The Aral Sea

Millions of years ago, the northwestern part of Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan were covered by a massive inland sea. When the waters receded, they left a broad plain of highly saline soil. One of the remnants of the ancient sea was the Aral Sea. The Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world. The Aral Sea surface was 66,100 square kilometers. Salt content was 1%. Then in the sixties, the flow of water into the Sea began to drop alarmingly. The former sea bed is now a salt desert. More and more water is used for irrigations and this may cause a reduction of water pouring into the Aral Sea. As the result of the shrinkage of the Sea.