Location: between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa
Washes the shores of countries: Egypt, Sudan, Djibouti, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Israel, Jordan
Square: 438,000 km²
Maximum depth: 2211 m
Coordinates: 20 ° 44 "41.1" N 37 ° 55 "27.9" E
The Red Sea, located in a tectonic depression and being the inland sea of the third largest Indian Ocean on our planet, is considered the youngest and most interesting in terms of the diversity of flora and fauna.
It is located between the African continent and the Arabian Peninsula. The Red Sea connects with the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean through the well-known Suez Canal.
Speaking about the Red Sea, attention should be paid to the fact that it is considered the saltiest of all the seas that are part of the World Ocean, washing all the continents of our planet.
“Why is this sea the saltiest of all seas?” - a person who does not know too well the geography and location of the Red Sea may ask a question. The thing is that the Red Sea is the only sea in the whole world, into which not a single freshwater river flows. Naturally, it is significantly inferior in salt content to the Dead Sea, but it should be remembered that almost no living organism is able to survive in the Dead Sea, and the Red Sea amazes even experienced divers with an abundance of life forms. And this despite the fact that the salinity of the magnificent Red Sea water is up to 60 grams of salt per liter of water taken for laboratory analysis.
As a comparison, it is worth mentioning the salinity of the water, which is popular among domestic tourists in the Black Sea - it is only 18 grams of salt per liter of water.
In addition, describing the Red Sea, which is rightfully considered one of the seven wonders of the underwater world, it is impossible not to mention that this is also the warmest sea on the planet. It is warmed not only by the rays of the sun, but also by the earth's mantle, that is, in the Red Sea, unlike other seas, not cold, but warm layers of water rise from the depths. In winter, the water warms up to 21 - 23 degrees Celsius, and in summer up to +30. Due to the high temperature of the water and its constant evaporation, the Red Sea became the saltiest in the world, naturally, after the Dead Sea.
The origin of the name of the Red Sea
The Red Sea, according to the most modest assumptions of scientists, originated 25 million years ago... Therefore, it is, alas, impossible to find out exactly why the Red Sea was called "Red". There are only several versions of the origin of the name of the Red Sea, although it is worth mentioning right away that none of them can be considered reliable.
According to the first version, the name comes from the ancient language of the Himyarites - a people who lived in South Arabia long before these lands were captured by the Arabs. The conquerors tried for a long time to decipher the writing of the Semites and decided to read the three letters "X", "M" and "P" in their own way - "Ahmar", which in translation means red. This assumption can be considered as a version that does not deserve special attention: it is difficult to imagine that the Arabs decided to add vowels to a foreign language in order to get a word that would be familiar to them, because they were engaged in deciphering the language, and not merging it with their own.
The second version, according to historians, is more plausible, although it is associated with the myths of many peoples who inhabited the territory near the Red Sea. Each of the parts of the world was associated with a certain color. The color red was associated with the south, where the sea was located, hence its name. According to documents that have survived to this day, and were deciphered by scientists, the Red Sea was mentioned as early as the 2nd century BC, and in the 16th century, some researchers called this sea, which is part of the Indian Ocean, the Suez Sea.
As mentioned above, the sea was formed even when India began its movement towards Asian mainland, and this event happened long before the appearance of the first man on Earth, therefore, scientists will probably not be able to find out for certain why the saltiest sea, which is part of the World Ocean, was named "Red".
The longest history of the youngest sea
Over the entire period of its existence, the Red Sea, despite its young age (naturally, according to geological standards), has experienced a number of changes and cataclysms. For 25 million years, which for our planet can be considered only for a short moment, the level of the World Ocean has constantly fluctuated, which, by the way, is happening now. Glaciers melted, new ones formed; the waters of the oceans rose and fell tens or even hundreds of meters. As soon as the level of the World Ocean dropped significantly, the Red Sea turned into a huge salt lake, where the salt content was several times higher than the amount of salt per liter of water in the Dead Sea.
By the way, at the moment the sea connects the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait with the ocean. The deepest point of the strait is 184 meters. One has only to imagine what will happen if a new ice age begins and the level of the World Ocean falls by 190 meters. The Red Sea will cease to communicate with the waters of the Indian Ocean and will once again become dead. However, this does not threaten our contemporaries and descendants. Such a decrease in the level of the World Ocean has been happening for hundreds of thousands of years, so the amazing beauty of the sea that washes the shores of Sudan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and, of course, Egypt will delight everyone who wishes to see all the wealth of the underwater world that can only be found in the Red Sea or on the Barrier Reefs.
Scientists have found that the Red Sea quite often lost its "connection" with the World Ocean, and its coast dried up and was covered with salt. As a result, even now, on the shores of the Red Sea, alas, you will not find lush vegetation, and you will not be able to quench your thirst from a spring that gushes. The underground water tastes salty too. Surprisingly, even the rains in the Red Sea region will not give life-giving moisture to the soil, they, like the sea and the springs near it, are salty.
Forest by the Red Sea
Yes, dear reader, you heard right at all, in the northernmost part of the Red Sea there is a forest consisting of mangroves. This forest is part of the reserve called Nabq. Only mangroves are able to grow in salt water and do not need constant access to the oxygen root system.
This amazing plant is able to remove excess salt through its leaves, and life-giving fresh moisture nourishes the wood. Mangroves usually grow together in such a way that it is rather difficult for a person to get through them, and once in a certain area, you can easily find yourself in a trap, from which it is impossible to get out without outside help. The mangroves of the Red Sea are home to a huge number of animals and birds, and bird watchers and zoologists monitor their lives in the reserve.
Flora and fauna of the Red Sea
If you say that The Red Sea is a real paradise for divers, anglers and spearfishers., this will not be an exaggeration. One has only to put on a mask and take a snorkel, as already at the very coast you can see a fascinating underwater world with many colorful corals, sponges, sea urchins and fish.
Sometimes it seems that each species is competing here with each other in the brightness of color and unusual shapes. The warm and crystal clear waters of the Red Sea allow many species of underwater flora and fauna to exist here, most of which are endemic. Life under water is in full swing here and does not stop even in the middle of the night.
To date alone, scientists who conduct research into the depths of the Red Sea have discovered and described almost 1,500 invertebrates, and almost the same number of fish species. Almost 300 species of coral live in the waters of the Red Sea, the reproduction of which is a fantastic picture.
Huge sea turtles and frolicking dolphins complement the amazing landscape and tell the tourist that he has come to a place where the underwater life reveals itself to a person in all its glory.
It is surprising that, according to ichthyologists, no more than 60% of the underwater inhabitants of the Red Sea have been discovered in our time. The deepest sea in this unique of its kind is over 3 kilometers, which means that most deep-sea fish are not yet known to science. So far, only forty-three species of fish have been discovered that live at great depths. Also, the Red Sea constantly poses more and more mysteries to scientists. It is still unknown why about 30% of the inhabitants of the northern part of the sea cannot live in another part of it.
One gets the impression that an invisible border prevents them from moving from north to south. Although the chemical composition of water and the temperature regime in these areas are almost identical. Maybe the reason lies in the word "almost"? ...
Despite the extraterrestrial beauty of the underwater world, the Red Sea is fraught with dangers... It is strictly forbidden to touch the beautiful corals, sponges or fancy jellyfish in the sea. This is written about in almost every tourist brochure. A prick of a sea urchin or a bite of a poisonous underwater snake or a toothed moray eel can lead to burns, an allergic reaction, large blood loss, and sometimes even death of the victim.
As you dive into the depths of the Red Sea, remember that it is home to 44 shark species. Some of them are quite harmless creatures that live only at great depths and feed on plankton or small fish. However, among them there are also the most dangerous species for humans, for example, the tiger shark, which often attacks humans for no apparent reason. Its mouth is dotted with huge sharp teeth that can easily tear off a limb. Alas, in recent years, attacks of tiger sharks on vacationers have begun to be observed more and more often, which, for the most part, most often ended fatally. There is evidence that a great white shark was seen in the Red Sea, which, even according to scientists, is a killing machine.
It was through the ancient Red Sea that the prophet Moses led his people out of Egyptian slavery. Its waters plied the ships of the kings of Greece, Rome and Egypt. It remembers Cleopatra and Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and King Solomon.
The sea stretches from north to south for two thousand kilometers. Its width at its widest point is about 330 kilometers. The Red Sea is located between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa. In the north, it is divided into two gulfs, Suez and Eilat, named after the Israeli international resort of Eilat. Jordanians call this Gulf of Aqaba, after the city of Aqaba. Eilat and Aqaba are two small cities located on opposite sides of the bay in the northern part of it.
The Gulf of Eilat is very deep. It is located in a geological fault zone. The continuation of this fault in a northern direction is the Arava Valley, the lowest point on the planet - the Dead Sea, the Jordan River, Lake Kinneret.
In the north of the Gulf of Suez is the Suez Canal, which connects the Red and Mediterranean Seas. Sea cargo ships sailing between Asia and Europe save a lot of time and fuel when passing through the Suez Canal. For Egypt, this channel is of great importance and brings considerable income to the treasury. Attempts to build a canal were made by the Egyptian pharaohs and later by Napoleon, but the project was carried out only in the middle of the last century.
Such an important strategic facility has more than once become the reason for the international aggravation of the situation and wars.
Today this sea washes the shores of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel.
Egypt's decision to build another canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean was recently announced. The project involves costs of $ 4 billion, which is comparable to the annual income to the treasury from the existing channel. Due to the turbulent situation in Egypt, tourism profits have plummeted and the desire to connect Europe and Asia with another channel is understandable. After all, 10% of all sea traffic passes through the Suez Canal. About 50 ships pass it a day. The ships cover one hundred and ninety kilometers along the canal in approximately 14 hours.
It is interesting that under the Suez Canal there is an automobile tunnel connecting Africa with the Sinai Peninsula.
Nowadays, most experienced tourists associate the Red Sea with the names of the resort towns of Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada, Eilat.
This is one of the warmest and saltiest seas. It has ideal conditions for coral breeding. The Red Sea has crystal clear water, due to the fact that not a single river flows into it, which means that silt and sand do not get into the sea.
A variety of corals, fish of unusual colors attract tourists and diving enthusiasts from all over the world to the shores of the Red Sea. Corals grow very slowly, on average 1 cm per year. Therefore, the formation of reefs takes more than one century. Dead corals are a skeleton, a base, devoid of polyps. Sea urchins hide among the corals during the day and come out of their shelters at sunset.
Water
Most of the Red Sea is located in the tropical zone. High solar activity and lack of precipitation contribute to intensive evaporation of water. The exchange of water in the sea occurs only in the Bab el - Mandeb Strait. The Suez Canal, which is only 350 meters wide at the surface of the water and 50 meters at the bottom, should not be taken into account. Therefore, the salinity of the sea is twice as high as, for example, in the Black Sea. In the Black Sea - 18%, in the Azov - 11%, in the Mediterranean - 38%, and the salinity of the water in the Red Sea - 41%.
With the exchange of water in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, during the year, more water flows in 1000 cubic kilometers than it leaves the Indian Ocean.
Name
There are several versions of the origin of the name of the sea. Among them, historical and poetic ones prevail, mentioning the exodus of the Jews from Egypt and the peculiarities of the Hebrew language. However, if you look at the seashore at sunset, the color of the mountains and their reflection in the water have an obvious red tint. Most likely, this circumstance determined the name of the sea.
The coral reef of the Red Sea stretches from Eilat and Aqaba along the shores of Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia for a distance of about 2000 kilometers. Egyptian resorts are widely known for their abundance of corals, warm climate and clean water. In the very south of the Sinai Peninsula, there is the famous Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Hurghada is located on the opposite shore at the base of the Suez Bay.
Fish
A quarter of all marine life on planet Earth can be found in the depths of the Red Sea.
Moray eels, warts, tuna, caranx, unicorn fish, triggerfish, white-tip gray shark, hammerhead shark, butterfly fish, snappers, barracudas, turtles, dolphins, parrot fish, lionfish, eels, manta rays inhabit this sea.
Red Sea in Egypt
The most popular activity among divers is "safari" - going out to sea on a small boat or boat for one or several days to famous underwater attractions. And there are many of them.
The most famous and infamous of these is the Blue Hole. A popular and extreme destination for many inexperienced and arrogant divers, it has become the final dive site.
The Blue Hole in Dahab is a vertical sinkhole surrounded by coral, 130 meters deep. At a depth of 50 meters, it communicates with the sea.
Video
However, Blue Hole is far from the only thing that attracts diving enthusiasts in Egypt.
There is a wide choice: Reef Jackson off Tira Island, Reef Yolanda and Reef Shark on Cape Muhammad, Reef Kerles, Reef Elfinston, Reef Dedelus (Abu el-Kizan), Reef Abu Nohas, Reef Woodhouse, Reef Thomas, Reef Gordon, Reef Lagoon, Cape Katie, Cape Um Sid, Cape Nazran, Turtle Bay, Naama Bay, Tower, Near Garden, Middle Garden, Fan Garden, White Knight, Brothers Islands (El - Akawain).
Depending on your preparation, you can choose a dive site, the difficulty of which will match the experience. For example, diving at Jackson Reef is not considered difficult or dangerous. For the more experienced - Woodhouse Reef, Thomas Reef with strong underwater currents.
Of course, the ships “Thistlegorm”, “Dunraven”, dry cargo ship “GhiannisD” and sailing ship “Carnetic” sunk in the Red Sea also do not go unnoticed by fans of diving.
The British naval dry cargo ship Thistlegorm was sunk by German bombers in the fall of 1941. Near it, at a depth of about 30 meters, lies a steam locomotive, carriages, motorcycles ... For the first time, the ship was discovered by Jacques Yves Cousteau.
Legendary diving pioneer Cousteau has been exploring the Red Sea for over a decade. For the first time, the world learned about the indescribable beauty of the Red Sea thanks to the books and underwater photography of Jacques Cousteau. His film In a World of Silence won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
The underwater world is no less bright and fantastic in the Gulf of Eilat, where the depth reaches 1200 meters and the water is always calm.
Eilat
In Eilat, a coral reef comes close to the western shore of the bay.
On the beach of the Princess Hotel, near the Egyptian Taba, you can admire corals and fish from the bridges, as they say, without getting your feet wet. The water is so clear that the bottom can be clearly seen at a depth of several meters. Moray eels, rays, sharks, dolphins, crabs, starfish inhabit the waters of the Red Sea.
Corals in the Red Sea on the western beaches of Eilat begin almost at the very coast. Therefore, you can enter the water only in specially designated places.
A mask and snorkel are enough to swim among the corals and their inhabitants. Often, among the heap of reef corals, you can find a threatening moray eel. It is absolutely safe to be in the water if you do not touch anything. Sharks prefer to live in the more southerly waters of the Red Sea, off the coast of Sudan. Arriving on vacation in Eilat, be sure to visit the Underwater Observatory and see for yourself the riot of colors and the endless variety of shapes and colors of the underwater world of the Red Sea.
