rhamphotheca:

griseus:

WORLD OF CHANGE:  ARAL SEA - BIGGEST ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER IN CONTEMPORY HISTORY

It took millions of years for the Aral Sea to form, and just a few decades to divest it of water

The Aral Sea is situated in Central Asia, between the Southern part of Kazakhstan and Northern Uzbekistan. Up until the third quarter of the 20th century it was the world’s fourth largest saline lake, and contained 10grams of salt per liter. The two rivers that feed it are the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, respectively reaching the Sea through the South and the North. The Soviet government decided in the 1960s to divert those rivers so that they could irrigate the desert region surrounding the Sea in order to favor agriculture rather than supply the Aral Sea basin. 
Aral Sea’s surface area has now shrunk by approximately 74%, and its volume by almost 85%. The ecosystem of the Aral Sea and the river deltas feeding into it has been nearly destroyed, not least because of the much higher salinity. The land around the Aral Sea is also heavily polluted, and the people living in the area are suffering from a lack of fresh water, as well as from a number of other health problems.
The receding sea has left huge plains covered with salt and toxic chemicals, which are picked up, carried away by the wind as toxic dust, and spread to the surrounding area; the population around the Aral Sea now shows high rates of certain forms of cancer and lung diseases, as well as other diseases. Crops in the region are also destroyed by salt being deposited onto the land. 
The United Nations has estimated that the sea will essentially disappear by 2020 if nothing is done to reverse its decline.
  • credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using data from the Level 1 and Atmospheres Active Distribution System (LAADS)
  • Map by EB 2010
  • More Info: The Aral Sea Crisis

(Source: todropscience, via rhamphotheca)

  1. analysrbug reblogged this from lets-save-this-world
  2. lets-save-this-world reblogged this from all-things-east
  3. rararascame reblogged this from thedragoninmygarage
  4. newthunderfun reblogged this from todropscience
  5. vadinq reblogged this from todropscience
  6. tomris5o reblogged this from todropscience
  7. dragonwishes reblogged this from didyousaydragons
  8. didyousaydragons reblogged this from indefenseofplants
  9. finirr reblogged this from greet-the-sun
  10. greet-the-sun reblogged this from behindmypapertrails
  11. behindmypapertrails reblogged this from todropscience
  12. franiel32 reblogged this from franiel32
  13. athenebrama reblogged this from todropscience
  14. toastabletoast reblogged this from todropscience
  15. runswithscissors1974 reblogged this from icehouseprimitiveman
  16. acatreadingamap reblogged this from todropscience
  17. sleepingamongthewaves reblogged this from fayetastical
  18. fayetastical reblogged this from howlingdark
  19. howlingdark reblogged this from cupcakepantry
  20. todropscience posted this