Syr Darya

Syr Darya (Persian Sihun; ancient Jaxartes or Yaxartes), river, Central Asia, also known as Syrdarīya. One of the major rivers of the region, it is formed by the junction of the Naryn River and the Kara Darya in the Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan. It flows generally west through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan into the Small Aral Sea, which separated from the Large Aral Sea in 1988. Since the 1950s the river has been heavily tapped for irrigation, which has greatly reduced its water level and the amount of water reaching the Aral. From 1974 to 1986 almost no water reached the Aral from the river. As a result, and due to the fact that inflows from the Amu Darya have also drastically diminished in recent decades, the volume of the Aral Sea has dropped by about 70 per cent since 1960. The river is about 2,704 km (1,680 mi) long.