Aralmeer droogt op

Taak 4 – Actualiteit 

Question 1:

The geographic location I am going to talk about is the Aral Sea, it was one of the world's fourth-largest lake.The Aral Sea is located in the Republic of Kazakhstan in Central Asia.

On the map I encircled where the event happened that I am going to talk about in red.

Question 2:

As I said the Aral Sea was once the world's fourth-largest lake. And until 1960 the Aral Sea was being fed by the two rives: The Amu Darya and the Syr Darya they brought snowmelt from mountains to the southeast together with local rainfall. However in the 1960s the Soviet union diverted the water from the two rivers into canals to supply the agriculture in the region. Because of this the lake began to recede and its salinity levels began to rise. As the lake-bed became exposed the wind blew the contaminated soil onto the surrounding croplands meaning that more water was needed to make the land suitable for agriculture  according to Earth Observatory release.

I think I can place this in one of the two major sub-fields of geography which is:               Physical geography which deals with the study of processes and patterns in the natural environment like the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere, as opposed to the cultural or built environment, the domain of human geography.

Question 3:  

Recently there have been efforts to divert more water back into that sea, but it’s unfortunately unlikely that it will ever regain its former size and glory. The Aral Sea is easily one the biggest human-caused environmental flub in history. And because of the falling water levels the local climate changed too. Because without the lake water to moderate temperatures the winters became colder and summers hotter, according to the Earth Observatory. Today, after two decades of intense demographic growth, the situation has clearly changed the average of the population growth rate in the Aral Basin has diminished.

Question 4:

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/30/world/asia/aral-sea-drying/ 

Once-vast Aral Sea dries up to almost nothing

By Brad Lendon, CNN

(CNN) -- The Aral Sea was once the world's fourth-largest lake. Now much of it is a vast toxic desert straddling the borders of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, two former Soviet states in central Asia.

In recently released images, NASA's Earth Observatory shows the extent of the lake's recession over the past 14 years.

The damage reached its peak this year, when the eastern lobe of the South Aral Sea -- which actually was the center of the original lake -- dried up completely.

Until the 1960s, the Aral Sea was fed by two rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, which brought snowmelt from mountains to the southeast, and local rainfall. But in the 1960s the Soviet Union diverted water from the two rivers into canals to supply agriculture in the region.

With the loss of water, the lake began to recede and its salinity levels began to rise. Fertilizers and chemical runoff contaminated the lake bed. As the lake-bed became exposed, winds blew the contaminated soil onto the surrounding croplands, meaning even more water was needed to make the land suitable for agriculture, according to an Earth Observatory release.

The falling water levels changed the local climate, too. Without the lake water to moderate temperatures, winters became colder and summers hotter, the Earth Observatory said.