Red sea- the inland sea of the Indian Ocean, located between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa in a tectonic depression. One of the warmest and saltiest seas.
Washes the shores of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Jordan.
Resorts: Hurghada, Sharm El Sheikh, Safaga, El Gouna (Egypt), Eilat (Israel)
In the north, the Red Sea is connected by the Suez Canal with the Mediterranean Sea, in the south - by the Bab el-Mandeb Strait with the Arabian Sea.
The peculiarity of the Red Sea is that not a single river flows into it, and rivers usually carry silt and sand with them, significantly reducing the transparency of sea water. Therefore, the water in the Red Sea is crystal clear.
The climate on the Red Sea coast is dry and warm, the air temperature in the coldest period (December-January) during the day is 20-25 degrees, and in the hottest month - August, does not exceed 35-40 degrees. Due to the hot climate off the coast of Egypt, the water temperature even in winter does not drop below +20 degrees, and in summer it reaches +27.
Strong evaporation of warm water turned the Red Sea into one of the saltiest in the world: 38-42 grams of salt per liter.
The length of the Red Sea today is 2350 km, width 350 km (in its widest part), the maximum depth reaches 3000 meters in its central part. The area of the Red Sea is 450 thousand square kilometers.
The Red Sea is very young. Its formation began about 40 million years ago, when a crack appeared in the earth's crust and the East African Rift was formed. The African continental plate separated from the Arabian, and between them a gap formed in the earth's crust, which gradually over the millennia was filled with sea water. Plates move constantly, so the relatively flat shores of the Red Sea diverge in different directions at a rate of 10 mm per year, or 1 m per century.
In the north of the sea there are two bays: Suez and Aqaba, or Eilat. It is along the Aqaba (Eilat) Gulf that the fault passes. Therefore, the depth of this bay reaches great values (up to 1600 meters). The two bays are separated from each other by the Sinai Peninsula, in the south of which is the famous resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
There are few islands in the northern part of the sea, and only south of 17 ° N. they form numerous groups, the largest of which is Dakhlak in the southwestern part of the sea.
You can see where the Red Sea is on the map above. The sea is located between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa in a tectonic depression. Through the Suez Canal in the north, the sea connects with the Mediterranean, in the south, the sea goes into the Indian Ocean.
Of all the seas, the Red Sea is the saltiest, yes, surprisingly, but it is believed that it is saltier than even the Dead Sea. This happens due to the fact that the Dead Sea is closed, and the Red Sea has an inflow of salt water through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait where it connects with the Indian Ocean and at the same time, in hot climates, it evaporates from the surface of about 2000 mm per year with precipitation of only about 100 millimeters ...
The sea into which no river flows
In addition to the hot climate, the Red Sea has another feature - not a single river flows into the sea, and it is the rivers that carry fresh water to the sea. These are the main factors due to which the Red Sea is considered the saltiest sea in the world; in one year, 1000 cubic kilometers of water is introduced into the Red Sea more than it flows out of.
One liter of Red Sea seawater contains about 41 grams of salt. Although in the depths of the sea there are places where there are more than 260 grams of salt per liter. The maximum depth of the sea, according to various estimates, does not exceed three kilometers, officially 2211 meters.
Where is the Red Sea
The Red Sea is an inland sea of the Indian Ocean and is located between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa. This is one of the warmest and saltiest seas in the world. The Red Sea washes the shores of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Israel and Jordan.
In the north, the Red Sea is connected by the Suez Canal with the Mediterranean Sea, in the south - by the Bab el-Mandeb Strait with the Arabian Sea. The peculiarity of the Red Sea is that not a single river flows into it, and rivers usually carry silt and sand with them, significantly reducing the transparency of sea water. Therefore, the water in the Red Sea is perfectly clean and transparent.
The shores of the Red Sea are low, in the north they are adjacent to the deserts, in the southern part, the western coast is adjacent to the mountainous Abyssinia. The many coral reefs scattered throughout the coast, especially the Arabian, and in places stretching a great distance from the coast, make up a distinctive feature of the coast of the Red Sea.
You can also familiarize yourself with the Red Sea map in more detail and find out the location of the main resorts:
In the center of the sea there is a narrow trench - a rift, with depths exceeding 1000-1500 m, and in the north this trough splits into a series of depressions filled with brines, differing in temperature and salinity.
The discovery of hot brine depressions in the Red Sea was a real scientific discovery in the 1960s. To date, more than 20 such depressions have been found in the deepest regions. The huge number of exotic fish of the Red Sea and the beauty of the coral reefs attract diving enthusiasts here.
Tourism in Egypt
Sights and interesting facts about the Red Sea.
Where is the Red Sea?
The Red Sea is a natural water border between the continents of Eurasia and Africa. Considered the inland sea of the Indian Ocean, it separates with its nearly parallel shores the northeastern side of the African continent and the southern shores of the Middle East. The geological origin of the sea is associated with the divergence (drift) of the continents and the resulting series of faults - troughs, which turn into one another. The artificial Suez Canal completes the “official” division of the continents and connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, providing a short shipping route from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean.
Why is the sea called Red?
