insignificant level fluctuations around the mark of 53 m abs., which was taken as the average long-term level. The average area of the water surface at the level of 53 m. abs. was 66.1 thousand sq. km, and the volume of water reached 1064 km. Chad.
The area of the Aral was 64,490 sq. km. (with islands); the greatest length is 428 km, the greatest width is 284 km. The lake was relatively shallow: the greatest depth was 68 meters; the average depth is only 16 meters. The greatest depths are concentrated near the western coast in the form of a narrow strip; the area deeper than 30 meters occupied only about 4% of the lake.
So, the ancient Aral, which has undergone 5 or 6 transgressions - an increase and subsequent shrinkage - again found itself on the verge of a new desiccation. Sea degradation and Aral Sea. Although the disappearance of the Aral Sea is attributed to the Soviet state as the main culprit of this natural and anthropogenic disaster, the idea of sacrificing the Aral Sea to the development of irrigation and the growth of agricultural production belongs to pre-revolutionary scientists.
In particular, A.I. Voeikov(1908) insisted that the existence of the Aral Sea with rational management of the economy is absolutely unjustified, since the economic effect from it (fish farming, maritime transport) is much less than the effect from the development of the economy and especially irrigated agriculture.
The same idea was presented in 1913 not by a scientist, but by the head of the water sector of the former Tsarist Russia, the director of the Department of Land Improvements of Russia, Prince V.I. Masalsky, who believes that the ultimate goal is "to use all the water resources of the region and create a new Turkestan, introducing tens of millions of hectares of new lands to culture and providing the Russian industry with the necessary cotton ... ". Started by the Russian government, the development of irrigation received unprecedented acceleration during the Soviet era.
But until 1960, the withdrawal of water for irrigation was accompanied by the growth of collector networks and, accordingly, the growth of return waters, as a result of which there were no significant changes in the river deltas and in the sea. For 1911 - 1960 the quasi-equilibrium state of the salt balance of the sea is characteristic. Annually, 25.5 million tons of salts entered the sea, the bulk of which was subjected to sedimentation when sea and river waters mixed (due to the oversaturation of the Aral waters with calcium carbonate) and settled in shallow waters, in bays, bays and filtration lakes of the northern, eastern and southern coasts of the sea. Due to the freezing of the sea and thawing, the average salinity of the sea during this period varied in the range of 9.6-10.3%.
The relatively large annual volume of river runoff (about 1/19 of the volume of the sea) determined the very peculiar salt composition of the Aral waters, which differs from the salt composition of other inland closed and semi-enclosed seas by a high content of carbonate and sulfate salts. The modern period in the life of the sea, starting from 1961, can be characterized as a period of active anthropogenic influence on its regime. A sharp increase in irretrievable withdrawals of runoff, reaching in recent years 70 - 75 km3 / year, the exhaustion of the compensatory possibilities of rivers, as well as the natural low water for two decades 1960-1980. (92%) led to the imbalance of water and salt balances.
For 1961 - 2002 a significant excess of evaporation over the sum of incoming components is characteristic (Only in 1998 did the inflow of 29.8 km3 exceed the evaporation of 27.49 km3). The inflow of river waters to the sea decreased during this period on average in 1965 to 30.0 km3/year, and for 1971-1980. it amounted to only 16.7 km3/year, or 30% of the long-term average, in 1980-1999. - 3.5 - 7.6 km3/year or 6-13% of the long-term average.
In some dry years, the flow of the Amudarya and Syrdarya practically did not reach the sea. The quality of river flow has also changed. An increase in the proportion of highly mineralized waste and drainage waters in it has led to a significant increase in mineralization and a deterioration in the sanitary condition of river waters. In dry years, the average annual mineralization of the Amudarya waters entering the sea reaches 0.8-1.6, and in the Syrdarya - 1.5-2.0 g/l. In some seasons, even higher values are noted. As a result, despite the fact that the average annual river runoff in 1961 - 1980. decreased by more than 46%, the average annual ion sink over the same period decreased by only 4 million tons, or 18%. Other components of the salt balance have also changed significantly.
Thus, a decrease in the relative content of carbonates in the river runoff led to a halving of the amount of salts subjected to sedimentation when river and sea waters mix. As a result, since 1961, the sea level has steadily declined. By the beginning of 1985, the total level drop compared to the long-term average (before 1961) reached 12.5 m. . The intra-annual sea level fluctuation has also changed. At present, there is practically no rise in the level in the annual context; at best, it does not change in winter, and in the summer half of the year it falls sharply.
