Kokaral ( kk, Көкарал, ''Kökaral'' meaning ''Green Island'') was until 1973 an island in

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 ...

, in the northern part of the Aral Sea. It had an area of 273 km² (1960), and its highest point was the 163 meter high hill called Daut. On its northern shore were situated the fishing villages of Kokaral, Avan and Akbasty. Due to the shrinking of the Aral Sea, the island became connected to the mainland in the 1960s at its western end, and became the Kokaral Peninsula. From 1987 on it became connected to the surrounding land also at its eastern end, over the Berg Strait, turning the peninsula into an isthmus separating 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 ...

and 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 ...

. In 2005 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 ...

across the Berg Strait was completed. The dike stops water from the North Aral Sea from spilling over into the South Aral Sea, and thus contributes to maintaining and increasing the water level in the northern sea. Since then, the water level of the North Aral Sea has risen.

References

Islands of the Aral Sea Lake islands of Kazakhstan Former islands {{Kazakhstan-geo-stub