There are more than 80 seas on Earth. They are distinguished by temperature and composition of water, depth, size and other features. The smallest sea is located in Eurasia.
Where is
The smallest sea on the planet is officially considered the Marmara Sea. It belongs to the Atlantic Ocean basin and is located in Turkey, between the regions of Thrace and Anatolia. The Sea of Marmara is located on the border of the European and Asian parts of the country.
This is an inland sea, because it is surrounded by land on all sides. It communicates with the neighboring Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, respectively.
Small rivers flow into the sea, mainly from the Asian part. Among them: Granikus, Simav, Susurluk.
Origin
Geologists believe that the Sea of Marmara was formed more than 2.5 million years ago. This was facilitated by large crustal faults that divided Laurasia and Gondwana. It is believed that the Sea of Marmara lies in a deep rift that separated Africa from Europe. Over time, it filled with water. This is how the smallest sea on the planet was formed.
The Sea of Marmara is located in a seismically active area. There are frequent earthquakes and, as a result, tsunamis. The fault is the so-called North Atlantic Rift, which runs along the bottom of the sea.
Name
This sea owes its name to the very large Turkish island of Marmara, in the depths of which white marble was mined. It was from it that many temples of the Byzantine period were erected. In antiquity, the sea was designated on maps as "Propontis". This name comes from two Greek words that can be translated as "before" and "sea", that is, "submarine".
Dimensions (edit)
The area of the basin of the Sea of Marmara is only 11 470 sq. km. For comparison: the area of Lake Baikal is 31,722 sq. km.
The Sea of Marmara is elongated in a latitudinal direction. Its length is 280 km, the greatest width is 80 km, the deepest point is 1360 m.
Temperature
The Sea of Marmara is never covered with ice. In the winter months, the surface water temperature is +9 ° C, in the summer - it reaches +29 ° C.
Neighborhood
The length of the coast of the Sea of Marmara is 720 km. It is a very high cliff with sparse ridges. The eastern and southern coasts are generously indented by bays, while the northern ones are dangerous for ships underwater reefs.
The shores of the Sea of Marmara have been densely populated since ancient times. Such popular resort cities of Turkey as Erdek, Izmit, Yalova are located on them. Istanbul is located on the northeastern coast.
There are many islands in the Sea of Marmara, the largest are Marmara and Princesovy. The latter are an archipelago of 9 islands. Initially, there were 10 of them, but one went under water during the next earthquake.
