New research links Aral Sea bed uplift to massive water loss

The dried-up bed of the Aral Sea, which has been shrinking since the 1960s, continues to rise due to swelling in the Earth's mantle, according to a study published in Nature Geoscience.

The study notes that the sea has lost over 1 billion tons of water in the past 80 years – equivalent to the weight of 150 Great Pyramids of Giza. This loss has caused the Earth's crust to rebound upward like a compressed spring.

Satellite measurements taken between 2016 and 2020 detected a dome-shaped uplift, spanning a 500-kilometer radius, rising at an average rate of 7 millimeters per year.

This gradual uplift is attributed to the Earth’s mantle adjusting to the reduced weight of the missing water. The slow rise of the dried seabed has been ongoing for decades.

Once the world’s fourth-largest lake, the Aral Sea was located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and was primarily fed by two major rivers – the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya. In the 1960s, massive irrigation projects diverted water from these rivers to support cotton fields and desert farming, drastically reducing inflow to the sea.

Leaky canals, evaporation, and inefficient water usage further accelerated the sea’s decline.

By the 2000s, the Aral Sea had nearly vanished. Water levels fell, salinity increased, and the ecosystem collapsed. Its disappearance led to drought, dust storms, and extreme temperatures. The air became filled with dust, salt, and pesticides, contributing to rising rates of asthma, cancer, and tuberculosis. Once-fertile land became unfit for agriculture.

In 2005, Kazakhstan launched the Kok-Aral Project, which partially restored the sea’s northern section, known as the Small Aral Sea.