The gradual fall in sea levels has far exceeded the expected rate. Modeling carried out by SOINO (V.N. Bortnik) in 1983 assumed that by 1990 the sea level would reach 41 - 42.5 m with 90% security, and by 2000 - 35.5 - 38.5 m. In fact, by 1990 the sea mark was 38.24 m, and by 2000 - about 34 m! Similarly, the mineralization of water in the sea increased at a faster rate - by 1990, actually 32% instead of 26% according to the forecast, and by 2000 40% instead of 38% according to the forecast.
It was found that the saturation of the Aral waters with calcium sulfate and the beginning of gypsum precipitation occurs at a salinity exceeding 25 - 26 g/l. However, the most intensive setting of gypsum began at a salinity above 34 - 36%. Under these conditions, simultaneously with the precipitation of gypsum in winter, sedimentation of mirabilite occurs, which poses the greatest danger to the nature of the Aral Sea region.
Dehydrated sodium sulfate is susceptible to wind erosion and can be easily transported over long distances.
The drop in sea level and the salinization of its waters led to an increase in the amplitude of the range of annual temperature fluctuations throughout the entire water column and to some shift in the phases of the temperature regime. Most important for the biological regime of the sea will be the change in winter thermal conditions. A further decrease in the freezing temperature and a change in the nature of the process of autumn-winter convective mixing during the transition from brackish to saline waters cause a strong cooling of the entire mass of sea waters to significant (-1.5 - 2.0 C) negative temperatures. This becomes one of the main factors limiting the implementation of acclimatization measures that impede the restoration of the fishery value of the sea in the near future.
A drop in sea level can lead to a very noticeable change in ice conditions - even with moderately severe winters, one can expect complete coverage of the sea with ice with a maximum thickness of 0.8 - 0.9 m. its total heat storage will affect the more rapid spread of ice. An increase in the mass of ice per unit area will lead to a more extended period of ice melting. The extremely low specific values of biogenic substances entering the sea determine their correspondingly low concentrations in sea water, which should continue to limit the development of photosynthetic processes in the sea and cause its insignificant biological productivity.
The deterioration of the oxygen regime of the sea in the summer due to a decrease in its photosynthetic production and intensive consumption for the oxidation of organic matter leads to the formation of oxygen deficiency zones and freezing phenomena. A further increase in salinity causes both a reduction in the number of species of phyto- and zooplankton, phyto- and zoobenthos, and a corresponding decrease in their biomass, which will lead to a further deterioration in the food supply of hydrobionts.
An increase in the salinity of the Aral waters will make it impossible for the aboriginal fauna to exist. A quantitative assessment of the role of the anthropogenic factor in modern changes in the regime of the Aral Sea was carried out by calculating the restored values of the level and salinity for 1961 - 1980. according to the values of the restored conditionally natural inflow to the sea. As calculations have shown, more than 70% of the current drop in sea level and an increase in its salinity are due to the influence of the anthropogenic factor, the rest of these changes are due to climatic factors - the natural low water period.
The main consequences of the drying up of the Aral Sea, in addition to a decrease in volume, surface, growth and changes in the nature of mineralization, were manifested in the formation of a huge salt desert on the site of the dried bottom, with an area of almost 3.6 million hectares by now.
As a result, a unique freshwater reservoir gave way to a huge bitter-salty lake in combination with a colossal salty desert at the junction of three sandy deserts. at a mark of 41 m of absolute height, the Small Sea was completely separated from the Big Sea. This led to the formation of a new desert territory with an area of 6000 sq. km. with a reserve of salts in the upper layer up to 1 billion tons. Currently there is a sediment from the sea water solution of saturated gypsum. When the sea level drops to 30 m absolute height (by 23 m), the western part of the deep-water Great Sea will separate from the eastern, shallow water in islands.
After the separation of the Small Sea, the regimes of the Small Sea and the Big Sea began to develop according to various scenarios. Due to the fact that in recent years the inflow of the Syrdarya River has been higher than that of the Amudarya River, the level of the Small Sea began to rise, and the mineralization of water decreased. The breakthrough of the temporary dam of the Small Sea caused a decrease in the level, however, the previous filling showed the correctness of the decision to create a separate reservoir of the Small Sea at the level of 41 - 42.5 m. environment.
