aral sea case study geography a level

7.5 Case Study: The Aral Sea – Going, Going, Gone

The Aral Sea is a lake located east of the Caspian Sea between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in central Asia. This area is part of the Turkestan desert, which is the fourth largest desert in the world; it is produced from a rain shadow effect by Afghanistan’s high mountains to the south. Due to the arid and seasonally hot climate there is extensive evaporation and limited surface waters in general. Summer temperatures can reach 60 ο C (140 ο F)! The water supply to the Aral Sea is mainly from two rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, which carry snow melt from mountainous areas. In the early 1960s, the then-Soviet Union diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers for irrigation of one of the driest parts of Asia to produce rice, melons, cereals, and especially cotton. The Soviets wanted cotton or white gold to become a major export. They were successful, and, today Uzbekistan is one of the world’s largest exporters of cotton. Unfortunately, this action essentially eliminated any river inflow to the Aral Sea and caused it to disappear almost completely.

In 1960, Aral Sea was the fourth largest inland water body; only the Caspian Sea, Lake Superior, and Lake Victoria were larger. Since then, it has progressively shrunk due to evaporation and lack of recharge by rivers. Before 1965, the Aral Sea received 2060 km 3  of fresh water per year from rivers and by the early 1980s it received none. By 2007, the Aral Sea shrank to about 10% of its original size and its salinity increased from about 1% dissolved salt to about 10% dissolved salt, which is 3 times more saline than seawater. These changes caused an enormous environmental impact. A once thriving fishing industry is dead as are the 24 species of fish that used to live there; the fish could not adapt to the more saline waters. The current shoreline is tens of kilometers from former fishing towns and commercial ports. Large shing boats lie in the dried up lakebed of dust and salt. A frustrating part of the river diversion project is that many of the irrigation canals were poorly built, allowing abundant water to leak or evaporate. An increasing number of dust storms blow salt, pesticides, and herbicides into nearby towns causing a variety of respiratory illnesses including tuberculosis.

The wetlands of the two river deltas and their associated ecosystems have disappeared. The regional climate is drier and has greater temperature extremes due to the absence of moisture and moderating influence from the lake. In 2003, some lake restoration work began on the northern part of the Aral Sea and it provided some relief by raising water levels and reducing salinity somewhat. The southern part of the Aral Sea has seen no relief and remains nearly completely dry. The destruction of the Aral Sea is one of the planet’s biggest environmental disasters and it is caused entirely by humans. Lake Chad in Africa is another example of a massive lake that has nearly disappeared for the same reasons as the Aral Sea. Aral Sea and Lake Chad are the most extreme examples of large lakes destroyed by unsustainable diversions of river water. Other lakes that have shrunk significantly due to human diversions of water include the Dead Sea in the Middle East, Lake Manchar in Pakistan, and Owens Lake and Mono Lake, both in California.

Attribution

Essentials of Environmental Science  by Kamala Doršner is licensed under CC BY 4.0 . Modified from the original by Matthew R. Fisher.

Environmental Biology Copyright © 2017 by Matthew R. Fisher is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

• school Campus Bookshelves
• menu_book Bookshelves
• perm_media Learning Objects
• login Login
• how_to_reg Request Instructor Account
• hub Instructor Commons
• Download Page (PDF)
• Download Full Book (PDF)
• Periodic Table
• Physics Constants
• Scientific Calculator
• Reference & Cite
• Tools expand_more
• Readability

selected template will load here

This action is not available.

5.3: Case Study- The Aral Sea - Going, Going, Gone

• Last updated
• Save as PDF
• Page ID 12040

• Heriberto Cabezas
• Georgia College and State University via GALILEO Open Learning Materials

The Aral Sea is a lake located east of the Caspian Sea between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in central Asia (see Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)). This area is part of the Turkestan desert, which is the fourth largest desert in the world; it is produced from a rain shadow effect by Afghanistan's high mountains to the south. Due to the arid and seasonally hot climate there is extensive evaporation and limited surface waters in general. Summer temperatures can reach 60° C (140° F)! The water supply to the Aral Sea is mainly from two rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, which carry snowmelt from mountainous areas. In the early 1960s the then-Soviet Union diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers for irrigation of one of the driest parts of Asia to produce rice, melons, cereals, and especially cotton. The Soviets wanted cotton or “white gold” to become a major export. They were successful and today Uzbekistan is one of the world's largest exporters of cotton. Unfortunately this action essentially eliminated any river inflow to the Aral Sea and caused it to disappear almost completely.

In 1960 Aral Sea was the fourth largest inland water body; only the Caspian Sea, Lake Superior, and Lake Victoria were larger. Since then, it has progressively shrunk due to evaporation and lack of recharge by rivers (see Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\)). Before 1965 the Aral Sea received 20–60 km 3 of fresh water per year from rivers and by the early 1980s it received none. By 2007 the Aral Sea shrank to about 10% of its original size and its salinity increased from about 1% dissolved salt to about 10% dissolved salt, which is 3 times more saline than seawater. These changes caused an enormous environmental impact. A once thriving fishing industry is dead as are the 24 species of fish that used to live there; the fish could not adapt to the more saline waters. The current shoreline is tens of kilometers from former fishing towns and commercial ports. Large fishing boats lie in the dried up lakebed of dust and salt (see Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\)). A frustrating part of the river diversion project is that many of the irrigation canals were poorly built, allowing abundant water to leak or evaporate. An increasing number of dust storms blow salt, pesticides, and herbicides into nearby towns causing a variety of respiratory illnesses including tuberculosis.

