1. Human – Environment
Interaction
Chapter 15, section 3

2. The Shrinking Aral Sea
 Between 1960 and present, Aral Sea lost
80% of its water
 Receives water from Amu Darya and Syr
Darya rivers
 Irrigation diverted so much water from the
rivers that very little emptied into the lake and
it began to disappear

3. Aral Sea 1985 Aral Sea 2003

4. The Shrinking Aral Sea
 Pesticides and fertilizers are running off
into the streams and rivers that feed the
Aral Sea
 All 24 native species have been destroyed
 Windstorms picked up the chemicals and
salt from the receding shores and carried
them to populated areas which has caused
diseases

5. Siberia
 Population of 32
million in Siberia
 Some of the most
variable
temperatures on
earth
 -90˚ F to 94˚ F

6. Siberia
 Temperatures drop so low that basic human
functions become painful
 Permafrost makes building difficult

7. Siberia
 When ice and snow melt, standing water
becomes breeding ground for mosquitoes and
black flies

8. War and “General Winter”
 Napoleon marched on Russia in 1812
 When he reached Moscow, winter was coming and
the Russians burned Moscow before Napoleon got
there

9. War and “General Winter”
 They retreated back to Poland but lost
90% of his army on the way

10. Crossing the “Wild East”
 In the 19th century, travel in Siberia was
dangerous
 Alexander III ordered work to begin on the
Trans-Siberian Railroad

11. Trans-Siberian Railroad
 Links Moscow to Vladivostok
 Covered more than 5700 miles and crossed 7
time zones

12. Trans-Siberian Railroad
 From 1891 – 1903, 70,000 workers moved 77
million cubic feet of earth, cleared >100,000 acres
of forest and built bridges over several major
rivers

13. Resource Wealth in Siberia
 Wanted to populate
Siberia through the
RR
 By 1904, 5 million
settlers moved to
Siberia
 Discovered large
amounts of coal and
iron ore