A desert that didn't exist 50 years ago. Satellite imagery shows 5.5 million hectares of new sand dunes forming where a sea once was, the fastest desertification ever recorded.
NASA. Collage by Producercunningham., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
A sea disappears
The Aral-Kum is the world's youngest desert, a direct consequence of a massive water diversion project. In the 1960s, the Soviet Union diverted the two main rivers feeding the Aral Sea—the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya—to irrigate vast cotton and rice fields. Before this, the Aral Sea was the fourth-largest inland lake in the world, with a surface area of about 68,000 square kilometers.
The diversion scheme was brutally effective. From 1961 to 1970, the sea's level dropped by an average of 20 centimeters per year. This rate accelerated to 80-90 centimeters per year in the 1980s. By 2007, the Aral Sea had shrunk to just 10% of its original size. As the water evaporated, the salinity tripled, destroying the sea's ecosystem. The once-thriving fishing industry, which had employed tens of thousands of people, completely collapsed. The exposed seabed, covering an area now estimated at over 60,000 square kilometers, became a new, man-made desert named the Aral-Kum.
A landscape of salt and poison
The ground of the Aral-Kum is a toxic crust of sand, a toxic crust. Decades of agricultural runoff contaminated the seabed with pesticides and fertilizers. Each year, powerful dust storms sweep up more than 100 million tons of this toxic salt-dust and carry it across Central Asia and beyond. These storms, sometimes called "Black Blizzards," degrade soil fertility and have been linked to high rates of respiratory illnesses, anemia, and cancers among the local population in Karakalpakstan. Traces of pesticides from the Aral-Kum have even been found in the blood of Antarctic penguins and in the glaciers of Greenland.
Efforts are underway to mitigate the disaster. Planting salt-tolerant saxaul trees (Haloxylon ammodendron) helps to anchor the toxic sand and reduce the amount of dust blown by the wind. One adult saxaul bush can stabilize up to four tons of sand. While these initiatives show local success, the scale of the desertification is immense. The southern portion of the Aral Sea is considered by many to be beyond saving.
💡Fun Facts
The Aral-Kum is the youngest desert on the planet.
Before the sea shrank, it contained over 1,100 islands; its name translates to "Sea of Islands" in Turkic languages.
Vozrozhdeniya Island, once located in the middle of the sea, was a top-secret Soviet testing ground for biological weapons, including anthrax, smallpox, and plague. As the sea receded, the island became a peninsula connected to the mainland, raising concerns about the security of leftover pathogens.
The ship graveyards near former port towns like Moynaq, where fishing vessels lie stranded in the sand miles from shore, are a visual record of the disaster.
Open 24/7. Access is unrestricted but travel into the desert itself is hazardous and requires a guide.
Admission
Free. Access requires specialized 4x4 tours.
Accessibility
The terrain is extremely remote, consisting of loose sand and salt flats. It is not accessible for wheelchairs. Travel requires a 4x4 vehicle and an experienced local guide.