Historians are finding out where the sea got its name from. Several versions have a right to exist (although there are not many confirmations):
- In spring, the water becomes reddish due to the excessive multiplication of red unicellular algae.
- In ancient times, the cardinal points had "colored" names: "north" was called "black", "" south "-" "red", "east" - "white". The "Red" Sea was called so, perhaps because it was to the south of the "Middle Sea".
- The Arabs could misread the ancient cuneiform records and instead of the name of the sea from the "Himyarites" tribe, who considered the sea their own, they called the Arabic word "ahmar" (red).
The ancient Greek geographer and writer-historian Agatarchides of Cnidus wrote the book "On the Red Sea (Eritrean)", describing the waters far from Greece for the first time.
Features of the Red Sea: climate, geology, water and a unique living world
Both shores of the Red Sea are distinguished by a dry desert climate, only closer to the north it becomes mild Mediterranean, like on the coast of Turkey. In summer, the temperature over the sea reaches +50, in winter it drops to + 22-25. Over the sea, precipitation falls by only 100 mm per year, which is considered extremely small even for deserts. But 15 times more evaporates from the surface, and if it were not for the Indian Ocean, whose current replenishes and renews the water volume of the sea, it would have dried up.
The Red Sea is considered the saltiest sea in the Indian Ocean (in which living organisms can live). 41 grams of salt / liter (and even more at the bottom thanks to salt springs) do not frighten animals, on the contrary, they attract, since there is more oxygen in the seawater.
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The coastal shelf slopes gently down to 200 meters, abruptly breaking off by faults, the deepest of which reaches 3 kilometers. Very clean salt water is not polluted by any fresh river.
The fauna of the Red Sea is considered unique. The coral kingdom is so diverse that the sea has been declared a global nature reserve. Growing several millimeters a year, coral shallows and ridges have grown into multi-meter limestone sediments along the coast. Life is in full swing on the edge of the steep coral shores: coral fish, sea urchins and coral-eating stars inhabit every square meter of the coastline.
Unique inhabitants of the sea are often found in the Red Sea: giant whale sharks, sea turtles and hammerhead sharks, giant rays and moray eels. To protect these animals in countries with developed tourism, strict laws have been introduced to protect the underwater world.
Copular resorts of Egypt Hurghada, Sharm al-Sheikh, Dahab, Taba attract fans of scuba diving and beach recreation, windsurfing and sailing yachts to the seashore. Comfortable hotels and Egyptian exoticism provide tourists from all over the world with an unforgettable vacation.
The RED SEA, the Mediterranean Sea of the Indian Ocean, connects with it in its southern part through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, through the Suez Canal, it is connected to the Mediterranean Sea. Located between the northeastern edge of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula in the southwestern part of Asia.
The area is 460 thousand km 2, the volume is 201 thousand km 3. The maximum depth is 3039 m. The sea is significantly extended from northwest to southeast (length 1932 km, width up to 306 km). The Red Sea, due to the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait, is the most isolated sea in the Indian Ocean. The shores are mostly flat, sandy, rocky in places. The coastline is weakly indented, the eastern and western coasts of the sea along their main length run almost parallel to each other. In the north, there are two large elongated bays - the shallow Gulf of Suez and the deep-water Aqaba, separated by the Sinai Peninsula. There are numerous small islands and coral reefs in the coastal zone, large islands in the northern part are rare, most of them are located in the south, where they form groups, the most significant of which are Dahlak and Farasan.
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Topography and geological structure of the bottom ... In the bottom topography, a shelf with numerous coral structures, a continental slope and a bed are distinguished, which is almost entirely occupied by a narrow abyssal trough elongated along the longitudinal axis of the sea and divided by a series of transform faults into separate deep-sea depressions that have received individual names (Albatross, Atlantis, Valdivia, Discovery, Oceanographer and others, about 20 in total). The shelf width in the northern part is from 1 to 20 km, gradually increasing to the south up to 100 km and more. In the southernmost part of the sea, adjacent to the Babel-Mandeb Strait, the shelves at the opposite shores are separated by only a small trench about 200 m deep.The sedimentary cover of the shelf area is composed of Lower Miocene terrigenous and volcanogenic-sedimentary rocks with evaporite horizons (thickness 2-4 km), which overlain by Pliocene-Quaternary calcareous and silty-calcareous silts. The cover lies on folded-metamorphic rocks and granites of the African-Arabian platform broken by faults. The underwater slopes of the Red Sea depression are ledges composed of continental rocks overbuilt with coral limestones. In terms of morphology and structure, the bottom of the deep-water basin of the Red Sea is divided into two parts: a wide and flat northwest (up to about 23 ° north latitude) and a narrow and highly dissected southeast. In the northwestern part, the bottom of the basin is occupied by a wide (about 100 km) accumulative plain, bordered by steps with steep mountains, the tops of which often form reefs, shoals, and islets. Within the lateral steps, the bottom is composed of horizontally lying or gently folded, mainly carbonate, sediments, which are underlain by a layer of limestone and evaporite. Sediments overlap the granite-metamorphic basement, which wedges out in the direction of the trough axis; the thickness of the sedimentary layer decreases in the same direction. The southeastern part of the basin is characterized by a large (2000-3000 m) depth, the presence of an axial trench, complicated by numerous depressions, one of which is associated with the greatest depth of the Red Sea. In the mid-1960s, in a number of depressions (Atlantis I, Discovery, Chain, etc.), bottom waters with a very high temperature (over 60 ° C) and salinity (over 260 ‰) were discovered - the so-called hot brines, which are similar in chemical composition with relict brines from oil wells. The bottom of the depressions is lined with Pliocene-Quaternary metalliferous silts with very high concentrations of compounds of iron, zinc, copper and other metals. Bottom sediments overlie basalts and basic igneous rocks of the dike complex (the second layer of the oceanic crust). In the southeastern part of the basin, modern underwater volcanism is manifested, the heat flow is increased in comparison with the average level characteristic of the ocean floor; earthquake epicenters are concentrated near the axial trough.