Thus, the Aral Sea, as a single body of water in the past, ceased to exist and turned into a number of dissected water bodies with their own water-salt balances and their future, depending on which course of action the five countries choose as economic entities in this basin. Characteristics of the degradation of the natural complex of the Aral Sea area under the influence of the drying of the sea are given in the work "Assessment of the socio-economic consequences of the ecological disaster - drying up of the Aral Sea", carried out in the INTAS / RFBR-1733 project (August 2001) and published by the SIC ICWC (Tashkent).
A brief summary of the main effects of degradation are given below:
- reduction of the area of lakes in the Amudarya delta to 26 thousand hectares against 400 thousand hectares in 1960;
- drop in groundwater level, depending on the distance from the sea coast, up to 8 m;
- insertion into the bottom of riverbeds to a depth of 10 m;
- development of salt and dust transfer in the strip up to 500 km with an intensity of 0.1 to 2.0 t/ha;
- change in soil cover - hydromorphic soils decreased from 630 to 80 thousand hectares;
- the area of solonchaks increased from 85 thousand hectares to 273 thousand hectares;
- the area of reeds decreased from 600 thousand hectares to 30 thousand hectares, or 20 times;
- Tugai forests have decreased from 1300 to 50 thousand ha or 26 times;
- climate change in the band 150-200 km;
- decrease in fish productivity from 40 thousand tons to 2 thousand tons per year or 20 times.
All this was accompanied by an economic loss of $115 million a year and a social loss of $28.8 million a year. It should be noted that environmental changes associated with the drying up of the sea were accompanied by a decrease in water inflow to the delta and, as a result, a deterioration in drinking water supply - an increase in salinity and a decrease in groundwater inflow. This, in turn, caused a sharp increase in the incidence of the population, which is clearly shown by MD. O. Ataniyazova and others ( Nukus, 2001) in their work “The Aral Sea Crisis and Medical and Social Problems of Karakalpakstan”. Understanding the need to do something in the conditions when the Aral Sea began to dry out rapidly came to the Soviet society already in the early 70s, when several government commissions were created, which gave conclusions on the need to take urgent measures, if not to stop the decline in sea level , then at least to prevent the negative socio-economic and environmental phenomena associated with this disaster.
As such a measure, a proposal was put forward for additional supply of waters of Siberian rivers to the region in the amount of 18 - 20 km3. per year to improve water supply and at the same time to improve the situation in the Aral Sea region. In 1986, this proposal was rejected by the Government of the USSR and a set of measures was proposed as an anti-measure, approved by Decree No. 1110 in 1986, as a result of which two BVOs "Syrdarya" and "Amudarya" were organized, a special organization " Aralvodstroy"and the program coordinator - the consortium" Aral ". During 1987 - 1990. a certain amount of work was carried out to improve water conservation in the Aral Sea region, along the Pravoberezhny collector, upon completion of construction Tuyamuyun reservoir etc. In 1991, after the collapse of the USSR, all these works were stopped until the heads of state of five countries in 1993 created the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea and on January 11, 1994 approved a plan of priority measures to improve the situation in the Aral Sea basin, which also included measures to save the Aral Sea region.
In particular, at this meeting, it was decided to “research and develop engineering solutions for drafting projects, carrying out work to create artificially flooded landscape ecosystems in the territories of the Amudarya and Syrdarya deltas and adjacent areas of the dried day of the Aral Sea and carry out the necessary reclamation measures in order to restore natural-historical regime and improvement of these territories”. At the same time, the “Basic Provisions of the Concept for Improving the Socio-Economic and Ecological Condition in the Aral Sea Region” were approved, which emphasized the impossibility of restoring the Aral Sea to its original state and at the same time focused on the need to implement a complex of structures, forest and water reclamation works, as well as measures aimed at creation of a new natural-anthropogenic sustainable ecological profile of the Aral Sea region through watering, forest reclamation and other works and projects.
This document was based on the ideas outlined in 1984 in the journal “ Desert Herald» No. 3 - about the need to preserve the Aral Sea region by creating a number of ecologically stable zones on its territory, which will separately perform the functions that the two ecosystems previously performed together. For this purpose, the entire zone of the Aral Sea, including the delta and the sea itself, is divided into ecological zones that differ in various principles that form them (the effect of fresh water on soils, mineralized, mixed).

