ISS011-E-7865 Click the photo number to access all resolutions available and the database record.
Since the 1960s, sea levels have dropped drastically as rivers that maintained the level of the Aral Sea were diverted—completely in later years—for agricultural purposes, especially for growing cotton. A thriving fishing industry in the world’s then fourth-largest lake was largely eliminated as the area of the sea shrank by more than 60 percent. Salts and pesticides that accumulated from agricultural runoff were subsequently exposed on the dry parts of the sea floor. Winds now transport these pollutants into surrounding fields and towns. Although the Kazakhstan government made a concerted effort to increase river inflow into the sea starting in 2003, it will take years before sea levels begin to rise.
