What caused the Aral Sea to shrink?

Once the fourth largest lake in the world, Central Asia’s shrinking Aral Sea has reached a new low, thanks to decades-old water diversions for irrigation and a more recent drought. Satellite imagery released this week by NASA shows that the eastern basin of the freshwater body is now completely dry.

What caused the Aral Sea to shrink quizlet?

The summers became hotter, which caused the water in the Aral Sea to shrink. How did the shrinking of the Aral Sea affect the region’s climate? Summers became hotter and winters grew colder. made many fields too salty to grow crops.

What are the results of the Aral Sea shrinking?

The shrinking Aral Sea has also had a noticeable affect on the region’s climate. The growing season there is now shorter, causing many farmers to switch from cotton to rice, which demands even more diverted water. A secondary effect of the reduction in the Aral Sea’s overall size is the rapid exposure of the lake bed.

Who is to blame for the Aral Sea shrinking?

In October 1990 Western scientists confirmed the virtual disappearance of the Aral Sea in Soviet Central Asia, formerly the fourth largest inland sea in the world. The loss of sea water was the result of 60 years of intensive agriculture and pollution by the Soviet authorities.

What happened to the Aral Sea and why?

Formerly the fourth largest lake in the world with an area of 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi), the Aral Sea began shrinking in the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects.

When did the Aral Sea start to dry up?

The Destruction of the Aral Sea Thus, in the 1960s, the Aral Sea began shrinking quite rapidly, with the lake’s level dropping 20-35 inches yearly. By 1987, it dried up so much that instead of one lake, there were now two: the Large Aral (south) and the Small Aral (north).

What has caused the Aral Sea to dry up quizlet?

Steadily shrinking since the 1960’s. Diverted much of the water from the rivers Amu Darya and Syr Darya, which fed into the Aral Sea, for irrigation and agriculture. The sea had declined to just 10% of its original size and split into separate lakes and it’s level had fallen by up to 40m.

What is the Aral Sea crisis quizlet?

fish died off, fisheries lost jobs and income, water for irrigation declined and fewer crops could be grown, health problems rose due to poor drinking water and air pollution. Solutions to the Aral Sea disaster.

What has caused the Aral Sea to shrink and how has it affected the environment?

The diversion of water from the Amu Darya for irrigation decreased the amount of water entering the Aral Sea, which consequently began shrinking. Increased irrigation on the hot, dry floodplains of the Amu Darya and in adjacent regions resulted in evaporation that left salt deposits that make the soil infertile.

What human activities led to the degradation of the Aral Sea?

Intensive irrigation of cotton plantations in the deserts of the western Soviet Union prevented water reaching the Aral Sea, leading to the drastically low levels we see today. This in turn meant the highly-salty waters killed off many plants and animals.

What happened to the Aral Sea quizlet?

When did the Aral Sea start shrinking?

1960s
Formerly the fourth largest lake in the world with an area of 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi), the Aral Sea began shrinking in the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects.

How did cotton shrink the Aral Sea?

The soil around the sea has become more saline as well. In order to prepare fields for cultivation, which are mostly desert lands, farmers must first leach or rinse them, which brings salty minerals to the surface. Moreover, as a result of the increased soil salinity, cotton harvests began to diminish.

What happened to the Aral Sea?

With rainfall composing only one-fifth of the lake’s water supply, the Aral Sea began shrinking rapidly from the 1960s. Over the course of four decades, the basin decreased to a tenth of its original size, ultimately almost splitting into a northern section on the Kazakh side and a southern section on the Uzbek side.

Why was water diverted from the Aral Sea quizlet?

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 favour agriculture rather than supply the Aral Sea basin.

What were the causes and consequences of the disappearing Aral Sea?

The irrigation of the cotton fields from the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya rivers, contributed a great deal to the disappearance of the Aral Sea to more than half of its original size. As a result, more than 40,000 sq km of the heavily saline seabed are now exposed, and is now being blown out by frequent winds.

When did the Dead sea start shrinking?

The craggy hills of the surrounding Judean Desert provided the backdrop for many of the epic events narrated in the Bible. But the ancient sea is slipping away. The Dead Sea’s water level is declining by more than a metre a year, and its surface area has shrunk by around a third since the 1960s.

When did the Aral Sea began to shrink?

What caused the Dead Sea?

The African Plate rotates counterclockwise while the Arabian Plate moves roughly northward. As they move apart, faults form in the graben and pieces of crust sink into the mantle. About 3 million years ago, water filled the graben, forming the Dead Sea, which was then part of a long bay of the Mediterranean Sea.

Why is the Dead Sea disappearing?

The water levels and salinity of the successive lakes (Amora, Lisan, Dead Sea) have either risen or fallen as an effect of the tectonic dropping of the valley bottom, and due to climate variation. As the climate became more arid, Lake Lisan finally shrank and became saltier, leaving the Dead Sea as its last remainder.