Salt drainless lake in the Armenian Highlands. Lake Urmia

Lake Urmia.

Northwestern Iran.

Lake Urmia (pers. دریاچه ارومیه ‎ - Daryache-ye Orumiye, Azeri Urmiya golu, arm.Ուրմիա լիճ orԿապուտան (Kaputan),Kurd. Gola Urmiyê) - drainless salt Lake on the Armenian Highlands, in the North-West of Iran, the largest lake in the Near and Middle East.

In "Avesta" it is known as " deep lake with salty waters» Chechasht- “shining white”, and under this name is also mentioned by Persian authors of the XIV century. Istakhri calls it Buhairat ash-Shurat - "the lake of heretics, schismatics." In the Middle Ages, it was also called the Salt Lake: Kabudan (Kabuzdan, Kabuzan - “blue, blue”, after the name of one of the islands), Shahi (Shahu, after the island-mountain) or Tala (Tel, after the fortress). The modern name comes from city ​​of the same name on the western shore of Lake Urmia. In 1926, it was renamed Rezaye in honor of Shah Reza Pahlavi, and in the 1970s the former name was returned.

Located between stops (district, province: Iran is administratively divided into provinces (pers. استان ‎ - stop). Eastern and Western Azerbaijan, to the east of the Kurdish mountains, at an altitude of 1275 m. It is elongated from north to south, the maximum length is about 140 km, and the width is about 40-55 km. The area ranges from 5200 to 6000 km². Average depth- 5 m, maximum - up to 16 m. There are 102 islands on the lake, pistachio forests grow on large ones, in the southern part there is a cluster of 50 small islands.

The area around the lake Urmia, in Northwestern Iran, is an area that Greek historians and geographers of the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. called Matiana or Matiena.

In this respect, the connection this region with the ancient state of Mitanni.

Mitanni (Khanigalbat) is an ancient state (XVI-XIII centuries BC) on the territory of Northern Mesopotamia and adjacent areas. The official languages ​​of the population were Hurrian and Akkadian. The capital of Mitanni - Vashshukani (Khoshkani) was located at the source of the Khabur River. It is assumed that this city stood on the spot modern city Serekani in Syria. Mitanni established itself in the East. arena in the vacuum created by the defeat of the Babylonian Empire by the Hitto-Hurrian alliance in the 16th century. BC e.

The fact that the Mitannians spoke the Hurrian language is known both from the texts of the treaties they concluded with the Hittites and from the letters Egyptian pharaohs. Meanwhile, the Indo-European substratum is obvious in the Mitanni language: the fastening of the texts of agreements with the Hittites with the names of the deities Mithra, Varuna, Indra and the oaths to these gods indicate that the Mitanians accepted the myths and beliefs that dominated the Indo-European group.

The Mitannian kings bore Indo-Iranian names along with the second Hurrian ones, and worshiped, among others, Indo-Iranian gods: the distribution of Indo-Iranian terms for horse breeding probably goes back to the Mitannian tradition.

Kazem Dashi Island. lake Urmia

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Abandoned church on Lake Urmia.

The German researcher A. Kammenhuber managed to show that all Indo-Iranian terms and proper names identified in the Mitannian tradition reflect not Indo-Iranian, but Hurrian pronunciation: the dynasty and its supporters preserved Indo-Iranian customs and borrowings from the Indo-Iranian language, but they themselves spoke only Hurrian : this indicates her origin from areas where contacts with authentic speakers of the Indo-Iranian language were possible, which, obviously, included the founders of the dynasty.

The most probable localization is the area near the lake. Urmia in Northwestern Iran, in an area that Greek historians and geographers of the second half of the 1st millennium BC. e. called Matiana or Matiena.

Mitannian Aryan is the language of part of the population ancient kingdom Mitanni, which, according to modern data, is usually attributed to the Indo-European - Aryan languages ​​(however, the exact position in this branch of the Indo-European languages ​​\u200b\u200bis not fully established). The name "Mitannian Aryan" is used to avoid confusion, since the main and official language kingdom of Mitanni was the Hurrian language.

The Mitanni language has features that are already archaic for Indian Vedic texts, as well as features that arose in the languages ​​of the Indian branch only in the 1st millennium BC. e., and absent in Sanskrit.

So in the agreement between the Hittite king Suppiluliumas and the Mitannian king Mativats c. 1380 BC e. the deities Mitra, Varuna, Indra and Nasatya (Ashwins) are mentioned.

In the Kikkuli text, horse training refers to terms such as aika (Skt. eka, one), tera (Skt. tri, three), panza (pancha, five), satta (sapta, seven), na (nava, nine) , vartana (vartana, circle). The numeral aika (one) is an indication that the Mitannian Aryan language was closer to the Indo-Aryan languages ​​than to other languages ​​of the Aryan branch.

Another text mentions the words babru (Skt. babhrú, brown), parita (palita, grey), and pinkara (pingala, red). Mitannian warriors were designated by the term marya - a similar term was also available in Sanskrit.

Separate borrowings from Mitannian-Aryan penetrated in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. even into Akkadian: babrunnu (horse color), mariannu (charioteer) (cf. OE márya‛ (young man), magannu (gift) (OE maghá), susānu (horse trainer) (other .-Ind. aśva sani).

1) “Mitannian Aryan” is a very ancient language of the Indian branch, however, it has already developed some features that arose in other Indian dialects only later.

2) “Mitannian Aryan” is a dialect of the future Iranian tribes, but dating back to the time before the development of phonetic features that separated the Iranian branch from the Indian ones, and also already having some later, non-Iranian features.

3) "Mitannian Aryan" belongs to a branch intermediate between Iranian and Indian, namely to Dardo - Kafir.

This branch, now preserved only in North-Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir, is considered the first, in terms of the time of separation from the Indo-Iranian community, and the time of resettlement in the Iranian-Indian region. It is possible that the dialects of this branch were at first more widespread in Iran, until they were supplanted by later waves of Iranian-speaking tribes proper, who appeared here no later than the last centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. e. These are all hallmarks of "Mitannian Aryan". It should be noted that Indo-Iranisms in culture, language and proper names are found only among the Hurrians - the Mitannian group.

It is worth noting that the Mitanni army possessed a high technique of horse breeding and chariot combat, which, probably, made it possible to unite the small Hurrian tribal groups of Mesopotamia and subjugate the Semitic (Amorean-Akkadian) city-states throughout the space between the Zagros and Amanos mountain lines.There is little data on the internal political and social structure of Mitanni, it is believed that it was not a monolithic empire, but a loose union of nomes who united around Washshukanni, the capital of Mitanni - Khanigalbat, who paid tribute to the Mitanni king and put up military contingents to help him. "Hurri people" - probably - the military nobility, played a very significant role under the king and were often mentioned together with the king in state treaties. A large role in the war and in management was played by charioteers - marianna.
The chariots themselves as a type of weapon and tactics of chariot combat were no doubt borrowed from the Indo-Iranians, but the charioteers at that time, judging by their names, were pure Hurrians. The term marianna comes from the ancient Indian marya - "husband, youth." This is proved by the fact that the institution of marianna existed not only among the Mitannians, who experienced Indo-Iranian influence, but also among all the Hurrians in general, including Alalakh and Arraphe. And it should be noted that these mariannas were not "feudal nobility", but palace employees who received their chariots from government warehouses.

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Mitannian kingdom

In Bolivia, the second largest lake, Poopo, has completely disappeared, as reported by the European Space Agency on February 10. Previously, the lake covered an area of ​​​​3 thousand square kilometers and was considered the second largest after Titicaca. True, while its depth was small - about 3 meters.

The disappearance of the lake is confirmed by data received from the ESA Proba-V satellite, which monitors the surface of the earth on a daily basis. Lake Poopo disappears not for the first time. The last time the evaporation happened in 1994, but then it was filled with water again. However, now experts are skeptical about the likelihood of filling the lake. In their view, recovery could take many years, if at all.

Salt Lake Poopo in Bolivia is located on the Altiplano plateau at an altitude of 3700 meters above sea level, 130 km from the Bolivian city of Oruro. Snapshot 2013.

Drying also includes Great Salt Lake in the United States, whose ancient predecessor is Lake Bonneville. The water level in the Great Salt Lake is highly dependent on precipitation and varies from year to year.

Aral Sea- a former drainless salt lake in Central Asia on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Since the 1960s, the sea level began to decrease due to the withdrawal of water from the Amudarya and Syrdarya rivers for the purpose of irrigating the land. In 1989, the sea broke up into two isolated reservoirs - the North (Small) and South (Big) Aral Sea. In 2014 East End South (Big) Aral Sea completely dried up. Prior to the start of shallowing, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world.

Bonneville- a dry salt lake in northwestern Utah, USA. The lake formed about 32,000 years ago and dried up about 16,800 years ago. The place is widely known for two high-speed highways that are laid on the surface of the lake at different angles. The flat salt surface of Lake Bonneville allows cars to reach speeds of over 1,000 km/h.

Lopnor- a dried-up salt lake in western China at an altitude of about 780 meters above sea level. Once a large salt lake, like the Aral Sea, Lop Nor gradually decreased and became saline due to economic activity person.

Urmia- drainless salt lake, located on the Armenian Highlands in northwestern Iran. The largest lake in the Near and Middle East.

Groom Lake- a dried-up salt lake in the USA, in the south of the state of Nevada. It houses the runways of the Nellis AFB bombing range test site, better known as Area 51.

In this post, I would like to draw your attention to how, due to human activity, in the last few tens or hundreds of years, some places on our planet have changed beyond recognition.

How the place looked before can be seen in the pictures from various archives. As it is now, it can be determined from the photos of modern travelers or from images taken from satellites.

1. The Aral Sea is a former drainless salt lake in Central Asia, on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Pictured in 2000 and 2014.

Since the 1960s, the sea level (and the volume of water in it) began to decline rapidly due to the withdrawal of water from the main supply rivers of the Amudarya and Syrdarya for irrigation, in 1989 the sea broke up into two isolated reservoirs - the Northern (Small) and the Southern (Big) Aral Sea.

Prior to the start of shallowing, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world.

Back in 1980, only 12,000 people lived in Hurghada. By 2014, the population had grown to 250,000. This resort is visited by millions of tourists every year.

All this disrupted the ecosystem, suffered Coral reefs. In the Hurghada area over the past 30 years, the number of reefs has decreased by 50 percent.

Photos from 2000 and 2013.

To date, the lake is on the verge of extinction. Due to the drought that began in 1998, the excessive consumption of water from the lake by residents of the surrounding towns and villages, as well as the construction of dams on the rivers that feed it, the area of ​​Urmia has more than halved.

It is the second highest peak in Ecuador and the highest active volcano in the country (5911 m). Cotopaxi is also one of the highest active volcanoes in the world.

The glacier is of significant economic, social and environmental importance. Its melt waters provide fresh water and hydropower to Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

The rate of deforestation varies greatly by region. Currently, the rate of deforestation is highest (and increasing) in developing countries located in the tropics. In the 1980s, tropical forests lost 9.2 million hectares, and in the last decade of the 20th century, 8.6 million hectares.

Half of the Brazilian state of Rondonia (an area of ​​243,000 km²) has been deforested in recent years.

In Russia, over the period from 2000 to 2015, the area of ​​forests decreased by more than 25 million hectares (first place in the world).

The pearl of Russia is really in a state of unprecedented critical shallowing. Water is running out, fish are running out, and now the whole unique ecosystem is under threat.

Lake Van is located in the south of the Armenian Highlands, in Eastern Anatolia, not far from the Iranian border. A significant natural reservoir is located at an altitude of more than one and a half kilometers, it is surrounded by mountains on all sides. To the south of the lake are the high ridges of the Eastern Taurus, in the east - the plateau and individual peaks of the Kurdish mountains, in the northeast - the Aladaghlar ridge, and in the west - volcanic cones.

Lake Van occupies a deep - about 150 m - tectonic crack. It marks the collision zone of the Arabian and Eurasian tectonic plates, which explains the increased seismic and volcanic activity in the region. The extinct stratovolcano Syupkhan and the active Nemrut-dag rise on the shores of the lake. AT last time Syupkhan - the second largest volcano after Ararat in Turkey and throughout the Armenian Highlands - erupted about 100 thousand years ago, and Nemrut - in 1692.

The result of an earlier eruption of Nemrut, which occurred in the Pleistocene about 250 thousand years ago, was the formation of Lake Van itself, when a lava flow many kilometers from the west blocked the flow of water from the Van basin to the neighboring one.

Van is a drainless lake, but several small rivers flow into it from the slopes of the surrounding mountains.

The waters of the lake are completely unsuitable for drinking and irrigation: Van is not only salty, but also the largest endorheic soda lake in the world. In its water - a large content of sulfate, chloride and sodium carbonate, or soda ash. The water of the lake is strongly alkaline (pH factor 9.7-9.8). All of these substances are used in the production of synthetic detergents. And today, salt is mined on the lake for the needs of the household chemicals industry: substances are obtained by simply evaporating lake water under the sun.

Nature

It is clear that not every living creature will survive in such water. Only one endemic species of fish has adapted to living in Lake Van - a representative of the bleak genus of the carp family Alburnus tarihi, which looks like a common herring. The Turks call it Darek, other names are inchi-mullet (pearl mullet) and van-shahkuli (Van fish). This "herring" can live both in fresh water and in salt water, but prefers to breed only in fresh water - at the mouths of rivers and streams that flow into the lake. The fish is threatened with extinction, as its caviar is considered a delicacy.

Other inhabitants of the lake - 103 species of phytoplankton and 36 - zooplankton.

And a Van cat lives on the shore. This is an ordinary house cat, caught in wild nature and adapted to living near a salty reservoir. He has a white coat, blue or amber eyes (often one eye of each color). The cat learned to swim in the lake and catch fish. As a sign of respect for such an amazing animal, the residents of the city of Van set up two big statues white miracle cats.

But not only the production of soda and the service of tourists are busy locals. The presence of a large lake in this region of the Armenian Highlands somewhat softens the climate, which contributes to horticulture: there are many apple, pomegranate and peach trees around the lake.

The water in the lake is considered healing, and those who suffer from rheumatism or arthritis take baths in it.

Nature divided the lake into two parts: southern - large and deep, and northern - smaller and smaller, connected by a semblance of a strait. When winter comes, the shallow northern part of the lake and the mouths of the rivers freeze, but this happens only at very low temperatures: after all, the concentration of salt in the water is very high.

Story

B IX-VI centuries. BC e. on the site of the present city of Van was Tushpa - the capital of the state of Urartu. Van already then bore this name: it comes from the Armenian word "van" - "village", or simply "inhabited place". At the same time, a powerful Van fortress was built on the shore of the lake.

In the 8th century under King Menua, Urartu becomes the most powerful state in Asia Minor. A 70-kilometer canal, a unique hydraulic structure, has survived to this day - built by order of the king to supply Tushpa with fresh water. For 2500 years, it was repaired only once - in 1950.

After being defeated by the Assyrians in the 7th c. BC e. Urartu gradually falls into decay and ceases to exist in the VI century. BC e. Ruins with the names of the Urartian kings Sarduri I, Ishpuini, Menua and Argishti I have been preserved in the lake area.

In the era of Greater Armenia, during the time of the commander, conqueror and king Tigran II the Great (140-55 BC), the Van region reached its peak of prosperity: it was an important political, commercial and religious center. In those days, Van, Urmia and Sevan were called the three Great Lakes of Great Armenia and even the Armenian Seas.

At that time, the ancient Greek historian and geographer Strabo (64/63 BC - 23/24) noted the special qualities of the Van water in his major work “Geography”: “There are also big lakes. There is Arsene, also called Tospitas. It contains soda, cleans and restores clothes. However, due to this admixture of soda, the water of the lake is unfit for drinking. Tospistas is one of the old names for Van.

In 364, the army of the Sasanian king Shapur II came to the shore of Lake Van and destroyed cities and villages. In the X century. these lands were part of the Armenian Vaspurakan kingdom.

By 1022, Byzantium annexed the whole region, but not for long. At the end of the XI century. The Seljuks defeated the army Byzantine emperor Roman IV Diogenes and captured the entire region of Lake Van.

In 1514, the army of the expanding Ottoman Empire, establishing control over the Armenian Highlands, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Safavid army in the Battle of Chaldiran to the northeast of Lake Van.

Subsequently, the Armenian population of the shores of the lake was subjected to systematic destruction: first under Sultan Abdul-Hamid II in 1895-1896, then at the beginning of the 20th century, when the Armenians were exterminated or completely evicted by the Turkish authorities.

On the shores and islands of the lake preserved architectural monuments of the Armenian presence in these parts, the most famous is the ruins of the Church of the Holy Cross and the port of the times of the Armenian kings Artsrunids (X-XI centuries) on the island of Akhtamar. The church - a monument of Armenian medieval architecture made of red tuff, decorated with frescoes and stone carvings - was the own temple of the dynasty of the rulers of Vaspurakan. This is the only building of the complex of the palace of King Gagik II that has survived to this day. Next to it are Armenian khachkars - gravestones.

Until the beginning of the 20th century. the church remained part of the monastery complex, was abandoned during the First World War, restored by the Turkish authorities in 2005-2007. and turned into a museum. In 2010, the Turkish government allowed the church to hold a service once a year.

The city of Van is the administrative center of the province of the same name. Almost nothing has been preserved in the city, reminiscent of the fact that relatively recently Christians settled here. The Seljuk Turks live in the city itself, and the villages around Lake Van are entirely Kurdish.

general information

Location: Eastern Turkey.
Administrative affiliation : yls Bitlis and Van.
Origin: dam-tectonic.
Type of mineralization : salty.
Water balance: drainless; flowing rivers - Bendimakhi, Zeylan-Deresi, Karasu, Michinger, Khosap, Guzelsu.
Cities: Van - 370 190 people (2012), Erdzhish - 173,795 people. (2015), Edremit - 118,786 people, Tatvan - 67,035 people. (2012), Muradiye - 50,981 people, Ahlat - 38,622 people, Gevash - 28,801 people. (2015).
Languages: Turkish, Kurdish.
Ethnic composition : Turks, Kurds (majority).
Religion: Islam (Sunnism, Alevism).
Currency unit : Turkish lira.

Numbers

Surface area : 3755 km2.
Length: 119 km from northeast to southwest, 80 km from northwest to southeast.
Length coastline : 430 km.
Volume: 607 km3.
Average depth: 171 m.
Max Depth : 451 m.
cutoff: 1646 m.
drainage basin : 12,500 km2.
Salinity: near the bottom - 67% o, average - 22% o, at the confluence of rivers and streams - fresh.

Climate and weather

Subtropical with features of continental desert, mountainous.
Summer is dry, winter is rainy and windy.
January Air Average (Van) : -3.5°C.
Average air temperature in July (Van) : +22.2°С.
Average annual rainfall (Van) : 387 mm.
Relative Humidity (Van) : 60-65%.