The wetlands of the two river deltas and their associated ecosystems have disappeared. The regional climate is drier and has greater temperature extremes due to the absence of moisture and moderating influence from the lake. In 2003 some lake restoration work began on the northern part of the Aral Sea and it provided some relief by raising water levels and reducing salinity somewhat. The southern part of the Aral Sea has seen no relief and remains nearly completely dry. The destruction of the Aral Sea is one of the planet’s biggest environmental disasters and it is caused entirely by humans. Lake Chad in Africa is another example of a massive lake that has nearly disappeared for the same reasons as the Aral Sea. Aral Sea and Lake Chad are the most extreme examples of large lakes destroyed by unsustainable diversions of river water. Other lakes that have shrunk significantly due to human diversions of water include the Dead Sea in the Middle East, Lake Manchar in Pakistan, and Owens Lake and Mono Lake, both in California.

Chapter 7: Water Availability and Use

7.5 case study: the aral sea – going, going, gone and case study: marine fisheries.

Figure 1. A comparison of the Aral Sea in 1989 (left) and 2014 (right). Credit:  This work  is in the Public Domain, CC0

The Aral Sea is a lake located east of the Caspian Sea between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in central Asia. This area is part of the Turkestan desert, which is the fourth largest desert in the world; it is produced from a rain shadow effect by Afghanistan’s high mountains to the south. Due to the arid and seasonally hot climate there is extensive evaporation and limited surface waters in general. Summer temperatures can reach 60 ο C (140 ο F)! The water supply to the Aral Sea is mainly from two rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, which carry snow melt from mountainous areas. In the early 1960s, the then-Soviet Union diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers for irrigation of one of the driest parts of Asia to produce rice, melons, cereals, and especially cotton. The Soviets wanted cotton or white gold to become a major export. They were successful, and, today Uzbekistan is one of the world’s largest exporters of cotton. Unfortunately, this action essentially eliminated any river inflow to the Aral Sea and caused it to disappear almost completely.

Figure 2. Map of Aral Sea Area Map shows lake size in 1960 and political boundaries of 2011. Countries in yellow are at least partially in Aral Sea drainage basin. Source: Wikimedia Commons

In 1960, Aral Sea was the fourth largest inland water body; only the Caspian Sea, Lake Superior, and Lake Victoria were larger. Since then, it has progressively shrunk due to evaporation and lack of recharge by rivers. Before 1965, the Aral Sea received 2060 km 3  of fresh water per year from rivers and by the early 1980s it received none. By 2007, the Aral Sea shrank to about 10% of its original size and its salinity increased from about 1% dissolved salt to about 10% dissolved salt, which is 3 times more saline than seawater. These changes caused an enormous environmental impact. A once thriving fishing industry is dead as are the 24 species of fish that used to live there; the fish could not adapt to the more saline waters. The current shoreline is tens of kilometers from former fishing towns and commercial ports. Large shing boats lie in the dried up lakebed of dust and salt. A frustrating part of the river diversion project is that many of the irrigation canals were poorly built, allowing abundant water to leak or evaporate. An increasing number of dust storms blow salt, pesticides, and herbicides into nearby towns causing a variety of respiratory illnesses including tuberculosis.

Figure 3. This abandoned ship lies in a dried up lake bed that was the Aral Sea near Aral, Kazakhstan Source: Staecker at Wikimedia Commons

The wetlands of the two river deltas and their associated ecosystems have disappeared. The regional climate is drier and has greater temperature extremes due to the absence of moisture and moderating influence from the lake. In 2003, some lake restoration work began on the northern part of the Aral Sea and it provided some relief by raising water levels and reducing salinity somewhat. The southern part of the Aral Sea has seen no relief and remains nearly completely dry. The destruction of the Aral Sea is one of the planet’s biggest environmental disasters and it is caused entirely by humans. Lake Chad in Africa is another example of a massive lake that has nearly disappeared for the same reasons as the Aral Sea. Aral Sea and Lake Chad are the most extreme examples of large lakes destroyed by unsustainable diversions of river water. Other lakes that have shrunk significantly due to human diversions of water include the Dead Sea in the Middle East, Lake Manchar in Pakistan, and Owens Lake and Mono Lake, both in California.

Case Study: Marine Fisheries

Fisheries are classic common-pool resources. The details of the legal institutions that govern access to fisheries vary around the globe. However, the physical nature of marine fisheries makes them prone to overexploitation. Anyone with a boat and some gear can enter the ocean. One boat’s catch reduces the fish available to all the other boats and reduces the stock available to reproduce and sustain the stock available in the following year. Economic theory predicts that the market failure associated with open access to a fishery will yield socially excessive levels of entry into the fishery (too many boats) and annual catch (too many fish caught) and inefficiently low stocks of fish ( Beddington, Agnew, & Clark, 2007 ).

Unfortunately, the state of fisheries around the globe seems to indicate that the predictions of that theory are being borne out. Bluefin tuna are in danger of extinction. Stocks of fish in once-abundant fisheries such as North Atlantic cod and Mediterranean swordfish have been depleted to commercial (and sometimes biological) exhaustion ( Montaigne, 2007 ). Scientists have documented widespread collapse of fish stocks and associated loss of marine biodiversity from overfishing; this devastates the ability of coastal and open-ocean ecosystems to provide a wide range of ecosystem services such as food provisioning, water filtration, and detoxification ( Worm et al., 2006 ). Scholars have documented isolated cases such as the “lobster gangs” of coastal Maine where communal informal management prevented overexploitation of the resource ( Acheson, 1988 ), but such cases are the exception rather than the rule.

