Aral Sea

1 Geo Factsheetwww.curriculum-press.co.uk Number 274 A tale of two seas-the Aral Sea The Aral Sea (Figure 1) was once one of the four largest lakes in the world covering an area of 68,000 sq km (26,300 sq mi) but now it has shrunk to a fraction of its... More

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Geo Factsheetwww.curriculum-press.co.uk Number 274
A tale of two seas-the Aral Sea
The Aral Sea (Figure 1) was once one of the four largest lakes in the world covering an area of 68,000 sq km (26,300 sq mi) but now it has
shrunk to a fraction of its former size. The northern part of the Aral Sea (Figure2) lies in Kazakhstan whilst the southern part lies in
Uzbekistan. The whole of the Aral Sea Basin covers about 1.8 million sq km (Figure 3) and is a closed drainage area. Its western and central
parts are covered by plains, whilst the eastern part is occupied by large mountain ranges which merge into the Himalayas and collect snow
and ice in winter and release this as river flow in the summer. The rivers in the Aral Sea Basin flow from the mountains onto the plains and
most disappear into the sand in the deserts, except for the two largest rivers, the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya which cross the deserts and
flow into the Aral Sea.
The Aral Sea was part of the Soviet Union and from the Less