Journeys across the Kyzylorda region in Kazakhstan -
The hydrological and hydrogeological system of the Barsakelmes Biosphere Reserve represents a vivid example of the radical transformation of water resources in an area of global environmental disaster. The territory of the reserve belongs entirely to the basin of the Aral Sea, occupies coastal sections and the drained seabed in the Aral district, and is distinguished by the complete absence of a permanent natural river network.
Surface waters of the region are extremely scarce and represented exclusively by ephemeral watercourses (says) that emerge in relief depressions, ravines, and erosional gullies during spring snowmelt and rare torrential downpours. The nearest permanent arterial waterway is the Syr Darya River with an extensive network of irrigation and drainage canals, located northeast of the protected core, directly along the border with the buffer zone.
The catastrophic drop in the level of the Aral Sea and its division into the Small Aral and the Large Aral severely aggravated the natural climatic regime of the coastal zone. Overall moisture levels in the area fell sharply due to reduced evaporation from the open water mirror and a profound drop in groundwater tables. As a result of the regression, the shoreline retreated by 80–100 kilometers, exposing gigantic deposits of self-precipitating salts.
According to hydrological studies, between 15 and 60 million tons of toxic salinized dust are lifted into the atmosphere annually from the drained bed of the Aral region by wind currents.
The scale of the transboundary impact of the sand-salt aerosol reaches 300–500 kilometers around, with its zone of maximum impact encompassing a belt of 30–50 kilometers. Settling on adjacent steppe expanses, the airborne salt suspension multiplies the mineralization of atmospheric precipitation, causes progressive salinization of topsoil and subsoil, and saturates groundwater horizons with salts. With the disappearance of the Aral Sea (causes), the Aralkum Desert emerged.
In hydrogeological terms, the reserve is confined to the second-order East Aral basin of the complex Syr Darya artesian basin. The Aral Sea occupies the lowest hypsometric position in the relief of the Turan Plate and historically acts as the main regional base level for the discharge of confined and unconfined groundwater. The fall in sea level triggered a consistent regional lowering of the groundwater and artesian water tables both within the basin of the water body itself and across its entire hydrogeological periphery.
During the shallowing of the seabed, intriguing archaeological sites were uncovered, such as the Kerderi Mausoleum and near it the ancient Aral-Asar settlement. This demonstrates that previously there was no water at the site of the settlement.
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How to get there and visit -
The hydrological sections and dry lake beds of the Barsakelmes tract are located approximately 180–200 kilometers southwest of the city of Aralsk. The route starts from Aralsk south along the M-32 highway, passes through the delta auls of Karateren, Zhanakurylys, and Akbasty, after which it transitions into rough, challenging sand-and-salt ruts across the drained seabed.
GPS geographical coordinates of the Barsakelmes tract: 45°38'07"N 59°54'30"E
GPS geographical coordinates of the Kaskakulan artesian boreholes: 45°39'27"N 60°57'52"E
The territory of the reserve belongs to the highest conservation category (IUCN 1A) and is included in the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Unauthorized, unsanctioned entry here is strictly forbidden by the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Visiting hydrological sites and salt-marsh tracts is permitted only upon pre-approved applications and official permits issued by the reserve directorate in Aralsk, strictly accompanied by state protection inspectors or scientific staff.
The optimal time for hydrogeological expeditions is spring (from mid-April to late May, early June), when temporary high waters recede and salt marshes stabilize, or early autumn (September – October). During the summer period, air temperatures exceed +44 °C, evaporation reaches critical rates, and salt storms make travel hazardous. In winter, freezing weather down to -36 °C is accompanied by high winds and the formation of slick salt icings.
Tourist infrastructure and hotels are absent on the territory of the reserve core. Overnight stays of research groups and expeditions are permitted exclusively at active ranger stations or in field tent camps in designated sectors.
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History
The study of the hydrography and water resources of the Aral Sea and its islands began in the mid-19th century. Prior to that, navigation was considered extremely perilous due to shoals, storms, and the complete lack of fresh water on the islands (the Kazakh name of the island – Suzhok – meant "waterless").
In August 1848, the first scientific hydrographic expedition under the command of Lieutenant Commander Alexei Ivanovich Butakov approached the shores of Barsakelmes on the sailing-motor schooner "Konstantin". The expedition measured depths of seaward approaches for the first time, described coastline contours, and charted wave-cut terraces. Serving in the voyage was the exiled poet and artist Taras Shevchenko, who captured coastal cliffs in a series of landscape paintings. In July 1900, prominent geographer L. S. Berg performed fundamental measurements, recording water salinity around the island at 10–11 grams per liter.