Early efforts to control overfishing used several kinds of regulations on quotas, fishing effort, and gear. For example, fishing boats are forbidden in some places from using conventional longlines because that gear yields high levels of bycatch and kills endangered leatherback turtles. Some forms of fishery management limit the number of fish that can be caught in an entire fishery. Under a total allowable catch (TAC) system, fishers can fish when and how they want, but once the quota for the fishery has been met, fishing must stop until the next season. Unfortunately, TAC policies do not solve the underlying problem that fishermen compete for the fish, and often yield perverse incentives and undesirable outcomes such as overcapitalization of the industry ( Beddington, Agnew, & Clark, 2007 ) and races between fishing boat crews to catch fish before the quota is reached. In the well-known case of the Alaskan halibut fishery, the race became so extreme that the fishing season was reduced to a single 24-hour mad dash; given that fish are perishable, this temporal clumping of the catch is not a desirable outcome.

Resource economists developed the idea of a tradable permit scheme to help manage fisheries. Individual tradable quota (ITQ) schemes are cap-and-trade policies for fish, where total catch is limited but fishers in the fishery are given permits that guarantee them a right to a share of that catch. Players in the fishery can sell their quota shares to each other (helping the catch to flow voluntarily to the most efficient boats in the industry) and there is no incentive for captains to buy excessively large boats or fish too rapidly to beat the other boats to the catch. ITQ policies have rationalized the Alaskan halibut fishery completely: the fish stock is thriving, overcapitalization is gone, and the fish catch is spread out over time ( Levy, 2010 ). ITQs have also been implemented in the fisheries of New Zealand, yielding large improvements in the biological status of the stocks ( Annala, 1996 ). There is some general evidence that ITQ systems have been relatively successful in improving fishery outcomes ( Costello, Gaines, & Lynham et al. 2008 ), though other research implies that evidence of the superiority of the ITQ approach is more mixed ( Beddington 2007 ) Scholars and fishery managers continue to work to identify the details of ITQ management that make such systems work most effectively, and to identify what needs to be done to promote more widespread adoption of good fishery management policy worldwide.

Acheson, J. M. (1988). The Lobster Gangs of Maine. Lebanon, NH: University of New England Press.

Annala, J. H. (1996). New Zealand’s ITQ system: have the first eight years been a success or a failure? Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries. 6(1), 43–62. doi: 10.1007/BF00058519

Beddington, J. R., Agnew, D.J., & Clark, C. W. (2007). Current problems in the management of marine fisheries. Science, 316(5832), 1713-1716. doi:10.1126/science.1137362

Costello, C., Gaines, S. D., & Lynham, J. (2008). Can catch shares prevent fisheries collapse? Science, 321(5896), 1678 – 1681. doi10.1126/science.1159478

Levy, S. (2010). Catch shares management. BioScience, 60(10), 780–785. doi:10.1525/bio.2010.60.10.3

Montaigne, F. (2007, April). Still waters, the global fish crisis. National Geographic Magazine. Retrieved from  http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2007/04/global-fisheries-crisis/montaigne-text .

Worm, B., Barbier, E. B., Beaumont, N., Duffy, J. E., Folke, C., Halpern, B. S., Hackson, J. B. C., Lotze, H. K., Micheli, F., Palumbi, S. R., Sala, E., Selkoe, K. A., Stachowicz, J. J., & Watson, R. (2006). Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem services. Science, 314(5800), 787 – 790. doi:10.1126/science.1132294

Attribution

Essentials of Environmental Science  by Kamala Doršner is licensed under CC BY 4.0 . Modified from the original by Matthew R. Fisher.

• Authored by : Amy Ando. Located at : https://cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:00QVatTc@5/Case-Study-Marine-Fisheries . License : Public Domain: No Known Copyright

Privacy Policy

Case Study: The Shrinking Aral Sea

The Aral Sea in central Asia is drying up. Though it was once the fourth largest freshwater lake in the world, it has shrunk dramatically since 1960. This time-lapse movie shows its location and makes it appear as if it is shrinking as quickly as a puddle after a summer rain. Individual frames show the lake in 1973, 1987, and 2000.

Where's the Water Going?

This image from the Space Shuttle shows a rich agricultural area along the Amu Darya River, just south of the Aral Sea. The thin river cuts through one of the world's most desolate desert regions, yet its 15 km-wide floodplain is covered with water-intensive crops like cotton and rice (click the image to see a larger view in a new window). To sustain these crops, irrigation projects remove water from the river and deliver it across the floodplain. Water from the river used to flow into the Aral Sea, but now it is all used up for agriculture before it reaches the lake.

Until quite recently, the Aral Sea was similar to North America's Great Lakes — it was a huge body of fresh water, filled by rivers that brought rain and snow melt to it from distant mountains. Since 1960 though, rivers that once flowed into the lake have been diverted to irrigate crops. With the decrease in the amount of water flowing into the lake, evaporation has became the dominant process. As fresh water evaporates from the lake and is not replenished, the amount of dissolved minerals (salts) in the water increases and the area of land covered by the water decreases.

