RESEARCH WORK ON THE DRIED BOTTOM OF THE ARAL SEA

The Aral ecological crisis occupies a special place among global problems and is the result of the largest human meddling in the environment on the planet. The shrinking of the Aral Sea exposed another global catastrophe: anthropogenic desertification. Before the Aral Sea began to dry up, it was considered to be the fourth biggest lake in the world by area after the Caspian Sea, Lake Superior (North America), and Lake Victoria (Africa). The degradation of the Aral Sea began in the 1960s when larger portions of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya were diverted for irrigation and to provide for the household needs of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and southern Kazakhstan. As a result, the sea significantly withdrew from its shores and exposed the seabed, which was covered in sea salts contaminated by pesticides and other chemicals [1,2]. In today’s day and age, desertification is one of the world’s most serious problems. Desertification bears unexpected and undesirable consequences for mankind. The increasing land degradation accelerates the lowering of agricultural yields, which will eventually lead to the impoverishment of the local population and will cause people to migrate from their homes. For this reason, desertification is one of the most worrisome problems facing mankind today. The mitigation of the consequences of desertification can only be done by the application of large-scale action on the national and international levels with the participation of private investors.

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