Aral Sea in Central Asia Was Once the Fourth-Largest Lake on the Planet
Aral Sea, formerly a great lake, has shrunken as a result of more organic, long term processes coupled with the Soviet Union tweaking the landscape in the 1960s. The dry conditions caused the southernmost area of this Asian sea to completely dehydrate.

The lack of such a large body of water had actually caused the region’s weather to become more extreme. This meant that winters had gotten colder while summers had become much more hot and very dry.