Lake Urmia

Lake Urmia

Lake Urmia from space in 1984
Coordinates 37°42′N 45°19′E / 37.700°N 45.317°E / 37.700; 45.317Coordinates: 37°42′N 45°19′E / 37.700°N 45.317°E / 37.700; 45.317
Type salt (hypersaline) lake
Primary inflows Zarriné-Rūd, Simineh-Rūd, Mahabad River, Gadar River, Barandouz River, Shahar River, Nazlou River, Zola River, Qatur River, Kaftar Ali Chay, Aji Chay, Boyuk Chay, Rudkhaneh-ye Qal'eh Chay, Qobi Chay, Rudkhaneh-ye Mordaq, Leylan River
Primary outflows none: all water entering the lake is lost through evaporation
Basin countries Iran
Max. length 140 km (87 mi)
Max. width 55 km (34 mi)
Surface area 5,200 km2 (2,000 sq mi)
Max. depth 16 m (52 ft)
Salinity 217–235 g L−1 Na–(Mg)–Cl–(SO4) brine[1]
8–11% in spring, 26-28% in late autumn[2]
Islands 102 (see list)
Diminishing of surface of Lake Urmia
Lake Urmia, NW Iran, September 2015

Lake Urmia (Persian: دریاچه ارومیه‎‎, Daryāche-ye Orūmiye; Azerbaijani: اورمیا ﮔﺆﻟﻮ, Urmiya gölü) is an endorheic salt lake in Iran.[3][4] The lake is between the provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan in Iran, and west of the southern portion of the Caspian Sea. At its greatest extent, it was the largest lake in the Middle East and the sixth-largest saltwater lake on Earth, with a surface area of approximately 5,200 km2 (2,000 sq mi), a length of 140 km (87 mi), a width of 55 km (34 mi), and a maximum depth of 16 m (52 ft).[5] The lake has shrunk to 10% of its former size due to damming of the rivers that flow into it, and the pumping of groundwater from the surrounding area.[6]

Lake Urmia, along with its once approximately 102 islands, is protected as a national park by the Iranian Department of Environment.

Names and etymologies

Currently, the lake is named after the provincial capital city of Urmia, originally an Assyrian name meaning puddle of water. However, in the early 1930s, it was called Lake Rezaiyeh (Persian: دریاچه رضائیه‎‎) after Reza Shah Pahlavi. After the Iranian Revolution in the late 1970s the lake was renamed Urmia.

Its Old Persian name was Chichast, meaning "glittering", a reference to the glittering mineral particles suspended in the water of the lake and found along its shores. In medieval times it came to be known as Lake Kabuda (Kabodan),[7] from the word for "azure" in Persian, or 'կապույտ' (kapuyt) in Armenian. Its Latin name was Lacus Matianus, so it is referred to in some texts as Lake Matianus or Lake Matiene.

Locally, the lake is referred to in Persian as دریاچه ارومیه, Daryāche-ye Orūmiye; in Azerbaijani as Urmu gölü, ﺍﻭﺭﻣﻮ ﮔﺆﻟﻮ, and in Kurdish as Wermy. The traditional Armenian name is Կապուտան ծով, Kaputan tsov, literally "blue sea".[8][9][10]

History

One of the early mentions of Lake Urmia is from Assyrian records of the 9th century BCE. There, in the records from the reign of Shalmaneser III (858–824 BCE), two names are mentioned in the area of Lake Urmia: Parsuwash (i.e. the Persians) and Matai (i.e. the Mitanni). It is not completely clear whether these referred to places or tribes, or what their relationship was to the subsequent list of personal names and "kings". But Matais were Medes and linguistically the name Parsuwash matches the Old Persian word pārsa, an Achaemenid ethnolinguistic designation.[11]

The lake was the center of the Mannaean Kingdom. A potential Mannaean settlement, represented by the ruin mound of Hasanlu, was on the south side of the lake. Mannae was overrun by the Matiani or Matieni, an Iranian people variously identified as Scythian, Saka, Sarmatian, or Cimmerian. It is not clear whether the lake took its name from the people or the people from the lake, but the country came to be called Matiene or Matiane, and gave the lake its Latin name.

The Battle of Urmia was fought near the lake in 1604, during the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1603–18

In the last five hundred years the area around Lake Urmia has been home to Iranians, Assyrians, and Armenians.

Chemistry

The main cations in the lake water include Na+, K+, Ca2+, Li+ and Mg2+, while Cl−, SO2−
4, HCO−
3 are the main anions. The Na+ and Cl− concentration is roughly four times the concentration of natural seawater. Sodium ions are at slightly higher concentration in the south compared to the north of the lake, which could result from the shallower depth in the south, and a higher net evaporation rate.

