The Sea of ​​Azov (Ukrainian: Azov Sea, Crimea: Azaq deñizi) is the northeastern side basin of the Black Sea, with which it is connected by the Kerch Strait (Cimmerian Bosphorus in ancient times, 4.2 kilometers wide). The Sea of ​​Azov belongs to the seas Atlantic Ocean.

In ancient times, the Greeks called it Meotian Lake (Greek Μαιῶτις), the Romans Palus Maeotis, the Scythians Kargaluk, the Meotians Temerinda (known as the mother of the sea); Arabs Nitschlach or Baral-Azov, Turks Baryal-Assak or Bahr-Assak (Dark Blue Sea; in modern Turkish Azakdenizi), Genoese and Venetians Mare delle Zabacche (Mare Tane).

Extreme points Sea of ​​Azov lie between 45°12′30″ and 47°17′30″ north. latitude and between 33°38′ (Sivash) and 39°18′ east. longitude Its greatest length is 343 kilometers, its greatest width is 231 kilometers; coastline length 1472 kilometers; surface area - 37,605 square kilometers (this area does not include islands and spits, which occupy 107.9 square kilometers).

According to morphological characteristics, the Sea of ​​Azov is classified as a flat sea and is a shallow body of water with low coastal slopes.

The greatest depth does not exceed 14 meters, and the average depth is about 8 meters. At the same time, depths of up to 5 meters occupy more than half of the volume of the Sea of ​​​​Azov. Its volume is also small and equal to 320 cubic meters. For comparison, let’s say that the Aral Sea is almost 2 times larger in area than the Sea of ​​Azov. The Black Sea is almost 11 times larger in area than the Azov Sea, and 1678 times larger in volume. And yet the Sea of ​​Azov is not so small; it could easily accommodate two European states such as the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Its greatest length is 380 kilometers, and its greatest width is 200 kilometers. The total length of the sea coastline is 2686 kilometers.

The underwater relief of the Sea of ​​Azov is very simple, the depths generally increase slowly and smoothly with distance from the shores, and the most great depths are located in the center of the sea. Its bottom is almost flat. The Sea of ​​Azov forms several bays, of which the largest are Taganrog, Temryuk and the strongly isolated Sivash, which is more correctly considered an estuary. Large islands not on the Sea of ​​Azov. There are a number of shallows, partially filled with water and located near the shores. Such are, for example, the islands of Biryuchiy, Turtle and others.

Sea of ​​Azov - origin of the name

In Rus', the Sea of ​​Azov became known in the 1st century AD, and it was called the Blue Sea. After the formation of the Tmutarakan principality, the modern Sea of ​​Azov began to be called Russian. With the fall of the principality, the sea was renamed many times (Samakush, Salakar, Mayutis, etc.). At the beginning of the 13th century. The name Saksi Sea was approved. The Tatar-Mongol conquerors added to the collection of names of Azov: Balyk-dengiz (fish sea) and Chabak-dengiz (chabach, bream sea). According to some data, Chabak-dengiz as a result of the transformation: chabak - dzybakh - zabak - azak - azov - occurred modern name sea ​​(which is doubtful). According to other sources, azak is a Turkic adjective meaning “low, low-lying”; according to other sources, “azak” (Turkic “mouth of the river”), which was transformed into Azau, and then into Russian Azov. In the interval of the above names, the Sea of ​​Azov also received the following: Barel-Azov (“Dark Blue River”); Thracian Sea (Thracians meant Genoese and Venetians); Surozh Sea (Surozh was the name of the modern city of Sudak in Crimea); Kaffa Sea (Kaffa - Italian colony on the site of the modern city of Feodosia in Crimea); Cimmerian Sea (from the Cimmerians); Akdengiz (Turkish meaning White Sea).

It should be considered most reliable that the modern name of the sea comes from the name of the city of Azov. There are a number of hypotheses regarding the etymology of the word “Azov”: after the name of the Polovtsian prince Azum (Azuf), who was killed during the capture of the city in 1067; by the name of the tribe of Os (Assy), which in turn supposedly came from Avestan, meaning “fast”; The name is compared with the Turkic word azan - “lower”, and the Circassian uzev - “neck”. The Turkic name of the city of Azov is Auzak. But back in the 1st century. AD Pliny, listing the Scythian tribes in his writings, mentions the Asoki tribe, similar to the word Azov. It is generally accepted that the modern name of the Sea of ​​Azov came into Russian toponymy at the beginning of the 17th century. thanks to the chronicle of Pimen. Moreover, at the beginning it was assigned only to part of it (Taganrog Bay), and only during the Azov campaigns of Peter I the name Sea of ​​Azov was assigned to the entire body of water. The sea gave its name to the villages of Azovskaya and Priazovskaya and the city of Azov (in the lower reaches of the Don River, Rostov region), the village of Priazovsky and the Azovka farm.

History of the study of the Sea of ​​Azov

There are three stages in the history of the study of the Sea of ​​Azov:

1. Ancient (geographical) - from the time of Herodotus to the beginning of the 19th century.

2. Geological-geographical - XIX century. - 40s of XX century.

3. Complex - mid-20th century. - Today.

The first map of Pontus Euxine and Maeotis was compiled by Claudius Ptolemy, who also determined geographical coordinates for cities, river mouths, capes and bays of the Azov Sea coast.

In 1068, the Russian prince Gleb measured the distance between Kerch and Taman along the ice. As evidenced by the inscription on the Tmutarakan stone, the distance from Tmutarakan to Korchev ( ancient name Tamini and Kerch) was approximately 20 kilometers (over 939 years this distance increased by 3 kilometers.).

From the XII-XIV centuries. The Genoese and Venetians began to compile portolans (pilots and sea maps of the Black and Azov Seas).

Sea of ​​Azov - geological past

The Sea of ​​Azov, from the point of view of its geological age, is a young basin. It acquired outlines close to modern ones in the Quaternary period. Many millions of years ago, the Sea of ​​Azov was part of the ocean that geologists call Tethys. Its immense expanse extended from Central America through the Atlantic Ocean, southern Europe, the Mediterranean, Black, Caspian and Aral Seas and further east through India to the Pacific Ocean.

The history of the emergence of the Sea of ​​Azov is closely connected with the geological past of the Crimea, the Caucasus, the Black and Caspian Seas. Under the influence of internal forces Earth's crust it sank and then rose in the form of mountain ranges, which then, cut off by the work of flowing waters and weathering, turned into plains. As a result of these processes, the waters of the World Ocean either flooded individual areas of land or exposed them, or, as geologists say, transgressions (advance) and regressions (retreat) of the seas were observed.

At the same time, naturally, the outlines of the continents and seas changed. At the same time, changes in climate, flora and fauna occurred both on land and in the sea.

Only in the Cenozoic era (the era of new life) did the outlines of the continents and individual seas, including the Sea of ​​Azov, become the way we see them on modern maps.

The Cenozoic era, as is known, consists of two periods - Tertiary and Quaternary, or Anthropocene. In the latter a man already appears. In the Anthropocene, the formation of the Sea of ​​Azov ended, and therefore, its modern appearance was created literally before the eyes of prehistoric man.

Throughout the Anthropocene, the sea basin, which included the Black, Azov and Caspian seas, repeatedly changed its outline, area, depth, was split into parts and restored again.

Different phases of the development of this basin in the Anthropocene received the conventional names: Chaudinsky, Ancient Euxinian, Uzunlarsky, Karangatsky, New Euxinian seas.