The environmental changes in the lake and surrounding region have been dramatic and difficult. The change in water chemistry (increased salinity) wiped out huge populations of fish. The decline of the fish populations, in turn, wiped out the commercial fishing industry on the lake. Today, fishing boats sit in the desert many kilometers from the water's edge. The lakebed sediments (fine-grained sand and dirt) that are now exposed on the desert floor can be picked up by wind quite easily, contributing to large dust storms in the region. For further information, search for articles on the Aral Sea at NASA Earth Observatory World of Change or view the Earthshots article on the topic. You can obtain further information on the science behind these studies by consulting the lists of references that accompany these articles.

You may also want to view this 10-minute video from LiveEarthDotOrg available on YouTube.

In this chapter, you'll examine satellite images of the Aral Sea and make measurements to quantify how its size has changed. You'll download satellite images of the region then set a scale and measure the distance across the sea in 2001 and in 2010. On another set of images, you'll highlight areas that represent water and measure them to see how the area covered by the sea changed from 1973 to 2000.

« Previous Page       Next Page »

• Measuring Distance and Area in Satellite Images
• Teaching Notes
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• Tool and Data
• Going Further

• About this Site
• Accessibility

Citing and Terms of Use

Material on this page is offered under a Creative Commons license unless otherwise noted below.

Show terms of use for text on this page »

Show terms of use for media on this page »

• None found in this page
• Last Modified: February 21, 2024
• Short URL: https://serc.carleton.edu/3127 What's This?

• Geography Review
• Water insecurity across borders: a case study of the Aral Sea basin

The water balance

Climate change, water insecurity across borders, a case study of the aral sea basin.

Conflict over shared water resources is predicted to become a growing problem of international governance. This article uses a case study of central Asian countries in the former Soviet Union to show how a mix of conflict and cooperation over water security has continued for decades

• Volume 34, 2020/ 2021
• Energy Challenges and Dilemmas
• Future of Food
• Global systems and global governance/Making connections/Globalisation, superpowers
• Resource security
• Water and carbon cycles/Earth’s life support systems

Filippo Menga

Managing shared water resources across international boundaries can be a cause of conflict (see Making Connections on pages 7–9). ‘Water wars’ between countries have been predicted over these ‘transboundary’ resources. But in fact we are yet to see one country waging war on another because of a shared river or lake they want more access to. Most times, there is a balance between conflict and cooperation over shared waters and this balance depends on the circumstances in each case. Thi article uses the example of the Aral Sea basin in central Asia to look at the transboundary governance of freshwater resources and the challenges involved.

Around two thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered in water. Most of this water is found in our seas and oceans. We cannot drink it or use it in agriculture. Freshwater resources make up only 2.5% of the total volume of water on Earth — around 35 million km 3 .

Your organisation does not have access to this article.

Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise

Related articles:

Can beavers help humans to manage hydrological hazards?

Making connections: Evaluating the impacts of Tambora’s eruption

Geography works: Foreign correspondent

Using exam board support materials

Modern History Review

• school Campus Bookshelves
• menu_book Bookshelves
• perm_media Learning Objects
• login Login
• how_to_reg Request Instructor Account
• hub Instructor Commons
• Download Page (PDF)
• Download Full Book (PDF)
• Periodic Table
• Physics Constants
• Scientific Calculator
• Reference & Cite
• Tools expand_more
• Readability

selected template will load here

This action is not available.

11.5: Case Study - The Aral Sea - Going, Going, Gone

• Last updated
• Save as PDF
• Page ID 32552

• Matthew R. Fisher
• Oregon Coast Community College via OpenOregon

The Aral Sea is a lake located east of the Caspian Sea between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in central Asia. This area is part of the Turkestan desert, which is the fourth largest desert in the world; it is produced from a rain shadow effect by Afghanistan’s high mountains to the south. Due to the arid and seasonally hot climate there is extensive evaporation and limited surface waters in general. Summer temperatures can reach 60 ο C (140 ο F)! The water supply to the Aral Sea is mainly from two rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, which carry snow melt from mountainous areas.

In the early 1960s, the then-Soviet Union diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers for irrigation of one of the driest parts of Asia to produce rice, melons, cereals, and especially cotton. The Soviets wanted cotton or white gold to become a major export. They were successful, and, today Uzbekistan is one of the world’s largest exporters of cotton. Unfortunately, this action essentially eliminated any river inflow to the Aral Sea and caused it to disappear almost completely.

In 1960, Aral Sea was the fourth largest inland water body; only the Caspian Sea, Lake Superior, and Lake Victoria were larger. Since then, it has progressively shrunk due to evaporation and lack of recharge by rivers. Before 1965, the Aral Sea received 2060 km 3 of fresh water per year from rivers and by the early 1980s it received none. By 2007, the Aral Sea shrank to about 10% of its original size and its salinity increased from about 1% dissolved salt to about 10% dissolved salt, which is 3 times more saline than seawater. These changes caused an enormous environmental impact. A once thriving fishing industry is dead as are the 24 species of fish that used to live there; the fish could not adapt to the more saline waters. The current shoreline is tens of kilometers from former fishing towns and commercial ports. Large shing boats lie in the dried up lakebed of dust and salt. A frustrating part of the river diversion project is that many of the irrigation canals were poorly built, allowing abundant water to leak or evaporate. An increasing number of dust storms blow salt, pesticides, and herbicides into nearby towns causing a variety of respiratory illnesses including tuberculosis.

