The Caspian Sea is located between Asia and Europe. This is the largest salt sea-lake, located on the territory of Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan. Currently, its level is 28 meters below the level of the World Ocean. The depth of the Caspian Sea is quite large. The area of the reservoir is 371 thousand square kilometers.
Story
About five million years ago, the sea divided into small bodies of water, including the Black and Caspian Sea. After these events they united and separated. About two million years ago, the Caspian Lake was cut off from the World Ocean. This period is considered the beginning of its formation. Throughout history, the reservoir has changed its contours several times, and the depth of the Caspian Sea has also changed.
Now the Caspian is the largest inland body of water, containing about 44% of the planet’s lake waters. Despite the changes taking place, the depth of the Caspian Sea did not change very much.
Once it was called Khvalian and Khazar, and the tribes of horse breeders gave it another name - Caspian. This is the name of the tribe living on the southwestern shore of the reservoir. In total, during its existence the lake had more than seventy names, here are some of them:
- Abeskunskoe.
- Derbent.
- Saraiskoe.
- Xihai.
- Dzhurdzhanskoe.
- Hyrcanian.
Depth and relief
The relief and features of the hydrological regime divide the sea-lake into northern, middle and southern parts. Over the entire area of the Caspian Sea, the depth is on average 180-200 m, but the relief in different parts different.
The northern part of the reservoir is shallow. Here the depth of the Caspian Sea-lake is approximately 25 meters. In the middle part of the Caspian there are very deep depressions, continental slopes, and shelves. Here average depth is 192 meters, and in the Derbent depression - about 788 meters.
The greatest depth of the Caspian Sea is in the South Caspian depression (1025 meters). Its bottom is flat, and in the northern part of the depression there are several ridges. This is where it is marked maximum depth Caspian Sea.
Coastline Features
Its length is seven thousand kilometers. Northern part coastline It is a lowland, with mountains in the south and west, and hills in the east. The spurs of Elbrus and the Caucasus Mountains approach the shores of the sea.
The Caspian has large bays: Kazakh, Kizlyar, Mangyshlak, Kara-Bogaz-Gol, Krasnovodsk.
If you go on a cruise from north to south, the length of the route will be 1200 kilometers. In this direction, the reservoir has an elongated shape, and from west to east the width of the sea is different. At its narrowest point it is 195 kilometers, and at its widest it is 435 kilometers. The average width of the reservoir is 315 km.
The sea has several peninsulas: Mangyshlak, Buzachi, Miankale and others. There are also several islands here. The largest are Chygyl, Kur-Dashi, Gum, Dash, and Tyuleni Islands.
Pond food
About one hundred and thirty rivers flow into the Caspian Sea. Most of them flow in the north and west. The main river flowing into the sea is the Volga. Approximately ninety percent of the volume of runoff comes from three large rivers: the Volga (80%), Kura (6%) and Ural (5%). Five percent are from Terek, Sulak and Samur, and the remaining four are brought by small rivers and streams of Iran.
Resources of the Caspian Sea
The reservoir has amazing beauty, a variety of ecosystems and a rich supply of natural resources. When there are frosts in its northern part, magnolias and apricots bloom in the south.
Relict flora and fauna have been preserved in the Caspian Sea, including the largest school of sturgeon fish. As it evolved, the marine flora changed more than once, adapting to salinity and desalination. As a result, these waters became rich in freshwater species, but few in marine species.
After the Volga-Don Canal was built, new species of algae appeared in the reservoir, which were previously found in the Black and Azov Seas. Now in the Caspian Sea there are 854 species of animals, of which 79 are vertebrates, and over 500 species of plants. This unique sea-lake produces up to 80% of the catch of all sturgeon in the world and approximately 95% of black caviar.
Five species of sturgeon are found in the Caspian Sea: stellate sturgeon, thorn, sterlet, beluga and sturgeon. Beluga is the largest representative of the species. Its weight can reach a ton, and its length can be five meters. In addition to sturgeon, herring, salmon, kutum, roach, asp and other types of fish are caught in the sea.
Of the mammals in the Caspian Sea, only the local seal is found, which is not found in other bodies of water in the world. It is considered the smallest on the planet. Its weight is about a hundred kilograms, and its length is 160 centimeters. The Caspian region is a major route for bird migration between Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Every year, approximately 12 million birds fly over the sea during migration (south in spring and north in autumn). In addition, another 5 million remain in these places for the winter.
