The Aral Sea, fed by the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, has shrunk to about 10 percent of its 1960s size

Background

The Aral Sea is an endorheic (terminal) lake on the Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan border; it has no outlet.
It is fed by two rivers: the Syr Darya flows into its northern part and the Amu Darya into its southern part.
"Darya" means river in the Turkic languages of Central Asia.
It was once the world's fourth-largest lake, covering about 68,000 square kilometers.
Diversion of its two rivers to irrigate crops has reduced it to about 10 percent of its original area since the 1960s.
It has split into the North and South Aral Sea; the Kok-Aral Dam was completed in 2005 to control the water level of the North Aral Sea.
The dried lakebed has become the Aralkum Desert, spanning 62,000 square kilometers.