The wetlands of the two river deltas and their associated ecosystems have disappeared. The regional climate is drier and has greater temperature extremes due to the absence of moisture and moderating influence from the lake. In 2003, some lake restoration work began on the northern part of the Aral Sea and it provided some relief by raising water levels and reducing salinity somewhat. The southern part of the Aral Sea has seen no relief and remains nearly completely dry. The destruction of the Aral Sea is one of the planet’s biggest environmental disasters and it is caused entirely by humans. Lake Chad in Africa is another example of a massive lake that has nearly disappeared for the same reasons as the Aral Sea. Aral Sea and Lake Chad are the most extreme examples of large lakes destroyed by unsustainable diversions of river water. Other lakes that have shrunk significantly due to human diversions of water include the Dead Sea in the Middle East, Lake Manchar in Pakistan, and Owens Lake and Mono Lake, both in California.

Contributors and Attributions

• Essentials of Environmental Science by Kamala Doršner is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Modified from the original by Matthew R. Fisher.

• Introduction
• Geography/Facts about Sea
• Regional Economy
• Diversion Projects Undertaken by Soviets
• Agricultural Diversion
• Environmental/Economic
• Degeneration of the delta ecosystems
• Total collapse of the fishing industry (originally 44,000 t/a)
• Decrease of productivity of agricultural fields
• Increase of serious diseases( e.g. cholera, typhus, gastritis, blood cancer)
• Increase of respiratory system diseases (asthma, bronchitis)
• Birth defects and high infant mortality
• Mesoclimatic changes (increase of continentality)
• Increase of salt and dust storms
• Shortening of the vegetation period
• Recovery Efforts
• Brief Overview of Projects

• Introduction
• Geography/Facts about Sea
• Regional Economy
• Diversion Projects Undertaken by Soviets
• Agricultural Diversion
• Environmental/Economic
• Degeneration of the delta ecosystems
• Total collapse of the fishing industry (originally 44,000 t/a)
• Decrease of productivity of agricultural fields
• Increase of serious diseases( e.g. cholera, typhus, gastritis, blood cancer)
• Increase of respiratory system diseases (asthma, bronchitis)
• Birth defects and high infant mortality
• Mesoclimatic changes (increase of continentality)
• Increase of salt and dust storms
• Shortening of the vegetation period
• Recovery Efforts
• Brief Overview of Projects
• CARRE at SDSU - Aral Sea Desertification Study
• The Aral Sea Homepage
• Earthshots: Satellite Images of Environmental Change: Aral Sea
• location of Aral Sea
• size animation
• satellite monitoring

• TOP CATEGORIES
• AS and A Level
• University Degree
• International Baccalaureate
• Uncategorised
• 5 Star Essays
• Study Tools
• Study Guides
• Meet the Team

Case study on Aral Sea

Introduction

Aral Sea is located in the Central Asian Republics of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, with the southern section located in the Autonomous Republic of Karapakalstan. Aral Sea is a large inland sea that has no outlets. The Sea is connected to two rivers that supply the sea with water. These two rivers consist of water that is from glaciers. One river is called Amu Darya  and the other Syr Darya . Amu Darya is 2,580 km long and flows northwest from the sources in the snow-capped Pamirs. The waters from this river are used for irrigation in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.   Syr Darya is 2,220 km long and it is also used extensively for irrigation. It is formed in the Fergana Valley by the confluence of the Naryn and Kara Darya rivers. When combining the two rivers we see that it is quite large with a combined annual flow of 111 cubic km, this is higher than the river Nile which is only 90 cubic km. The fresh water from these two rivers held the Aral's water and salt levels in perfect balance. Even though much of the water in the river is lost to evaporation, transpiration and seepage as the river flow across the desert. There is still enough water in the river to maintain the Aral Sea normal surface area. But more recently due to human intervention not enough water is entering the sea. This is because locals tried using the rivers as an economy advantage and started many irrigation schemes to produce cotton. But this lead to the shrinking of the Aral Sea and it was shrinking so fast nothing could be done to prevent it. So in this case study I will be looking at how the whole surrounding was affected by the Shrinking of Aral Sea.

The Biophysical Environment

"The area around Aral sea consists of dry, flat plain with few rivers. Aral Sea is situated in the middle of the Asian land. So the area around it experience hot, dry climates which have the land similar to that of a desert or steppe grassland. The Average annual precipitation rarely exceeds 150mm per year. The range between the minimum and maximum temperature is a huge difference. The maximum temperature is 47 degree centigrade in the summer and in the winter it falls to -20 degrees centigrade. The air around the Aral sea is very dry. In the summer the humidity by day is less than 25% and my midday it can fall below 10%. In winter the humidity averages to 40 to 65% during the day. It is has also been noticed that many parts of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan experiences hot, dry winds called the sukhoveya, these winds can cause severe damage to crops. The soil around this region is quite sandy this means that they do not retain the moisture that falls on them. And because of the winds it  picks up the salt from the area where the sea has retreated backwards and blows them over the soil. When salt settles on the top of the soil it does not allow water to seep through the soil and water evaporates from the surface of the soil. Therefore the plants then die out. As they’re not getting enough water. This destroys the present crops and also in the near future the land will be suitable to grow crops.  This process of the wind blowing salt over the land is called salt deflation." edited from the book Planet Geography by Stephen Codrington