Geotectonically, the Red Sea basin is an intercontinental rift structure that is a link in the East African rift system and connects through the Gulf of Aden rift with the Arabian-Indian spreading ridge of the Indian Ocean. In the north, the Red Sea rift continues into the Gulf of Aqaba and is joined by a regional strike-slip to the Dead Sea Rift Basin and the Jordan Valley. In the rift zone of the Red Sea, starting from the Late Miocene, a new formation of the oceanic crust occurs, accompanied by the growth of the seabed (spreading), as a result of which the Arabian Peninsula moves away from Africa, the oceanic basin opens up. The spreading rate of lithospheric plates is estimated to be about 1–2 mm per year.
Climate... The climatic conditions of the Red Sea are determined, first of all, by the fact that its basin belongs to one of the most pronounced arid regions of the Earth. The presence of the deserts of the northeastern part of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula surrounding the sea territory leads to the prevalence of dry and hot weather here, characteristic of the continental tropical climate.
The main mechanism for the formation of weather is the regional system of atmospheric circulation in the space surrounding the Red Sea, determined by the presence of stationary and seasonal centers of atmospheric action: an anticyclone in northern Africa, an area of low pressure in the central part of Africa and an alternating extremum of atmospheric pressure over Central Asia.
Their interaction leads to the fact that most of the year north-north-westerly winds dominate over the entire water area of the Red Sea, and only south of 20 ° north latitude from October to April, during the winter Indian Ocean monsoon, southeast winds prevail. Daily breezes are developed in coastal areas. Significant daily and seasonal fluctuations in air temperature are characteristic. The average daily temperature in the middle of summer is about 27 ° C in the north, about 33 ° C in the south, and 17 and 23 ° C in winter, respectively. The observed maximum temperature in the south is about 47 ° C, the minimum temperature in the north is below 6 ° C. Rainfall over the sea is extremely rare, the average annual number of days with precipitation is no more than 10. Precipitation is observed mainly in winter - from a few mm in the north to 200 mm in the south. With the exception of some areas, the average relative humidity does not exceed 70%. In some cases (during the action of the winds of the Khamsin and Samum deserts), the humidity can drop to 5%. The Red Sea is characterized by dust fogs and mirages. Evaporation from the sea surface due to the high average temperature and high dryness of the air is very significant - more than 200 cm / year, which is much higher than the corresponding indicators for all other regions of the World Ocean located in the same latitudinal belt. The highest frequency of occurrence of a clear sky on average is 250 days a year. From May to October 20-28 days with minimum cloud cover, from November to April - 13-22.
Hydrological regime... Not a single river flows into the Red Sea. Only in the north, sometimes after the passage of the next Mediterranean cyclone, the beds of dried up rivers are filled with rainwater, pouring into the sea in the form of short-term turbid streams, the river runoff for the marine hydrological regime is practically irrelevant. Fluctuations in the level in the Red Sea are caused by the seasonal course of evaporation from its surface, tides, which are mainly semi-diurnal in nature, and surge phenomena under the influence of seasonal winds in the southern part of the basin.
An increase in the density of seawater due to its winter cooling also plays a small role. All these factors to one degree or another affect the level fluctuations, but since the stability of the sea volume is largely regulated by water exchange with the Indian Ocean through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the resulting fluctuations in the average monthly water level for the sea are generally small, up to 30-35 cm.In the middle part of the sea, the magnitude of the syzygy tide is about 25 cm, in the extreme southern and northern regions - up to 1-1.5 m. Dakhlak, where the amplitudes can exceed 1.5 m. Storms occur quite rarely and mainly in the north of the region.
The circulation of water in the Red Sea is characterized by significant seasonal variability. In the southern part, from November to March, the surface current is directed north-northwest along the eastern coast at a speed of about 50 cm / s. From June to September currents of the opposite direction prevail here. In summer, under the influence of winds prevailing over the entire water area, the transfer of surface waters towards the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait develops at a speed of 20-30 cm / s. In the central part of the sea, at 20-21 ° north latitude, under certain wind conditions, large-scale gyres are observed.