The greatest wealth of the Caspian Sea is its huge reserves of oil and gas. Geological exploration in the region has discovered large deposits of these minerals. Their potential puts local reserves in second place in the world after
The Caspian Sea is located on the border of Europe and Asia and is surrounded by the territories of five states: Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Despite its name, the Caspian Sea is the largest lake on the planet (its area is 371,000 km2), but the bottom, composed of oceanic crust, and salty water together with its large size, they give reason to consider it a sea. A large number of rivers flow into the Caspian Sea, for example, such large ones as the Volga, Terek, Ural, Kura and others.
Relief and depth of the Caspian Sea
Based on the bottom topography, the Caspian Sea is divided into three parts: southern (the largest and deepest), middle and northern.
In the northern part, the depth of the sea is the smallest: on average it ranges from four to eight meters, and the maximum depth here reaches 25 m. The northern part of the Caspian Sea is limited by the Mangyshlak Peninsula and occupies 25% of the total area of the reservoir.
The middle part of the Caspian Sea is deeper. Here the average depth becomes 190 m, while the maximum is 788 meters. The area of the middle Caspian Sea is 36% of the total, and the volume of water is 33% of the total volume of the sea. It is separated from the southern part by the Absheron Peninsula in Azerbaijan.
The deepest and largest part of the Caspian Sea is the southern one. It occupies 39% of the total area, and its share of the total water volume is 66%. Here is the South Caspian depression, which contains the deepest point of the sea - 1025 m.
Islands, peninsulas and bays of the Caspian Sea
There are about 50 islands in the Caspian Sea, almost all of them are uninhabited. Due to the shallower depth of the northern part of the sea, most of the islands are located there, among them the Baku archipelago belonging to Azerbaijan, the Tyuleni Islands in Kazakhstan, as well as many Russian islands off the coast of the Astrakhan region and Dagestan.
Among the Caspian Sea peninsulas, the largest are Mangyshlak (Mangistau) in Kazakhstan and Absheron in Azerbaijan, on which such large cities as the capital of the country Baku and Sumgayit are located.
Kara-Bogaz-Gol Bay Caspian Sea
The coastline of the sea is very indented, and there are many bays on it, for example, Kizlyarsky, Mangyshlaksky, Dead Kultuk and others. The Kara-Bogaz-Gol Bay deserves special mention, which is actually a separate lake connected to the Caspian Sea by a narrow strait, thanks to which it maintains a separate ecosystem and higher salinity of water.
Fishing in the Caspian Sea
Since ancient times, the Caspian Sea has attracted residents of its shores with its fish resources. About 90% of the world's sturgeon production is caught here, as well as fish such as carp, bream, and sprat.
Caspian Sea video
In addition to fish, the Caspian Sea is extremely rich in oil and gas, the total reserves of which are about 18-20 million tons. Salt, limestone, sand and clay are also mined here.
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Expert answerOn Sunday, August 12, in Aktau, Kazakhstan, the presidents of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. Previously, its status was regulated by Soviet-Iranian treaties, in which the Caspian Sea was defined as a closed (inland) sea, and each Caspian state had sovereign rights to a 10-mile zone and equal rights for the rest of the sea.
Now, according to the new convention, each country is assigned its own territorial waters (zones 15 miles wide). In addition, the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea will not apply to the Caspian Sea, the seabed will be delimited into sectors, as is done by neighboring seas, and sovereignty over the water column will be established on the basis of the principle that it is a lake.
Why is the Caspian considered neither a lake nor a sea?
To be considered a sea, the Caspian must have access to the ocean, this is one of the most important conditions, according to which a body of water can be called a sea. But the Caspian Sea has no access to the ocean, so it is considered a closed body of water not connected to the World Ocean.
The second feature that distinguishes sea waters from lakes, is their high salinity. The water in the Caspian Sea is indeed salty, but in its salt composition it occupies an intermediate position between the river and the ocean. In addition, in the Caspian Sea, salinity increases towards the south. The Volga delta contains 0.3‰ salts, and in the eastern regions of the Southern and Middle Caspian Sea the salinity reaches 13-14‰. And if we talk about the salinity of the World Ocean, it averages 34.7 ‰.
Due to its specific geographical and hydrological characteristics, the reservoir received a special legal status. The summit participants decided that the Caspian Sea is an inland body of water that does not have a direct connection with the World Ocean, and therefore cannot be considered a sea, and at the same time, due to its size, water composition and bottom features, cannot be considered a lake.
What has been achieved since the signing of the Convention?
