The Aralkum Desert is a
desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
that has appeared since 1960 on the seabed once occupied by the
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic basin, endorheic lake lyi ...
. It lies to the south and east of what remains of the Eastern Basin Aral Sea in
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
and
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
. It is currently the youngest desert in the world.
History
While the level of the Aral Sea has fluctuated over its existence, the most recent level drop since the 1960s was caused by the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
building massive irrigation projects in the region. The severely reduced inflow caused the water level in the Aral Sea to drop. While the
North Aral Sea
The North Aral Sea ( kk, Солтүстік Арал теңізі, russian: Северное Аральское море) is the portion of the former Aral Sea that is fed by the Syr Darya River. It split from the South Aral Sea in 1987–1988 as ...
rose due to the
Dike Kokaral
Dike Kokaral is a 12 km long dam across a narrow stretch of the former Aral Sea, splitting off the North Aral Sea (also called "The Small Sea") from the area that once contained the much larger South Aral Sea ("The Large Sea"). The dike is c ...
, the
South Aral Sea
The South Aral Sea was a lake in the basin of the former Aral Sea which formed in 1987 when that body divided in two, due to diversion of river inflow for agriculture. In 2003, the South Aral Sea itself split into eastern and western basins, th ...
kept dropping, thus expanding the size of the desert, until 2010, when the South Aral Sea was partly reflooded. The water level of the South Aral Sea then began to drop again, this time more severely.
In August 2021, British polar athlete
Rosie Stancer
Rose Cecilia "Rosie" Stancer (née Clayton; born 25 January 1960) is a British explorer and polar adventurer.
Youth, education, family
Rosie Stancer attended Butterstone House School in Scotland and then Heathfield School, Ascot. She holds ...
led the first expedition on foot across the Aralkum desert.
Stranded boats
Before its
desertification
Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by ...
, the
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic basin, endorheic lake lyi ...
sustained a large fishing industry that provided up to one-sixth of the Soviet Union's fish. As the water receded, many fishing vessels and other boats were left behind in the desert. In the former port of the city of
Moʻynoq kaa, Moynaq / Мойнақ
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, c ...
, rusting vessels have become a tourist attraction and the site of the Stihia Festival, Central Asia's largest electronic music festival.
Airborne contaminants
![Aral Sea Bed](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Aral_Sea_Bed.jpg)
The sands of the Aralkum and the dust that originates from it contain pollutants. The desert's location is on a powerful west–east airstream that carries its polluted dust around the globe. Aral dust has been found in the fields of
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
, the forests of
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, and in the glaciers of
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
. Pesticides in the dust have been found in the blood of penguins in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
.
See also
*
Desertification
Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by ...
*
List of environmental disasters
This article is a list of environmental disasters. In this context it is an annotated list of specific events caused by human activity that results in a negative effect on the environment.
Environmental disasters by category
Agricultural
* M ...
References
External links
Siegmar-W. Breckle: ''Combating desertification and rehabilitation of the salt deserts in the region at the Aral Sea''Walter Wucherer: ''Primary succession on the dry sea floor of the Aral Sea''
Deserts of Central Asia
Deserts of Kazakhstan
Deserts of Uzbekistan
Desertification
Aral Sea
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