The Chaudin lake-sea existed at the beginning of the great glaciation era - more than 500,000 years ago. Sediments of this sea were found at Cape Chauda Kerch Peninsula(hence the name of the sea), they are also found on the coast of the Taman Peninsula. Fauna ( animal world) of the highly desalinated Chaudin Sea was very close to the fauna of the Baku Sea, which at that time was part of the Caspian sea basin. This circumstance led scientists to the conclusion that the Chaudin and Baku basins were connected to each other along the Manych River valley.

Having existed for a relatively short time, the Chaudin Sea gave way to the Ancient Euxinian Sea. It was a highly desalinated lake-sea. It dates back to the first half of the Quaternary period. Deposits of the Ancient Euxine Sea are known on the Kerch Peninsula, in the Taganrog region, on the Caucasian coast, on the Manych River. The great similarity of the fauna indicates that the sea was connected to the Ancient Caspian and Baku basins.

In ancient Euxinian times, the Black Sea connected with the Mediterranean through the Dardanelles Strait. The Ancient Euxinian Sea was replaced by the so-called Uzunlar Sea. Due to water penetration Mediterranean Sea There is a gradual salinization of the Uzunlar Sea and a rise in its level. The latter led to flooding of low-lying parts of the coast and river mouths. The formation of the estuaries of the Dnieper, Don and other rivers of the Azov-Black Sea basin dates back to this time. The Manych Strait, which previously connected the Ancient Euxinian and Ancient Caspian Seas, ceases to exist at this time.

The Uzunlar Sea was replaced by the salty Karangat Sea, the formation of which was accompanied by large subsidence in the area of ​​the Azov Sea and Crimea.

These subsidences caused transgression of saline waters and penetration into the Karangata Basin marine fauna, richer in species than the modern Black Sea.

During the last glaciation, the Karangat Sea was replaced by the semi-fresh New Euxinian lake-sea. At that time, in the neighboring Caspian region, the Khvalynsk Sea extended, which, judging by the similarity of the faunas of both seas, was connected to the Novoevksinsky Sea. The New Euxine regressive stage of sea development was replaced by the Old Black Sea and New Black Sea stages of its expansion.

The last, New Black Sea, stage of development of the Sea of ​​Azov is divided by scientists into several independent stages, namely: the stage of maximum development of the New Black Sea transgression, when the sea level was 2.5-3 m higher than the modern one, the Meotic stage, which took place already at the beginning of historical time, and nymphaeal stage. In the Meotic stage, the Sea of ​​Azov, according to the description of the ancient Greeks, was a freshwater and swampy lake. During the Nymphaean stage, the formation of the modern outlines of the coastline took place, and in particular the formation of most of the spits of the Azov Sea.

Sea of ​​Azov - geography

Bathymetry of the Azov Sea

The underwater relief of the Azov Sea is relatively simple. As you move away from the coast, the depths slowly and smoothly increase, reaching 14.4 meters in the central part of the sea. The main area of ​​the Azov Sea bottom is characterized by a depth of 5-13 meters. The area of ​​greatest depth is in the center of the sea. The location of the isobaths, close to symmetrical, is disrupted by their slight elongation in the northeast towards the Taganrog Bay. An isobath of 5 meters is located approximately 2 kilometers from the coast, moving away from it near the Taganrog Bay and in the bay itself near the mouth of the Don. In the Taganrog Bay, the depths increase from the mouth of the Don (2-3 meters) towards the open part of the sea, reaching 8-9 meters at the border of the bay with the sea.

The bottom topography of the Sea of ​​Azov shows systems of underwater elevations stretched along the eastern (Zhelezinskaya Bank) and western (Morskaya and Arabatskaya Banks) coasts, the depths above which decrease from 8-9 to 3-5 meters. The underwater coastal slope of the northern coast is characterized by wide shallow water (20-30 kilometers) with depths of 6-7 meters, while the southern coast is characterized by a steep underwater slope to depths of 11-12 meters. The drainage area of ​​the Azov Sea Basin is 586,000 square kilometers.

The seashores are mostly flat and sandy, only on the southern coast there are hills of volcanic origin, which in some places turn into steep mountains.

Sea currents are dependent on the very strong north-eastern and south-western winds blowing here and therefore change direction very often. The main current is a circular current along the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov in a counterclockwise direction.

Geographical objects of the Sea of ​​Azov

Major or geographical features of particular interest are listed in clockwise order along the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov, starting from Kerch Strait.

Bays and estuaries of the Azov Sea:

Ukraine:

In the southwest: Kazantip Bay, Arabat Bay;

In the west: Sivash Bay;

In the north-west: Utlyuk Estuary, Molochny Estuary, Obitochny Bay, Berdyansk Bay;

Russia:

In the northeast: Taganrog Bay, Miussky Estuary, Yeisk Estuary;

In the east: Yasensky Bay, Beisugsky Estuary, Akhtarsky Estuary;

In the southeast: Temryuk Bay.

Spit and cape of the Sea of ​​Azov:

Ukraine:

In the southwest: Cape Khroni, Cape Zyuk, Cape Chagany and Cape Kazantip (Kazantip Bay);

In the west: Arabat Strelka spit (Sivash Bay);

In the north-west: Fedotova Spit and Biryuchy Island Spit (Utlyuksky Estuary), Obitochnaya Spit (Obitochnaya Bay), Berdyansk Spit (Berdyansk Bay);

In the northeast: Belosarayskaya spit, Krivaya spit;

In the Kerch Strait: Tuzla Spit.

Russia:

In the northeast: Beglitskaya spit;

In the east: Cape Chumbursky, Glafirovskaya Spit, Dolgaya Spit, Kamyshevatskaya Spit, Yasenskaya Spit (Beisugsky Estuary), Achuevskaya Spit (Akhtarsky Estuary);

In the southeast: Cape Achuevsky and Cape Kamenny (Temryuk Bay).

In the Kerch Strait: Chushka Spit.

Rivers flowing into the Sea of ​​Azov:

Ukraine:

In the north-west: Maly Utlyuk, Molochnaya, Korsak, Lozovatka, Obitochnaya, Berda, Kalmius, Gruzsky Elanchik;

Russia:

In the northeast: Mokry Elanchik, Mius, Sambek, Don, Kagalnik, Mokraya Chuburka, Eya;

In the southeast: Protoka, Kuban.

Shores of the Sea of ​​Azov

The coast of the Azov Sea is less picturesque and diverse than the Black Sea. But it also has its own, unique beauty. The steppes come close to the sea, and in some places there are floodplains overgrown with reeds. The shores are treeless, sometimes low and flat, with a sandy and shell beach, sometimes low but steep, composed of yellow loess-like loams. Coastline The sea forms fairly smooth curves, and only long sand spits give it some ruggedness. A large number of spits is one of the characteristic features of the shores of the Azov Sea.

Western coast of the Sea of ​​Azov

The western coast of the Sea of ​​Azov is represented by a long spit - the Arabat Spit. It stretches along the sea coast for 112 kilometers, separating the shallow Sivash Bay from it. The width of this flat sand-shell spit ranges from 270 meters in its southern and middle parts to 7 kilometers in the northern, where there are several small hills. The Arabat Spit is a huge natural beach. A series of long shallows stretched parallel to it. They are clearly visible from the walls of the old Genoese fortress, located near the village of Arabat, or directly from the elevated indigenous bank. In calm, sunny weather, the greenish-blue waves of the sea with a slight noise gently roll onto the sand and shell beach and the foam of the light surf borders it like a narrow white lace. Heeling on the wing, white-winged gulls glide low over the water. In the distance, on the spit, the salt extracted from Sivash shines dazzlingly under the rays of the hot sun. The Sea of ​​Azov is beautiful even in a storm. When a fierce nor'easter blows, it darkens and becomes harsh. With an angry noise, boiling with white foam, steep waves crash onto the shores. You can spend hours admiring the foamy expanse of the sea, the rapid running and stormy surf of the waves of the Azov Sea.