Change in Climate Conditions & the impact to the surroundings

During the last five to ten years the drying of the Aral Sea, has bought many changes in the climate conditions. Before the drying of the Aral Sea it was a regulator mitigating cold winds from Siberia and reducing the summer heat. But as of now the climate has change this is because evaporation has decreased due to low volume of water in the rivers and in Aral sea. Thus the climate change has led to a dryer and shorter summer in the region, and longer and colder winters. The vegetative season has reduced to 170 days.  This result in the pasture productivity has decreased by half, and meadow vegetation has decreased by 10 times. The Air temperature during winter has fallen, and summer temperature has increase by 2 to 3 degree centigrade. There has also been frequent occurrence of long dust storms and ground winds. Strong winds blowing the area now, there most intensive on the western coast, with around 50 days of storms per year. The maximum wind velocity reaches around 20- 25 m/s.  And now by looking at this we can see that in these climate conditions agriculture without irrigation is not possible. But in this dry climate people started making cotton through irrigation instead of food. So even when the people knew that due to irrigation the Aral Sea is shrinking they cannot stop the scheme as there using this to grow cottons. So if they do stop they will lose their jobs and money. So this led to an increase in irrigated land in Uzbekistan. Below is a diagram that shows the change in climatic conditions. And we can clearly see the difference from the two. The above one is from before the drying of the Aral Sea and the second one is after the drying of the Aral Sea.

• The Aral Sea cooled the surrounding air by a few degrees
• The Aral Sea provided moisture to form clouds and rain.
• Hot dry air removes any remaining moisture from the sea and the surrounding area
• No cooling effect as water body is now too small.No moisture for rainfall

Climate statistics for Khiva, Uzbekistan

Table 1:Shows Climate Statistics for Khiva

This is a preview of the whole essay

This table here gives us evidence in what the climate is like now as we can see from the table the winters are much colder, and then the climate completely changes when it enters summer as we can see that the summers are really hot. This trend was followed in all the cities that are located close by.

Irrigation scheme in Aral Sea

What is irrigation?

" Irrigation is the artificial application of water to land for the purpose of agricultural production. Effective irrigation will influence the entire growth process from seedbed preparation, germination, root growth, nutrient utilisation, plant growth and regrowth, yield and quality." taken from  

When did irrigation start in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan?

According to historic records irrigation has been practiced in the area for almost 6000 years, but it only expanded vastly after the late 1800s.

How was irrigation used in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan?

Irrigation was used from the two rivers that supplied the Aral Sea with water. Irrigation expanded by a massive program of canal building. This program has continued till the present day. This pie chart shows the different techniques in how irrigation was used in Uzbekistan.

Why was irrigation used in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan?

The climate in the area is very dry with hardly any moisture, therefore in these conditions farming would be impossible without the use if irrigation. In this dry climate people started making cotton through irrigation instead of food. As

later it was realized that cotton grew very well in these climatic conditions, and  there was a high demand for cotton in the world, and there still is. The people knew that due to irrigation the Aral Sea was shrinking but they couldn't stop this scheme as they were using this to grow cottons. If they did stop they would lose their jobs and money. So this led to an increase in irrigated land in Uzbekistan. As you can see in the table that as year passed area of irrigated land increased, until year 2000 when the government started realizing the consequences!!

All irrigation is full control irrigation, mainly using surface water. Wastewater and drainage water are mixed with surface water before being re-used for irrigation. This pie chart shows the origin of the water used for irrigation in Uzbekistan.

What was produced using the irrigation scheme?  

Mainly cotton was produced in large quantities in 1921 Uzbekistan produced 14,000 tonnes of raw cotton. By 1935 it reached one million tones, and it passed two million tonnes in 1950. By 1990 annual production of cotton had reached six million tonnes. This resulted in a lot of water diverted from the Aral Sea and that figure was eight million tonnes. Cotton was not the only crop produced. The area also produced roses for commercial sale locally and for export. Below is a chart that shows the different things produced using the irrigation scheme.

Figure 6: Graph Showing Irrigated Crops

The positive effect…

There was now a much higher yield of cotton, this was good for the economy in the short term. As there was a high amount of cotton it was exported all over the world and in a very short period of time USSR became the larger producer of cotton and is still today. With the money received from the export of cotton the government would then import crops that were not made in the country.

The negative effect…

There is really just one main negative effect that the irrigation scheme had on the surrounding area. And that was the shrinking of the Aral Sea. Since more and more water was needed for growing cotton. Very little amount was finally reaching the Aral Sea. Without human intervention 111 cubic km of water ,mentered the Aral Sea yearly but after the irrigation scheme was introduced this figure was reduced to jus 2 cubic km of water. So we can clearly see that the Sea was not getting enough water for it to refill after the water was being evaporated and therefore it kept shrinking.

Here in this diagram we can see how the sea has been shrinking every few years. And we can see a huge difference between the Aral Sea in 1957 and that in June 2001. In the diagram there are three charts that show us how much more water will disappear depending on the different scenario. In the river there is now more pesticides and fertilizers and industrial pollutants from the factory. These agricultural and industrial pollutants all made their way to the Aral Sea in the end. As time passed the concentration of the pollutants became stronger as the water was being evaporated away. When the water evaporated the salt concentration and the pollutants concentration increased because there is now less water. In the graph below we can see that as the level of water in the Aral Sea decreases the salt concentration increases. It also shows us in which year there was a huge decrease of Aral Sea and we can see that salt concentration has been increasing at a steady rate then after 1975 it increases at a much faster rate, so we can assume that the irrigation scheme must have advanced from this year and onwards. Since the salt concentration has increased animals are unable to cope with the high concentration of salt and they die out. So this in turn affects the fish market. And has led the fish market to an economic disaster (This will be talked about in more detail later on).    Now as a result in shrinking on the sea the remains of the pesticides and fertilizers have become exposed on the dry bed. Then the wind is able to pick up the exposed deposits and then it settles on farm land and over normal land. When the salt settles over the farm land this becomes a problem for the farmers as due to this the yield is decreased. This leads to a major decline in the production of cotton in the area. The winds also pick up the agricultural and industrial pollutants and the wind is able to spread the pollutants around the world, this also gives us reason in why pesticides from the Aral region are found out in blood of penguins in the Antarctic Continent. The Aral dust is also falling on glaciers of Greenland, on forests of Norway, and on fields of Belorussia, which are far-off from Central Asia by thousands kilometres.