The hydrological structure of the sea is characterized by the presence of three main water masses. The upper layer (0-150 m) is occupied by water with a relatively low salinity of Indian Ocean origin. Deeper (up to 300-350 m) lies the intermediate proper Red Sea water mass, formed in the north under the influence of winter vertical convection. Finally, the lower layer is also a deep water mass formed in the north with high salinity (> 40 ‰) and a constant temperature of about 20 ° C. The average surface water temperature in winter ranges from 22 ° C in the north to 26 ° C in the south. In the central part of the sea in winter and spring, due to the peculiarities of circulation, the water temperature rises to 27 ° C. In summer, the average surface water temperature in the north is about 27 ° C, while in the south it can exceed 32 ° C. A small inflow of fresh water and intense evaporation from the sea surface lead to a significant increase in the salinity of water, which in the north reaches the highest value in the seas of the World Ocean of 42 ‰ (Gulf of Suez), the lowest average salinity of surface water is about 37 ‰ here. Its values gradually decrease towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Water exchange through this strait plays an important role in the hydrological regime of the sea. The salty deep Red Sea waters flow through it into the Indian Ocean and spread at the depth of their density over large areas. In turn, from the Gulf of Aden to the north, as a rule, in winter, there is a surface gradient and wind current, compensating for the decrease in the volume of sea water due to evaporation.
Research history. The sea got its name, apparently, from the presence of planktonic algae in it, which have a reddish tint during the flowering period. According to another version, this name was given under the impression of the reddish coastal mountains of the Sinai Peninsula, reflected on the water surface. The proximity of the Red Sea to the centers of ancient Afro-Asian civilizations made it famous many millennia ago. The sea has long served the peoples of North Africa and Arabia as an important transport artery along which their trade routes passed. Modern scientific research of the Red Sea actually began only in the 19th century, after European expeditions that explored the Indian Ocean visited it. One of the first among them, which passed by sea after the creation of the Suez Canal in 1869, was the Russian round-the-world expedition on the Vityaz under the command of Captain 1st Rank S.O. Makarov and the German expedition on the Valdivia. On board the Vityaz in March 1889 in the Red Sea, 4 oceanographic stations were carried out down to a depth of 600 m. The main research, which made it possible to obtain the existing understanding of the nature and resources of the sea, was carried out in the 20th century. Among them, one should especially note the expeditions of European countries and the United States during the International Geophysical Year (1957-58), the work of the International Indian Ocean Expedition (1960-1965). Several special oceanographic expeditions in the Red Sea in the 1960s-1980s were conducted by scientific vessels of the USSR. Especially interesting were the results obtained by the expedition of the Institute of Oceanology of the Academy of Sciences named after P.P. Shirshov in 1979-80 with the use of underwater manned vehicles "Pysis", from which for the first time visual observation of the surface of the brine layer, water sampling and geological survey of the bottom were carried out.
Economic use.
The Red Sea is the most important transport artery after the construction and commissioning of the Suez Canal. On the coasts of the Red Sea, there are large modern ports that allow large flows of various cargoes: Suez, Bur Safaga (Egypt), Port Sudan (Sudan), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Massawa (Eritrea), Hodeidah (Yemen) and others. oil fields are being developed on the shelf of the northern part of the sea, in the Gulf of Suez (Egypt); several fields have been discovered on the southern shelf (Eritrea, Saudi Arabia). The phosphorite deposits developed in the Red Sea (Egypt) are of great economic importance. At the bottom of the rift zone, reserves of non-ferrous and precious metals are concentrated. The catch of fish is gradually increasing and other seafood is being fished - crustaceans, molluscs (mainly squid), etc. At the end of the 20th century, the tourism business developed rapidly, a network of sea resorts of various classes was created on the coast of the northern part of the sea, the largest of which are Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada (Egypt), Aqaba (Jordan), Eilat (Israel).
Ecological state. Active industrial and resort development of the coast and water area of the Red Sea, especially oil production and transportation, pose a real threat to the safety of its unique ecosystem. The most polluted areas of the sea are located in its northern part, in the Gulf of Suez. Almost all coastal states take certain measures to protect and control the marine environment. International conventions provide for serious sanctions against anthropogenic pollution of the Red Sea with household waste and oil products, which pose a particular danger here due to the large number of transit transport ships.
Lit .: Kanaev V.F., Neiman V.G., Parin N.V. Indian Ocean. M., 1975; Monin AS et al. Diving into the brines of the Red Sea depressions // Reports of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. 1980. T. 254. No. 4; Metalliferous sediments of the Red Sea / Edited by A.P. Lisitsyn, Yu.A. Bogdanov. M., 1986; Plakhin E.A.Hydrology of the Mediterranean seas. L., 1989; Red sea. SPb., 1992.
V. G. Neiman.
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Exploring the Indian Ocean, between the Arabian and Hindustan peninsulas, we will see the Arabian Sea. Its area is one of the largest in the world, it is 4832 thousand square meters. km, the deepest depression is 5803 meters.
In ancient times, this sea was called Eritrean. The Indus River flows into the Arabian Sea. The shores of the sea are indented by bays and bays, they are high and rocky, partly low-lying deltaic. The largest bays of the sea are the Aden, it connects with the Red Sea Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, Kach, Cambay and Oman, it connects with the Persian Gulf by the Strait of Hormuz.