Any person who has visited the Sea of ​​Azov will forever have memories of its discreet but soul-stirring beauty.

Hot mineral waters have been discovered on the Arabatskaya Strelka, which in their chemical composition and medicinal properties are superior to those from Matsesta. Based on these healing waters it is intended to create new resort- Azov Matsesta.

Southern coast of the Sea of ​​Azov

The southern coast of the Sea of ​​Azov is represented by the territory of the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, between which is the Kerch Strait, connecting the Azov and Black Sea. The Kerch Peninsula is the eastern tip of Crimea. Its area is about 3 thousand square kilometers. In the depths of the peninsula, large deposits of iron ore have been discovered, feeding the metallurgy of the Azov region, oil and natural gas. The northern and northeastern parts of the Kerch Peninsula are composed of marls, clays, and limestones; Sandstones of Tertiary age are found in places. The western part of the Kerch Peninsula is flat, the eastern part is hilly. Within the peninsula South coast Most of the Azov Sea ends abruptly into the sea, leaving only a narrow strip of beach. In some places, the steep shores are composed of bryozoan limestones, which steadfastly resist the onslaught of sea waves. Such, for example, is Cape Kazantip, at the base of which lies a bryozoan reef - an atoll. To the west of this cape is the Arabat Bay, to the east is the Kazantip Bay. To the east of Cape Kazantip there is a low-lying alluvial section of the coast. The shores of both bays are composed of soft clayey rocks. South of the Cape Kazantip - Aktash salt lake. This is a relict lake. It is a remnant of the Kazantip Bay, which once extended far into the land.

In the middle of the Kerch Peninsula, the low Parpach ridge stretches from west to east. Between this ridge and the shore of the Sea of ​​Azov there is a wide longitudinal valley. In its lower parts there are salt lakes, and in particular Lake Chokrak, known for its healing properties, as well as a number of mud volcanoes.

To the east of the Kazantip Bay, near the Kerch Strait, the coast of the Azov Sea is calmer, here it is characterized by capes composed of hard bryozoan limestones, for example, capes Zyuk, Tarkhan and others.

The Kerch Strait, connecting the Black and Azov Seas, is shallow and relatively narrow. Its width ranges from 4 to 15 kilometers. The length of the strait is 41 kilometers. The depth is about 4 meters.

In ancient times, the Kerch Strait was called the Cimmerian Bosporus. The name itself contains a hint of the shallowness of the strait, since “bospor” translated into Russian means “bull ford”.

The Crimean shore of the strait is steep in places. In its northern part lies the port city of Kerch.

The Caucasian coast of the Kerch Strait is low, sandy, with dunes in places. The channel of the strait is cluttered with reefs, sand bars and coastal shoals, which previously made navigation difficult. Now a canal has been dug in the strait for the passage of ships with deep draft.

Taman Peninsula, which is part Krasnodar region, covers an area of ​​approximately 1900 square kilometers. Of these, land accounts for a little more than 900 square meters. kilometers, and the rest of the territory is estuaries and floodplains.

Its nature is peculiar. From a geological point of view, this is a young peninsula, as it was formed in the Quaternary period. Back in the 1st century AD. in its place there were about five islands, the transformation of which into a peninsula occurred, apparently, in the 5th century AD. under the influence of the accumulative activity of the Kuban River, mud volcanoes and tectonic uplifts. The formation of the Taman Peninsula continues to this day.

The surface of the peninsula is a hilly plain with low dome-shaped hills, stretched in the form of interrupted ridges from southwest to northeast. Mud volcanoes and ancient burial mounds are scattered almost everywhere. The landscape is enlivened by numerous estuaries. Floodplains overgrown with reeds and sedges are also widespread.

The Taman Peninsula contains in its depths such natural resources as oil, flammable gases, iron ores, salt, building materials in the form of limestone, clay and gravel.

The climate of the peninsula is moderately warm. The sun generously supplies it with the warmth of its rays, but there is little precipitation here - only 436 millimeters per year - and therefore there is a lack of moisture.

On the peninsula there are fertile chernozem-like and chestnut soils, covered with drought-resistant steppe soils, and along the Kuban River valley - with floodplain vegetation.

The shores of the Taman Peninsula are quite diverse, but two types of shores predominate: high, steep - abrasive, that is, formed as a result of the destructive work of sea waves, and low, flat - accumulative. The latter were formed from sandy-clayey deposits as a result of the activity of sea waves and currents.

The shore of the Taman Bay, from Cape Tuzla to the village of Taman, is elevated and steep. On average, its height here ranges from 15 to 30 meters. To the east of the village of Taman, the coast decreases and remains low throughout the southern and east coast bay. Only in places there are steep cliffs, and then often due to the cultural layer of ancient Phanagoria.

The northern shore of the bay is also elevated and in some places drops steeply to the sea.

The Chushka Spit, composed largely of quartz sand and broken shells, has low banks.

Further to the east, the coast of the Taman Peninsula is high (up to 50-60 meters above the level of the Sea of ​​Azov) and often has a stepped landslide character. It is composed mainly of loess-like clay and is bordered by a strip of beach consisting of sandy-clayey sediments, in places mixed with shells, pebbles and rubble.

Then, right up to the village of Golubitskaya, the coast of the Azov Sea either decreases or rises again, but starting from this village it becomes low, and in the area of ​​the Kuban River delta it acquires a swampy character.

It is interesting to note that in the area of ​​​​the village of Kuchugury on the low shore of the Azov Sea, aeolian relief forms are observed in the form of low (1-3 meters) sandy mounds - dunes, formed under the influence of northern winds.

The attraction of the Taman Peninsula are mud volcanoes (salzas), of which there are up to 25. Many of them look like low cones with truncated tops. Some salsas are temporarily inactive. The rest emit dirt and gases such as methane, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, and hydrogen.

Eruptions of mud volcanoes are usually calm and quiet, but sometimes they resemble eruptions of real volcanoes, as they are accompanied by an explosion, and the products of volcanic activity are then scattered hundreds of meters from the crater, and liquid mud forms large flows.

A very interesting phenomenon is represented by mud volcanoes at the bottom of the Sea of ​​Azov near the shores of the Taman Peninsula. Thus, intense mud volcanic activity was observed near the village of Golubitskaya. One of the eruptions was noted on September 6, 1799. An underground rumble was heard, then a deafening crash was heard and a pillar of fire and black smoke rose above the sea, 300 meters from the shore. The eruption continued for about two hours, leading to the formation of an island of mud with a diameter of over 100 meters and a height of up to 2 meters. A few months later he disappeared, washed away by the waves of the Azov Sea.

Similar eruptions were repeated later - in 1862, 1906, 1924, 1950 and 1952. In 1952, to the west of the village of Golubitskaya, 5 kilometers from the coast, also as a result of mud volcanic activity, a mud island was formed, then washed away by the waves of the Azov Sea.