The lake is divided into north and south, separated by the Urmia Lake Bridge and its associated causeway, which was completed in 2008. The bridge provides only a 1.5-kilometre (0.93 mi) gap in the embankment, allowing little exchange of water between the two sections. Due to drought and increased demands for agricultural water in the lake's basin, the salinity of the lake has risen to more than 300 g/l during recent years, and large areas of the lake bed have been desiccated.[12]

The Fist of Osman, Lake Urmia's smallest island[13]

Ecology

Palaeoecology

A palynological investigation on long cores from Urmia Lake has revealed a nearly 200 kyr record of vegetation and lake level changes. The vegetation has changed from the Artemisia/grass steppes during the glacial/stadial periods, to oak-juniper steppe-forests during the interglacial/interstadial periods. The lake seems to have had a complex hydrological history and its water levels have fluctuated greatly in geological history. Very high lake levels have been suggested for some time intervals during the two last glacial periods, as well as during both the Last Interglacial as well as the Holocene. The lowest lake levels have occurred during the last glacial periods.

Modern ecology

Based on the latest checklists of biodiversity at Lake Urmia in 2014 and 2016, it is home of 62 species of archaebacteria and bacteria, 42 species of microfungi, 20 species of phytoplankton, 311 species of plants, five species of mollusca, 226 species of birds, 27 species of amphibians and reptiles and 24 species of mammals. As well as, 47 fossils have been recorded in the area.[15][16]

Lake Urmia is an internationally registered protected area as both a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve[14] and a Ramsar site.[17] The Iranian Dept. of Environment has designated most of the lake as a National Park.[18]

The lake is marked by more than a hundred small, rocky islands, which serve as stopover points during the migrations of a number of bird species, including flamingos, pelicans, spoonbills, ibises, storks, shelducks, avocets, stilts, and gulls. A recent drought has significantly decreased the annual amount of water the lake receives. This in turn has increased the salinity of the lake's water, reducing its viability as home to thousands of migratory birds, including a large flamingo populations. The salinity has particularly increased in the half of the lake north of the Urmia Lake Bridge.

By virtue of its high salinity, the lake no longer sustains any fish species. Nonetheless, Urmia Lake is considered a significant natural habitat of Artemia, which serve as food source for the migratory birds such as flamingos.[19] In early 2013, the then-head of the Iranian Artemia Research Center was quoted that Artemia Urmiana had gone extinct due to the drastic increases in salinity. However this assessment has been contradicted.[20]

Falling level and increasing salinity

The lake is a major barrier between Urmia and Tabriz, two of the most important cities in the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan. A project to build a highway across the lake was initiated in the 1970s but was abandoned after the Iranian Revolution of 1979, leaving a 15 km (9.3 mi) causeway with an unbridged gap. The project was revived in the early 2000s, and was completed in November 2008 with the opening of the 1.5 km (0.93 mi) Urmia Lake Bridge across the remaining gap.[21] The highly saline environment is already heavily rusting the steel on the bridge despite anti-corrosion treatment. Experts have warned that the construction of the causeway and bridge, together with a series of ecological factors, will eventually lead to the drying up of the lake, turning it into a salt marsh, which will adversely affect the climate of the region.

Lake Urmia has been shrinking for a long time, with an annual evaporation rate of 0.6 to 1 m (24 to 39 in). Although measures are now being taken to reverse the trend[22] the lake has shrunk by 60% and could disappear entirely.[22] Only 5% of the lake's water remains.[23]

Bridge construction over Lake Urmia in 2005

On 2 August 2012, Muhammad-Javad Muhammadizadeh, the head of Iran's Environment Protection Organization, announced that Armenia had agreed on transfer water from Armenia to counter the critical fall in Lake Urmia's water level, remarking that "hot weather and a lack of precipitation have brought the lake to its lowest water levels ever recorded". He added that recovery plans for the lake included the transfer of water from Eastern Azerbaijan Province. Previously, Iranian authorities had announced a plan to transfer water from the Aras River, which borders Iran and Azerbaijan, but the 950-billion-toman plan was abandoned due to Azerbaijan's objections.[24]

In July 2014, Iran President Hassan Rouhani approved plans for a 14 trillion rial program (over $500 million) in the first year of a recovery plan. The money is supposed to be used for water management, reducing farmers' water use, and environmental restoration. Several months earlier, in March 2014, Iran's Department of Environment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) issued a plan to save the lake and the nearby wetland, which called for spending $225 million in the first year and $1.3 billion overall for restoration.[25]

