Aral Sea is a former saline lake in Central Asia, on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Before the desiccation in the 1960s, the Aral Sea was the 4th largest lake in the world by area, covering approximately 68,000 sq km; it was 426 km long, 284 km wide, and had a maximum depth of 68 m. In 1989, the sea split into two isolated water bodies - the Northern (Small) and Southern (Large) Aral Sea. Almost all water inflow is provided by the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers.