I’m just curious if anyone knows where I got the idea that I saw a pretty astonishing picture of a lake that had dried up (I want to say it dried up in a matter of days or something do to a break in a fault) somewhere in Russia or some-stan somewhere…
Any idea what I’m talking about?
You would be thinking of the Aral Sea, also sometimes called Lake Aral. The water level has been going down for decades, though, as a result of the diversion (for agricultural purposes) of the rivers that used to feed it. The area has become an environmental disaster area, with predictions that the sea will totally dry up if remedial actions aren’t taken soon.
Here are a couple more images of ships stranded because of the water level drop.
There was also the lake that vanished overnight:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/05/20/RussianLake_050520.html
It’s not a big enough lake to have huge freighters on it.
How interesting - I hadn’t heard of this event. Sounds like the mother of all sinkholes.
I like how they quote “local officials” as saying the lake *probably * vanished into an underground cave system. [Let’s hope so, or else tiime to break out the theremin.]
But, I digress. In the mid 80s, a friend of mine was making a cheap, bottom of the line, direct to video if lucky, slasher movie, along the lines of Friday the 13th. At any rate, they were at a lake venue for the taping, and, during the post production, the lake vanished into a sink hole. Finally, something in the movie was scary!
hh
Centuries ago there was a village in a boggy area that wanted to dig a well. For this they dug through layers in the ground, including the waterproof layer that had kept the area wet. Like drilling a hole in the bathtub.
Within a few months the whole area had turned to desert.
After reading this thread, my hair turned white overnight.
As long as we’re talking about disappearing lakes: Lake Peigneur in Lousiana drained into a salt mine one day in 1980 due to poorly conceived oil drilling operations. It refilled over a period of several days. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Peigneur
<grammar nazi mode>
You have to love the first sentence of that site:
" Once the world’s fourth largest lake, the mighty Aral Sea is now in it’s death throws."
</grammar nazi mode>
In Soviet Russia, boats stay in lake and water goes in and out!
Things seem to be looking up around the edges of the Aral Sea, according to the New York Times.
Why is the Aral Sea drying up? Chuck Norris got thirsty.
I seem to recall an old article by Isaac Asimov (“Remnants of the Sarmatian Sea”). Basically, the Caspian and Aral seas were once connected. They formed a huge ancient sea that was traversed by an ancient greek traveller-forget his name. the Aral sea is now drying up a a VERY fast rate, because it is shallow 9only about 30 ft. deep), and the Russians diverted all the rivers feeding into it 9the Oxus).
I don’t think the Russians have bothered to reverse the situation.
