Amu Darya
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The Amu Darya, historically known as the Oxus, is a major river in Central Asia which flows through Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Rising in the Pamir Mountains, north of the H
Amu Darya at Nukus, Uzbekistan
Amu Darya delta from space
Afghanistan-Tajikistan bridge over the Amu Darya
Lake Malang, the source of Chelab Stream and by extension, the true source of the Amu Darya (Oxus River), Afghanistan, August 2025
Aral Sea
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The Aral Sea was an endorheic salt lake lying between Kazakhstan to its north and Uzbekistan to its south, which began shrinking in the 1960s and had largely dried up into desert by 2007. It was in th
Amu Darya
…Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and flows from there north-westwards into the southern remnants of the Aral Sea. However, today the Amu Darya does not reach the Aral Sea, and its mouth is in a dried-up area, of what was once the Aral Sea. In its upper course, the…
The Aral Sea in 1989 (left) and 2014 (right)
The Syr Darya sturgeon (Pseudoscaphirhynchus fedtschenkoi) was a species of fish possibly driven to extinction by the shrinkage of the Aral Sea.
The Ukrainian stickleback (Pungitius platygaster) was the only native species of the Aral Sea to survive its reduction and salinization.
The European flounder (Platichthys flesus) was a saltwater fish introduced to the Aral Sea.