Is the Caspian Sea a large salt lake. Seas of Russia

, Terek, Kura

42° N. w. 51° east d. HGIO

Geographical position

The Caspian Sea is located at the junction of Europe and Asia. The length of the sea from north to south is approximately 1200 kilometers (36°34"-47°13" N), from west to east - from 195 to 435 kilometers, on average 310-320 kilometers (46°-56° in .d.).

According to physical and geographical conditions, the Caspian Sea is conventionally divided into three parts - the Northern Caspian (25% of the sea area), the Middle Caspian (36%) and the Southern Caspian (39%). The conditional border between the Northern and Middle Caspian runs along the line Chechen Island - Cape Tyub-Karagan, between the Middle and Southern Caspian - along the line Chilov Island - Cape Gan-Gulu.

Coast

The territory adjacent to the Caspian Sea is called the Caspian region.

Peninsulas

Absheron Peninsula, located on the western coast of the Caspian Sea on the territory of Azerbaijan, at the northeastern end of the Greater Caucasus, on its territory the cities of Baku and Sumgait are located
Mangyshlak, located on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, on the territory of Kazakhstan, on its territory is the city of Aktau

Islands

There are about 50 large and medium-sized islands in the Caspian Sea with a total area of approximately 350 square kilometers.

Bays

Dead Kultuk (formerly Komsomolets, formerly Tsesarevich Bay)
Kenderli
Turkmenbashi (bay) (formerly Krasnovodsk)
Turkmen (bay)
Gizilagach (formerly Kirov Bay)
Astrakhan (bay)
Gizlar
Hyrcanus (formerly Astarabad)
Anzali (formerly Pahlavi)

Kara-Bogaz-Gol

On the eastern coast is the salt lake Kara-Bogaz-Gol, which until 1980 was a bay-lagoon of the Caspian Sea, connected to it by a narrow strait. In 1980, a dam was built separating Kara-Bogaz-Gol from the Caspian Sea, and in 1984 a culvert was built, after which the level of Kara-Bogaz-Gol dropped by several meters. In 1992, the strait was restored, through which water flows from the Caspian Sea to Kara-Bogaz-Gol and evaporates there. Every year, 8-10 cubic kilometers of water (according to other sources - 25 cubic kilometers) and about 15 million tons of salt flow into Kara-Bogaz-Gol from the Caspian Sea.

Rivers flowing into the Caspian Sea

130 rivers flow into the Caspian Sea, of which 9 rivers have a delta-shaped mouth. Large rivers flowing into the Caspian Sea are Volga, Terek, Sulak, Samur (Russia), Ural, Emba (Kazakhstan), Kura (Azerbaijan), Atrek (Turkmenistan), Sefidrud (Iran). The largest river flowing into the Caspian Sea is the Volga, its average annual flow is 215-224 cubic kilometers. The Volga, Ural, Terek, Sulak and Emba provide up to 88-90% of the annual flow into the Caspian Sea.

Basin of the Caspian Sea

Coastal states

According to the Intergovernmental Economic Conference of the Caspian States:

The Caspian Sea washes the shores of five coastal states:

Cities on the Caspian Sea coast

On the Russian coast are the cities of Lagan, Makhachkala, Kaspiysk, Izberbash, Dagestanskie Ogni and the southernmost city of Russia, Derbent. Astrakhan is also considered a port city of the Caspian Sea, which, however, is not located on the shores of the Caspian Sea, but in the Volga delta, 60 kilometers from the northern coast of the Caspian Sea.

Physiography

Area, depth, volume of water

The area and volume of water in the Caspian Sea varies significantly depending on fluctuations in water levels. At a water level of −26.75 m, the area is approximately 371,000 square kilometers, the volume of water is 78,648 cubic kilometers, which is approximately 44% of the world's lake water reserves. The maximum depth of the Caspian Sea is in the South Caspian depression, 1025 meters from its surface level. In terms of maximum depth, the Caspian Sea is second only to Baikal (1620 m) and Tanganyika (1435 m). The average depth of the Caspian Sea, calculated from the bathygraphic curve, is 208 meters. At the same time, the northern part of the Caspian Sea is shallow, its maximum depth does not exceed 25 meters, and the average depth is 4 meters.

Water level fluctuations

Vegetable world

The flora of the Caspian Sea and its coast is represented by 728 species. The predominant plants in the Caspian Sea are algae - blue-green, diatoms, red, brown, characeae and others, and flowering plants - zoster and ruppia. In origin, the flora is predominantly of Neogene age, however, some plants were brought into the Caspian Sea by humans deliberately, or on the bottoms of ships.

