A Behemoth of a Manmade Lake in Uzbekistan

Its sheer size might be deceiving. Lake Aydarkul is actually an artificial lake, and properly considered, it is truly a Soviet-era wonder. According to the Feel the Orient website, “The entire system occupies an area of 4 thousand square kilometers and consists of three brackish lakes – Aydarkul, Arnasay and Tuzkan.” Meaning “turquoise seas in the sand,” the Aydarkul truly does live up to its name. The lake has induced some changes to the ecosphere in Uzbekistan. The main and most notable change has been its effects on the replenishment of water in the Aral Sea, which will be discussed in a later entry. Suffice to say, the water being brackish in this lake (as opposed to being saline), it has “high rates of evaporation, prompting a moist summer microclimate, often attracting rain clouds,” this in turns drives the rehydration of the North Aral Sea (Wikpedia). The Aydarkul is a behemoth of a manmade phenomenon. In 1969, a raging flood descended upon the area and created the necessity to tame the water. According to the Wikipedia, “between February 1969 and February 1970 almost 60% of the Syr Darya’s average flow (21 km3) was drained from the Chardarya Reservoir into the Arnasay lowland. In such a way new lakes were made. Since 1969 the Aydar Lake has regularly received the waters of the Syr Darya River when they overflow the capacity of the Chardarya Reservoir. This has gradually filled up the natural cavity of Arnasay lowland to create the largest lake of Central Asia excluding its long western border, the Caspian Sea.” #aydarlake #uzbekistan #manmadelakes #uzbekhistory #sovietunion #centralasia #naturalwonder #natural