In 1960s the Aral Sea was the fourth largest sea in the world. However, over the years, the sea has been gradually shrinking, leading to one of the greatest global environmental catastrophes of the desiccation of the Aral Sea. Agricultural water withdrawal and construction of major dams is the main reason behind the water shortage in the Aral Sea basin. While some areas were historically irrigated, most of the irrigation areas have been a result of the USSR’s intense agricultural practices in Central Asia.
Saule Akhmetkaliyeva was a research fellow in the Eurasian Research Institute at H.A.Yassawi Kazakh Turkish International University. She holds a BS in petroleum engineering from the Kazakh National Technical University named after K.I. Satbayev and a MS in Environmental Science from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi with a GPA of 4.0. Saule has conducted research on new methods of matrix acidizing of carbonate formations in Karachaganak field, Kazakhstan for her bachelor’s degree, and a research on advanced sedimentary analysis of sediments from Marmara Gölü, Turkey for her master’s thesis.