The Sea of Marmara is considered the smallest sea on Earth, its area is only 11,472 sq.km. It is on border of Europe and Asia and washes coast of Turkey. To the Aegean Sea it is connected by the Dardanelles Strait, and with Black — the Bosphorus strait.
Instruction
1. The Sea of Marmara was formed as a result of a break of earth crust which divided Europe, Asia and Africa. It occurred about 2.5 million years ago. Now the territory of the Sea of Marmara is in seismically active region where sometimes there are earthquakes.
2. Coast of this small sea steep and dismembered, along them there are several ridges. The bottom is formed by three hollows, and more than a half of the area is made by a coastal strip where depth fluctuates from 90 to 100 m. The salinity of the Sea of Marmara is uneven, on the indicators it approaches the Mediterranean Sea at a depth, but at a surface reminds Black more.
3. The Sea of Marmara is in the continental and Mediterranean region of a subtropical climatic zone. During a warm season continental tropical air dominates here. The warmest months — July and August, average monthly temperature makes 25-28 °C, in open areas of the sea it does not fall below 12-15 °C.
4. In the summer in this region there is a hot and clear weather with rather light breeze. In the fall the speed of wind increases, cyclones come, the humidity increases. The fauna of the Sea of Marmara is close on the specific structure to Mediterranean, food fishes — a jack mackerel, a mackerel, an anchovy and others prevail.
5. As the Sea of Marmara is small by the sizes and is rather removed from the ocean, inflows are almost not expressed, and change of level does not exceed several centimeters. Also the fluctuations connected with atmospheric processes are small, annual changes of level are almost not felt in the high sea and coastal areas.
6. The small sizes of the Sea of Marmara and light breezes over it cause disorders of small force, storm it happens occasionally. The strongest disorders arise in the winter, as a rule, they captured a southwest part. Wave height reaches 1-1.5 m, during short-term storm — several meters. In the summer light breezes, at their strengthening the waves increase to 1 m that occurs most often in eastern regions.
7. Assume that the sea received the name because of the island of Marmara, on it extracted white marble. The Sea of Marmara left a special mark in the Greek culture, its waters were plowed by legendary Argonauts, it became the arena of Scythian war.
8. The region of the Sea of Marmara is one of the most densely populated in Turkey, the industry, trade and tourism is developed here. Stable interest of tourists is attracted by its saturation cultural objects. However such attention is not always useful, unfortunately, the sea is rather polluted.