Perhaps the best, or worst, example, is the complete destruction of the Aral Sea. Once one of the four largest lakes in the world by surface area, fed by the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, it has now been destroyed by the These pictures from NASA are being called “the quiet Chernobyl.” It is … Read more
Summer 2014 marked another milestone for the Aral Sea, the once-extensive lake in Central Asia that has been shrinking markedly since the 1960s. For the first time in modern history, the eastern basin of the South Aral Sea “As recently as 1965, the Aral Sea received about 50 cubic kilometers of fresh water per year—a … Read more
“As recently as 1965, the Aral Sea received about 50 cubic kilometers of fresh water per year—a number that fell to zero by the early 1980s. Consequently, concentrations of salts and minerals began to rise in the shrinking body of water. That change Until the 1960s, the Aral Sea was fed by two rivers, the … Read more
The Aral sea, as it was in 1989 (left), and how it is now (2014). Image credits: NASA. The Aral Sea is was one of the largest lakes in the world, with an area of 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi). Lying between Kazakhstan and Humans have been farming the Aral Sea area in Central Asia … Read more