One of the border facilities separating Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan is the drainless salty Aral Sea. During its heyday, this sea-lake was considered the fourth in the world in terms of the volume of water contained in it, its depth reached 68 meters.

In the 20th century, when the Republic of Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union, the waters and the bottom of the sea were explored by specialists. As a result of radiocarbon analysis, it was found that this reservoir was formed in the prehistoric era, about 20-24 thousand years ago.

At that time, the landscape of the earth's surface was constantly changing. Full-flowing rivers changed their channels, islands and entire continents appeared and disappeared. The main role in the formation of this water body was played by the rivers, which at different times filled the sea called the Aral Sea.

The stone basin containing a large lake in primitive times was filled with the waters of the Syr Darya. Then it really was no more than an ordinary lake. But after one of the shifts of tectonic plates, the Amu Darya river changed its original course, ceasing to feed the Caspian Sea.

Large waters and periods of drought in the history of the sea

Thanks to the powerful support of this river, the large lake replenished its water balance, becoming a real sea. Its level rose to 53 meters. Significant changes in the water landscape of the area, increased depth have become the causes of climate humidification.

Through the Sarakamyshen depression, it connects with the Caspian Sea, and its level rises to 60 meters. These favorable changes took place in the 4th-8th millennia BC. At the turn of the 3rd millennium BC, aridization processes take place in the Aral Sea region.

The bottom again became closer to the water surface, and the waters dropped to a mark of 27 meters above sea level. The depression connecting the two seas, the Caspian and the Aral, dries up.

The level of the Aral fluctuates between 27-55 meters, periods of revival and decline alternate. The great medieval regression (drying) came 400-800 years ago when the bottom was hidden under a 31-meter water column

Annalistic history of the sea

The first documentary evidence confirming the existence of a large salt lake can be found in Arabic chronicles. These chronicles were kept by the great Khorezm scientist Al-Biruni. He wrote that the Khorezmians already from 1292 BC knew about the existence of a full-flowing sea.

V.V. Bartholdi mentions that during the conquest of Khorezm (712-800 years), the city stood on the eastern coast of the Aral Sea, about which detailed evidence has been preserved. The ancient writings of the holy book Avesta have conveyed to this day a description of the Vaksh River (the current Amu Darya), which flows into Lake Varakh.

In the middle of the 19th century, a geological expedition of scientists (V. Obruchev, P. Lessor, A. Konshin) carried out work in the coastal region. The shor deposits discovered by geologists gave the right to assert that the sea occupied the area of the Sarakamyshinsky depression and the Khiva oasis. And during the migration of rivers and drying up, the mineralization of water sharply increased and salts fell to the bottom.

Facts of the recent history of the sea

The above documentary evidence is collected in the book “Essays on the history of the Aral Sea research”, written by a member of the Russian Geographical Society L. Berg. It is interesting to note that, according to L. Berg, neither ancient Greek nor ancient Roman historical or archaeological works contain any information about such an object.

During periods of regression, when the seabed was partially exposed, the islands became isolated. In 1963, along one of the islands, the Renaissance Island, a border was drawn between the territories occupied by present-day Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan: 78.97% of the Renaissance island is occupied by Uzbekistan, and 21.03% by Kazakhstan.

In 2008, Uzbekistan began exploration work on Vozrozhdeniye Island in order to discover oil and gas bearing layers. Thus, Vozrozhdeniye Island may turn out to be a "stumbling block" in the economic policy of the two countries.

In 2016, it is planned to complete the main part of exploration work. And already at the end of 2016, LUKOIL Corporation and Uzbekistan will drill two appraisal wells on Vozrozhdeniye Island, taking into account seismic data.

Ecological situation in the Aral Sea region

What is the small and large Aral Sea? The answer can be obtained by studying the drying up of the Aral Sea. At the end of the 20th century, another regression visited this reservoir - drying up. It breaks up into two independent objects - the South Aral and the small Aral Sea.

Why did the Aral Sea disappear?

The water surface was reduced to ¼ of the original value, and the maximum depth approached 31 meters, which was evidence of a significant (up to 10% of the initial volume) reduction in water in the already broken sea.

The fishery that once flourished on the lake-sea, due to the strong mineralization of the water, left the southern reservoir - the large Aral Sea. The Small Aral Sea has retained some fishing enterprises, but even in it the fish stocks have significantly decreased. The reasons why the bottom of the sea was exposed, and separate islands appeared, were:

Natural alternation of periods of regressions (drying); during one of them, in the middle of the 1st millennium, there was a “city of the dead” at the bottom of the Aral Sea, as evidenced by the fact that there is a mausoleum here, next to which several burials were found.
Drainage-collector water and domestic wastewater from the surrounding fields and gardens, containing pesticides and pesticides, enter the rivers and settle to the bottom of the sea.
The Central Asian rivers Amudarya and Syrdarya, partially flowing through the territory of the state of Uzbekistan, have reduced the recharge of the Aral Sea by 12 times due to the diversion of their waters for irrigation needs.
Global climate change: the greenhouse effect, the destruction and melting of mountain glaciers, and this is where the Central Asian rivers originate.

The climate in the Aral Sea region has become harsher: cooling begins already in August, the summer air has become very dry and hot. Steppe winds blowing around the bottom of the sea carry pesticides and pesticides throughout the Eurasian continent.

Aral is navigable

Back in the XYIII-XIX centuries, the depth of the sea was passable for a military flotilla, which included steamships and sailboats. And scientific and research ships penetrated the secrets that the depth of the sea hid. In the last century, the depths of the Aral Sea abounded in fish and were suitable for navigation.

