Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the biggest enclosed body of water on Earth


Facts and figures

Caspian Sea, Russian Kaspiyskoye More, Persian Darya-ye Khezer, world’s largest inland body of water. The Caspian has characteristics common to both seas and lakes. It is often listed as the world's largest lake, although it is not freshwater, the 1.2% salinity classes it with brackish water bodies. It lies to the east of the Caucasus Mountains and to the west of the vast steppe of Central Asia. The elongated sea sprawls for nearly 750 miles (1,200 km) from north to south, although its average width is only 200 miles (320 km). It covers an area of about 149,200 square miles (386,400 square km)—larger than the area of Japan. The sea is bordered in the northeast by Kazakhstan, in the southeast by Turkmenistan, in the south by Iran, in the southwest by Azerbaijan, and in the northwest by Russia.

History of Caspian Sea

A long-standing theory behind the name “Caspian” is that it refers to the Caspi people in the 6th century BC, who were native inhabitants of the region. They lived in the South West and were of Irani or Persian descent. It was also known as the Hyrcanian Ocean and the Khazar Sea in ancient times. In Persia and modern Iran, it is known as the Mazandaran Sea.The Caspian Sea is a remnant of the ancient Paratethys Sea, part of the Tethys Ocean that existed 50 million to 60 million years ago. At that time, the Tethys Ocean was connected to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Over millennia, continental platforms shifted, and the Tethys Ocean lost its connections to other oceans. Much of it evaporated during hot and dry periods, and eventually the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea and the Aral Sea formed. The Caspian Sea is estimated to be about 30 million years old. The salt water from the Tethys Sea remained and accounts for the Caspian Sea's salinity.

Unique species and invaluable property

The biodiversity of the Caspian aquatic environment derived from the long history of the existence of the sea and its isolation, allowing ample time for speciation.As an inland lake, the Caspian Sea is home to numerous indigenous marine flora and fauna species. Most of these are protected species to prevent ecological damage. Through archaeological surveys, researchers have identified possible evidence of dolphins, porpoises, and whales in the Sea around 50,000 – 100,000 years ago. ome species unique to the Sea have been prefixed with the term “Caspian” to indicate their origin. This includes the Caspian tern, Caspian gull, Caspian turtle, Caspian seal, Caspian white fish and Caspian salmon. Also, Caviar is an expensive delicacy enjoyed worldwide, and the Caspian Sea is a major site of roe farming. The Caspian Sea region is a major economic asset thanks to wide biodiversity of tethys ocean and plate tectonic and direct pressure on dead body of organisms and sedimentation.

Threatening

The Caspian Sea faces many ecological threats that have ramifications on human residents of the area, flora and fauna, the economy and the overall ecosystem. In recent years, climate change has played a major role. More extreme weather patterns have increased rainfall in Russia, which brings more water into the Volga River and Caspian Sea. But scientists have also seen evidence that overall warmer temperatures could cause the Caspian Sea to dry up. Scientists estimate that human-caused factors, including oil spills, which limit evaporation by covering the water with a thin film, account for 3 to 5 percent of water level variation, according to Natural History Magazine.



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