Aral Is Lost Trivia Quiz

Answer: Karakalpakstan

Karakalpakstan is a little over 60,000 square miles in area, and is at the western end of Uzbekistan. It was under Russian control from the latter half of the 19th century, until it became part of Uzbekistan in 1936.
Nakchivan, Abkhazia, and Crimea are autonomous regions of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine respectively.

Answer: Tanganyika

Since the Aral Sea shrank, Lake Tanganyika is now the fifth largest natural lake in the world. The Caspian Sea, Michigan-Huron, Superior, and Victoria are now 1st - 4th respectively.

Answer: Endorheic

Endorheic basins are often referred to as terminal or sink lakes or basins. They occur in the central part of large landmasses, and are often surrounded by deserts of one kind or another. Because the system is a closed one, with no outlet for the water within to an ocean, they are also more at risk from pollution and contamination than a similarly sized open body of water would be.

Answer: Diversion of its tributary rivers

The reason for the massive shrinkage of the Aral Sea is because the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya, the main rivers which supplied it, have been dammed and diverted for use in irrigation and agricultural schemes in Russia.
This has led to the collapse of the fishing industry, with mass unemployment in areas along what used to be the shoreline.

Answer: Syr Darya

In the ancient Persian language, the Syr Darya is named Yaksha Arta which means "great pearl", for the colour of the waters. It is sometimes also known as the Jaxartes, from the Greek name for it.
It is the only river flowing into what is now the North Aral Sea, and a large percentage of its flow is diverted for irrigation of the cotton crops of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
It was this loss of flow, beginning in the 1960s, that caused the Aral Sea to begin to shrink in the first place. It took less than thirty years for the water level of the Aral Sea to diminish to the point where it split into several small lakes.

Answer: Dike Kokaral

The original levee was made from local sand, and in 1992 and again in 1998, it failed, giving way and allowing large amounts of water through into the South Aral Sea. By 2005 it had been rebuilt, using more sturdy materials and construction methods, and it has since raised the water level in the North Aral Sea by several metres, and also helped reduce salinity, allowing replenished fish stocks to flourish.

Answer: Biological weapons laboratory and storage facility

Also ironically known as Rebirth Island, Vozrozhdeniya was used as a laboratory, testing and storage ground for various biological weapons. The facility was established in the late 1940s, and it was only in the late 1990s that a defector drew the attention of the world to the various microbiological agents stored there.
The area became "just a part of the desert" rather than an actual island as the water levels in the Aral Sea dropped from the 1960s onwards, and since the last water nearby dried up in 2008, it has only been a speck on the map rather than an actual geographical feature.

Answer: Aralsk

The shoreline was around 100km from Aralsk at its furthest retreat, but since the completion of the Dike Kokaral, it has returned to within 10km. Plans have been put forward to build a canal from the town to the sea, once the water comes somewhat closer, as the full effects of the dike are felt.
The loss of the fishing industry decimated the income and employment levels of the town, and the population have also succumbed to various ailments caused by chemical pollution, exacerbated by the falling water levels.

Answer: Muskrat trapping

The river deltas of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya were an ideal habitat for muskrats, and yielded over 500,000 pelts a year at the height of the trapping industry. Since both rivers have lost so much of their water to irrigation projects upstream, their deltas are now much reduced in area, practically arid, and have undergone significant ecological and climatic change.

This has resulted in the almost complete loss of the muskrat trapping industry.

Answer: Oil and gas

The consortium was successful in their prospecting, and found large reserves of natural gas beneath the Aral Sea area. By 2010, half a million cubic metres of gas had been extracted.