The history of the Aral Sea from antiquity to the present day

    The tragedy of the disappearance of the Aral Sea is one of the most convincing and vital arguments against unbalanced and unsustainable actions committed by the human race, which were so much during the creative and at the same time destructive second half of the 20th century. For this half a century, humanity has not only reached unparalleled milestones in technological development, but also caused more damage to nature than ever before. This predatory violence upon the planet was caused rapid technological revolution, which at one time was heralded as a turning point in the history of mankind. This went on until the best minds discovered that behind her facade there are very serious consequences.
     This ambitious pursuit of mankind has caused almost all global climatic, hydrological and geological changes (and not only in the former socialist countries), which manifested themselves in the greenhouse effect, loss of rivers, lakes and wetlands, and widespread desertification. unrestrained the desire of people supposedly for their well-being, but in fact, mainly to increase their wealth, domination and ownership of property was eventually replaced by the understanding that everything in this world is interdependent and has its consequences,which manifest themselves as disturbances in natural processes and changes in on an unprecedented scale. Some Western countries already in the 70s and 80s realized the need to “respect nature and repay her debts", the USSR in these years was only beginning to think about environmental problems and came to insight only on the verge of its collapse.
     Today, the peoples and governments of such countries should receive gratitude and respect. like Canada, Holland, Switzerland and Japan, which give an example to all mankind how to restore their relationship with nature. This can be seen from how urbanization is combined with the protection of fauna, flora and landscapes in the basis of harmonization of such conflicting interests as economic development, demographic growth, and even increasing natural potential in this process. Awareness of the partnership of man with nature, based on deep respect for her and pride in natural wealth, is instilled from childhood and is derived from the comprehension his essence.
     The shrinkage of the Aral Sea, which was a huge body of water with good quality water, has reached such degree when widespread degradation of nature inside the drying zone (below 53 m) as well as outside it led to a situation in which the region is now characterized as a disaster area. Sea, which served as a source of existence for rich flora and fauna and a natural regulator for the adjacent irrigated territory, falls into such decline, in which a desertification zone is formed, located between deserts of Kyzylkum, Karakum and Ustyurt. On the former bottom of the sea, vast salt marshes appeared, highly saline earth, pockets of salt-dust removal.
     In the coastal zone (above 53 m), the rock that formed over many years has completely collapsed. centuries ecosystem deltas and coastal strip, lakes dried up, water mineralization increased, in place of dried marshes appeared salt marshes, the production of fish and fur-bearing animals has significantly decreased, migratory birds have disappeared, are declining flora and fauna, the local climate has undergone changes.
    Five independent states - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - located in the Aral Sea basin, correctly assessed the need to seriously address the problem of the Aral Sea and Aral Sea (dried coastal zone). The heads of state approved the "Concept", which duly a proposal is made to create a new sustainable anthropogenic-natural complex in the Aral Sea region, designed to restore the productivity of the territory to the highest possible previous level. However, due to economic and social decline, the implementation of these plans is still facing constraints.
    The current ecological situation worries people living in a swimming pool Aral Sea, so for outside of it. As a result, many projects and project proposals have appeared, which are trying in one way or another otherwise address the following questions:
    - protect the population from the impacts of desertification;
     - create or restore the greatest possible biodiversity of flora and fauna;
    - create jobs for the local population by restoring fish farming, muskrat breeding, pasture cattle breeding, processing industries, etc;
     - create appropriate social and economic conditions for the local population necessary for raise living standards through the introduction of new requirements for the management of water and land resources;
     - prevent further environmental degradation and restore ecological equilibrium in Aral Sea.
     In the previous situation, these problems were solved through the hydrological regime of rivers. Amu Darya and Syrdarya. Socio-economic activity near the sea and in the deltas was closely tied to the regime of these zones and did not invaded natural conditions. In the current situation, it is necessary to return to the previous situation as much as possible. as far as possible and reverse the developing negative trends. Many donor organizations tried to provide assistance to the "epicenter of the disaster", but no attempts were made to solve this problem using an integrated approach.And attempts in this direction have been made through the possibilities the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS) and the GEF agency, which initiated a project to carry out work on restoration of wetlands (Sudochye project) and some small water bodies.

