The Aral is a truly dead sea (18 photos)
The Aral Sea (Aral; Kazakh: Aral tenizi, Uzbek: Orol dengizi, Karakalpian: Aral ten’izi) is an endorheic salt lake in Central Asia, on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Since the 1960s of the 20th century, sea level (and the volume of water in it) has been rapidly declining due to the withdrawal of water from the main feeding rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya for irrigation purposes. Before the start of shallowing, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world. Collector-drainage waters flowing from the fields into the bed of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya have caused deposits of pesticides and various other agricultural pesticides, appearing in places on 54 thousand km² of the former seabed covered with salt. Dust storms carry salt, dust and toxic chemicals up to 500 km. Sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride and sodium sulfate are airborne and destroy or retard the development of natural vegetation and crops. The local population suffers from a high prevalence of respiratory diseases, anemia, cancer of the larynx and esophagus, and digestive disorders. Liver and kidney diseases and eye diseases have become more frequent. In 2001, as a result of a drop in water level, Vozrozhdenie Island connected with the mainland. On this island, the Soviet Union tested bacteriological weapons: the causative agents of anthrax, tularemia, brucellosis, plague, typhoid, smallpox, as well as botulinum toxin were tested here on horses, monkeys, sheep, donkeys and other laboratory animals. This is the reason for fears that deadly microorganisms have remained viable, and infected rodents may spread them to other regions. According to scientists' calculations, it is no longer possible to save the Aral Sea. Even if we completely abandon the intake of water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, the previous water level in it will be restored no earlier than in 200 years.
Source: Zhzhurnal/amelito
01) Schoolchildren play on an abandoned ship in the former port of Aralsk.
02) A boy looks out of a UAZ, the village of Shomishkol, 100 km from Aralsk.
03) A boy plays near the old port of Aralsk.
04) One of the ships remained forever in the sands after the water receded.
05) Another monument to the once numerous fleet of the Aral Sea.
06) Mosaic at the Aralsk train station. The inscription reads: “We will ship 14 wagons of fish to Lenin’s letter.”
07) Another dead ship.
08) Boats in coastal waters.
09) Kazakh fishermen.
10) Camels walk on cracked ground.
11) Fish market in Aralsk.
12) Port in Aralsk.
13) Port in Aralsk.
14) Schoolchildren play on abandoned ships.
15) Horses in the coastal waters of the Aral Sea.
16) Monument to the Aral Fleet.
17) Kokaral Dam, built to protect the Aral Sea, 150 km from Aralsk.
Photo (C) - AP/Sergey Ponomarev
