The Sea Of Ashes
Aral Sea, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan
Aral sea become an icon of one of the biggest environmental catastrophes in the former Soviet Union. Soviet irrigation projects originally designed in the 1920s finally came to light in the 1960s. Since then the sea has been steadily shrinking after the rivers Amu-darya and Syr-darya that fed it were diverted. In 40 years time the Aral Sea had declined to 10% of its original size.