The Silveh Dam in Piranshahr County should be complete in 2015. Through a tunnel and canals it will transfer up to 121,700,000 m3 (98,700 acre·ft) of water annually from the Lavin River in the Little Zab basin to Lake Urmia basin.[26][27][28]

In 2015, president Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet approved $660 million for improving irrigation systems, and steps to combat desertification.[29]

Satellite imagery from 1984 to 2014, revealing Lake Urmia's diminishing surface area (video)

Environmental protests

Lake Urmia in July 2016

The prospect that Lake Urmia might dry up entirely has drawn protests in Iran and abroad, directed at both the regional and national governments. Protests flared in late August 2011 after the Iranian parliament voted not to provide funds to channel water from the Araz River to raise the lake level.[30][31] Apparently, parliament proposed instead to relocate people living around Urmia Lake.[31]

More than 30 activists were detained on 24 August 2011 during an iftar meal.[31] In the absence of a right to protest publicly in Iran, protesters have incorporated their messages into chants at football matches.[30][32] On 25 August, several soccer fans were detained before and after the Tabriz derby match between Tractor Sazi F.C. and Shahrdari Tabriz F.C.. for shouting slogans in favor of protecting the lake, including "Urmia Lake is dying, the Majlis [parliament] orders its execution".[30][31][33][34]

Further demonstrations took place in the streets of Tabriz and Urmia on 27 August and 3 September 2011.[30][32][35] Amateur video from these events showed riot police on motorcycles attacking apparently peaceful protesters.[32][36] According to the governor of West Azerbaijan, at least 60 supporters of the lake were arrested in Urmia, and dozens in Tabriz, because they had not applied for a permit to organize a demonstration.[37]

On May 5, 2016, Leonardo Di Caprio posted a photo of "a dilapidated ship dock remains on dried up Urmia Lake" on his Instagram page stating: "It used to be the biggest salt lake in the Middle East, but it now contains five percent of the amount of water it did two decades ago due to climate change, dam construction and decrease in precipitiation."[38]

Islands

Lake Urmia had approximately 102 islands.[39] Shahi Island was historically the lake's largest. However, it became a peninsula connected to the eastern shore when the lake level dropped below a certain level.[1][40]

Shahi Island is the burial place of both Hulagu Khan (one of Genghis Khan's grandsons) and of Hulagu's son Abaqa. Both khans were buried in a castle above 1,000-foot (300 m) cliffs along the shore of the island.[41]

In 1967, the Iranian Department of Environment sent a team of scientists to study the ecology of Shahi Island. Various results of the study, which included the breeding habits of brine shrimp, were published by Javad Hashemi in the scientific journal, Iranian Scientific Sokhan.

Basin rivers

Lake Urmia is fed by 13 permanent rivers and many small springs, as well as rainfall directly into the lake.[1] Nearly half the inflow comes from the Zarrineh River and Simineh River.[1] There is no outflow from the lake so water is only lost through evaporation.[1]

Lake Urmia was the setting of the fictional Iranian film The White Meadows (2009), which featured fantastic-looking lands adjacent to a salt sea. There are many popular songs about Lake Urmia in Azeri Turkish, such as "Urmu Golu Lay Lay"[42]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Stevens, Lora R.; Djamali, Morteza; Andrieu-Ponel, Valérie; de Beaulieu, Jacques-Louis (1 April 2012). "Hydroclimatic variations over the last two glacial/interglacial cycles at Urmia Lake, Iran" (PDF). Journal of Paleolimnology. Springer Netherlands. 47 (4): 647. doi:10.1007/s10933-012-9588-3.
  2. ↑ Urmia Lake. 2012. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 14 August 2015, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/619901/Lake-Urmia
  3. ↑ Henry, Roger (2003) Synchronized chronology: Rethinking Middle East Antiquity: A Simple Correction to Egyptian Chronology Resolves the Major Problems in Biblical and Greek Archaeology Algora Publishing, New York, p. 138, ISBN 0-87586-191-1
  4. ↑ E. J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936, vol. 7, page 1037 citing Strabo and Ptolemy.
  5. ↑ "Britanica". Britannica.com. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  6. ↑ "Saving Iran’s great salt lake". Science. September 2, 2015.
  7. ↑ See, e.g. the Shahnama.
  8. ↑ Amurian, A.; Kasheff, M. (15 December 1986). "Armenians of modern Iran". Encyclopædia Iranica. ...Urmia (class. Arm. Kaputan)...
  9. ↑ Russell, James R. (1987). Zoroastrianism in Armenia. Harvard University. p. 430. ...Urmia Lake, called Kaputan cov by Arm. geographers...
  10. ↑ "Armenian Highland". armin.am. Institute for Armenian Studies of Yerevan State University. In the Armenian Highland there are numerous lakes and ponds. The most majors are Kaputan (Urmia), Van and Sevan.
  11. ↑ cf. Skjærvø, Prods Oktor (2006), "Iran, vi(1). Earliest Evidence", Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. 13
  12. ↑ Alireza Asem; Fereidun Mohebbi; Reza Ahmadi (2012). "Drought in Urmia Lake, the largest natural habitat of brine shrimp Artemia" (PDF). World aquaculture. 43: 36–38.
  13. ↑ "Saline Systems; Urmia Salt Lake, Iran". Salinesystems.org. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  14. 1 2 "UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Directory".
  15. ↑ Asem A., Eimanifar A., Djamal M., De los Rios P. and Wink M. (2014) Biodiversity of the Hypersaline Urmia Lake National Park (NW Iran), Diversity, 6: 102-132.
  16. ↑ Asem A., Eimanifar A. and Wink M. (2016) Update of "Biodiversity of the Hypersaline Urmia Lake National Park (NW Iran)". Diversity, 8: 6, doi:10.3390/d8010006
  17. ↑ Ramsar Sites Information Service
  18. ↑ ProtectedPlanet - Urumieh lake
  19. ↑ C. Michael Hogan. 2011. Urmia Lake. Eds. P. Saundry & C.  J.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington, D.C.
  20. ↑ Critical condition of Artemia urmiana and possibility of extinction
  21. ↑ "Iran's East and West Azerbaijan Provinces Connected by Lake Orumiyeh Bridge". Payvand.com. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  22. 1 2 Karmi N. Iran's largest lake turning to salt. Associated Press 25 May 2011. https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110525/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_environmental_disaster/print
  23. ↑ Erdbrink, Thomas (30 January 2014). "Its Great Lake Shriveled, Iran Confronts Crisis of Water Supply". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 September 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  24. ↑ http://www.payvand.com/news/12/aug/1010.html
  25. ↑ http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25850-iran-to-spend-500-million-to-save-shrunken-lake-urmia.html#.U7nrg41dXvI
  26. ↑ "Completed by the end of the 94 dams Silveh Piranshahr" (in Persian). Kurd Press. 23 August 2014. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  27. ↑ "Silveh Dam and Irrigation and Drainage" (in Persian). Omran Iran - Deputy Governor of West Azerbaijan. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  28. ↑ Edris Merufinia; Azad Aram; Fatemeh Esmaeili (2014). "Saving the Urmia Lake: from Slogan to Reality (Challenges and Solutions)" (PDF). Bulletin of Environment, Pharmacology and Life Sciences. 3 (3). ISSN 2277-1808. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  29. ↑ Saving Iran’s great salt lake - sciencemag.org - 2 Sept. 2015
  30. 1 2 3 4 Mackey, Robert (30 August 2011). "Protests in Iran Over Disappearing Lake". Iran: New York Times. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  31. 1 2 3 4 "Azeri Activists Detained In Iran For Environmental Protests". RFE/RL. 26 August 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  32. 1 2 3 "Iranian greens fear disaster as Lake Orumieh shrinks". The Guardian. London. 5 September 2011.
  33. ↑ "Rally protesting Iran over Urmia Lake turns violent". Hurriyet Daily News. 1 September 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  34. ↑ "Iranian Protest Urges Help for Shrinking Lake". San Francisco Chronicle. 30 August 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  35. ↑ "Azeri Turks in Ankara protest Urmia Lake drying up". todayszaman.com. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  36. ↑ "Iran police break up environmental protests". euronews.net. 4 September 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  37. ↑ "Iran arrests saltwater lake protesters". BBC. 4 September 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  38. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BFAZvGAKxHi/?taken-by=leonardodicaprio&hl=en
  39. ↑ List from: Farahang-e Joghrafiyayi-e shahrestânhâ-ye Keshvar (Shahrestân-e Orumiyeh), Tehran 1379 Hs.
  40. ↑ Asem, Alireza; Eimanifar, Amin; Djamali, Morteza; De los Rios, Patricio; Wink, Michael (2014). "Biodiversity of the Hypersaline Urmia Lake National Park (NW Iran)". Diversity (6): 102–132. doi:10.3390/d6020102.
  41. ↑ Boyle, John Andrew (1974). "The Thirteenth-Century Mongols' Conception of the After Life: The Evidence of their Funerary Practices". Mongolian Studies. Mongolia Society. 1: 7. ISSN 0190-3667. JSTOR 43193015.
  42. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLB9bLOKalY
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