During pre-revolutionary years, water supply was maintained through temporary measures. Ural Cossack fish industrialist Petka built an earthen dam in one of the island's northern ravines to retain spring runoff, creating the artificial reservoir "Petkinkul". In 1929–1939, the "Soyuzpushnina" trust constructed a system of artificial buguty dams (Alievsky, Dzhedybaevsky, Ogorodny) that intercepted meltwaters from the Bayan Plateau. In the sands of the northern ridge, residents dug a single shallow freshwater well fed by an atmospheric lens. In winter, sea ice was harvested: it was stored in underground ice pits, where under its own weight the ice squeezed out salts in the form of brine, and the resulting meltwater was used for drinking.
In the 1970s–1980s, degradation of the hydrological network set in. Due to excessive diversion of Syr Darya and Amu Darya runoff for irrigation, the Aral Sea began drying out rapidly, and by the early 1990s, the water had retreated from the former island's cliffs by many kilometers. Drilling deep boreholes down to 75 meters on the plateau yielded only bitter-salty mineralized brines. The loss of freshwater sources threatened the survival of the Turkmenian kulans introduced here in 1953, forcing scientists to evacuate the main herd between 1982 and 1991.
In 1997, the island joined the mainland, and in 2005 the protected zone was expanded to 160,826 ha to incorporate the continental Kaskakulan cluster, where artesian wells deeper than 250 meters provided fresh water for wild animals.
Information
The hydrogeological parameters of the reserve are determined by the structure of the sedimentary cover of the East Aral artesian basin, the thickness of which does not exceed 1,500 meters. The confined downward-upward flow of groundwater is oriented regionally from east to west – toward the depression of the Aral Sea.
Local discharge bases are endorheic basins, enclosed relief depressions, and aquifer outcrops in the valley of the Syr Darya River. The primary groundwater resources are stratigraphically confined to two major aquifer complexes: • The Neogene-Quaternary aquifer complex – lies close to the surface, composed of sandy-clayey sediments. • The Cretaceous aquifer complex – lies at great depths and contains confined artesian waters.
These complexes are separated by a robust regional aquiclude composed of dense, impermeable Paleocene-Miocene clays (including the gypsiferous Chegan formation). Low relief dissection, the flat terrain, and high clay content in the water-bearing rocks of Neogene-Quaternary deposits have created a pronounced stagnant groundwater regime. Under conditions of high evaporation and precipitation deficit (126–128 mm per year), intense processes of continental salinization have unfolded.
Groundwater of the tract is characterized by high mineralization (from 15–20 to 50 g/l and higher, sodium sulfate-chloride composition) and is virtually unsuitable for animal watering, domestic use, or irrigation. An exception is provided by localized lenses of fresh water formed in the floodplain sections of the Syr Darya River via river runoff infiltration: they are traditionally utilized by shepherds for watering livestock and supplying remote seasonal pastures.
In the Kaskakulan cluster, confined Cretaceous artesian waters are tapped by three active boreholes yielding slightly brackish water (mineralization of 1.5–2.5 g/l), which forms artificial streams and reed-grown overflow wetlands.
Detailed description
The hydrological and landscape-geological complex of the reserve encompasses key water-balance and topographic features:
• Floodplain sections of the Syr Darya – delta channels, oxbows, and canals in the northeast at the buffer zone boundary with localized lenses of fresh groundwater.
• Drained bed of the Aral Sea (Aralkum Desert) – exposed seabed 80–100 km wide, an area of maximum salt accumulation and generation of sand-salt aerosols.
• Endorheic basins and takyrs – flat clay depressions (such as the Dzhingildykul takyr) that collect temporary meltwaters in spring.
• Erosional network of Kebirsay and Segizsay ravines – systems of seasonal watercourses draining the Bayan Plateau during high-water periods.
• Dried-out basins of the Large and Small Salt Lakes – relict lagoons in the north and east of the tract, transformed into self-precipitating salt pans (sors).
• Basin of the former Petkin-kul reservoir – historical ravine accumulator of melt runoff featuring the remains of merchant Petka's dam.
• Artificial buguty dams (Alievsky, Dzhedybaevsky, Ogorodny) – historical earthen hydraulic barriers for collecting surface waters.
• Artesian boreholes of the Kaskakulan section – active hydrogeological outflows of the Cretaceous aquifer complex producing perennial oasis streams.