The new treaty expands opportunities for cooperation between countries and also involves limiting any military presence of third countries. According to political scientist, director of the Institute of Modern States Alexey Martynov, the main achievement of the last summit is that its participants managed to stop any talk about the possible construction of military bases and NATO infrastructure facilities in the Caspian Sea.
“The most important thing that was achieved was to fix that the Caspian Sea will be demilitarized for all Caspian states. There will be no other military personnel there except those representing the countries that signed the Caspian Agreement. This is a fundamental and main question that was important to fix. Everything else, what is divided proportionally into zones of influence, zones of extraction of biological resources, zones of extraction of shelf resources, was not so important. As we remember, in the last twenty years the military has been actively seeking to enter the region. The United States even wanted to build its own military base there,” says Martynov.
In addition to the distribution of each country's shares in the oil and gas fields of the Caspian basin, the Convention also provides for the construction of pipelines. As stated in the document, the rules for laying them provide for the consent of only neighboring countries, and not all countries of the Caspian Sea. After signing the agreement, Turkmenistan, in particular, stated that it was ready to lay pipelines along the bottom of the Caspian Sea, which would allow it to export its gas through Azerbaijan to Europe. The consent of Russia, which previously insisted that the project could only be implemented with the permission of all five Caspian states, is now no longer required. They plan to subsequently connect the gas pipeline to the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline, through which natural gas will flow through the territory of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to Greece.
“Turkmenistan is not a foreign country to us, but our partner, a country that we consider very important for us in the post-Soviet space. We cannot be against them receiving an additional impetus for development through such pipeline projects. Gas has long been coming from Turkmenistan and other countries through another pipeline system, somewhere it is even mixed with Russian gas, and there is nothing wrong with that. If this project works, everyone will benefit, including Russia. Under no circumstances should the project be considered as some kind of competition. The European market is so large and insatiable, I mean the energy market, that there is enough room for everyone,” says Martynov.
Today, almost all Turkmen gas is supplied to China, where Russia also intends to supply blue fuel. For this purpose, in particular, a large-scale project for the construction of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline is being implemented. Thus, the geography of gas supplies for both countries can expand - Turkmenistan will gain access to the European market, and Russia will be able to increase its gas supplies to China.
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest lake on Earth, located at the junction of Europe and Asia, called a sea because of its size. The Caspian Sea is an endorheic lake, and the water in it is salty, from 0.05% near the mouth of the Volga to 11-13% in the southeast. The water level is subject to fluctuations, currently approximately 28 m below sea level. The area of the Caspian Sea is currently approximately 371,000 km2, maximum depth is 1025 m.
The length of the coastline of the Caspian Sea is estimated at approximately 6500 - 6700 kilometers, with islands - up to 7000 kilometers. The shores of the Caspian Sea in most of its territory are low-lying and smooth. In the northern part, the coastline is indented by water channels and islands of the Volga and Ural deltas, the banks are low and swampy, and the water surface in many places is covered with thickets. The east coast is dominated by limestone shores adjacent to semi-deserts and deserts. The most winding shores are on the western coast in the area of the Absheron Peninsula and on the eastern coast in the area of the Kazakh Gulf and Kara-Bogaz-Gol.
130 rivers flow into the Caspian Sea, of which 9 rivers have a delta-shaped mouth. Large rivers flowing into the Caspian Sea are the Volga, Terek (Russia), Ural, Emba (Kazakhstan), Kura (Azerbaijan), Samur (Russian border with Azerbaijan), Atrek (Turkmenistan) and others.
The Caspian Sea washes the shores of five coastal states:
Russia (Dagestan, Kalmykia and Astrakhan region) - in the west and northwest, coastline length 695 kilometers Kazakhstan - in the north, northeast and east, coastline length 2320 kilometers Turkmenistan - in the southeast, coastline length 1200 kilometers Iran - in the south, coastline length - 724 kilometers Azerbaijan - in the southwest, coastline length 955 kilometers
Water temperature
Subject to significant latitudinal changes, most clearly expressed in winter period, when the temperature changes from 0 - 0.5 °C at the ice edge in the north of the sea to 10 - 11 °C in the south, that is, the water temperature difference is about 10 °C. For shallow water areas with depths less than 25 m, the annual amplitude can reach 25 - 26 °C. On average, the water temperature off the west coast is 1 - 2 °C higher than that on the east, and in the open sea the water temperature is 2 - 4 °C higher than on the coasts.
The climate of the Caspian Sea is continental in the northern part, temperate in the middle and subtropical in the southern part. In winter, the average monthly temperature of the Caspian Sea varies from?8?10 in the northern part to +8 - +10 in the southern part, in summer period- from +24 - +25 in the northern part to +26 - +27 in the southern part. The maximum temperature recorded on the east coast was 44 degrees.