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Aral and Aral Sea

    The history of the Aral Sea is controversial and unclear, despite the fact that the study of it many folios, starting from the beginning of the last millennium, and from the second half of the 19th century, the Aral became an object numerous expeditions and works of the Russian Geographical Society and various scientific organizations Russian state. The results of these works were summarized in 1908 by L. Berg in his famous work "Essay on the history of the exploration of the Aral Sea", where he states that none of the Greek and Roman there was no direct or indirect mention of the Aral Sea by the authors, but many of them talk about Oks (Amu Darya) and Aksart (Syr Darya), it is not clear where they fell. According to the famous Khorezm scientist Al Beruni, who died in 1048, the Khorezmians leading their chronology from 1292 to the birth of Christ testify to the existence of the Aral Sea. Berg makes the same reference to the sacred book of the Avesta, where there is an indication that the Vakhsh River or the current Amu Darya flows into Lake Varakhsha, under which some refer to the Aral Sea. The first more or less reliable sources about the existence of the Aral the seas belong to the Arabic scripts, capturing the evidence of the conquerors of Khorezm in 712. These data are described in detail by V.V. Barthold, from which it is clear that already in the 800s the Aral Sea existed, and it was located not far from Khorezm, since its description completely coincides with the nature of the eastern coast Aral Sea. Other testimonies belong to Massudi ibn Nurusti, Al Balkhi and a number of others. Arab writers and explorers-geographers.
     Geological surveys that were carried out at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century (A.M. Konshin, P.M. Lesser, W. Obruchev), boiled down to the fact that in the post-Pleocene era, part of the Karakum desert between the Ustyurt chink on in the north, by the mouths of the Murgab and Tejen in the south, in the west the soles of the Kopetdag were flooded by the Great Aral. The eastern half of the united Aral-Caspian Sea had, in their opinion, as the border of the former Karakum Bay chink coastline Unguzov. This united sea covered a wide swath of the modern Caspian region up to the foot of the western spurs of the Kopetdag and connected with the Karakum and Chilmetkum bays along two straits - Big and small Balkh. The Aral part was flooded into the same period, the entire Sarykamysh basin and formed a bay up to Pitnyak, now occupied by the modern delta Amudarya and the Khiva oasis (by the way, this explains the shor deposits near Pitnyak). Uzboy was a strait connecting both of these water areas, but, obviously, its current form with large slopes was formed as separation of the Caspian Sea from the Aral Sea and an increase in the difference in elevations between them. During the subsequent geological period to the present day, the united Aral-Caspian basin was divided into its constituent parts. parts and its gradual reduction to the current limits. First there was a watershed between the Aral-Sarykamysh and the Caspian at Balla Ishem on the Ustyurt, then the Uzboy channel gradually became apparent. Drying sequence is confirmed by examples of transitional deposits from fresh cemeteries of Caspian mollusks (along the Uzboy, in the sands Chilmetkula, along the southeastern coast of the Caspian),covered with bare loose sands with weak and young vegetation, to ancient formations in the central Karakum, transformed into blinkers, takyrs, compacted sand mounds fixed by woody vegetation. Blinders as the lowest point seabed, fed by pressure bitter-salty solutions, have preserved the appearance of ancient coastal lakes.
     All researchers and historians since ancient times describe the transformation of the Aral Sea and Caspian in dependencies from the water content of the rivers of their joint basin and the development of irrigation. They state the fact of final shrinkage Sarykamysh from the end of the 16th century, when the Amu Darya no longer broke into Sarykamysh along the Kunya - Darya and Daudan and further along Uzboy. Uzboy from the Caspian Sea to the Balli Item watershed has a rise of 40 meters over a length of more than 200 km. By According to Obruchev, the existence of Sarykamysh took place from the 7th century BC to the 16th century. Jenkinson in 1559 by On the way to Khiva, he noted the presence of Sarykamysh, which he mistook for the confluence of the Oxus into the Caspian.He also relies on similar testimonies of Abdulgazi Khan, Gamdudla and other Khorezm chroniclers.
     The Aral-Caspian lowland is depicted on more than a dozen maps, carefully analyzed by René Lethal and Monica Mainglo in their excellent monograph "Aral - Aral" (Springler - Verlag France, Paris, 1993 G.). Starting from the "Geography" of Ptolemy (II century BC), in which there is the Caspian in all its grandeur, but no no mention of the Aral (Fig. 1), through the scheme of Al Idrisi (1132) (Fig. 2), - where the Aral is through "Catalan Atlas" (1352) (Fig. 3) to Butakov's map, where the Aral Sea is already shown in the familiar form (Fig. 4) - the entire migration dynamics of the Aral Sea can be traced in human perception.