Until the next period of drying up at the end of the 70s of the XX century, when the bottom of the sea began to sharply approach the surface, ports were located on the seashores:

Aralsk - the former center of the fishing industry on the Aral Sea; now here is the administrative center of one of the districts of the Kyzylorda region of Kazakhstan. It was here that the start was given to the revival of the fishing industry. The dam erected on the outskirts of the city, the depth of one of the parts into which the small Aral Sea has broken up to 45 meters, has already allowed fish farming. By 2016, fishing for flounder and freshwater fish has been established here: pike perch, catfish, Aral barbel, and zherek. More than 15 thousand tons of fish were caught in the Small Aral Sea in 2016.
Muynak - located on the territory of the state of Uzbekistan, the former port and the sea are separated by 100-150 kilometers of the steppe, on the site of which there was a bottom of the sea.
Kazakhdarya - the former port is located on the territory of the state of Uzbekistan.

New land

The exposed bottom became islands. The largest islands are distinguished:

the island of Vozrozhdeniye, the southern part of which is located on the territory of the state of Uzbekistan, and the northern part belongs to Kazakhstan; as of 2016, Vozrozhdeniye Island is a peninsula that has a large amount of biological waste buried;
the island of Barsakelmes; belongs to Kazakhstan, located at a distance of 180 km from Aralsk; as of 2016, the Barsakalme Reserve is located on this island in the Aral Sea;
Kokaral Island is located in the north of the former Aral Sea on the territory of Kazakhstan; at present (as of 2016) it is a land isthmus connecting a large sea that has broken into two parts.

Currently (as of 2016), all former islands are connected to the mainland.

Location of the Aral Sea on the map

Travelers and tourists visiting Uzbekistan are interested in the question: where is the mysterious Aral Sea, the depth of which in many places is zero? And what do the Small and Big Aral look like in 2016?

Caspian Sea and Aral Sea on the map

The problems of the Aral Sea and the dynamics of its shrinkage are clearly visible on the satellite map. On an ultra-accurate map that depicts the territory occupied by Uzbekistan, one can trace a trend that could mean the death and disappearance of the sea. And the impact of the changing climate on the entire continent, to which the disappearing Aral Sea can lead, will be catastrophic.

The problem of the revival of a drying up water body has become international. The real way to save the Aral Sea may be the project of turning the Siberian rivers. In any case, the World Bank, when 2016 began, allocated $38 million to the countries of the Central Asian region to solve the problem of the Aral Sea and mitigate the climate consequences in the region caused by disastrous processes in the Aral Sea.

Video: Documentary about the Aral Sea

The Aral Sea is a unique lake (sea) in Central Asia. Aral Sea - Aral ... This word, which has come down to us from ancient times, means "island". The sea and suddenly - the island! Isn't it strange? But remember, by the way, that the most precious lands were called "islands" in Russia.

The Aral Sea - the story of death

The biosphere is a very vulnerable shell of the Earth. If certain ties are broken, then only yesterday the fertile spaces turn into a desert.

The Aral Sea was fed by the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers. Now all this is in the past. These great rivers, which are among the 34 largest water arteries of the world, do not reach the Aral Sea today.

The death of the Aral Sea - a conscious work of human hands - is ranked second among the world's environmental disasters (after the threat of destruction of tropical forests in the Amazon basin). But the consequences of the disappearance of the sea for the vast Central Asian region, and not only for it, can hardly be called anything other than a comparable catastrophe. First of all, because the question is raised about the very existence of people inhabiting this region.

Water inflow to the Aral Sea, until the 1960s balanced by evaporation (about 65 km3/year), has recently ranged from zero to 20 km3/year. The main reason is the increase in water consumption for irrigation, for new, imperfect irrigation systems and reservoirs, which parse and evaporate water on the way to the sea. As a result, the level of the Aral Sea has now decreased compared to the level of 1957. (then the absolute mark was 54m) by more than 14m.

Its area has decreased from 66.5 thousand km2 to approximately 36 thousand km2, the volume of water has decreased from 1000 km3 to almost 320 km3. During this time, water salinity increased from 8-14 g/l to 25-50 g/l. The shoal separating the Aral into Small (Northern) and Large has completely left the water. The Syr Darya has changed its course and now flows not into the Big Aral, as before, but to the north, into the Small Aral. The meridional ridge dividing the Big Aral into eastern and western parts was largely exposed. The drained former bottom of the sea is a desert. Freshwater fish, which used to be caught more than 40 thousand tons per year, has practically disappeared. Due to the high salinity, animals cannot drink water.

