Aral Sea Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Aral Sea
The Aral Sea in 1989 (left) and 2008 (right)
Location	Kazakhstan - Uzbekistan, Central Asia
Coordinates	45°N 60°E / 45°N 60°E / 45; 60
Type	endorheic, natural lake, reservoir (North)
Primary inflows	North: Syr Darya South: groundwater only (previously the Amu Darya)
Catchment area	1,549,000 km² (598,100 sq mi)
Basin countries	Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Surface area	17,160 km² (6,626 sq mi) (2004, four lakes) 28,687 km² (11,076 sq mi) (1998, two lakes) 68,000 km² (26,300 sq mi) (1960, one lake) North: 3,300 km² (1,270 sq mi) (2008) South: 3,500 km² (1,350 sq mi) (2005)
Average depth	North: 8.7 m (29 ft) (2007) South: 14–15 m (46–49 ft)(2005)
Max. depth	North: 42 m (138 ft) (2008) 18 m (59 ft) (2007) 30 m (98 ft) (2003) South: 37–40 m (121–131 ft) (2005) 102 m (335 ft) (1989)
Water volume	North: 27 km³ (6 cu mi) (2007)
Surface elevation	North: 42 m (138 ft) (2007) South: 29 m (95 ft) (2007) 53.4 m (175 ft) (1960)

The Aral Sea (Kazakh: Арал Теңізі (Aral Tengizi), Uzbek: Orol dengizi, Russian: Аральскοе мοре) is a lake in Central Asia. It is between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south.

Since the 1960s, the Aral Sea shrank. 90% of the sea has gone. The rivers that fed it (the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya) were used by the Soviet Union for irrigating cotton production. What is left of the Aral Sea is heavily polluted, largely as the result of weapons testing, industrial projects, and fertilizer runoff before and after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

There is a project to save at least the northern part of the Aral Sea. For this, a dam was built in the 1990 to stop water running off. Climate improved in the following years, and water levels rose again. However, that dam broke, and was rebuilt in 2005, with international funding.

Another problem was that the Island of Rebirth had been used for the testing of biological weapons until 1993. It is currently contaminated with anthrax, the plague, and tularemia. Since 2001, it is no longer an island, but a peninsula.

2004 photo of the Aral Sea (The black lines are where it was in 1850)
Rebirth island (an island in the Aral Sea) joins the mainland (2000/2001)
North Aral Sea, comparison April 2005/2006 (showing the sea has grown)
Shrinking of the Aral Sea 1960-2014

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The Syr Darya sturgeon (Pseudoscaphirhynchus fedtschenkoi) was a primitive species of fish possibly driven to extinction by the shrinkage of the Aral Sea.
The Ukrainian stickleback (Pungitius platygaster) was the only native species of the Aral Sea to survive its reduction and salinization.
The European flounder (Platichthys flesus) was a saltwater fish introduced to the Aral Sea.
The black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) was a freshwater fish introduced to the Aral Sea.
Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), a former dominant member of the sea's benthic fauna, and has since returned to the North Aral Sea.
Parthenogenic brine shrimp (Artemia parthenogenetica), the dominant crustacean of the South Aral Sea and its fragments.
First Russian boats on the Aral Sea, watercolor by Taras Shevchenko, 1848
1853 map of the Aral Sea
Ships of Imperial Russian Navy's Aral Flotilla in the 1850s
Map including the Aral Sea and surrounding region (DMA, 1979)
Cotton picking near Kyzyl-Kala, Karakalpakstan.
Timeline of shrinking
Cotton picking in Uzbekistan. Cotton is one of the biggest water consuming plants.
Comparison of the North Aral Sea before (below) and after (above) the construction of Dike Kokaral completed in 2005.
Comparison of the North Aral Sea in 2000 and 2011.
"Rebirth" Island joins the mainland in mid-2001.
Aral Sea from space (north at bottom), August 1985
Aral Sea from space (north at bottom), August 1997
Aral Sea from space (north at top), August 2009
Aral Sea in August 2010, with part of the eastern basin reflooded from heavy snowmelt.
Aral Sea completely loses its eastern lobe in August 2014
Aral Sea from space, August 2017. Part of the eastern basin was reflooded from heavy snowmelt in 2015.
April 2018
Aral Sea once again completely loses its eastern lobe in August 2021

Aral Sea facts for kids

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See also