• Coastal chinks of the Bayan Plateau – 60-meter precipices marking ancient horizons of the marine base level of erosion.
• Salt-marsh batpaks – dangerous quagmires of salt-saturated liquid mud in low-lying sections of the drained bed.
Flora and fauna
Hydrological stress and soil salinization have driven unique adaptations among the local biota. Of the 278 species of higher vascular plants in the tract, over 50% are ephemerals and ephemeroids (Borshchov's tulip, two-flowered tulip, Adonis, corydalis) that complete their vegetative cycle within 4–6 spring weeks, utilizing moisture from melting snow before ephemeral watercourses dry out.
Saline soils and coastal salt marshes are dominated by succulent halophytes capable of extracting moisture from mineralized groundwater: European glasswort, jointed glasswort (sarsazan), Caspian potash-plant, and potassium saltwort. Arboreal xerophytes – black saxaul (Haloxylon aphyllum), white saxaul, tamarisk, and dzhuzgun – form sparse woodlands thanks to deep root systems reaching down more than 10–15 meters to relatively freshened subterranean layers.
The animal world is completely subordinate to the distribution of watering points. Herds of Turkmenian kulans (276 individuals), goitered gazelles, and saiga antelopes regularly migrate eastward from the arid pasture grounds of Barsakelmes to the artesian streams of Kaskakulan, covering distances of 25–40 kilometers. In winter, ungulates quench their thirst with snow, and in spring they feed on succulent shoots of halophytes.
Rodents (small jerboa, yellow ground squirrel) manage on metabolic water extracted from tubers and bulbs. Desert birds (black-bellied sandgrouse, Pallas's sandgrouse) fly dozens of kilometers to fresh water sources, soaking their breast feathers to transport water to their chicks. In delta lakes of the Syr Darya and buffer zone canals, Dalmatian pelicans, whooper swans, little egrets, and up to 18 species of fish (carp, pike perch, Aral barbel, shemaya) reside year-round.
Legend
A fundamental cycle of folk tales is linked to the hydrological isolation and merciless waterlessness of Barsakelmes. The formidable name "If you go, you will not return" became entrenched in steppe memory precisely because of the lethal lack of fresh water. An ancient Kazakh legend tells of an entire aul that fled across the thick winter ice of the Aral Sea to the distant island seeking salvation from dzhut and war.
The nomads wintered by melting snow, but a spring storm shattered the ice, cutting off the route to the mainland, while a dry summer evaporated melt pools. The wells they dug yielded only bitter, toxic brine, and all the people perished of thirst alongside thousands of sheep. Relatives who arrived the following winter found only decayed remains inside yurts shrouded in salt dust.
Another legend speaks of spirits of salt winds that drain moisture from rivers and lakes. Nomads believed that if a traveler disturbed the peace of wild beasts at the last waterhole, the sands would come alive, a salt fog would obscure the sun, and the water in waterskins would turn to bitter salt.
In the Soviet era, the hydrometeorological phenomenon of dense white fog rising from the salty sea surface during incursions of Arctic cold spawned myths of an anomalous zone where watches vanish, time stops, and expeditions disappear. Reality proved even more dramatic than any fables – it laid bare the catastrophic retreat of the sea and the encroachment of the sand-and-salt Aralkum Desert.
Conclusion
The hydrological and hydrogeological regime of the Barsakelmes Reserve is an overt illustration of global water transformation, demonstrating the collapse of an enclosed marine hydrosystem and the birth of a salt desert. The disappearance of the sea basin, the shoreline's retreat by 100 km, and the colossal deflation of millions of tons of airborne salt have converted the region into an unparalleled testing ground for planetary research.
Investigating the groundwater dynamics of the East Aral basin, protecting the artesian oases of Kaskakulan, and monitoring the freshwater lenses of the Syr Darya valley provide modern science with fundamental keys to preserving biodiversity and combating desertification across the arid regions of Central Asia.
Interesting sights nearby:
• Aral Geopark;
• Kokaral Dam;
• Butakov Bay;
• Shevchenko Bay;
• Aralkum Desert (dried seabed);
• Ayteke Bi Village;
• Basibek Mausoleum;
• Raim Fort;
• Tolybay Batyr Mausoleum;
• Saraman-Kosa Tower;
• Begim-Ana Tower;
• Bogen Village;
• Lake Kamystybas (Kambash).
Additional Information:
• Barsakelmes Nature Reserve;
• Barsakelmes Tract;
• Barsakelmes Island;
• History of Barsakelmes Island;
• Climate of Barsakelmes Nature Reserve.