When the agricultural and industrial pollutants settle on the mountain glaciers of the Himalay as, the Pamirs, the Tien Shan and the Altais, which feed the Syrdarya and the Amudarya Rivers. There is an increase of toxic dust on the surfaces of glaciers and mineralization of precipitation is causing melting of the glaciers. This is a dangerous process for the region as for most of Central Asia this is the only source of fresh water supply left. If this continues there will be a like a cover of the pollutant sediments on top of the glaciers, therefore this does not allow it to melt and there will be a decrease in drainage to the rivers.

  The island in the middle if the Aral Sea was used by the Soviet Armed Forces and they conducted germ warfare experiments, when they needed to get rid of their waste they would either dump the chemicals into the sea or leave it on the west coast. Now that the Sea has been shrinking the chemicals and the agricultural and industrial pollutants from before  have been exposed to land and have also been blow around by the wind, this has caused several damages to people immune systems and this has resulted in hepatitis, throat cancer and respiratory disease. This resulted in the increase of the death rate. It is said that Uzbekistan death rate will continue rising until at least 2020.    And the diseases in the area have also risen. There is also a chance for the bacteria that was left on the island to spread; this will cause huge disaster to the surrounding areas.

As talked about before the climate has also been affected due to the shrinking of Aral Sea. This is another negative effect.

In the Aral region there is now a shortage of water[figure 9]. A person living in the rural area receives only 15 liters instead of the normal 125 liters, and a person living in the urban area receives 40 liters while in the country the average rate is 550 liters. In the crisis zone people fail to receive water sometimes for several days at a time.

1. Environmental/Economic

• Degeneration of the delta ecosystems
• Total collapse of the fishing industry
• Decrease of productivity of agricultural fields

2.   Health

• Increase of serious diseases( e.g. cholera, typhus, gastritis, blood cancer)
• Increase of respiratory system diseases (asthma, bronchitis)
• Birth defects and high infant mortality

3. Climatic

• Mesoclimatic changes (increase of continentality)
• Increase of salt and dust storms
• Shortening of the vegetation period

Economic crisis:

In the beginning before the shrinking of the Aral Sea, fisheries of Uzbekistan were concentrated mainly in the Aral Sea area.    In 1958 fish catches reached a maximum of 50 000 tonnes. As we can see the fish industry was doing great, it was turning into profitable business in surrounding area Aral Sea, but after the shrinking of the Aral Sea there was an increase in salinity to 14 g/litre, and ever since there has been no fishing in the Aral Sea since 1983. As the fishes cannot survive the high salt concentration. It was said that the concentration of the salt in the Aral Sea was ten times more than the concentration oceans. Fisheries have moved to delta lakes and Lake Sarykamysh formed from drainage waters. Below is a graph that shows how much fish was caught in tonnes from 1929 to1983. This is during the time the Aral Sea was shrinking and by looking at the graph we can see how the shrinking of the Aral Sea vastly decreased the number of fishes caught. When the concentration increased it was said that 20 of the Aral Sea 24 species of fish have disappeared. The fishing industry has collapsed and the fishing boats now lie where the edge of the Sea use to be. Now this affected the economy because the fishing industry employed about 60,000 people.   This industry was a precious part of the region’s economy until 1983. This was the time when the fishing industry was forced to stop and this caused unemployment of 60,000 people connected with sea jobs. This lead to the multiplier effect. This is when the system that were connected to the fishing industry all have to close down because the one main system has shut down, I.e. the fishing industry, so the other system can no longer run. So this was the one main reason the unemployment level of the fishing industry was so high because it affected everything around it.

Possible solutions

• Improving the quality of   canals;
• Installing   plants;
• Charging farmers to use the water from the rivers;
• Using alternative   species that require less water;
• Using fewer chemicals on the cotton
• Installing Dams to fill the Aral Sea.
• Redirecting water from the  ,   and   rivers. This would restore the Aral Sea to its former size in 20-30 years at a cost of US$30-50 billion. ( Taken from   )

Summary of the Whole Case Study :

Here in this diagram shows us how every system was affected by the irrigation scheme from the economy to the climate. It shows what system increased and which decreased. I believe this is a very accurate model on what is happening in the surrounding area. There is no need to explain the diagram as it is self explanatory

So as we saw in this case study the irrigation scheme had affected the Aral Sea and its surrounding badly. And the negative impacts had overcome the positive impacts. And by looking at this case study you can see the government had made the wrong decision in concentrating mainly on the irrigation scheme and we can see that they were blinded by the short term advantage, but failed to look at what would happen in the long term.

Bibliography

Websites that were used for information for case study:

• Book: Planet Geography by Stephen Codrington

Diagrams, Tables and Graphs taken from:

Document Details

• Word Count 3277
• Page Count 16
• Level International Baccalaureate
• Subject Geography

Related Essays

Aral Sea Case Study

The Aral Sea

Develpment Case Study

Case Study Brazil

Skip to content

Get Revising

Join get revising, already a member, aral sea case study.