History of the Caspian Sea

Origin of the Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is of oceanic origin - its bed is composed of oceanic-type crust. 13 million years ago, the formed Alps separated the Sarmatian Sea from the Mediterranean. 3.4 - 1.8 million l. n. (Pliocene) there was the Akchagyl Sea, the sediments of which were studied by N. I. Andrusov. It was originally formed on the site of the dried-up Pontic Sea, from which Lake Balakhanskoe (in the southern Caspian Sea) remained. The Akchagyl Sea evolves into the Absheron Sea, which covers the Caspian Sea and floods the territories of Turkmenistan and the Lower Volga region. After atelier regression (- 100 m) approx. 17 thousand l. n. The early Khvalynian transgression began - up to + 50 m (the Manych-Kerch Strait was functioning), which was replaced by the Eltonian regression. OK. 13.4-13.1 thousand l. n. The Middle Khvalynian transgression began (0 m).

Anthropological and cultural history of the Caspian Sea

Shipping

Shipping is developed in the Caspian Sea. There are ferry crossings on the Caspian Sea, in particular, Baku - Turkmenbashi, Baku - Aktau, Makhachkala - Aktau. The Caspian Sea has a shipping connection with the Sea of Azov through the Volga, Don and Volga-Don Canal rivers.

Fishing and seafood production

Fishing (sturgeon, bream, carp, pike perch, sprat), caviar production, as well as seal fishing. More than 90 percent of the world's sturgeon catch occurs in the Caspian Sea. In addition to industrial mining, illegal mining of sturgeon and their caviar flourishes in the Caspian Sea.

Recreational resources

The natural environment of the Caspian coast with sandy beaches, mineral waters and healing mud in the coastal zone creates good conditions for recreation and treatment. At the same time, in terms of the degree of development of resorts and the tourism industry, the Caspian coast is noticeably inferior to the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. At the same time, in recent years, the tourism industry has been actively developing on the coasts of Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Russian Dagestan. In Azerbaijan, the resort area in the Baku region is actively developing. At the moment, a world-class resort has been created in Amburan, another modern tourist complex is being built in the area of the village of Nardaran, and holidays in the sanatoriums of the villages of Bilgah and Zagulba are very popular. A resort area is also being developed in Nabran, in northern Azerbaijan. However, high prices, a generally low level of service and a lack of advertising lead to the fact that there are almost no foreign tourists at the Caspian resorts. The development of the tourism industry in Turkmenistan is hampered by a long-term policy of isolation, in Iran - Sharia laws, due to which mass holidays of foreign tourists on the Caspian coast of Iran are impossible.

Ecological problems

Environmental problems of the Caspian Sea are associated with water pollution as a result of oil production and transportation on the continental shelf, the flow of pollutants from the Volga and other rivers flowing into the Caspian Sea, the life activity of coastal cities, as well as the flooding of individual objects due to rising levels of the Caspian Sea. Predatory production of sturgeon and their caviar, rampant poaching lead to a decrease in the number of sturgeon and to forced restrictions on their production and export.

Legal status of the Caspian Sea

After the collapse of the USSR, the division of the Caspian Sea has long been and still remains the subject of unresolved disagreements related to the division of Caspian shelf resources - oil and gas, as well as biological resources. For a long time, negotiations were ongoing between the Caspian states on the status of the Caspian Sea - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan insisted on dividing the Caspian along the median line,

Today in our country you sometimes hear from people that the Caspian Sea is a sea. You hear this statement from some students, schoolchildren, pensioners, people with higher education and other categories of Russians.
The question arises: are the people who claim that the Caspian Sea is a sea right? The answer is no, since the Caspian Sea is a lake, not a sea.
I note that the Caspian Sea is the largest lake in the world by area, which washes the shores of five Eurasian states:
1. Azerbaijan.
2. Iran.
3. Kazakhstan.
4. Russia.
5. Turkmenistan.
The Caspian Sea is located inside Eurasia, but washes the shores of two parts of the world: Europe and Asia. There are few lakes in the world washing the shores of two parts of the world. The Caspian Sea is one of them.
I note that a lake is a body of water that does not have a direct connection with the World Ocean. Since the Caspian Sea is a lake, therefore, it does not have a direct connection with the World Ocean.
Since the lake does not have a direct connection with the World Ocean, therefore, it is not part of the World Ocean. From the above it follows that the Caspian Sea, which is a lake and not a sea, is not part of the World Ocean.
The question arises - what is the difference between the concepts of “sea” and “lake”? The sea is a part of the World Ocean with which the lake does not have a direct connection.
The world's oceans consist of oceans, seas, bays, and straits. Remember, Dear Reader, there is no World Ocean in the world consisting of lakes, reservoirs, and rivers.
I will also note that the Dead Sea, located in Southwest Asia, is also a lake for the same reason as the Caspian Sea. That is, this body of water also does not have a direct connection with the World Ocean.
The Aral Sea was also not a sea, since it was a former endorheic salt lake on the border of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which split into the following lakes: the Small Aral Sea and the Great Aral Sea.
There are people who call Baikal the sea. But this is also a lake, and also the deepest in the world.
There are even reservoirs that local residents and other categories of people call seas. For example, some people call the Krasnoyarsk Reservoir the Krasnoyarsk Sea. But this is not a sea, but a reservoir located in the Asian part of Russia.
In some sources you can find the concept of “sea-lake”. There are even experts who suggest that some lakes should not be considered as such, but rather call them lake-sea. I note that this proposal does not enjoy the support of the majority of hydrologists, geographers and other specialists.
Another part of experts proposes to consider the Caspian Sea an inland sea. If this happens, then, according to a certain part of experts, the very concept of “sea” will need to be changed.
At the end of the work, I will also note that in legal terms, the Caspian Sea is also a lake, since the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and other international legal acts cannot be applied to the Caspian Sea, which is remote from the World Ocean.
Remember, Dear Reader, the Caspian Sea is a lake, not a sea.

