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Dynamics of the Aral Sea in Geological and Historical Times

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Aralkum - a Man-Made Desert

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 218))

Abstract

The Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake on the globe until 1960, with a surface area of about 68,300 km2. There are mainly three factors which might be responsible for fluctuations of the Aral Sea in historical times: climatic fluctuations with fluctuations of water input to the hydrotope, development and intensity of the agricultural use of irrigation water in the oases, and variation of sediment transport and sedimentation, causing changes in river courses. Within the last five decades mainly the huge irrigation projects in many parts of Middle Asia were responsible for the catastrophic desiccation of the Aral Sea. To date there are four separated basins: the Small Aral Sea in the north, now a separate water body, separated by an artificial dam, the deep western basin, which will be the main remnant water body in the future, the shallow eastern basin, which has become a large salt swamp, and the small Tschebas basin in the northwest, north of Kulandy. The area of the dry seafloor of the Aral Sea, called the Aralkum, is still increasing and is now about 60,000 km2. The dry seafloor of the Aral Sea is a new terrestrial surface. It has developed into a new geographical object, a new desert, that has strong environmental impacts on the surroundings of the Aral Sea.

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Acknowledgements

Two research projects were funded by the BMBF (German Ministry for Education and Research). We thank Hans-Michael Biehl, Hans-Georg Bertram, Joachim Kutscher and Ingo Fitting from the Project Management Jülich for their support of the Aral Sea projects. The GTZ-UNCCD Project in Bonn was also involved in the research project. We thank Anneke Trux and Günther Winckler for their interest and help, which is greatly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

    S-W. Breckle

  2. Institute of Geography, Academy of Science, Almaty, Kazakhstan

    G. V. Geldyeva

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  1. S-W. Breckle
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  2. G. V. Geldyeva
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fakultät für Biologie, Abteilung 3 - Ökologie, Universität Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

    Siegmar-W. Breckle

  2. Michael Succow Foundation, University of Greifswald, Grimmer Str. 88, Greifswald, Germany

    Walter Wucherer

  3. Institute of Botany and Phytointroductio, Timiryazeva Str. 36-D, Almaty, 050040, Kazakhstan

    Liliya A. Dimeyeva

  4. CRS@GIS „Terra“, Zhabaeva Str. 83, Almaty, 050010, Kazakhstan

    Nathalia P. Ogar

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Breckle, SW., Geldyeva, G.V. (2012). Dynamics of the Aral Sea in Geological and Historical Times. In: Breckle, SW., Wucherer, W., Dimeyeva, L., Ogar, N. (eds) Aralkum - a Man-Made Desert. Ecological Studies, vol 218. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21117-1_2

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