Earth also has a nice nickname - Blue Star. The earth is blue because 71% of the earth's surface is covered by oceans.
Earth - Blue Planet
The ocean is the general name for the most extensive body of water on Earth. The central part of the ocean is called an ocean, while the edge parts are called seas. So in addition to the four oceans, there are many seas on the earth. The total area of the earth's oceans is about 39.6 million square kilometers, accounting for about 11% of the total ocean area. Let’s take a look at the 6 best of the sea. Let’s see together, do you know everything?
The smallest sea - Sea of Marmara
Sea of Marmara
When it comes to the sea, we are accustomed to calling it "the sea". However, the Sea of Marmara located in Turkey is very small and is the smallest sea in the world. It is about 270 kilometers long from east to west, about 70 kilometers wide from north to south, with an area of 11,350 square kilometers, an average depth of about 494 meters, the deepest point is 1,335 meters, and an average salt content of 22‰. The Sea of Marmara is only equivalent to two and a half Qinghai Lake or one Tianjin city.
The Sea of Marmara is connected to the Dardanelles and Aegean Sea , and to the Black Sea via the Bosporus Strait. In addition, it and these two straits are collectively called the Turkish Strait or the Black Sea Strait.
Marmara Island
There are two islands in the Sea of Marmara - the Kyzyl Islands and the Marmara Islands. Among them, Marmara Island in the Marmara Islands is the largest island in the Sea of Marmara, covering an area of 117 square kilometers. The island is rich in marble. In Greek , "Marmara" means marble. Hence the island was named Marmara Island and the Sea of Marmara was also named.
The largest sea - Coral Sea
Coral Sea
The Coral Sea is the largest sea in the world. It is located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and New Guinea, west of New Caledonia and the New Hebrides, and south of the Solomon Islands . The Coral Sea is about 2,250 kilometers long from north to south and 2,414 kilometers wide from east to west, with a total area of 4.79 million square kilometers. The Coral Sea is almost half the size of our country.
There are a large number of coral reefs in the Coral Sea, among which the Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef group in the world, with a length of 2011 kilometers, a maximum width of 161 kilometers, and a total area of 207,000 square kilometers.
In addition, the average water depth of the Coral Sea is 2,394 meters, and the deepest point is 9,174 meters. Therefore, it is not only the largest sea in the world, but also the deepest sea in the world.
The shallowest sea - Azov Sea
Azov Sea
The deepest point of the Coral Sea is 9174 meters, which can be said to be bottomless! The Sea of Azov, with a maximum water depth of only 14 meters and an average water depth of only 7 meters, is the shallowest sea in the world. The Sea of Azov is located in Eastern Europe. It is bounded by Crimea to the west, Ukraine to the north, Russia to the east, and connected to the Black Sea through the Kerch Strait to the south. The Sea of Azov is about 340 kilometers long, 135 kilometers wide, and covers an area of about 37,600 square kilometers.
There is also a bay called Taganrog Bay in the northeast of the Sea of Azov. It is about 140 kilometers long, 31 kilometers wide and covers an area of 5,600 square kilometers. The average depth here is only about 5 meters.
The location of the Sea of Azov
If a Russian ship sails from the Sea of Azov to the Atlantic Ocean, it will pass through the Sea of Azov, Kerch Strait, Black Sea, Bosporus Strait, Sea of Marmara, Darfur, etc. Darnell Strait, Aegean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Strait of Gibraltar. The ship will pass through 4 straits and 5 sea areas on its way, covering a journey of more than 4,500 kilometers. Therefore, the Sea of Azov is not only the shallowest ocean in the world, it is also the most closed ocean in the world.
The largest intercontinental sea - Mediterranean
Mediterranean
There are some sea areas in the world that are only connected to the ocean through very narrow straits, and are almost entirely surrounded by land. These seas are called intercontinental seas or natural inland seas. The largest intercontinental sea in the world is the Mediterranean Sea. It is a sea area surrounded by the continents of Europe, Africa and Asia.