The area of the exposed bottom is approximately 3 million hectares. And these lifeless spaces covered with salty sand are expanding. Salt dust storms have become common in the Aral Sea region. Every year, according to the laboratory of space monitoring, about 72 million tons of salt are carried away by the wind outside the Aral Sea region. It carries this caustic dust in a southerly direction up to 500 km, in the east - to the Yangieg region of Uzbekistan, which is near Tashkent, it settles both in the Tien Shan and in the Pamirs, where the Amu Darya and Syr Darya originate. But their water is used by millions of people living in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.

Aral Sea - forecasts for the future

Based on the above facts, it is not difficult to imagine what will happen in the future. After all, already today the total amount of salts falling on the soil surface in the Aral Sea region per year has reached an average of 520 kg per hectare. This was one of the reasons for soil degradation here, and in Karakalpakstan, Kyzyl-Orda and Tashauz regions, the most difficult situation has developed for people's health.

Scientists foresters, having examined the exposed bottom of the Aral Sea, came to the conclusion that it is possible to grow a forest on soils of light composition, to carry out extensive phytomelioration. Experience in fixing sands has been accumulated at the Institute of Deserts of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan. The fundamental possibility of its forest reclamation development by sowing and planting desert species of trees - saxaul, kandym, cherkez - has been established. The first landings have been made. Now birds and reptiles settle in these green islands, a new ecosystem has arisen with its own biogeocenosis.

Recommendations on forest reclamation development of the southern part of the drained Aral Seabed have also been published. A project was developed for fixing moving sands and planting seedlings of desert plant species on 326 hectares of the former bottom of the Rybatsky Bay. We also started studying technologies for creating protective plantings. Four years later, up to a thousand plants took root on one hectare of land, and even more in some areas.

The bushes have already reached a height of two meters, developed dense crowns, bloomed and bore fruit. And this means that soon self-seeding of forest species will begin and their number will reach 3 thousand per hectare. Such a process is observed on the drained bottom of the former Muynak and Rybatsky bays.

A new generation of desert plants will completely fix the top layer of soil in a given area, protect it from being blown away by the wind. At the same time, it should be noted that the created crops formed a significant reserve of green mass 4-5 centners per 1 ha in 2-3 years.

At the age of five, this stock has already reached more than 7-10 centners per 1 ha. Without human help, such self-overgrowth would take many years.

The shifting sands do not wait. The desert, if not stopped in time, quickly begins to increase its borders. Creating protective forest plantations is the only way to block the way for sand and dust storms.

Academician A. S. Berg, in his book “The Aral Sea”, written at the beginning of the century, warned that if a reservoir dries up, a layer of salt forms on its bottom. The local winds are strong, the salt will rise up and settle for many hundreds of kilometers from the Aral Sea, including on the Pamir glaciers, where the rivers that feed the sea begin. A disaster will begin. And so it happened.

How to save the Aral Sea

At present, the water level in the Aral can stabilize only if the inflow into the sea increases to 30-35 km3 per year, i.e., to the level of evaporation from the new area of the sea.

Changing the size of the Aral Sea. Some scientists propose to return to the Aral Sea drainage water that flows from the fields after irrigation or soil washing. Their runoff can reach a total of 10 km3. Collector canals laid to the right and left of the Amu Darya channel will carry from its middle course these water flows withdrawn from reservoirs like Syrkamysh Lake, which was born due to drainage waters.

It is quite easy to imagine that in the very near future it will be difficult to distinguish the Aral water from the water of Sarykamysh in terms of composition. The concentration of salts in Sarykamysh is 2.5 times higher than in the Aral Sea, and the water there is much more poisonous. 5 km3 of waste water to replenish the Aral Sea must travel almost a thousand kilometers along each of the collectors. How much water will reach the sea?

What part of it will be absorbed by natural filtration into the soil? The largest in Central Asia, the Karakum Canal loses to filtration, according to various estimates, from 18 to 47% of the portable volume of water. This is what caused the formation of salt marshes in the desert and flooding of the soil in the Ashgabat region.

If this project is implemented, the Aral Sea will never receive this even untreated water, it will spread across the desert and turn into a "poisonous evaporator".

According to the most conservative estimates of specialists, taking into account the true efficiency of the systems, from 35 to 40 km3 of water is annually lost to filtration and evaporation in the irrigated areas of the Syrdarya and Amudarya basins, which is almost half of the total river flow. According to various estimates, from 5 to 10 km3 of collector-drainage water flows into various depressions and depressions in the middle of the desert, 5 km3 evaporates from the surface of man-made reservoirs.