     Most researchers (B.V. Andrianov, A.S. Kes, P.V. Fedorov, V.A. Fedorovich, E.G. Maev, I.V. Rubanov, A.L. Yanshin and others), based on geological and historical research, came to almost the same conclusion, well-formulated by N.V. Aladin: “in prehistoric times, changes in the level and salinity of the Aral had place due to changes in the natural climate. During the humid climatic phase of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya were full of water, and the lake reached a maximum level of 72-73 m.
     In contrast to this, during the phases of arid climate, both rivers became low-water, the level Aral too the degree of salinization of the Aral Sea region fell and grew. In historical time since the existence of ancient Khorezm level changes depended, to some extent, on climate change, but mainly on irrigation activities in the region along both rivers. During periods of intensive development of the countries adjacent to the Aral Sea, an increase land irrigation led to the withdrawal of most of the water for this purpose, and the water level in the Aral immediately decreased.During unfavorable periods in the region (wars, revolutions, etc.), irrigated lands shortened, and the rivers, and the Aral again filled with water.
    Geological and hydrological surveys carried out by A.S. Kes and a number of outstanding geographers in the 80s of the last century showed that the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, constantly changing their routes and migrating through the system of Central Asia in the historical period often did not reach the Aral Sea, the Aral Sea dried up, and on its territory a desert area was formed. At the same time, during the drying up of the sea the salinity of the water rose sharply and contributed to the precipitation of salts, which were discovered by geologists on bottom of the Aral Sea. Large layers of mirabilite cages are especially striking. Migration of deltas of both the Amu Darya and The Syr Darya created a very peculiar territory of the lower reaches, in which depressions filled with swamps sediments, interspersed with a significant amount of desert, fine silt, sandy loam deposits, which created a delta and most of the channel and channels of the Amu Darya. On the other hand, as evidenced studies of zoologists, in particular Polishchuk, Aladin from the Zoological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1990, The Aral Sea is distinguished by a very poor original fauna, many groups of animals are absent here,which are developed in the Caspian Sea, which is close in origin. At the same time, in the Aral Sea there are original species, and all this indicates that salinization, which periodically occurred with the Aral Sea, reflected in these enormous transformations.