Expert answer

On 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 to 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 Sea must have access to the ocean; this is one of the most important conditions for 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 lake waters 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, over the past 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.

, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan

Geographical position

Caspian Sea - view from space.

The Caspian Sea is located at the junction of two parts of the Eurasian continent - Europe and Asia. The length of the Caspian Sea from north to south is approximately 1200 kilometers (36°34"-47°13" N), from west to east - from 195 to 435 kilometers, on average 310-320 kilometers (46°-56° c. d.).

The Caspian Sea is conventionally divided according to physical and geographical conditions into 3 parts - Northern Caspian, Middle Caspian and Southern Caspian. The conditional border between the Northern and Middle Caspian runs along the line of the island. Chechen - Cape Tyub-Karagansky, between the Middle and Southern Caspian Sea - along the line of the island. Residential - Cape Gan-Gulu. The area of the Northern, Middle and Southern Caspian Sea is 25, 36, 39 percent, respectively.

Coast of the Caspian Sea

Coast of the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan

The territory adjacent to the Caspian Sea is called the Caspian region.

Peninsulas of the Caspian Sea

Ashur-Ada
Garasu
Zyanbil
Khara-Zira
Sengi-Mugan
Chygyl

Bays of the Caspian Sea

Russia (Dagestan, Kalmykia and Astrakhan region) - in the west and northwest, the length of the coastline is about 1930 kilometers
Kazakhstan - in the north, northeast and east, the length of the coastline is about 2320 kilometers
Turkmenistan - in the southeast, the length of the coastline is about 650 kilometers
Iran - in the south, the length of the coastline is about 1000 kilometers
Azerbaijan - in the southwest, the length of the coastline is about 800 kilometers

Cities on the Caspian Sea coast

On the Russian coast are the cities of Lagan, Makhachkala, Kaspiysk, Izberbash and the southernmost city of Russia, Derbent. Astrakhan is also considered a port city of the Caspian Sea, which, however, is not located on the shores of the Caspian Sea, but in the Volga delta, 60 kilometers from the northern coast of the Caspian Sea.

Physiography

Area, depth, volume of water

Water level fluctuations

Vegetable world

The flora of the Caspian Sea and its coast is represented by 728 species. The predominant plants in the Caspian Sea are algae - blue-green, diatoms, red, brown, characeae and others, and 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.

History of the Caspian Sea

Origin of the Caspian Sea

Anthropological and cultural history of the Caspian Sea

Finds in the Khuto Cave off the southern coast of the Caspian Sea indicate that man lived in these areas approximately 75 thousand years ago. The first mentions of the Caspian Sea and the tribes living on its coast are found in Herodotus. Around the V-II centuries. BC e. Saka tribes lived on the Caspian coast. Later, during the period of settlement of the Turks, in the period of the 4th-5th centuries. n. e. Talysh tribes (Talysh) lived here. According to ancient Armenian and Iranian manuscripts, Russians sailed the Caspian Sea from the 9th-10th centuries.

Research of the Caspian Sea

Research of the Caspian Sea was started by Peter the Great, when, on his order, an expedition was organized in 1714-1715 under the leadership of A. Bekovich-Cherkassky. In the 1720s, hydrographic research was continued by the expedition of Karl von Werden and F. I. Soimonov, and later by I. V. Tokmachev, M. I. Voinovich and other researchers. At the beginning of the 19th century, instrumental surveys of the shores were carried out by I. F. Kolodkin, in the mid-19th century. - instrumental geographical survey under the direction of N. A. Ivashintsev. Since 1866, for more than 50 years, expeditionary research on the hydrology and hydrobiology of the Caspian Sea was carried out under the leadership of N. M. Knipovich. In 1897, the Astrakhan Research Station was founded. In the first decades of Soviet power, geological research by I.M. Gubkin and other Soviet geologists was actively carried out in the Caspian Sea, mainly aimed at searching for oil, as well as research into the study of water balance and level fluctuations in the Caspian Sea.

Economy of the Caspian Sea

Mining of oil and gas

Many oil and gas fields are being developed in the Caspian Sea. Proven oil resources in the Caspian Sea are 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 near Baku. In the second half of the 19th century, oil production began on an industrial scale on the Absheron Peninsula, and then in other territories.

Shipping

Fishing and seafood production

Fishing (sturgeon, bream, carp, pike perch, sprat), caviar production, as well as seal fishing. More than 90 percent of the world's sturgeon catch occurs in the Caspian Sea. In addition to industrial mining, illegal fishing of sturgeon and their caviar flourishes in the Caspian Sea.

Recreational resources

Ecological problems

International status of the Caspian Sea

Legal status of the Caspian Sea

In relation to the Caspian Sea, the key is the physical-geographical circumstance that it is a closed inland body of water that does not have a natural connection with the World Ocean. Accordingly, the norms and concepts of international maritime law, in particular, the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982, should not be automatically applied to the Caspian Sea. Based on this, in relation to the Caspian Sea it would be unlawful to apply such concepts as “territorial sea”, “exclusive economic zone", "continental shelf", etc.

The current legal regime of the Caspian Sea was established by the Soviet-Iranian treaties of 1921 and 1940. These treaties provide for freedom of navigation throughout the sea, freedom of fishing with the exception of ten-mile national fishing zones and a ban on vessels flying the flag of non-Caspian states sailing in its waters.

Negotiations on the legal status of the Caspian Sea are currently ongoing.

Delineation of sections of the Caspian seabed for subsoil use

The Russian Federation concluded an agreement with Kazakhstan on delimiting the bottom of the northern part of the Caspian Sea in order to exercise sovereign rights to subsoil use (dated July 6, 1998 and the Protocol thereto dated May 13, 2002), an agreement with Azerbaijan on delimiting adjacent areas of the bottom of the northern part of the Caspian Sea (dated September 23, 2002), as well as the trilateral Russian-Azerbaijani-Kazakh agreement on the junction point of the demarcation lines of adjacent sections of the bottom of the Caspian Sea (dated May 14, 2003), which established the geographical coordinates of the dividing lines limiting the sections of the bottom within which the parties exercise their sovereign rights in the field of exploration and production of mineral resources.

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 seas. 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 is 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 the 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. It is here that the maximum depth of the Caspian Sea is noted.

Coastline Features

Its length is seven thousand kilometers. The northern part of the coastline is lowland, there are mountains on the south and west, and hills on 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 route length 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 comes from Terek, Sulak and Samur, and the remaining four come from small rivers and streams of Iran.

Caspian resources

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 the black caviar production.

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

Is the Caspian Sea a large salt lake. Seas of Russia - Caspian Sea

Geographical position

Coast

Peninsulas

Islands

Bays

Kara-Bogaz-Gol

Rivers flowing into the Caspian Sea

Basin of the Caspian Sea

Coastal states

Cities on the Caspian Sea coast

Physiography

Area, depth, volume of water

Water level fluctuations

Vegetable world

History of the Caspian Sea

Origin of the Caspian Sea

Anthropological and cultural history of the Caspian Sea

Shipping

Fishing and seafood production

Recreational resources

Ecological problems

Legal status of the Caspian Sea

Why is the Caspian considered neither a lake nor a sea?

What has been achieved since the signing of the Convention?

Geographical position

Coast of the Caspian Sea

Peninsulas of the Caspian Sea

Bays of the Caspian Sea

Cities on the Caspian Sea coast

Physiography

Area, depth, volume of water

Water level fluctuations

Vegetable world

History of the Caspian Sea

Origin of the Caspian Sea

Anthropological and cultural history of the Caspian Sea

Research of the Caspian Sea

Economy of the Caspian Sea

Mining of oil and gas

Shipping

Fishing and seafood production

Recreational resources

Ecological problems

International status of the Caspian Sea

Legal status of the Caspian Sea

Delineation of sections of the Caspian seabed for subsoil use

Story

Depth and relief

Coastline Features

Pond food

Caspian resources