These reservoirs have already flooded hundreds of thousands of fertile hectares, the lack of which is so sad for other masterminds of the recent massive attack on the desert. Let us take the lower limits of the given estimates. It turns out that at least 45 km3 of water goes anywhere, but not to the Aral Sea.

Watch a video about the Aral Sea:

The Aral Sea will be saved:

Once upon a time, the Aral Sea was indeed a sea. Back in the 50s of the XX century, this reservoir, located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, had an area of 68 thousand square meters. km. Its length was 428 km, and its width was 283 km. The maximum depth reached 68 meters. At the beginning of the 21st century, the situation was completely different. The area of the reservoir was 14 thousand square meters. km, and the deepest places corresponded to only 30 meters. But the sea has not only decreased in area. It also broke up into 2 reservoirs isolated from each other. Northern became known Small Aral, and the southern Big Aral because it has more area.

20 million years ago, the Aral Sea was connected to the Caspian Sea. At the same time, at the bottom of the reservoir were discovered ancient burials dated to the middle of the 1st millennium. Therefore, the sea became shallow, and then again filled with water. Experts believe that the change in water level is subject to certain cycles. At the beginning of the 17th century, another of them began. The level began to decrease, islands formed, and some rivers stopped flowing into the reservoir.

But that didn't mean disaster. The sea, or rather a lake with salt water, since it is not connected with the World Ocean, continued to be a large body of water. Both sailing ships and steamships sailed along it. The salt lake even had its own Aral military flotilla. Her ships fired from cannons and reminded the Kazakhs that they were subjects of the Russian emperor. In parallel, research and scientific work was carried out to study a huge deep reservoir.

Once the Aral Sea was a full-flowing reservoir

An alarming herald of a future tragedy was the start of the construction of irrigation canals in Central Asia. Popular enthusiasm flared up in the 30s of the XX century, but for another 30 years the reservoir was in relative safety. The water level in it was kept at the same level. Only from the beginning of the 1960s did it begin to decrease at first slowly, and then more and more rapidly. In 1961, the level decreased by 20 cm, and after 2 years by 80 cm.

In 1990, the area of the reservoir was 36.8 thousand square meters. km. At the same time, the salinity of the water increased 3 times. This, of course, had a negative impact on the local flora and fauna. At all times, fishermen hunted on the sea. They caught thousands of tons of a wide variety of fish a year. Along the banks of the reservoir, fish factories, canning plants and fish receiving points worked around the clock.

In 1989, the Aral Sea ceased to exist as a whole. Having broken up into 2 reservoirs, it ceased to be a source of fishing. There are no more fish in the Big Aral today. She all died because of the high concentration of salt. Fish are caught only in the Small Aral, but in comparison with the past abundance, these are tears.

The reason for the drying up of the Aral Sea

The fact that the Aral has ceased to exist as a full-flowing reservoir is a big problem, first of all, for those people who live along its banks. The fishing industry is practically destroyed. As a result, people lost their jobs. This is a tragedy for the natives. And it is aggravated by the fact that the fish that is still found in the lake is “stuffed” with pesticides above any norm. This is not good for people's health.

But why did the tragedy happen, what is the reason for the drying up of the Aral Sea? Most experts point to the incorrect distribution of those water resources that have fed the Aral Sea at all times. The main water sources were the Amudarya and Syrdarya. In the year they gave the reservoir 60 cubic meters. km of water. Today this figure is 5 cubic meters. km per year.

This is what the Aral Sea looks like on the map today
It broke up into two reservoirs: the Small Aral and the Big Aral

These Central Asian rivers start their journey in the mountains and flow through such states as Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Since the 1950s, river flows have been diverted to irrigate agricultural land. This also applied to the main rivers and their tributaries. According to the original project, people wanted to irrigate up to 60 million hectares of land. But taking into account water losses and irrational use of diverted flows, 10 million hectares are irrigated. Almost 70% of the withdrawn water is lost in the sands. It does not fall either on the fields or in the Aral Sea.

But there are, naturally, supporters of other theories. Someone sees the reason in the destruction of the bottom layers of the reservoir. As a result, water flows into the Caspian Sea and other lakes. Some experts sin on the global climate change of the blue planet. They also talk about the negative processes going on in the glaciers. They are mineralized, which has a deplorable effect on the Syrdarya and Amudarya. After all, they originate from mountain streams.

Climate change in the Aral Sea region

In the 21st century, the process of changing climatic conditions in the Aral Sea region began. It largely depended on the huge water mass. The Aral Sea was a natural regulator. It softened the cold of the Siberian winds and reduced the summer temperature to a comfortable level. Today, the summer has become dry, and a significant drop in temperature is observed already in August. Accordingly, the vegetation dies, which does not affect the livestock in the best way.

