The shallow Sea of Azov is clearly distinguished from the deeper Black Sea.

The view of Sea of Azov near Eyskaya Kosa Island.

The Sea of Azov (Russian: Азо́вское мо́ре - Azovskoye more; Ukrainian: Азо́вське мо́ре - Azovs'ke more, Crimean Tatar: Azaq deñizi) is the world's shallowest sea, linked by the Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea to the south. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. The Crimean Tatar language (Qırımtatar tili Qırımtatarca also known as Crimean (Qırım tili Qırımca and Crimean Turkish (Qırım Türkçesi is the language Cimmerian Bosporus redirects here For the ancient state see Bosporan Kingdom; for its rulers see Kings of Cimmerian Bosporus. The Black Sea is an inland Sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolian peninsula ( Turkey It is bounded on the north by Ukraine, on the east by Russia and on the west by the Crimean peninsula. Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Crimea (kraɪˈmiːə or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Крим Автономна Республіка Крим Avtonomna Respublika Krym; Крым A peninsula is a piece of land that is nearly surrounded by Water but connected to Mainland via an Isthmus.

The current name is popularly said to come from a certain Polovtsian prince named Azum or Asuf, who was killed defending a town in this region in 1067. Cumans (Кумани Byzantine: Kuman or Cuman, Kunok Turkic: Kumanlar) were a nomadic Turkic people who inhabited a Most scholars derive the name from the city of Azov, or Azak, meaning "low" in Turkish, a reference to its location. Azov (Азо́в a'zof is a town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River just sixteen kilometers from the Sea of Azov Azov (Азо́в a'zof is a town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River just sixteen kilometers from the Sea of Azov

Geology and bathymetry

The sea is 340 km (211 mi) long and 135 km (84 mi) wide and has an area of 37,555 km² (14,500 sq mi). The main rivers flowing into it are the Don and Kuban; they ensure that the waters of the sea have comparatively low salinity and are almost fresh in places, and also bring in huge volumes of silt. The Don (Дон is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 Kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast Kuban River (Куба́нь ku'banʲ Adyghe: Псыж Psyzh) is a River in Russia, in the North Caucasus region To the west also lie the 110 km (68 mi) long Arabat Spit and the highly saline marshy inlets of the Sivash. The Arabat Spit (Арабатська стрілка Арабатская стрелка Arabat beli is a spit (narrow strip of land in the Sea of Azov, which Syvash or Sivash also known as the Rotten Sea (Сиваш Гниле Море Сиваш Гнилое Море Sıvaş Çürük Deñiz is a large system of

The Sea of Azov is the shallowest sea in the world with an average depth of 13 m (43 ft) and maximum depth of 15. 3 m (50. 2 ft); where silt has built up, such as the Gulf of Taganrog, the average depth is less than 1 m (3. Taganrog Bay or Taganrog Gulf (Таганрогский залив is the northeastern arm of the Sea of Azov. 3 ft). The prevailing current in the sea is a counter-clockwise swirl. A clockwise motion is one that proceeds 'like the Clock 's hands' from the top to the right then down and then to the left and back to the top Salinity varies from 1 to 15 parts per thousand (compared to 30 to 40 for the oceans) across the sea and with season. ^[1]

The shallowness and low salinity of the sea make it vulnerable to freezing during winter. Formation of sea ice can occur temporarily at any time from late December to mid-March. Under the present climate, the sea no longer freezes over, although during the 18th and 19th centuries and as far as the late 1970s, it was normally frozen over every year by early February. ^[2]

Hydrology and hydrochemistry

Fauna

Historically, the sea has had a rich variety of marine life, with over 80 fish and 300 invertebrate species identified. But diversity and numbers have been reduced by over-fishing and increasing levels of pollution. Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability disorder harm or discomfort to the physical systems or living organisms they are in ^[3]

History

The Black Sea deluge theory dates the genesis of the Sea of Azov to 5600 BC, and there are traces of Neolithic settlement in the area now covered by it. The Black Sea deluge is a hypothesized Prehistoric Flood that occurred when the Black Sea filled rapidly During the 6th millennium BC, Agriculture spreads from the Balkans to Italy and Eastern Europe and from Mesopotamia to Egypt. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos In antiquity, it was known as the Maeotian Lake or Maeotian Sea (Greek ἡ Μαιῶτις λίμνη and Latin Palus Maeotis), after the tribe of Maeotae which inhabited the Maeotian marshes to the east from the sea. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Maeotae or Mæotæ or Maeotici ( Greek:) were an ancient people dwelling along the Palus Maeotis (to which they lent their name in antiquity In the geography of Antiquity the Maeotian marshes ( Palus Maeotis) lay where the Don River emptied into the Maeotian Lake (the Sea of Azov

Deluge theory

Main article: Black Sea deluge theory

In 1997, William Ryan and Walter Pitman from Columbia University published a theory that a massive flood through the Bosporus occurred in ancient times. The Black Sea deluge is a hypothesized Prehistoric Flood that occurred when the Black Sea filled rapidly Columbia University is a private University in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. The Bosporus or Bosphorus, also known as the Istanbul Strait, (İstanbul Boğazı (Βόσπορος is a Strait that forms the boundary between the They claim that the Black and Caspian Seas were vast freshwater lakes, but then about 5600 BC, the Mediterranean spilled over a rocky sill at the Bosporus, creating the current communication between the Black and Mediterranean Seas. The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged Sea. During the 6th millennium BC, Agriculture spreads from the Balkans to Italy and Eastern Europe and from Mesopotamia to Egypt. Subsequent work has been done both to support and to discredit this theory, and archaeologists still debate it. This has led some to associate this catastrophe with prehistoric flood myths. The story of a Great Flood (also known as the Deluge) sent by a Deity or deities to destroy Civilization as an act of Divine retribution is a

Crimean War 1854-56

A naval campaign between the Allied navies of Britain and France against Russia took place in the Sea of Azov between May and November 1855. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927 This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The British awarded a bar, 'Azoff', to the British Crimean War medal to commemorate the campaign. Azoff was a naval campaign in the Sea of Azov during the Crimean War of 1854-56 between the Royal Navy and the French Navy against Russia The Crimea Medal was a campaign Medal approved in 1854 for issue to officers and men of British units (land and naval which fought in the Crimean War of 1854-56

References

Azov sea coast near Kerch.

Azov sea of Crimea. Kerch peninsula.

External links

• Pictures of Azov sea coast all along the Crimean peninsula - pics from private mountain guide Sergey Sorokin