Measured an 1890s map against modern borders and the Caspian Sea is way different

I was looking at an old Russian Empire map from 1893 and the Caspian Sea was massive compared to what it looks like now. Back then it stretched further north and east, covering areas that are dry land today. Over the last 130 years the water level dropped something like 20 feet total, but most of that happened after 1970 when they started damming the Volga river. The Volga provides like 80% of the inflow, so when they built all those reservoirs for irrigation, the sea just started shrinking. You can see it real clear if you overlay the old coastline on a satellite image. Has anyone else noticed how much lake boundaries have changed on vintage maps?

2 comments

2 Comments

robin_foster16d ago

Wait, are you sure the old maps were accurate to begin with back then? Surveying in the 1890s was pretty rough, especially in remote areas like the northern Caspian coast, so a lot of those coastlines were just guesses. The Volga dams definitely changed things, but I've read that the sea level has gone up and down for centuries just from natural climate cycles, so the old maps might have just caught a high point.

robinc665d ago

That northern Caspian coast bit really got me thinking. I used to think those old maps were gospel truth, but you make a solid point about the surveying methods being guesswork back then. Thanks @robin_foster1 for pointing that out, you changed my mind on this whole thing.