The Aral Sea was one of the four largest lakes in the world at 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi) but since the 1960s it has been shrinking as a result of Soviet irrigation projects diverting the river water that feeds the lakes.

Yes, this dessert with its multitude of shipwrecks used to be the Aral Sea, full of aquatic animals and ships taking cargos to different destinations. The Soviet Union began to use the waters in irrigation projects until it was all gone, leaving just the blowing sands and shipwrecks.