The Aral Sea During the Cenozoic it was connected, among others, with the Black Sea and, later after its separation, it became a depression in the middle of the Central Asian desert; it was filled simultaneously by the Amu Daria and Sir Daria rivers 10 or 20 thousand years ago (that is, during the Pleistocene), converting it into an oasis zone and, later, into a lake. However, the water transfers from these rivers for the irrigation of crops such as cotton considerably reduced the volume of the Aral Sea since the 1960s. This has increased the desertification of the region, causing an irreversible ecological catastrophe considered as one of the worst on the planet.