Eastern shore of the Sea of ​​Azov

The eastern coast of the Sea of ​​Azov, from Temryuk to Primorsko-Akhtarsk, for about 100 kilometers, is a low-lying delta of the Kuban River with numerous estuaries, channels, extensive floodplains overgrown with reeds and sedges. The Kuban River, originating from the glaciers of Mount Elbrus, is one of the largest and deep rivers North Caucasus. Its length is 870 kilometers. The drainage basin area is 57,900 square kilometers. Its delta was formed on the site of a bay of the Sea of ​​Azov, which jutted deep into the land. Tens of thousands of years ago this bay extended to the place where Krasnodar is now located. The huge lagoon was separated from the sea by a embankment and then gradually filled with river sediments. The activity of mud volcanoes (sals) of the Taman Peninsula, which at that time still had the appearance of an archipelago of small islands, also played a well-known role in the formation of the southwestern part of the delta. The products of mud volcano eruptions carried channels between the islands and, along with river sediments, gradually filled the lagoon.

The formation of the delta continues in our time, and it experiences subsidence amounting to 5-6 millimeters per year in Achuev, and 3 millimeters per year in other places of the delta.

The Kuban River annually carries an average of 11.4 billion cubic meters of water into the Sea of ​​Azov, containing a total of over 3 million tons of dissolved substances and a lot of turbidity. The water in the river is muddy all year round, but it carries especially a lot of sediment during floods, of which an average of 6-7 are observed in the Kuban per year. The total amount of solids carried out by the river (the so-called solid runoff) is 8.7 million tons per year. To transport such cargo would require over 52,000 freight cars. Due to these sediments, the Kuban delta is growing. Now the Kuban delta, covering an area of ​​4,300 square kilometers, begins at the so-called Razder, near the city of Slavyansk, where the Protoka branch separates from the Kuban to the right (to the north). The latter carries about 40-50% of the Kuban water and flows into the Sea of ​​Azov near Achuev.

Below the Protoka, not far from the mouth, the Kuban is still divided into a number of branches, of which the largest are the Petrushin sleeve and the Cossack Erik. The Petrushin branch, which here represents the main navigable channel of the Kuban River, goes past Temryuk and flows into the Sea of ​​Azov.

The Cossack Erik is the left bank branch of the Kuban; it carries its waters to the large Akhtanizovsky estuary, which has a connection with the Sea of ​​Azov through the Peresyp branch.

The modern delta of the Kuban River is a whole labyrinth of shallow lakes or estuaries, connected by channels, or, locally, eriks, which form bizarre loops between low-lying areas of swampy land.

In the Kuban delta, huge areas are occupied by floodplains that stretch for tens of kilometers. The floodplains of the Kuban delta adjacent to the Sea of ​​Azov are called Priazovsky. They are divided by the Protoka River into two massifs: the Azov plavni proper in the western part and the Angelino-Cheburgolskie in the eastern part.

The Azov floodplains are bizarre labyrinths of swamps and estuaries of various sizes with fresh, semi-saline and salt water, overgrown with above-water and underwater vegetation. Among the first, reeds, reeds, sedges, cattails and burrs predominate. The underwater, or “soft” vegetation of the estuaries is chara algae, pondweed, hornwort, water lilies, etc.

In the Azov estuaries there are thickets of a wonderful plant - lotus. During the flowering period, large pink flowers of amazing beauty rise on the stems above the spreading emerald leaves, spreading a strong aroma. This tropical newcomer, brought to us from Africa, is a useful medicinal and food plant.

The estuaries of the Kuban delta are rich in fish. More than 70 species of fish are found here, including ram, bream, pike-perch, puzanok, sprat, carp weighing up to 15 kilograms, and catfish weighing up to 100 kilograms.

North of Primorsko-Akhtarsk, right up to the Don delta, floodplains are found only at the mouths of the Azov steppe rivers - Beisug and Chelbas.

The shores of the Azov Sea are low and flat in this area. sand spits, but for the most part the coast here is steep or steeply descending to the sea. It is composed, like the coastal plain, of loess and loess-like loams and clays of the late glacial period. Loess is a rock that is easily washed away by waves, and therefore the seashore here is quickly destroyed. average speed destruction along the entire coast is 3 meters per year. Maximum up to 18 meters. The soils of this part of the Azov region are represented by carbonate Western Ciscaucasian fertile chernozems. Previously, this entire area was a feather grass-forb steppe, on which herds of wild tarpan horses and herds of fleet-footed saigas grazed. There were even moose. Nowadays these lands are plowed, and in the summer an immense yellow-green sea of ​​grain sways here, fields of corn and sunflowers spread out.

In addition to the Kuban River, such steppe rivers (counting from south to north) as Kirpili flow into the Sea of ​​Azov from the east, pouring their waters into the Kirpilsky estuary; Beisug, flowing into the Beisugsky estuary; Chelbas, flowing into the Sladky Estuary; Eya, carrying water to the large Yeisk estuary, and, finally, the small rivers Mokraya Chuburka and Kagalnik, flowing directly into the Sea of ​​Azov.

A characteristic feature of the landscape of the eastern coast of the Sea of ​​Azov, as noted above, is the presence of numerous estuaries.

Don Delta

In its northeastern part, the Sea of ​​Azov forms the vast, highly elongated Taganrog Bay, into which one of the largest rivers in the European part of Russia, the Don, flows. Its length is 1,870 kilometers, and its drainage area is 422,000 square kilometers. The Don annually carries an average of about 28.6 cubic kilometers of water into the sea. Significant masses of river water greatly desalinate the Taganrog Bay, and sediment carried by the river shallows it and leads to the growth of the Don delta, which covers an area of ​​340 square kilometers. The modern Don delta begins 6 kilometers below Rostov-on-Don, where the non-navigable Dead Donets branch separates from the river to the right.

There is always a lot of activity on the Don River; Various and numerous ships sail up and down the stream. Passenger ships, cargo ships and fishing boats cut through the calm surface of the mighty river.

Below the village of Elizavetinskaya, the Don begins to wind strongly along a wide low-lying valley, splitting into numerous branches and channels, which are locally called eriks. These branches and eriks become more and more numerous as you approach the Sea of ​​Azov.

The landscape here is unique. Everywhere you can see islands slightly rising above the water with intricately indented shores, covered with dense thickets of reeds. Islands close to the sea are constantly flooded sea ​​water, the vegetation on them is sparse or completely absent. With strong westerly winds, the waters of the Sea of ​​Azov rush to the mouth of the Don, back up the river waters, the Don overflows its banks, flooding not only the delta, but also the land almost 100 kilometers upstream.

Eastern winds blowing downstream of the Don have the opposite effect. There is a surge of water, sometimes so strong that not only the branches of the river become shallow, but also the Taganrog Bay, which disrupts normal navigation. The amplitude of surge phenomena is +3. -2 meters.

The Don carries an average of about 14 million tons of river sediment and about 9.5 million tons of dissolved minerals into the Sea of ​​Azov. Due to sediments, the Don Delta is growing, gradually moving further and further into the sea at a speed of approximately 1 kilometer per century.

Northern coast of the Sea of ​​Azov

North coast The Sea of ​​Azov stretches from the mouth of the Don to the city of Genichesk. In this area, a number of small rivers flow into the Sea of ​​Azov. Originating in the spurs of the Donetsk Ridge, the rivers Mius and Kalmius carry their waters to the sea. Originating on the low Azov upland, the rivers Berdya, Obitochnaya, Korsak and a number of other small rivers that dry up in summer flow into the Sea of ​​Azov. The northern coast is characterized by the presence of a number of sand spits, extending mainly from the north and northeast to the south and southwest, and the ends of the spits bend to the west, for example Krivaya, Belosarayskaya, Berdyansk.