• Water Security
• Created by: mmmegandepp
• Created on: 15-01-16 16:10
• Now split into two lakes
• Irrigation canals added for farming of cotton "white gold", rice and melons
• Level has dropped by unto 40m
• Environmental impact --> Camels eating salty grass caused them to slowly die off
• Greenpeace "worst manmade disaster in history"
• INFANT MORTALITY RATES = AMONG HIGHEST OF THE WORLD - 10% of babies dying before age 1 due to heart and kidney failure
• Unproductive reigon
• Fishermen -  Created jobs within farming, but caused 40,000 fishermen to lose jobs (industry collapsed). MASS UNEMPLOYMENT
• Drinking water became heavily polluted. Caused by result of weapon testing, industrial projects, pesticides and fertiliser run-off
• Up to 10 million people could be forced to migrate and become environmentalrefugees
• Kazakhstan gov. used an earlier loan of $68 million loan to build Kokaral dam (2003) that separated the two halves of the Aral Sea. Completed in 2005 and allowed more fresh water IN and less OUT --> water level rise by 10m as a result
• Uzbekistan dependent on cash crop cotton and need water for it --> no water so cannot grow crops. Both rivers that feed into the Aral Sea are controlled by other countries

No comments have yet been made

Related discussions on The Student Room

• GCSE English language paper 2, question 4 »
• Edexcel A-Level Geography Paper 1 | [17th May 2023] Exam Chat »
• A-level Geography Study Group 2022-2023 »
• Geography 12marker edexcel plzzz someone mark it and give advice »
• Geography 6 mark HELP »
• OCR A-Level Geography Physical Systems | [17th May 2023] Exam Chat »
• Isostatic sea level change help »
• OCR A Level Geography Geographical debates H481/03 - 17 Jun 2022 [Exam Chat] »
• UoL room swap 23/24 »
• Good pranks to play on friends on holiday »

Similar Geography resources:

Water conflicts - case studies 0.0 / 5

Case Study Aral Sea 4.5 / 5 based on 4 ratings

Water Conflicts 4.5 / 5 based on 3 ratings

Aral sea case study- Role of different key players here and impacts 0.0 / 5

Geography Water Conflicts Unit 3 1.0 / 5 based on 2 ratings

Aral Sea Case Study- Social Problems 0.0 / 5

ARAL SEA CASE STUDY 4.0 / 5 based on 1 rating

Case Study: The Aral Sea 0.0 / 5

Alternative strategies for managing future water supplies 0.0 / 5

Water Conflicts Case Studies 4.5 / 5 based on 4 ratings

274. A Tale of Two Seas – The Aral Sea

Description.

In this Geography Factsheet you will find: • Introduction to the Aral Sea. • Results of the shrinking sea. • What changes are being made? • The future of the Aral Sea.

Download Type

.PDF (pdf) 360.26 KB

Publication Date

September 2011

ISSN / ISBN

ISSN: 1351-5136

Copyright Disclaimer

The materials published on this website are protected by the Copyright Act of 1988. No part of our online resources may be reproduced or reused for any commercial purpose, or transmitted, in any other form or by any other means, without the prior permission of Curriculum Press Ltd.

Similar Resources

What our customers say.

Find exactly what you’re looking for.

• Popular Searches
• A Level Media Studies
• A Level Sociology

Work with us

Get in touch.

• © 2024 Curriculum Press
• | Terms & Conditions
• | Privacy & Cookies |
• Website MadeByShape

• International
• Schools directory
• Resources Jobs Schools directory News Search

Paper 1 Case Studies A-Level Geography OCR

Subject: Geography

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

9 April 2024

• Share through email
• Share through twitter
• Share through linkedin
• Share through facebook
• Share through pinterest

Included is 13 in depth and concise component 1 case studies suitable for students in year 12 and 13 studying A-Level Geography OCR. The case studies are between 2 and 4 pages long and contains only information which is valuable to students and nothing that does not apply to them. This resource is both a locked PDF and an open editable word document so that it can be adapted to teaching style and lesson plan. The case studies can be printed and used as handouts or as extra reading material for homework.

Each case study contains a header section called ‘Facts at a Glance’ and is there for students to take important stats from the text as ease and to use in the exam. There is also a box adjacent to this which shows the location of what is being spoken about as well as the relevant flag(s). Each case study then goes into detail about the given subject and often goes over issues, advantages, disadvantages, impacts, management strategies, and more.

Paper 1 of the A-Level Geography OCR exam series will include questions on coastal landscapes, glaciated landscapes, dryland landscapes, and earth’s life support systems. There is between 2 and 4 case studies for each so that links can be made between the relevant ones.

The document is 45 pages long and contains a contents so that it can be navigated at ease to save time.

This will soon be part of a bundle encompassing case studies for paper 1,2,and 3

A-Level geography is a great subject for A-Level students to learn. It teaches them a range of topics from different landscape systems, understanding food around the world, migration patterns, and more. All of which will be used by students throughout their careers and beyond.

Who are Phillips Resources?

At Phillips Resources we use your feedback to create the highest quality and most desired resources so that students can get the grades they desire and teachers are trusting in the resources they use and also are left stress free from not having to create their own resources as often.

Tes paid licence How can I reuse this?

Your rating is required to reflect your happiness.

It's good to leave some feedback.

Something went wrong, please try again later.

This resource hasn't been reviewed yet

To ensure quality for our reviews, only customers who have purchased this resource can review it

Report this resource to let us know if it violates our terms and conditions. Our customer service team will review your report and will be in touch.

Not quite what you were looking for? Search by keyword to find the right resource: