8/13/2021 Lake Urmia - Wikipedia

Coordinates: 37°42′N 45°22′E

Lake Urmia
Lake Urmia (Persian: ‫دریاچه ارومیه‬‎, Daryâche-ye Orumiye,
Azerbaijani: ‫اورمیه ﮔﺆﻟﻮ‬, Urmiya gölü) is an endorheic salt Lake Urmia
lake in Iran.[4][5] The lake is located 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).[6] By late 2017, the lake had shrunk to 10% of
its former size (and 1/60 of water volume in 1998) due to
persistent general drought in Iran, but also the damming of
the local rivers that flow into it, and the pumping of
groundwater from the surrounding area.[7] This dry spell
was broken in 2019 and the lake is now filling up once
again. The recovery of the lake has continued in 2020 due to
above average precipitation and the actions of the Lake Lake Urmia from space in 1984
Urmia Restoration Program.[8]
Lake Urmia
Lake Urmia, along with its approximately 102 islands, is
protected as a national park by the Iranian Department of
Environment.

Contents
Names and etymologies
Archaeology and history
Chemistry Coordinates 37°42′N 45°22′E
Ecology Type salt (hypersaline) lake
Palaeoecology
Primary inflows Zarriné-Rūd, Simineh-
Modern ecology
Rūd, Mahabad River,
Falling level and increasing salinity
Gadar River,
Environmental protests
Barandouz River,
Islands Shahar River, Nazlou
Basin rivers River, Zola River, Kaftar
Ali Chay, Aji Chay,
In popular culture
Boyuk Chay,
See also Rudkhaneh-ye Qal'eh
References Chay, Qobi Chay,
External links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Urmia 1/10
8/13/2021 Lake Urmia - Wikipedia

Names and etymologies Rudkhaneh-ye Mordaq,

Leylan River

Richard Nelson Frye suggested an Urartian origin for the Primary none: all water entering
name[9] while T. Burrow connected the origin of the name outflows the lake is lost through
Urmia to Indo-Iranian urmi- "wave" and urmya- evaporation
"undulating, wavy".[10] A more likely etymology would be Basin countries Iran
from Neo-Aramaic Assyrian-Chaldean spoken by the
shrinking number of the ancient Christian population of the Max. length 140 km (87 mi)
nearby city of Urmia, consisting of "ur" meaning city, and Max. width 55 km (34 mi)
"mia" meaning water. Together, the "water city", what
Urmia city is: a city on the waters of the eponymous lake. Surface area 5,200 km2 (2,000 sq mi)
Max. depth 16 m (52 ft)
Locally, the lake is referred to in Persian as Daryāche-ye
Salinity 217–235 g L−1 Na–
Orūmiye (‫)دریاچه ارومیه‬, in Azerbaijani as Urmiya gölü, and
in Kurdish as Zerivar-i Wermi. The traditional Armenian (Mg)–Cl–(SO4) brine[1]

name is Kaputan tsov (Կապուտան ծով), literally "blue sea". 8–11% in spring, 26–
Residents of Shahi Island refer to the lake in Azerbaijani as 28% in late autumn[2]
Daryā meaning Sea.[11][12][13]
Islands 102 (see list)
Its Old Persian name was Chichast, meaning "glittering", a
Ramsar Wetland
reference to the glittering mineral particles suspended in the
water of the lake and found along its shores. In medieval Official name Lake Urmia [or
times it came to be known as Lake Spauta or Lake Kabuda Orumiyeh]
(Kabodan) in Armenian geography,[14] from the word for
Designated 23 June 1975
"azure" in Persian, or kapuyt ('կապույտ') in Armenian. Its
Latin name was Lacus Matianus, thus it is referred to in Reference no. 38[3]
some texts as Lake Matianus or Lake Matiene, after the
ancient Mitanni people who lived in the area

Archaeology and history

The Lake Urmia region has a wealth of archaeological sites going
back to the Neolithic period. Archaeological excavations of the
settlements in the area have found artifacts that date from about
7,000 BCE and later.

Excavations at Teppe Hasanlu archeological site southwest of

Lake Urmia also revealed habitations going back to the 6th
millennium BCE.

A related site is Yanik Tepe, on the east shore of Lake Urmia, that Diminishing of surface of Lake
has been excavated in the 1950s and 60s by C. A. Burney.[15] Urmia

Another important site in the area, from about the same era, is
Hajji Firuz Tepe, where some of the oldest archaeological evidence of grape-based wine was
discovered.

Kul Tepe Jolfa is a site in the Jolfa County about 10  km south from the Araxes River. It dates to
Chalcolithic period (5000–4500 BCE).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Urmia 2/10
8/13/2021 Lake Urmia - Wikipedia

Se Girdan kurgans are located on the south shore of Lake Urmia.

Some of them were excavated in 1968 and 1970 by O. Muscarella.
They have now been redated to the second half of the 4th
millennium, although originally they were thought to be much
younger.[16]

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: Parsuwaš (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 the Matai were Medes and
linguistically the name Parsuwaš matches the Old Persian word
pārsa, an Achaemenid ethnolinguistic designation.[17]

The lake was the center of the Mannaean Kingdom. A potential Lake Urmia, NW Iran, September
Mannaean settlement, represented by the ruin mound of 2015
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 1603–1618.

In the last five hundred years the area around Lake Urmia has
been home to Azerbaijanis, Iranians, Assyrians, and Armenians. People visiting a boat on Lake
Urmia

Chemistry
2−
−

The main cations in the lake water include Na+, K+, Ca2+, Li+ and Mg2+, while Cl−, SO4 , HCO3 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.[18]

Ecology

Palaeoecology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Urmia 3/10
8/13/2021 Lake Urmia - Wikipedia

A palynological investigation on long cores from Urmia Lake

has revealed a nearly 200 kyr record of vegetation and lake
A
level changes. The vegetation has changed from the G
LU
Artemisia/grass steppes during the glacial/stadial periods, to M KT
oak-juniper steppe-forests during the interglacial/interstadial T
K
periods. The lake has had a complex hydrological history and
its water levels have fluctuated greatly in geological history. TS
D
Very high lake levels have been suggested for some time H
intervals during the two last glacial periods, as well as during A
both the Last Interglacial as well as the Holocene. The lowest G
H
lake levels have occurred during the last glacial periods.

UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in

Modern ecology Iran[19]

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 (47 fossils have been recorded in the area).[20][21]

Lake Urmia is an internationally registered protected area as both

a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve[19] and a Ramsar site.[22] The
Iranian Dept. of Environment has designated most of the lake as On holidays People come to see
a National Park.[23] Lake Urmia around the "Shahid
Kalantari" highway that still has
The lake is marked by more than a hundred small, rocky islands, water. The 15 km Shahid Kalantari
which serve as stopover points during the migrations of a number highway is constructed by drying
of bird species, including flamingos, pelicans, spoonbills, ibises, 85% of the boundary between the
storks, shelducks, avocets, stilts, and gulls. A recent drought has western-eastern sides of the lake.
significantly decreased the annual amount of water the lake Construction of the highway has
receives. This in turn has increased the salinity of the lake's water, caused the northern and southern
reducing its viability as home to thousands of migratory birds, half disconnected and has made
including a large flamingo populations. The salinity has natural and fundamental changes in
particularly increased in the half of the lake north of the Urmia the hydrodynamic and ecological
Lake Bridge. characteristics of the lake region.

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.[24] 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,[25] and another
population of this species has recently been discovered in the Koyashskoye Salt Lake at the Crimean
Peninsula.[26]

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
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Urmia 4/10
8/13/2021 Lake Urmia - Wikipedia

(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.[27] 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[28] the lake has shrunk
by 60% and could disappear entirely.[28] Only 5% of the lake's
water remains.[29]

On 2 August 2012, Muhammad-Javad Muhammadizadeh, the

head of Iran's Environment Protection Organization, announced
that Armenia had agreed to transfer water from Armenia to
counter the critical fall in Lake Urmia's water level, remarking Bridge construction over Lake Urmia
that "hot weather and a lack of precipitation have brought the in 2005
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.[30]

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 Satellite imagery from 1984 to 2018,
in the first year and $1.3 billion overall for restoration.[31] revealing Lake Urmia's diminishing
surface area
Starting in 2016, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) and Urmia Lake Restoration Program (ULRP)
signed up to a project funded by the Government of Japan entitled "An Integrated Programme for
Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Lake Urmia Basin" to support ULRP in its goal to
restore Lake Urmia. The project set out a multi-disciplinary framework covering several key
interrelated areas and aims to have five outputs: 1. An advanced water accounting (WA) system for
the entire Lake Urmia basin; 2. A drought management system based on risk/vulnerability
assessment and preparedness response for the basin; 3. A socio-economic livelihood programme with
viable and sustainable alternatives to current agricultural activities upstream of the lake to reduce
water consumption significantly while maintaining the income and livelihood of affected
communities; 4. An integrated watershed management (WM) programme; A capacity development
programme to strengthen stakeholders at different levels.

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.[32][33]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Urmia 5/10
8/13/2021 Lake Urmia - Wikipedia

In 2015, president Hassan Rouhani's cabinet approved $660 million for improving irrigation systems,
and steps to combat desertification.[7]

In September 2018, A working group tasked with reviving Lake Urmia has started to grow two types
of plants to save the region from salt particles. The two plants are Nitraria or Karadagh and Tamarix
or Shoorgaz, which are planted on the land of Jabal Kandi village in Urmia County, to slow down the
wind that brings with itself the salt particles.[34]

Environmental protests

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 Aras River to raise the lake
level.[35][36] Apparently, parliament proposed instead to relocate people living around Urmia
Lake.[36]

More than 30 activists were detained on 24 August 2011 during an iftar meal.[36] In the absence of a
right to protest publicly in Iran, protesters have incorporated their messages into chants at football
matches.[35][37] 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".[35][36][38][39]

Further demonstrations took place in the streets of Tabriz and Urmia on 27 August and 3 September
2011.[35][37][40] Amateur video from these events showed riot police on motorcycles attacking
apparently peaceful protesters.[37][41] 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.[42]

The effect of climate change on the lake, has been extensively covered by an Iranian photojournalist
Solmaz Daryani.[43][44][45][46][47]

Islands
Lake Urmia had approximately 102 islands.[48] Shahi Island was historically the lake's largest.
However, it became a peninsula connected to the eastern shore when the lake level dropped.[1][49]

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.[50]

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. A herd of Iranian
antelope and gazelle were introduced into the islands, some of which survive to the present day. The
Persian leopards that were also introduced to check the number of these antelopes survived for years,
going extinct sometime in the early 1980s.

Basin rivers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Urmia 6/10
8/13/2021 Lake Urmia - Wikipedia

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]

Aji Chay Nazlou River

Alamlou River Rozeh River
Barandouz River Shahar River
Gadar River Simineh River
Ghaie River Zarriné-Rūd
Leylan River Zarrineh River
Mahabad River Zola River

In popular culture
Lake Urmia was the setting of the 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 Azerbaijani
language, such as "Urmu Gölü Lay Lay".

See also
Urmia Lake Bridge
List of drying lakes

References
1. 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" (ht
tps://www.researchgate.net/publication/236178574). Journal of Paleolimnology. Springer
Netherlands. 47 (4): 647. doi:10.1007/s10933-012-9588-3 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10933-01
2-9588-3). S2CID 128970562 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:128970562).
2. Urmia Lake. 2012. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 14 August 2015, from
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/619901/Lake-Urmia
3. "Lake Urmia [or Orumiyeh]" (https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/38). Ramsar Sites Information Service.
Retrieved 25 April 2018.
4. 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 (https://books.google.com/books?id=OXk1dlWp
-CUC&pg=PA138), ISBN 0-87586-191-1
5. E. J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936, vol. 7, page 1037 (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=wpM3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1037) citing Strabo and Ptolemy.
6. "Britanica" (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/619901/Lake-Urmia). Britannica.com.
Retrieved 4 September 2011.
7. Stone, Richard (2 September 2015). "Saving Iran's great salt lake" (http://news.sciencemag.org/e
nvironment/2015/09/feature-saving-iran-s-great-salt-lake). Science. 349 (6252): 1044–5, 1047.
Bibcode:2015Sci...349.1044S (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015Sci...349.1044S).
doi:10.1126/science.aad1702 (https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.aad1702). PMID 26339009 (htt
ps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26339009).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Urmia 7/10
8/13/2021 Lake Urmia - Wikipedia

8. Dudley, Dominic. "Iran's Lake Urmia: How A Dying Salt Lake Is Being Brought Back From The
Brink" (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dominicdudley/2020/05/14/irans-lake-urmia-how-a-dying-salt-
lake-is-being-brought-back-from-the-brink/). Forbes. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
9. Richard Nelson Frye, The history of ancient Iran, München (1984), 48–49
10. The Proto-Indoaryans, by T. Burrow, The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and
Ireland, No. 2 (1973), pp. 123–140, published by: Cambridge University Press, see 139
11. Amurian, A.; Kasheff, M. (15 December 1986). "Armenians of modern Iran" (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20181026110041/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/armenians-of-modern-iran).
Encyclopædia Iranica. Archived from the original (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/armenians-
of-modern-iran) on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2016. "Urmia (class. Arm. Kaputan) ..."
12. Russell, James R. (1987). Zoroastrianism in Armenia. Harvard University. p. 430. "Urmia Lake,
called Kaputan cov by Arm. geographers..."
13. "Armenian Highland" (http://www.armin.am/en/Encyclopedia_Armency_Haykakan_lernashxarh).
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."
14. See, e.g. the Shahnama.
15. C. A. Burney, Excavations at Yanik Tepe, North-West-Iran, Iraq 23, 1961, pp. 138ff.
16. O. W. Muscarella, "The Chronology and Culture of Se Girdan: Phase III", Ancient Civilizations
from Scythia to Siberia 9/1-2, 2003, pp. 117-31
17. cf. Skjærvø, Prods Oktor (2006), "Iran, vi(1). Earliest Evidence", Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. 13
18. Alireza Asem; Fereidun Mohebbi; Reza Ahmadi (2012). "Drought in Urmia Lake, the largest
natural habitat of brine shrimp Artemia" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160401123558/http://alirez
a-asem.ir/Asem16.pdf) (PDF). World Aquaculture. 43: 36–38. Archived from the original (http://ww
w.alireza-asem.ir/Asem16.pdf) (PDF) on 1 April 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
19. "UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Directory" (http://www.unesco.org/mabdb/br/brdir/directory/contact.
asp?code=IRA).
20. Asem, A.; Eimanifar, A.; Djamal, M.; De; Rios, P.; Wink, M. (2014). "Biodiversity of the Hypersaline
Urmia Lake National Park (NW Iran)" (http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/6/1/102/pdf). Diversity. 6:
102–132. doi:10.3390/d6010102 (https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fd6010102).
21. Asem, A.; Eimanifar, A.; Wink, M. (2016). " "Update of "Biodiversity of the Hypersaline Urmia Lake
National Park (NW Iran)" (http://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/8/1/6/pdf). Diversity. 8 (4): 6.
doi:10.3390/d8010006 (https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fd8010006).
22. Ramsar Sites Information Service (https://rsis.ramsar.org/ris/38)
23. "ProtectedPlanet - Urumieh lake" (https://web.archive.org/web/20190323161049/https://www.prote
ctedplanet.net/urumieh-lake-national-park). Archived from the original (http://www.protectedplanet.
net/urumieh-lake-national-park) on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
24. 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. (http://www.eoearth.org/artic
le/Lake_Urmia?topic=49560)
25. Critical condition of Artemia urmiana and possibility of extinction (https://web.archive.org/web/201
40201231901/http://saveurmia.com/main/2013/01/11/critical-condition-of-artemia-urmiana-and-po
ssibility-of-extinction/)
26. Eimanifar A; Asem A; Djamali M; Wink M (2016). "A note on the biogeographical origin of the
brine shrimp Artemia urmiana Günther, 1899 from Urmia Lake, Iran" (https://semanticscholar.org/p
aper/b27cee376a835ea18210c2fe11fa38a4911df4e0). Zootaxa. 4097 (2): 294–300.
doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4097.2.12 (https://doi.org/10.11646%2Fzootaxa.4097.2.12).
PMID 27394547 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27394547). S2CID 25998873 (https://api.sema
nticscholar.org/CorpusID:25998873).
27. "Iran's East and West Azerbaijan Provinces Connected by Lake Orumiyeh Bridge" (http://www.pay
vand.com/news/08/nov/1165.html). Payvand.com. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Urmia 8/10
8/13/2021 Lake Urmia - Wikipedia

28. 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
29. Erdbrink, Thomas (30 January 2014). "Its Great Lake Shriveled, Iran Confronts Crisis of Water
Supply" (https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/world/middleeast/its-great-lake-shriveled-iran-confr
onts-crisis-of-water-supply.html?hp). The New York Times. Archived (https://archive.is/0zee2?url=
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/world/middleeast/its-great-lake-shriveled-iran-confronts-crisi
s-of-water-supply.html?hp) from the original on 2 September 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
30. "Armenia to help Iran save drying lake Oroumiyeh" (http://www.payvand.com/news/12/aug/1010.ht
ml).
31. "Iran to spend $500 million to save shrunken Lake Urmia" (https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn
25850-iran-to-spend-500-million-to-save-shrunken-lake-urmia.html#.U7nrg41dXvI).
32. "Completed by the end of the 94 dams Silveh Piranshahr" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150120
025012/http://kurdpress.com/Fa/NSite/FullStory/News/?Id=68028) (in Persian). Kurd Press. 23
August 2014. Archived from the original (http://kurdpress.com/Fa/NSite/FullStory/News/?Id=6802
8) on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
33. "Silveh Dam and Irrigation and Drainage" (https://archive.is/20150120030422/http://omran-ag.ir/ta
bid/2029/Default.aspx) (in Persian). Omran Iran - Deputy Governor of West Azerbaijan. Archived
from the original (http://omran-ag.ir/tabid/2029/Default.aspx) on 20 January 2015. Retrieved
20 January 2015.
34. "Iran Using Plants to Fight Dust Pollution in Lake Urmia" (https://ifpnews.com/exclusive/iran-using-
plants-to-fight-dust-pollution-in-lake-urmia/). 28 September 2018.
35. Mackey, Robert (30 August 2011). "Protests in Iran Over Disappearing Lake" (http://thelede.blogs.
nytimes.com/2011/08/30/protests-in-iran-over-disappearing-lake/). The New York Times. Iran.
Retrieved 4 September 2011.
36. "Azeri Activists Detained in Iran For Environmental Protests" (http://www.rferl.org/content/azeri_ac
tivists_detained_in_iran/24309313.html). RFE/RL. 26 August 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
37. "Iranian greens fear disaster as Lake Orumieh shrinks" (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/
sep/05/iran-greens-lake-orumieh-shrinks). The Guardian. London. 5 September 2011.
38. "Rally protesting Iran over Urmia Lake turns violent" (http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=r
ally-protesting-iran-over-lake-urmia-turns-violent-2011-09-01). Hurriyet Daily News. 1 September
2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
39. "Iranian Protest Urges Help for Shrinking Lake" (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2
011/08/30/international/i093033D89.DTL). San Francisco Chronicle. 30 August 2011. Retrieved
4 September 2011.
40. "Azeri Turks in Ankara protest Urmia Lake drying up" (https://web.archive.org/web/201109061026
31/http://www.todayszaman.com/news-255721-azeri-turks-in-ankara-protest-lake-urmia-drying-up.
html). todayszaman.com. Archived from the original (http://www.todayszaman.com/news-255721-
azeri-turks-in-ankara-protest-lake-urmia-drying-up.html) on 6 September 2011. Retrieved
4 September 2011.
41. "Iran police break up environmental protests" (http://www.euronews.net/2011/09/04/iran-police-bre
ak-up-environmental-protests/). euronews.net. 4 September 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
42. "Iran arrests saltwater lake protesters" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14780708).
BBC. 4 September 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
43. Daryani, Solmaz. "A reflection on how climate change altered Lake Urmia" (https://caravanmagazi
ne.in/photo-essay/photographer-personal-account-climate-change-altered-lake-urmia). The
Caravan. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
44. "Final winners of IdeasTap and Magnum Photos documentary photography award announced" (ht
tps://www.bjp-online.com/2015/12/ideastap-magnum-photographic-award-2015/). British Journal
of Photography. 22 December 2015. Retrieved 7 December 2019.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Urmia 9/10
8/13/2021 Lake Urmia - Wikipedia

45. Daryani, Solmaz. "Troubled Waters" (https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/07/07/aperture-troubled-water

s-iran-lake-urmia-environment-draught-water-preservation/). Foreign Policy. Retrieved
27 February 2020.
46. "The Eyes of Earth" (https://www.emerge-mag.com/2018/06/the-eyes-of-earth-solmaz-daryani/).
emerge - Magazin für jungen Fotojournalismus (in German). 11 June 2018. Retrieved 27 February
2020.
47. "Why is the largest lake in the Middle East drying up?" (http://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/20
18/03/17/Why-is-the-largest-lake-in-the-Middle-East-drying-up-.html). english.alarabiya.net. 17
March 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
48. List from: Farahang-e Joghrafiyayi-e shahrestânhâ-ye Keshvar (Shahrestân-e Orumiyeh), Tehran
1379
Hs.
49. Asem, Alireza; Eimanifar, Amin; Djamali, Morteza; De los Rios, Patricio; Wink, Michael (2014).
"Biodiversity of the Hypersaline Urmia Lake National Park (NW Iran)" (https://doi.org/10.3390%2F
d6010102). Diversity. 6: 102–132. doi:10.3390/d6010102 (https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fd6010102).
50. 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 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0190-3667). JSTOR 43193015 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/4
3193015).

External links
Iranica Encyclopedia: Eckhart Ehlers, "Lake Urmia", 2013 (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ur
mia-lake)
Encyclopedia of Earth: C. Michael Hogan, "Lake Urmia", 2011 (http://www.eoearth.org/article/Lake
_Urmia?topic=49560)
Saline Systems; Urmia Salt Lake, Iran (http://www.salinesystems.org/content/2/1/9)
Profile at UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Directory (https://web.archive.org/web/20060521145428/h
ttp://www2.unesco.org/mab/br/brdir/directory/biores.asp?mode=gen&code=IRA+07)
Iran's Environmental Ticking Bomb (http://www.strategicoutlook.org/2011/09/iran%E2%80%99s-e
nvironmental-ticking-bomb/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20111129183156/http://www.st
rategicoutlook.org/2011/09/iran%E2%80%99s-environmental-ticking-bomb/) 29 November 2011 at
the Wayback Machine
Landsat - Drying of Lake Urmia, Iran (https://earthengine.google.org/#intro/LakeUrmia), Google
Earth Engine
Aerial view of Lake Urmia (http://www.ipernity.com/doc/mmcg968/23984565)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lake_Urmia&oldid=1038412633"

This page was last edited on 12 August 2021, at 11:28 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;

additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Urmia 10/10