Between the spits and the main shore of the Azov Sea, bays and estuaries are formed, for example Berdyansky and Obitochny. If we exclude the alluvial spits, then the entire rest of the northern coast of the Sea of ​​Azov is a flat steppe, mostly descending steeply to the sea. The spits and narrow coastal strip of the Sea of ​​Azov are composed mainly of Quaternary marine sediments. To the north, the plain is composed of loess, loess-like loams and clays of the late glacial period. Fertile black soils developed on these rocks. Even in the last century, vast feather grass-forb grasslands stretched here, and in the western half - feather grass-fescue steppes. Tarpans and wild camels grazed in them, and even earlier there were even red deer and moose. There were beavers in the rivers. During the flowering period, these steppes, in the words of N.V. Gogol, represented a green-golden ocean, over which millions of flowers splashed out. However, such steppes have long disappeared; they are almost completely plowed. They were replaced by endless fields of wheat, corn, sunflowers, orchards and vineyards.

Sea of ​​Azov - water

The hydrochemical features of the Sea of ​​Azov are formed primarily under the influence of the abundant influx of river water (up to 12% of the water volume) and difficult water exchange with the Black Sea. The salinity of the Sea of ​​Azov before the regulation of the Don was three times less than the average salinity of the ocean. Its value on the surface varied from 1 ppm at the mouth of the Don to 10.5 ppm in the central part of the sea and 11.5 ppm near the Kerch Strait. After the creation of the Tsimlyansky hydroelectric complex, the salinity of the Azov Sea began to increase (up to 13 ppm in the central part). Average seasonal fluctuations in salinity values ​​rarely reach 1%.

Water contains little salt. For this reason, the Sea of ​​Azov freezes easily, and therefore, before the advent of icebreakers, it was unnavigable from December to mid-April.

During the 20th century, almost everything more or less large rivers flowing into the Sea of ​​Azov were blocked by dams to create reservoirs. This has led to a significant reduction in discharge fresh water and silt into the Sea of ​​Azov.

Water regime of the Sea of ​​Azov

The water regime of the Sea of ​​Azov depends mainly on the influx of fresh river waters, atmospheric precipitation falling over the sea and the salty waters of the Black Sea entering it, on the one hand, and on the flow of water from the Sea of ​​Azov for evaporation and runoff through the Kerch Strait into the Black Sea - with another. The water balance of the Sea of ​​Azov is as follows. The Don, Kuban and other rivers flowing into the Sea of ​​Azov bring 38.8 cubic kilometers of water. The average long-term volume of precipitation on its surface is 13.8 cubic kilometers. 31.2 cubic kilometers of Black Sea water flow annually through the Kerch Strait, in addition, 0.3 cubic kilometers of water flows into the sea through the Tonky Strait from Sivash. The total influx of water is only 84.1 cubic kilometers. The water consumption from the Sea of ​​Azov consists of evaporation from its surface of 35.3 cubic kilometers, flow through the Kerch Strait into the Black Sea of ​​47.4 cubic kilometers and flow through the Tonky Strait into Sivash 1.4 cubic kilometers. The total water flow of the Sea of ​​Azov is also 84.1 cubic kilometers. Despite its small size, the Sea of ​​Azov receives a relatively large amount of river water, the amount of which is about 12% of its volume. The ratio of river flow to the volume of the Sea of ​​Azov is the largest of all seas globe. The excess of the inflow of river and atmospheric waters over evaporation from the sea surface would lead to its increasing desalination and increase in its level if there were no water exchange with the Black Sea. As a result of this water exchange, a salinity was established in the Sea of ​​Azov, favorable for the habitat of valuable commercial fish.

Oxygen mode

Due to the shallowness of the Azov Sea, its waters, as already noted, are usually well mixed, so oxygen is available in sufficient quantities throughout the entire water column. The dissolved oxygen content reaches 7-8 cubic centimeters per liter. However, in summer time There is often a lack of oxygen. This is due to a number of factors. Of great importance is the slowdown of the vertical circulation of water in the hot summer with no wind, when the upper, somewhat desalinated layer of sea water becomes lighter than the deeper layers, and there is no waves. This prevents aeration of the lower horizons. Favorable conditions for the occurrence of oxygen deficiency are also created by silt deposits rich in organic matter. If, after significant disturbances, calm weather sets in, then the agitated particles of silt remain suspended in the bottom layer of water for a long time and a lot of oxygen is spent on the oxidation of organic substances.

Lack of oxygen causes the phenomenon of so-called “starvation”, that is, the death of some of the sea animals inhabiting the bottom and thickness of the water.

Chemical composition

The large influx of river water into the Sea of ​​Azov and its difficult water exchange with the Black Sea are reflected in the chemical composition of Azov water. The Don, Kuban and other rivers flowing into the Sea of ​​Azov contribute over 15 million tons of salts, which are dominated by HCO3, SO4 and Ca ions. With atmospheric precipitation, over 760 thousand tons of salts enter the sea with almost the same ratio of ions as in river waters. But from the Black Sea comes water rich in Cl, Na and K ions. It brings over 556 million tons of salts to the Sea of ​​Azov. Yes, salt water from Sivash contributes about 6 million tons of salts. As a result of mixing these waters of different composition and the removal of more than 570 million tons of salts from the Sea of ​​Azov to the Black and Sivash, the modern chemical composition of the waters of the Sea of ​​Azov is formed. On average, the surface layers of the waters of the open part of the sea contain the following amount of ions (in grams per 1 kilogram of water): sodium - 3.496, potassium. - 0.132, magnesium - 0.428, calcium - 0.172, chlorine - 6.536, bromine - 0.021, sulfate ion - 0.929, bicarbonate ion - 0.169, and a total of 11.885.

A comparison of the waters of the Azov Sea and the ocean shows their similarity chemical composition. In the water of the Azov Sea, chlorides predominate, as in the ocean. But unlike ocean water, the salinity of the Sea of ​​Azov is much lower and the constancy of the ratio of the main salt-forming elements characteristic of the ocean is somewhat violated. In particular, compared to the ocean, the relative content of calcium, carbonates and sulfates in Azov water is increased, and chlorine, sodium and potassium is decreased.

Currently, the salinity of the Azov waters is distributed as follows. At the depths of the Kerchen region of the Azov Sea, where the saltier Black Sea water flows, the salinity reaches 17.5%. The entire central part of the sea is very uniform in salinity, here it is 12-12.5%. Only a small area here has a salinity of 13°/oo. In the Taganrog Bay, salinity decreases towards the mouth of the Don to 1.3%.

In spring and early summer, due to melting ice and a large influx of river water, salinity decreases. In autumn and winter it is almost the same from the surface to the bottom of the sea over a long distance. The highest salinity is observed in the isolated shallow bay of the Azov Sea Sivash, the lowest - in the Taganrog Bay. In addition to minerals, the waters of the Sea of ​​Azov contain many biogenic elements (that is, elements of organic origin), brought to the sea mainly by rivers. These elements include phosphorus, nitrogen and silicon. Scientists have calculated that rivers and waters of the Black Sea and precipitation bring 17,139 tons of phosphorus, 75,316 tons of nitrogen and 119,694 tons of silicon to the Sea of ​​Azov. Some of these substances are carried into the Black Sea, some are removed from the sea along with caught fish, but most of them are deposited in the ground at the bottom of the Sea of ​​Azov. Thus, about 13 thousand tons of phosphorus, about 31 thousand tons of nitrogen, and over 82 thousand tons of silicon are deposited.