Economy

Minerals : table salt, soda, thermal springs.
Industry: salinity.
Agriculture : plant growing (olives, peaches, apples, pomegranates), animal husbandry (mountain pasture and pasture - sheep and goats, fishing).
Service sector : tourism, trade, transport (shipping).

Attractions

Natural

Akhtamar, Charpanak, Adir, Kus and Gadir islands

Volcanoes Supkhan (4058 m) and Nemrut (2948 m)

historical

Van Fortress (Van city, IX-VII centuries BC)

Irrigation canal of King Menua (VIII century BC)

Achaemenid rock inscription (5th century BC)

Church of the Holy Cross (Surb Khach, 915-921) and the ruins of the port (X century) on the island of Akhtamar

The ruins of the monastery (Adyr Island, founded in the 11th century, the remains of the church of the 16th century, non-residential premises-zhamatun, second half of the 18th century)

The ruins of the monasteries of Surb Tovmas and Garmirak (Devaboinu peninsula)

Surb Stepanos (Muradiye)

Surb Marinos (River Michinger)

Ruins of churches (villages of Salmanaga, Elmadzhi and Kyyidyuzu)

Curious facts

Apparently, the earliest mention of the cleansing properties of Van water is on the copper lining of the Balavat Gate, an artifact from the era of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (859-824 BC). On this exhibit of the British Museum it is written that the king "plunged into the waters of the sea of ​​​​Urartu and washed the bloody sword in its waters." The Sea of ​​Urartu is one of the ancient names of Lake Van.

In 1991, scientists discovered microbioliths at the bottom of a 40-centimeter-high lake: small towers of the minerals aragonite and calcite, created by bacteria living in the lake.

The tips of the ears of the Van cat are painted in apricot color. According to a local legend, the Van cat often swims in such a way that only the ears are visible above the surface of the water, and therefore, over time, they were colored by the sun itself. The export of these strange cats from Turkey without special permission is prohibited by law and punishable by a huge fine.

Lake Van is located on the railway line Ankara (Turkey) - Tabriz (Iran). In order not to build a detour along the winding coast with difficult terrain, in the 1970s. The Tatvan-Van ferry crossing was opened.

In the 1990s archaeologists have found confirmation of the most important role that the Nemrut volcano played in the life of the ancient inhabitants of the shores of the lake. Nemrut turned out to be a source of obsidian - volcanic glass, the main material of the Stone Age in the manufacture of weapons and tools. Analysis of finds in Mesopotamia and around Dead Sea showed that people used obsidian from the Nemrut volcano. And on the banks of the Van, archaeologists found a village where obsidian was processed and traded. Thus, it was proved that Van had been on busy trade routes since ancient times.

The name of the volcano Nemrut local legends associated with the name of the mythical ruler Nimrod, mentioned in the Bible. Allegedly, the king somehow angered the gods, and they brought down the mountain on which his castle stood, forming Lake Van on this site. The same legendary ruler is also credited with the construction of a fortress on Golan Heights built in the Middle Ages.

The Urartian king Menua strove to leave a memory of himself for centuries and for this purpose ordered to carve a description of his exploits in cuneiform writing on stones and clay tablets. In the 19th century, during work in one of the churches near Lake Van, one of these stones was found, which was used as a foundation during construction in the 5th century. The text is very typical for the rulers of that time: “I set fire to the country of Babanakhi. I conquered the country of Ulibani and set it on fire. The country of Dirgu I conquered and burned. He killed some people, took others alive.

One of the reliefs on the outer side of the wall of the church on the island of Akhtamar depicts a drunken Noah. The relief serves as a reminder of the belief that after the Great Flood, Noah's ark ended up to the northeast of Lake Van - on top of Mount Ararat.

Rumors that a certain monster lives in the lake appeared in 1995 and, in all likelihood, are explained by the persistent desire of the local population to attract more tourists. Even cryptozoologists reject the possibility of the existence of a large living creature in a salty soda lake. Nevertheless, an organization for the study of the "Monster of Lake Van" has been established at the University of Van City.