North Aral Sea

In 1925 a large site containing numerous fossils of the Oligocene was discovered near the village of Akespe by the northern shore of the Aral Sea.

Background

The Aral Sea began shrinking in the 1960s, when the Soviet Union decided that the two rivers feeding it, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, would be diverted to irrigate cotton and food crops in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In 1987–1988, due to an accelerated loss of water, the Aral Sea split into northern and southern parts; the southern part was the former South Aral Sea.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the government of independent Kazakhstan decided to restore the northern lake fed by Syr Darya. In 2003, the lake was 30 m (98 ft) in depth and 2,550 km² (985 mi²) in area (JAXA source: 3,200 km² (1,240 mi²)); by 2008 it had reached 42 m (138 ft) in depth and 3,300 km² (1,270 mi²) in area (JAXA source: 3,600 km² (1,390 mi²)).

The poorly built Dike Kokaral intended to contain the North Aral Sea and save its fisheries failed twice, but in 2005, the government of Kazakhstan was able to fund a more robust design. Since then, water levels have risen faster than expected and fish stocks have increased. Plans to build a second dike to increase water levels further were due to begin in 2010, but have so far not materialized. There is now an ongoing effort in Kazakhstan to save and replenish the North Aral Sea. As part of this effort, a dam project was completed in 2005; in 2008, the water level in this lake had risen by 12 m (39 ft) from its level in 2003. Salinity has dropped, and fish are again found in sufficient numbers for some fishing to be viable, especially mackerel introduced at the Syr Darya river delta, though attempts to introduce tuna in 2009 failed.