The richness of the Azov Sea in nutrients creates favorable conditions for the development of life in this sea. This is explained by shallow waters and high biological productivity. All this creates favorable conditions for restoration processes.

Sea of ​​Azov - climate and temperature conditions

The climate of the Sea of ​​Azov is significantly influenced by the surrounding vast steppe spaces of Southern Ukraine, Ciscaucasia and Crimea with their rather dry climate. In the Azov region, average July temperatures range from +22 to +24°, January temperatures from 0 to +6°, and the average annual precipitation is 300-500 mm.

Of course, the Sea of ​​Azov also has a certain positive effect on the climate of the surrounding areas, moving towards a softening of continentality. However, due to small area In the Sea of ​​Azov, this influence is not particularly great and affects mainly in coastal areas, without spreading far into the interior of the wall spaces.

In relation to major meteorological processes, the Sea of ​​Azov is in unfavorable conditions, namely: in winter, a front of high atmospheric pressure passes to the north of it (the so-called “Voeikov axis”), from which cold continental air rushes to the sea, which leads to the freezing of the Azov Sea seas.

Over the Sea of ​​Azov, eastern and northeastern winds blow in winter, and southern, southwestern and western winds blow in summer, usually associated with the passage of subtropical cyclones and the establishment of a monsoon flow from the Atlantic Ocean.

In the summer, when a barometric pressure regime is established that is close to normal or slightly higher than normal, and cyclones pass less frequently, local circulation develops at sea in the form of breezes, that is, winds blowing from sea to land during the day, and from land to sea at night.

The Sea of ​​Azov is characterized by relatively cold but short winters, mild summers with an even distribution of temperatures, warm autumns compared to spring and high relative humidity. The average annual air temperature on the Sea of ​​Azov ranges from +9 to +11°. In summer, the temperature for all areas is almost the same. The maximum temperature in July is +35 - +40°. The transition from summer to winter is gradual. The first frosts in the Taganrog Bay on the northern coast occur in October, and in the southern part of the sea - in the first half of November. In winter, temperatures can drop to -25 - -30° and only in the Kerch region frosts usually do not exceed -8° (although in some years they can also reach -25 - -30°). In the coldest month of the year, January, average monthly temperature sea ​​air ranges from -1° to south coast Azov Sea to -6° in the north.

Relative air humidity in the Sea of ​​Azov is high all year round. Even in the warmest months it averages at least 75-85%.

Frequent winds increase evaporation, which is about 1000 millimeters per year for the entire Sea of ​​​​Azov.

The lowest temperatures of the surface layer of water are observed in the northern and eastern parts of the Sea of ​​Azov. Winter temperatures here range from 0 to +1° for December-February, summer temperatures for July-August range from +22 to +25°. The temperature of the surface layer of the Azov Sea in the western and southern coastal regions is higher and fluctuates in winter from 0 to +3°, and in summer it rises to +26°.

The average annual water temperature of the Azov Sea in the north is +11°, and in the south about +12°. In summer, the sea warms up very much and often the water temperature near the coast reaches +30 - +32°, and in the middle part +24 - +25°. In winter, when the water cools below zero, the Sea of ​​Azov is covered with ice. In other years, freeze-up lasts 4-4.5 months, from December to March. The thickness of the ice reaches 80-90 cm. Ice appears first in the Taganrog Bay, then in the Utlyuk, Yeisk, Beysug and Akhtar estuaries.

The coastal parts of the Azov Sea and the Taganrog Bay are covered with continuous ice cover. In the central part of the Sea of ​​Azov and in the Kerchen region, the ice is floating.

Sea of ​​Azov - fauna

Along the banks of rivers and reservoirs, on the spits of the Azov Sea there are a lot of waterfowl - geese, ducks, steppe waders, lapwings, red-breasted geese, mute swans, curlews, black-headed gulls, laughing gulls, quacks. The steppe reservoirs are inhabited by the marsh turtle, lake frog, pond frog, some mollusks - reel, pond snail, meadow snail, crayfish and about 30 species of fish.

Fish catch per hectare of surface in the Sea of ​​Azov is 80 kilograms, for comparison in the Black Sea - 2 kilograms, in the Mediterranean - 0.5 kilograms.

The Sea of ​​Azov is called sea ​​of ​​shellfish. It is an important source of food for fish. The most important representatives of mollusks are cordate, sandesmia, and mussel.

In terms of biological productivity, the Sea of ​​Azov ranks first in the world. The most developed are phytoplankton and benthos. Phytoplankton consists (in%) of: diatoms - 55, peridinia - 41.2, and blue-green algae - 2.2. Among the benthos biomass, mollusks occupy a dominant position. Their skeletal remains, represented by calcium carbonate, have a significant share in the formation of modern bottom sediment and accumulative surface bodies.

The ichthyofauna is of particular interest. More than 70 species of different fish live directly in the Sea of ​​Azov, including: beluga, sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, flounder, mullet, sprat, anchovy, ram, fisherman, shemaya, different kinds bulls

Tulka is the most numerous fish in the Sea of ​​Azov; its catch in some years reached 120 thousand tons. If you distribute all the Azov kilka among the 6.5 billion inhabitants of the planet, then everyone will get 15 fish.

In the Sea of ​​Azov and at the mouths of rivers flowing into it, as well as estuaries, 114 species and subspecies of fish are found.

The following groups of fish are distinguished:

Fish that spawn in river floodplains (migratory fish) are sturgeon (beluga, sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, vimba, shemaya). These are the most valuable species of commercial fish.

Fish that spawn in the lower reaches of rivers (semi-anadromous fish) - pike perch, bream, ram, carp.

Fish that do not leave the sea (marine) - sprat, goby, flounder.

Fish migrating to the Black Sea (marine) - anchovy, herring.

Among the Azov fish there are predators - pike perch, sterlet, beluga. But the majority of fish feed on plankton - sprat, anchovy, goby, bream. At the end of the 60-70s, the salinity of the sea reached 14% due to the arrival of Black Sea waters, along with which jellyfish entered the sea, the main diet of which is also plankton.

It is interesting to see how the number of Mediterranean plants decreases marine species animals and plants from west to east. More than 6,000 species of organisms are found in the Mediterranean Sea, 1,500 in the Black Sea, 200 in the Azov Sea, 28 in the Caspian Sea, and only 2 species of Mediterranean organisms in the Aral Sea. This suggests that these seas gradually separated from the Mediterranean Sea in the distant past.

Mullet, herring and anchovy (anchovies) in the spring they go from the Black Sea to the Azov Sea to feed. In autumn, when the water temperature drops to 6°, the fish return to the Black Sea. Sturgeon fish spawn in the Don, Kuban, and Dnieper rivers.

Flounder- flat fish, often lying on the ground, are distinguished by their ability to quickly change color to match the color of the underlying surface. In the skin of a flounder there are individual colored cells that, when moving, change its color. Scientists put colored glasses on flounders, and the fish tried to copy the color of their glasses. Interestingly, blind flounders are always black. They seem to see darkness in front of them and change body color accordingly. For some reason, flounder is considered one-eyed. This is incorrect, she actually has two eyes. Flounder weighs up to 15 kilograms and lives up to 25 years. Interestingly, its fry have a body shape that is flattened in a vertical plane; Gradually, one side of the fish’s body begins to develop faster than the other, and the flounder seems to lie on its side.