But if everything was limited to the Aral Sea region, then the problem would not look so global. However, the drying up reservoir affects a much larger area. The fact is that powerful air currents pass over the Aral Sea. They raise thousands of tons of a dangerous mixture of salt, chemicals and poisonous dust from the bare bottom. All this gets into the high layers of the atmosphere and spreads not only over the territory of Asia, but also over Europe. These are whole salt streams that move high in the air. With precipitation, they fall to the ground and kill all living things.

Once upon a time, the sea splashed in this place

Today, the Aral Sea region is known throughout the world as a territory prone to environmental disaster.. However, the states of Central Asia and the international community are concerned not with the restoration of the reservoir, but with smoothing out the conflict situation that arose as a result of its drying up. Money is allocated to maintain the living standards of the population, to preserve infrastructure, which is only a consequence, but not the cause of the tragedy.

One cannot discount the fact that the Aral Sea is located on a territory rich in natural gas and oil. International corporations have been conducting geological developments in this area for a long time. If global investment flows like water, then local officials will become very rich people. But it will not bring any benefit to a dying reservoir. Most likely, the situation will become even worse, and the ecological situation will worsen.

Yuri Syromyatnikov

Large waters and periods of drought in the history of the sea

The bottom again became closer to the water surface, and the waters dropped to a mark of 27 meters above sea level. The depression connecting the two seas, the Caspian and the Aral, dries up.

Annalistic history of the sea

Facts of the recent history of the sea

Ecological situation in the Aral Sea region

Why did the Aral Sea disappear?

Natural alternation of periods of regressions (drying); during one of them, in the middle of the 1st millennium, there was a “city of the dead” at the bottom of the Aral Sea, as evidenced by the fact that there is a mausoleum here, next to which several burials were found.
Drainage-collector water and domestic wastewater from the surrounding fields and gardens, containing pesticides and pesticides, enter the rivers and settle to the bottom of the sea.
The Central Asian rivers Amudarya and Syrdarya, partially flowing through the territory of the state of Uzbekistan, have reduced the recharge of the Aral Sea by 12 times due to the diversion of their waters for irrigation needs.
Global climate change: the greenhouse effect, the destruction and melting of mountain glaciers, and this is where the Central Asian rivers originate.

Aral is navigable

Until the next period of drying up at the end of the 70s of the XX century, when the bottom of the sea began to sharply approach the surface, ports were located on the seashores:

Aralsk - the former center of the fishing industry on the Aral Sea; now here is the administrative center of one of the districts of the Kyzylorda region of Kazakhstan. It was here that the start was given to the revival of the fishing industry. The dam erected on the outskirts of the city, the depth of one of the parts into which the small Aral Sea has broken up to 45 meters, has already allowed fish farming. By 2016, fishing for flounder and freshwater fish has been established here: pike perch, catfish, Aral barbel, and zherek. More than 15 thousand tons of fish were caught in the Small Aral Sea in 2016.
Muynak - located on the territory of the state of Uzbekistan, the former port and the sea are separated by 100-150 kilometers of the steppe, on the site of which there was a bottom of the sea.
Kazakhdarya - the former port is located on the territory of the state of Uzbekistan.

New land

The exposed bottom became islands. The largest islands are distinguished:

the island of Vozrozhdeniye, the southern part of which is located on the territory of the state of Uzbekistan, and the northern part belongs to Kazakhstan; as of 2016, Vozrozhdeniye Island is a peninsula that has a large amount of biological waste buried;
the island of Barsakelmes; belongs to Kazakhstan, located at a distance of 180 km from Aralsk; as of 2016, the Barsakalme Reserve is located on this island in the Aral Sea;
Kokaral Island is located in the north of the former Aral Sea on the territory of Kazakhstan; at present (as of 2016) it is a land isthmus connecting a large sea that has broken into two parts.

Currently (as of 2016), all former islands are connected to the mainland.

Location of the Aral Sea on the map

Caspian Sea and Aral Sea on the map

Portal for the student. Self-training

Large waters and periods of drought in the history of the sea

Annalistic history of the sea

Facts of the recent history of the sea

Ecological situation in the Aral Sea region

Aral is navigable

New land

Location of the Aral Sea on the map

Video: Documentary about the Aral Sea

The Aral Sea - the story of death

Aral Sea - forecasts for the future

How to save the Aral Sea

The reason for the drying up of the Aral Sea

Climate change in the Aral Sea region

Large waters and periods of drought in the history of the sea

Annalistic history of the sea

Facts of the recent history of the sea

Ecological situation in the Aral Sea region

Aral is navigable

New land

Location of the Aral Sea on the map

Video: Documentary about the Aral Sea

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