Animal world
The fauna of the Caspian Sea is represented by 1809 species, of which 415 are vertebrates. 101 species of fish are registered in the Caspian Sea, where most of the world's sturgeon stocks are concentrated, as well as freshwater fish such as roach, carp, and pike perch. The Caspian Sea is the habitat of fish such as carp, mullet, sprat, kutum, bream, salmon, perch, and pike. The Caspian Sea is also home to a marine mammal - the Caspian seal.
Vegetable world
The flora of the Caspian Sea and its coast is represented by 728 species. Among the plants in the Caspian Sea, the predominant algae are blue-green, diatoms, red, brown, characeae and others, and among the flowering plants - zoster and ruppia. In origin, the flora is predominantly of Neogene age, but some plants were brought into the Caspian Sea by humans deliberately or on the bottoms of ships.
Mining of oil and gas
Many oil and gas fields are being developed in the Caspian Sea. Proven oil resources in the Caspian Sea amount to about 10 billion tons, total oil and gas condensate resources are estimated at 18 - 20 billion tons.
Oil production in the Caspian Sea began in 1820, when the first oil well was drilled on the Absheron shelf. In the second half of the 19th century, oil production began on an industrial scale on the Absheron Peninsula, and then in other territories.
In addition to oil and gas production, salt, limestone, stone, sand, and clay are also mined on the coast of the Caspian Sea and the Caspian shelf.
Yes, geography can sometimes wreak havoc on my brain. You look at the map and see the name – “Caspian Sea”. What would a normal person think in such a situation? Of course, it wouldn’t occur to him that we are talking about a lake! So now I'll tell you, why the Caspian Sea is not a sea, but a lake, how did this happen and what is this strange whirlwind with names.
The sea is not the sea
Yes, the Caspian Sea - geographical feature, the essence of which does not really coincide with its name.
The fact is that by name it is a sea, but in fact it is a lake. They called it the sea due to the large size and salinity of the water. After all, people didn’t want to delve into geographical nuances - the name appeared a long time ago.
Only in reality The Caspian lake has no access to the ocean. And this is one of the most important conditions for which a body of water is called a sea. It turns out that without access to the ocean, the Caspian Sea is considered a lake. Large, salty and very similar to the sea - but still a lake.
So, I’ll list once again what a body of water must have in order for it to be considered a sea:
A lake is not a lake
The Caspian Sea-lake, however, is different from other lakes. It is indeed very large - so much so that it washes the territory fives different countries . In addition, it contains about fifty quite large islands.
Yes and water there salty. However, by naval standards it’s still not enough- which again inclines us towards the fact that this is a lake.
And the abundance of Caspian waters has been decreasing over the years. For a long time his Volga replenished, but in last years she she's getting shallow- respectively, The water level in the Caspian Sea is also decreasing. So, perhaps, in a hundred or two years it will turn into a normal-sized lake if global warming does not stop.
All over the world, the Caspian Sea is unanimously considered a lake. Even his water territory shares not according to those international laws that were invented for marine areas, but on legislation relating to lakes.
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I read in a huge number of books about the Caspian Sea, its greatness and how its local peoples love and respect it. And indeed, I was very surprised to find myself one day on the shores of this sea. But after a while I began to hear that it was called a lake. I was wondering why this happens? And then I delved into literature in order to understand the situation.
Why is the Caspian a lake?
There is one main reason why people no longer consider this beautiful body of water to be a sea - the lack of access to the ocean. Usually the sea must have a strait connecting it with a larger part of a huge water reservoir - the world ocean. For example, we can recall the Sea of Azov, with its Kerch Strait, or the next Black Sea, with the Bosporus Strait. A series of such straits and seas leads them to the Atlantic Ocean.
But the Caspian Sea is a unique case. There is not a single drain from it. Even the Angara River flows from the great Baikal.
The only compelling argument that the Caspian is a sea is its salinity. But the numbers speak against this. The average percentage of water salinity here is 12.9%, while in other seas this figure is 35%.
Where does the Caspian Sea get its water from?
Five great rivers flow into this, the largest, as I understand it, lake on the planet:
- Samur;
- Volga;
- Ural;
- Terek;
- Kura.
At the confluence of the rivers the water is almost fresh, but closer to the south the lake saturates it with its own reserves of salt.