Belugas, in addition to their great weight, are also distinguished by their longevity. They live 70 - 80 years. True, compared to the pike, which lives up to 200 years, and the sea turtle, which lives 400 - 500 years, the beluga's lifespan is short, but compared to the lifespan of other marine fish, it is still significant. Probably not many people know that the age of fish is determined by their scales and cut bones. These parts of the fish's body have annual rings, just like those on trees. Beluga spawns in the same rivers as other sturgeon. Their caviar is highly valued.

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Complete information about the Sea of ​​Azov: its history and origin, where the sea got its name, information about seasonal fluctuations in water, why the water in the Sea of ​​Azov is cloudy and why the goby fish death occurs.

Sea of ​​Azov

Origin of the name of the Sea of ​​Azov

Where did the familiar name come from - the Sea of ​​Azov? They say that in the first century AD they called it Blue, and after the formation of the Tmutarakan principality, the sea received the name Russian. Then there was a whole series of new names: Samakush, Salakar and even Mayutis. And at the beginning of the thirteenth century, a new name was established - the Saksi Sea. The Tatar-Mongol conquerors added the following names to the collection of names of Azov: Balyk-dengiz, which means “sea of ​​fish” and Chabak-dengiz, meaning “sea of ​​bream.” Some see the root of the name “Azov” in the transformation of the name Chabak-dengiz. Another group believes that the name was the result of the transformation of the word “azak”, meaning the mouth of the river, into Azau, and then into the familiar Azov.

The uniqueness of the Sea of ​​Azov

The Sea of ​​Azov is part of the Atlantic basin. It is a continuation of a long chain of seas that begin with the Mediterranean, Marmara and Black Seas. The Sea of ​​Azov is connected directly to the ocean basin through a network of narrow straits; it is the smallest sea in the world, and at the same time the shallowest and most freshwater, at the same time it is the only sea to which the Donetsk region has access. The Azov Sea is a real sea, unlike the Caspian and Aral, which are essentially lakes because they have no connection with the world ocean.

Origin of the Sea of ​​Azov

It was formed somewhere at the end of the Mesozoic - the beginning of the Cenozoic, (Cenozoic era) from some gulf of the Black Sea during the rise of the Crimean Mountains. Crimean mountains- this is part of the Alpine folding, they arose simultaneously with the Alps, Tatras, Carpathians and the Greater Caucasus. The mountains rose and separated the sea, forming the Kerch Strait, connecting the Black and Azov Seas. Part of the land rose - the bottom of the Sea of ​​Azov, so it turned out to be shallow. The average depth of the sea is somewhere around 8 meters, the deepest recorded point in the Sea of ​​Azov is 14 meters, a well-trained diver can easily dive to the bottom anywhere in the Sea of ​​Azov. The area of ​​the Azov Sea is about 38 thousand square meters. km. Two main rivers flow into the sea - the Don and Kuban (aquifer rivers), due to which the sea water is diluted with fresh water, and the sea becomes less salty. This ensured its uniqueness in terms of the various living organisms that live there. The biogeocenosis that formed in the Sea of ​​Azov occupies a middle intermediate position between sea and lake. Fish that are considered freshwater go there to spawn - bream, pike perch. In addition, there are also fish that are considered marine - sturgeon, ram, etc., they coexist peacefully.

Due to the special composition of the water in the sea, there was little blue-green harmful algae, which often causes water to bloom (the phenomenon when algae multiply is called water bloom). Algae pollute the water, have a bad effect on fish and on the oxygen saturation of the water, because they take it away. All this provided a unique sanatorium regime for the vertebrate and invertebrate animals that live there.

Fluctuations in water level in the Sea of ​​Azov

Due to the fact that the Sea of ​​Azov is connected to the World Ocean, tidal fluctuations are observed there, but they are insignificant. Probably, almost every resident of the Donetsk region has visited the Sea of ​​Azov at least once in his life. holiday season, and personally saw daily fluctuations in water, somewhere within a few tens of centimeters. This is achieved due to the narrowness of the straits that connect the Sea of ​​Azov with the world ocean, where the influence of tidal phenomena is greatest. The effect of hydraulic resistance occurs, while this ebb and flow reaches our Sea of ​​Azov, it loses its strength, loses energy in the winding and narrow straits. Therefore, in the Sea of ​​Azov, daily fluctuations are not very noticeable, but seasonal fluctuations in sea level are very noticeable in it, the so-called wind surge phenomena - the movement of mass under the influence of constant winds. The official maximum recorded distance of the water's edge from the summer level is about 4.5 km. It recedes, the bottom is exposed: this effect can be seen if you pour water into a flat plate and blow strongly - the mass of water will move from one side of the plate to the other. Because of this phenomenon, small estuaries of the so-called “rotten sea” of Sivash, which is already adjacent to the eastern part of Crimea, are filled (exactly where the Red Army soldiers passed when the assault on Crimea took place in the 20th year, when Wrangel was knocked out). In summer, on the contrary, the Sivash and its inlets become shallow, even salt appears in some places, due to natural evaporation, pieces of salt come out and remain on the surface, these are the features and tricks of this sea.

Turbid water in the Sea of ​​Azov

The water in the Sea of ​​Azov is muddy, but this is not the fault of the sea itself, this does not happen because it is somehow dirty, rotten, etc. Two powerful rivers, the Kuban and the Don, flow through the plains, collecting silt particles along their path, suspended matter, clay particles, and throwing them into the sea. In the sea, mixing with the remains of microorganisms that are in the water, they form black mud, which accumulates on the bottom of the sea and has, to a certain extent, some medicinal properties balneological type (silt particles mixed with biogenic remains of life in the Sea of ​​​​Azov).

Recently, the Sea of ​​Azov has not been going through its best years, despite the fact that environmentalists talk about its pollution, nothing can be done about it yet, and here’s why: the waters of the Don and Kuban rivers are very intensively used to irrigate fields. Because of this, the so-called “daily flow” of the river drops significantly, and the influx of fresh water decreases. Consequently, the level of the sea itself drops and water from the Black Sea (through the Kerch Strait) begins to flow into the Sea of ​​Azov. There is an established stable Kerch Current, which carries water from the Black Sea to the Azov Sea. Before the start of intensive agricultural economic activity in the Stavrapol Territory, in the Don region, on the contrary, a reverse flow was observed, water flowed from the Sea of ​​Azov into the Black Sea, where it mixed with the water of the Black Sea (having a very slight effect). Now, on the contrary, there is an influx of salt water and the salinity of the sea increases every year. Most of all, this affected marine life - fish, which for a very long time spawned in less salty (almost fresh) water, and now the fish simply do not want to go to spawn in the Sea of ​​Azov.

Goby pestilence in the Sea of ​​Azov

As soon as the salinity of the water in the sea increased, less useful algae, which were unusual for the Sea of ​​Azov, began to multiply in it. IN last years The pestilence of goby fish has intensified in the Sea of ​​Azov; vacationers on the sea coast most often face this problem summer season, on many beaches resort towns gobies are thrown ashore. And they wash ashore due to lack of oxygen in the water. Receiving oxygen dissolved in water through their gills, they feel a lack of it, which is caused by a lack of oxygen in the water. There are in the sea a large number of algae, which also require oxygen for photosynthesis. By taking it out of the water, they deprive it of other marine life.