The Arabian Sea is part of the Indian Ocean. The sea is divided into two basins - the Arabian, more than 5300 meters deep, and the Somali, which is about 4600 meters deep. They are framed by two underwater plateaus less than 1800 meters deep.
The vast expanses of water cross the Arabian-Indian mid-ocean ridge in a rift valley, the depth of which is more than 3600 meters.
The seabed relief was formed in the Mesozoic-Cenozoic, most of it in the Pliocene. Near the delta of the Indus River, the shelf is cut by submarine canyons. Its width off the coast of India and Goa is 120 km, depth is up to 220 meters, near the Gulf of Cambay - a depth of 90 meters and a width of 352 km. Approaching the Makran coast, the shelf narrows to 35 km, decreasing in the western direction. The slope of the mainland to a depth of 2750 meters is covered with terrigenous sediments, and the hollows are covered with red clay.
The Arabian Sea is distinguished by the fact that there are few islands, most of them are located off the coast, the largest are the Laccadive Islands and Socotra. The climate here is tropical, monsoon, northeastern winds blow in winter, they bring clarity and coolness. In summer, south-western directions prevail, it determines the humidity and cloudiness. Typhoons are possible in autumn, spring and summer. In the winter months, the air temperature is 20-25 degrees Celsius, in the summer - 25-29 degrees, precipitation falls from 25 to 125 mm per year, in the east, their amount can increase to a maximum of 3000, especially in summer. The water temperature in winter is 22-27 degrees, in summer - 23-28 degrees, the maximum comes in May, when the temperature of the surface water layer is 29 degrees. Due to the fact that the waters of the Arabian Sea remain warm all year round, a large number of popular world resorts are located on the shores of the Arabian Sea. One of the most popular among them is Goa, a state in the south of India. Every year, a huge number of tourists fly to Goa to relax on the sandy Goan shores, visit local excursions and swim in the soft waters of the Arabian Sea.
The Red Sea is one of the most famous and most visited seas in the world. It is a huge hit with divers and those who like to soak up the calm waves.
Red sea
The Red Sea is one of the inland seas belonging to the basin. Its waters are rightfully considered the saltiest in the world. There are many species of flora and fauna in the Red Sea. It can be called one of the most beautiful seas in the world.
The waters of the Red Sea wash the shores of two continents: and. The water area is 450 tons km2.
The seabed relief has a varied landscape. In the southern part of the water area there is a sandbank, the average depth of which is about 200 meters. There are indigenous and coral islands on it. There is also a depression, which is located in most of the sea. Its average depth is 1000 m. In addition to it, there is a deeper trench, with a maximum depth of 3040 m. However, the average depth of the Red Sea is 437 m.
There are practically no islands in the northern part of the Red Sea. Tiran is considered one of the largest islands. In the southern part of the water area, several groups are formed, consisting of small islands. In the southwestern part there are large groups, for example Dakhlak, and the smaller archipelagos are Suakin, Farasan and Khanish. Also in this part of the sea there are individual islands, for example, the island of Kamaran.
In the northern part of the coast there are two large bays, which are connected to the sea through the Tiran Strait. These are the Gulfs of Aqaba and Suez. A fault runs along the bottom of the Gulf of Aqaba, the depth of which can reach 1,800 meters.
Another feature of the Red Sea is the complete absence of flowing rivers. In connection with this feature, the water in the sea is very transparent, since usually rivers bring sand, clay and silt from the continents, which subsequently affects the transparency of the sea water.
Another feature of this delightful part is the increased salinity of the water. One liter of seawater contains 41 grams of salt, which is significantly higher than that of other seas and oceans. For example, in the Indian Ocean, this figure does not exceed 34 grams per liter of seawater. In terms of salt content in seawater, the Red Sea ranks first in the world.
Precipitation over the sea is rather rare. They fall several times a year, and only during the cooler winter months. In total, there are no more than 100 millimeters per year. Much more evaporates - 2000 millimeters, that is, 20 times more. If you count, then every day more than 0.5 centimeter of water evaporates. The complete absence of water flow from the continents makes up for water exchange with the Gulf of Aden, through which the red merges with. Also in the water area of the sea there are currents located in the Bab-el-Mandeb Bay. These currents simultaneously move into and out of the Red Sea.
Tourists from all over the world warm the Red Sea to Sudan, Israel, Egypt, and Eritrea to see the diversity of its underwater world. There are huge coral reefs that stretch along the coast of Egypt and many fish and marine life. For example, bottlenose dolphins, killer whales, angel fish, butterfly fish, sultans, clown fish, moray eels, sharks and a variety of echinoderms such as sea cucumber.
A tropical desert climate prevails over the entire coast of the Red Sea. Only the extreme north of the sea coast is located in the Mediterranean climate zone.
The cold period is from December to January, the warm one is from July to September. In cooler months, the temperature can reach 20-25 degrees. In the summer months, it rises to 35-40, and in the hottest August, it can reach 500 Celsius.
Due to such a high temperature, off the African coast, the temperature on the surface of the water in winter is + 20C, and in summer it is not lower than 27.
Good to you in crystal clear water!