Degradation of the sea and the Aral Sea region

     Although the disappearance of the Aral Sea is attributed to the Soviet state as the main the culprit of this natural and anthropogenic disaster, the idea of ​​sacrificing the Aral Sea to the development of irrigation and growth agricultural production belongs to pre-revolutionary scientists. In particular, A.I. Voeikov (1908) insisted that the existence of the Aral Sea with rational management of the economy is absolutely unjustified, since the economic effect of it (fish farming, maritime transport) is much less than the effect of economic development and especially irrigated agriculture. the same idea in 1913.presents no longer a scientist, a Head of the water sector of the former Tsarist Russia, Director of the Department of Land Improvements of Russia Prince IN AND. Masalsky, who believes that the ultimate goal is "to use all the water resources of the region and to create a new Turkestan ... by introducing tens of millions of hectares of new lands to culture and provide Russian industry with essential cotton…».
    For 1911-1960 the quasi-equilibrium state of the salt balance of the sea is characteristic. Every year in sea ​​received 25.5 million tons of salts, the bulk of which was subjected to sedimentation when mixing sea and river waters (due to the oversaturation of the Aral waters with calcium carbonate) and was deposited in shallow waters, in bays, bays and filtration lakes of the northern, eastern and southern coasts of the sea. Thanks to the freezing of the sea and thawing, the average salinity of the sea during this period varied in the range of 9.6-10.3%. Relatively large the annual volume of river runoff (about 1/19 of the volume of the sea) determined a very peculiar salt composition Aral waters, differing from the salt composition of other inland enclosed and semi-enclosed seas by a large content of carbonate and sulfate salts. The modern period in the life of the sea, starting from 1961, can be characterized as a period of active anthropogenic influence on its regime. A sharp increase in irrevocable withdrawals of runoff, reaching in recent years 70-75 km3/year, the exhaustion of the compensatory possibilities of rivers, as well as the natural low water of two decades 1960-1980 (92%) led to a violation of the balance of water and salt balances. For 1961-2002 gg. characterized by a significant excess of evaporation over the sum of incoming components (Only in 1998 did the inflow 29.8 km3 exceeded the evaporation of 27.49 km3). The inflow of river waters to the sea decreased during this period on average in 1965 up to 30.0 km3/year, and for 1971-1980. it amounted to only 16.7 km3/year or 30% of the long-term average, in 1980-1999 — 3.5-7.6 km3/year or 6-13% of the long-term average. In some dry years, the flow of the Amudarya and The Syr Darya practically did not reach the sea.
    The quality of river flow has also changed. An increase in the proportion of highly mineralized waste and drainage water has led to a significant increase in mineralization and deterioration of the sanitary condition river waters. In dry years, the average annual mineralization of the Amudarya waters entering the sea reaches 0.8-1.6, and in the Syr Darya - 1.5-2.0 g / l. In some seasons, even higher values ​​are noted. AT result, despite the fact that the average annual river runoff in 1961-1980. decreased by more than 46%, the average annual ion sink over the same period decreased by only 4 million tons, or 18%. Significantly changed and other components of the salt balance. Thus, a decrease in the relative content of carbonates in the river runoff led to a halving of the amount of salts subjected to sedimentation when river and sea waters mix. As a result, since 1961, the sea level has steadily declined. The overall drop in level compared to average long-term (until 1961) reached 12.5 m by the beginning of 1985. The average long-term fall intensity level was about 0.5 m, reaching 0.6-0.8 m/year in dry years. The intra-annual sea ​​level fluctuation. At present, there is practically no rise in the level in the annual context, in at best, it does not change in winter, and in the summer half of the year it falls sharply.
    The drop in sea level and the salinization of its waters led to an increase in the amplitude of the range of annual temperature fluctuations throughout the water column and some shift in the phases of the temperature regime. Most important for the biological regime of the sea will be a change in winter thermal conditions. Further lowering the temperature freezing and changing the nature of the process of autumn-winter convective mixing during the transition from brackish to salty waters cause a strong cooling of the entire mass of sea waters to significant (-1.5 ... - 2.0 ° C) negative temperatures. This becomes one of the main factors limiting the implementation acclimatization measures preventing the restoration of the fishery value of the sea in the nearest perspective. A drop in sea level can lead to a very noticeable change in ice conditions - even with Winters of moderate severity can be expected to completely cover the sea with ice with a maximum thickness of 0.8-0.9 m. Cooling and freezing of the sea will occur at about the same time, however, a decrease in its total heat storage will affect the more rapid spread of ice. Increase in mass of ice per unit area, will lead to a more extended period of ice melting.

     In 1991, after the collapse of the USSR, all these works were stopped until the chapters states of five countries in 1993 did not create the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea and on January 11, 1994 did not approve a plan of priority measures to improve the situation in the Aral Sea basin, which included rescue measures Aral Sea. In particular, at this meeting it was decided to "research and develop engineering project planning solutions,implementation of work on the creation in the territories of the Amudarya and Syrdarya deltas and adjacent areas of the dried day of the Aral Sea artificially watered landscape ecosystems and carrying out the necessary reclamation measures in order to restore the natural-historical regime and rehabilitation of these areas. At the same time, the “Basic provisions of the concept of improving socio-economic and ecological state in the Aral Sea region”,which emphasized the impossibility restoration of the Aral Sea to its original state and at the same time focused on the need to implement a complex of structures, forest and water reclamation works, as well as measures, aimed at creating a new natural and anthropogenic sustainable ecological profile of the Aral Sea region by watering, forest reclamation and other works and projects.
     This document was based on the ideas outlined in 1984 in the journal Vestnik desert" No. 3 - about the need to preserve the Aral Sea region, by creating a number of environmentally sustainable zones on its territory, which will separately perform the functions that the two ecosystems previously performed together. To this end, the entire area The Aral Sea region, including the delta and the sea itself, is divided into ecological zones that differ in various ways. principles that form them (the influence of fresh water on soils, mineralized, mixed).