Caspian Sea level fluctuations
Local residents told me that the Caspian Sea is fickle. The water level is extremely variable. This is due to changes in river levels and internal sources of this sea-lake. Climate plays a big role. At the moment, the height of the Caspian Sea is growing steadily, reaching almost 26 meters below ocean level. For comparison: 20 years ago this figure was almost two meters lower.
This has pros and cons. On the one hand, navigation improves, and on the other, pastures and fields are flooded.
Residents of the coast love the Caspian Sea, despite its unusual nature and stormy character. I really liked him too!
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Many names, not only toponyms, have always surprised me with their seeming groundlessness. Guinea pigs are not guinea pigs, the bats have nothing to do with rodents, and the Caspian Sea is generally a lake.
I said “apparent” for a reason. Every name has a backstory. And often very interesting.
How the sea became a lake
The Caspian Sea is not undeservedly called a sea. Once upon a time it really was part of the ocean.
It even rests in the box earth's crust oceanic type.
The Caspian Sea is brackish, although the salinity of the water is variable. Near the mouth of the Volga flowing into it, the salinity of the water is minimal. The size of the Caspian Sea is in no way inferior to the sea. Its surface area: 371,000 km².
The main reason why Caspian it is generally accepted lake, it is his isolation from the oceans. He has nothing to do with him.
But it was many years ago.
It all started with Sarmatian Sea, which existed more than 13 million years ago. It was loosely related to by sea Mediterranean, but later it lost this connection and began to desalinate. Then it briefly restored contact with the sea, but then lost it again.
Formed 6.5 – 5.2 million years ago Pontic Sea, already smaller in area. Which, moreover, soon divided into several unconnected reservoirs. The resulting Balakhanskoye Lake can be considered a grandmother Caspian. It gained and lost access to the sea several more times, raised and lowered the water level, changed in size, until finally it appeared Caspian Sea as we see it now.
What should the Caspian Sea be considered: a sea or a lake?
And the disputes here are not so much between geographers, but between politicians.
The Caspian Sea washes the territories immediately five states:
- Kazakhstan;
- Russia;
- Turkmenistan;
- Iran;
- Azerbaijan.
But Caspian Sea- this is not only important transport node, but also a storehouse of various natural resources, among which:
- oil;
- gas;
- fish, incl. sturgeon.
And here comes the problem with legal status Caspian. If you count it by sea, then when using it, states should focus on UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982. But the procedure for using international rivers and lakes, as a rule, is established by the riparian states themselves, concluding appropriate agreements.
Full agreement between the countries has not yet been achieved.
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I was resting somehow in the camp. It's no secret that almost every day competitions are held there to entertain children and youth. So here it is. Was we have quiz. Question: “Which lake is the largest?” One guy of about fifteen was the first to raise his hand and answer: “Baikal.” The strangest thing was that his answer was counted as correct! How so? Isn't the Caspian Sea the largest lake? Now I will explain to you.
How to distinguish a sea from a lake
I'll list several signs by which a body of water is defined as a sea.
1. Rivers can flow into the sea.
2. The outer sea has direct access to the ocean.
3. If the sea is internal, then it is connected by straits with other seas or directly with the ocean.
Does the Caspian Sea fit sea parameters?
Need to check, does the Caspian Sea have signs of a sea. into it really rivers flow in, but they flow into many bodies of water: seas, lakes, oceans, and other rivers. The Caspian Sea is surrounded from all sides by land. Is this really inland sea? Then it must connect to the Black or Azov Seas somehow strait. Strait Same No. Exactly due to the lack of access to the World Ocean, the Caspian Sea is considered a lake.
“But why was it called the sea then, if it is a lake?”- you ask. Answer very simple: because of his large sizes and salinity. Indeed, The Caspian Sea is several times larger than the Azov Sea and almost equal in size to the Baltic Sea.
Great! The problem with the quiz has been resolved. Judge to hell!!!
Well then, I told, that the Caspian Sea In fact - lake. Now I want to you provide small selection interesting facts about this lake.
1. The Caspian Sea is below sea level (-28 m), which once again proves that this is a lake.
2. BC near the lake area lived nomadic Caspian tribes,in honor of which he was nicknamed Caspian.
3. This the deepest enclosed body of water on the planet.
4. Many people think that the name of the group “Caspian Cargo” is related to the Caspian Sea. In some ways they are right ( No). In fact the expression “Caspian cargo” can mean any illegal cargo.
5.Caspian Sea Fine suitable for tourism. During the USSR, a large number of sanatoriums were built here. Today same here you can see many hotels, water parks and beaches.
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