Aralkum

Aralkum
Desert
Aralkum with the remaining areas of the Aral Sea in 2014
Countries	Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan
Animated map of the shrinking of the Aral Sea, and growing Aralkum

Aralkum is a new desert that has appeared since 1960 on the seabed once occupied by the Aral Sea. It lies to the south and east of what remains of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

History

Main article: Aral Sea § Environmental problems

While the level of the Aral Sea has fluctuated over its existence, the most recent level drop was caused by the former Soviet Union building massive irrigation projects in the region. The severely reduced inflow subsequently caused the water level in the Aral Sea to drop. While the North Aral Sea is rising due to a dike, the South Aral Sea kept dropping, thus expanding the size of the desert, until 2010, when the South Aral Sea was partly reflooded. The water level of the South Aral Sea then began to drop again, however this time more severely.

Geological makeup

The bed of the former Aral Sea in Uzbekistan in 2004

The sands of the Aralkum and the dust which originates from it contain pollutants. The desert's location on a powerful east-west airstream has resulted in pesticides in the dust being found in the blood of penguins in Antarctica. Aral dust has also been found in the fields of Russia, the forests of Norway, and in the glaciers of Greenland.

See also

• Desertification
• List of environmental disasters

External links

• Siegmar-W. Breckle: Combating desertification and rehabilitation of the salt deserts in the region at the Aral Sea
• Walter Wucherer: Primary succession on the dry sea floor of the Aral Sea