The Mediterranean Sea is about 4,000 kilometers long from east to west, and about 1,800 kilometers at its widest point from north to south. It covers an area of about 2.512 million square kilometers, equivalent to the area of two Tibet Autonomous Regions. The average depth is 1,450 meters and the maximum depth is 5,121 meters. The Mediterranean Sea is connected to the Atlantic Ocean only to the west by the Strait of Gibraltar. The Strait of Gibraltar is approximately 90 kilometers long, 43 kilometers at its widest point, and only 14 kilometers at its narrowest point.
Seas of the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is divided into many subsidiary sea areas. The Sea of Marmara, the smallest sea mentioned earlier, is actually an affiliated sea of the Mediterranean Sea. There are also many islands in the Mediterranean. The five major islands in the Mediterranean, arranged from largest to smallest, are Sicily (25,700 square kilometers), Sardinia (24,000 square kilometers), and Cyprus (9,251 square kilometers). ), Kogasi Island (8680 square kilometers), Crete (8236 square kilometers).
Which is the smallest continental sea in the world? It is also the smallest sea - the Sea of Marmara.
The saltiest sea - the Red Sea
The Red Sea
As we all know, sea water is salty. Although the world's oceans are connected to each other, the salinity of seawater in different sea areas is different. The average salinity of the world's oceans is 35‰. In other words, every kilogram of seawater contains an average of 35 grams of salt substances.
Which sea has the saltiest sea water in the world? The Red Sea is the saltiest sea in the world. The Red Sea is located between northeastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The Red Sea covers an area of 438,000 square kilometers, with an average depth of 558 meters and a maximum depth of 2,514 meters. The salinity of the Red Sea is as high as 41‰. This is 6 points higher than the world's average seawater salinity.
Red Sea
Why is the Red Sea the saltiest sea? The reason is this. The Red Sea is located within the control range of the subtropical high pressure zone , and is sandwiched between and the desert areas of the Arabian Peninsula. In this way, the climate in the Red Sea region is dry and hot all year round with little rain. The annual precipitation is only about 30 mm, but the annual evaporation is as high as 2,000 mm.
In addition, the Red Sea, like the Mediterranean Sea, is also a relatively closed intercontinental sea. It only connects to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean in the south through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Therefore, the water in the Red Sea is not easy to merge with the water in the outside sea.
Red Sea Coast
Another point is that there are almost no rivers around the Red Sea that flow into it. All these factors make the Red Sea the saltiest sea in the world. Not only that, the Red Sea is also the hottest sea in the world. The surface water temperature in summer reaches 27~32℃, and the annual average temperature is 22℃. The annual average water temperature on the surface of the Earth's oceans is 17°C.
The lightest sea - Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea in Northern Europe is the sea with the lowest salinity in the world. The Baltic Sea is located between Scandinavia and the European continent. It is also a typical intercontinental sea. The Baltic Sea is more than 1,600 kilometers long, with an average width of 190 kilometers and an area of 420,000 square kilometers.
We say that the Baltic Sea is the freshest sea in the world because its seawater salinity is only 7‰~8‰, which is far lower than the average salinity value of the world's oceans. The salinity is even lower than normal saline. What is even more exaggerated is that the salinity of seawater in some waters is only 2‰.
Baltic Sea
So why is the Baltic Sea the lightest sea in the world? There are several main reasons: First, the Baltic Sea only began to form at the end of the last ice age, and the water here was originally fresh water. Secondly, the Baltic Sea is also a relatively closed intercontinental sea. High-salinity seawater from the Atlantic Ocean cannot easily enter the Baltic Sea. The third point is that the Baltic Sea is located in a high latitude area, where the temperature is low and evaporation is weak. Fourth point, the Baltic Sea is affected by the westerly belt , with abundant precipitation and humid climate. Finally, the Baltic Sea is surrounded by a large amount of fresh water from rivers that continuously dilutes the salinity of the sea water.
For all these reasons, the Baltic Sea has become the lightest sea in the world.
In addition to the 6 oceans above, what other interesting oceans do you know? Let’s chat together!
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