Silt in the Sea of ​​Azov

In addition, algae increase the siltation of the sea. The life span of algae is inexpensive, they die and their organic remains increase it. Siltation is affected not only by currents, but also by the decomposition of the remains of small-celled animals and plants that lived in this water. Dying, their organic remains sink to the bottom, subsequently turning into silt, and since the amount of algae in the sea only increases every year, the amount of silt will also increase proportionally.

The Sea of ​​Azov is one of those seas that completely freezes in winter. The Black Sea never freezes completely, but the Sea of ​​Azov freezes completely during frosty winters. The ice turns out to be mooring, it freezes to the shore and the entire water surface becomes covered with ice; if you wish, you can walk on such ice.

The Sea of ​​Azov is located in the south of the European part of Russia. It is connected by the narrow (up to 4 km) and shallow (4–3 m) Kerch Strait with.

The Sea of ​​Azov is the shallowest and one of the smallest seas in the world. Its area is 39 thousand km2, water volume is 290 km3, average depth is 7 m, greatest depth is 15 m.

The sea has a relatively simple outline. The northern coast is flat, steep, with alluvial sand spits. In the west it is separated from the sea by the bay, which is connected to the sea by the Strait of Henichesk. In the southeast, the delta of the Kuban River stretches for 100 km with extensive floodplains and numerous channels. The Kuban River flows into the Temryuk Bay. In the northeast, the largest bay of the sea protrudes into the land for 140 km - Taganrog Bay, the top of which is the delta of the Don River.

The shallow shores of the sea turn into a flat, flat bottom. Depths gradually increase with distance from the coast. The greatest depths are in the central part of the sea, the depths in the Taganrog Bay are from 2 to 9 m. Mud volcanoes are known in the Temryuk Bay.

Almost all river flow into the sea (more than 90%) comes from the Don and Kuban rivers. The vast majority of runoff occurs in the spring-summer season.

The main exchange of waters in the Sea of ​​Azov occurs through the Kerch Strait. According to average long-term data, about 49 km3 of water flows out of the Sea of ​​Azov by surface runoff annually. The resulting water flow from the Azov Sea to the Black Sea is about 15 km3/year.

The climate of the Sea of ​​Azov, which juts deep into the land, is continental. It is characterized by cold winters, dry and hot summers. In the autumn-winter season, the weather is determined by the influence of the spur of the Siberian anticyclone with a predominance of eastern and northeastern winds at a speed of 4–7 m/s. The increased impact of this spur causes strong winds (up to 15 m/s) and is accompanied by intrusions of cold air. The average monthly temperature in January is –1…–5°С; during northeastern storms it drops to –25…–27°С.

In spring and summer, warm, clear weather with light winds prevails. In July, the average monthly temperature throughout the sea is 23–25°C, and the maximum is more than 30°C. During this season, especially in spring, Mediterranean cyclones often pass over the sea, accompanied by western and southwestern winds at a speed of 4–6 m/s, and sometimes squalls.

The main types of bottom sediments common in the Sea of ​​Azov are silts, silts, sands, shell rocks and mixed sediments.
Silts accumulate in the deepest parts, in a hydrodynamically calm environment, and occupy the maximum areas of distribution. Aleurites are transitional varieties that border the central part of the reservoir and accumulate at a slight distance from the shore and in the apex of the Taganrog Bay. Sands and shell rocks are most widespread on accumulative forms, sand and shell banks, as well as spits and beaches.

The small size and shallow depths of the sea contribute to the rapid development of wind waves. A few hours after the start of the wind, the waves reach a steady state and die out just as quickly when the wind stops. The waves are short, steep, and in the open sea reach a height of 1–2 m, sometimes up to 3 m.

Interannual sea level fluctuations, determined by long-term changes in the components of the water balance, amount to several centimeters. Seasonal changes levels mainly depend on the mode. The annual variation of the level is characterized by its increase in the spring-summer months and decrease in autumn and winter, the range of fluctuations is on average 20 cm.

The prevailing winds over the sea cause significant surge fluctuations in the level. The most significant rises in level were observed in Taganrog - up to 6 m.

With sudden changes in wind, seiches can occur in the Sea of ​​Azov - free standing fluctuations in level. In port waters, seiches are generated with periods of several hours.

Currents in the sea are excited mainly by the wind. The level slope created as a result of the action of the wind causes compensatory currents. In the pre-estuary areas of the Don and Kuban rivers, discharge currents can be traced.

Under the influence of western and southwestern winds, a clockwise circulation of water is formed in the sea. Cyclonic circulation is also excited by eastern and northeastern winds, which are stronger in the northern part of the sea. With the same winds, but stronger in the southern part of the sea, the currents have an anticyclonic character. In light winds and calms, minor currents of alternating directions are observed.

Since weak and moderate winds prevail over the sea, currents with speeds of up to 10 cm/s have the greatest frequency. In strong winds (15–20 m/s), current speeds are 60–70 cm/s.

In the Kerch Strait, with northerly winds, a current from the Sea of ​​Azov is observed, and with winds with a southern component, Black Sea water flows into the sea. The prevailing current speeds in the strait increase from 10–20 to 30–40 cm/s in its narrowest part. After strong winds, compensatory currents develop in the strait.

Ice forms on the Sea of ​​Azov every year, and ice cover strongly depends on the nature of winter. In moderate winters, ice forms in the Taganrog Bay by early December. During December, fast ice sets along northern shore sea, and a little later - along the remaining shores. The width of the fast ice strip is from 1.5 km in the south to 6 km in the north. In the central part of the sea, only at the end of January - beginning of February does floating ice appear, which then freezes into ice fields of high concentration (9–10 points). The ice cover reaches its greatest development in the first half of February, when its thickness is 30–40 cm, in the Taganrog Bay - 60–80 cm.

Ice conditions during the winter are unstable. When changing cold and warm air masses and wind fields over the sea, the cracking and drift of ice fields and the formation of hummocks repeatedly occur. In mild winters, the central part of the sea is usually free of ice; it is observed only along the coast, in bays and estuaries.

Clearing of the sea from ice in moderate winters occurs during March, first in the southern regions and river mouths, then in the north and last of all in the Taganrog Bay. The average duration of the ice period is 4.5 months.

In winter, in almost the entire water area, the surface water temperature is negative or close to zero, only near the Kerch Strait it rises to 1–3°C. In summer, the surface temperature throughout the sea is uniform - 24–25°C. Maximum values ​​in July–August in the open sea reach 28°C, and off the coast they can exceed 30°C.
The shallowness of the sea promotes the rapid spread of wind and convective mixing to the bottom, which leads to a leveling of the vertical temperature distribution: its difference in most cases does not exceed 1°C. However, in summer, when there is calm, a temperature jump layer is formed, limiting the exchange with the bottom layers.

The spatial distribution of salinity under the conditions of the natural influx of river waters was quite uniform; horizontal gradients were observed only in the Taganrog Bay, at the outlet of which a salinity of 6–8‰ prevailed. In the water area open sea salinity was in the range of 10–11‰. Vertical gradients were observed sporadically in almost all areas, mainly due to the influx of Black Sea waters. Seasonal changes did not exceed 1‰, only in the Taganrog Bay they increased under the influence of the intra-annual distribution of runoff.

Hydrocarbon deposits of the Sea of ​​Azov

In the Sea of ​​Azov, two areas are distinguished: the oil and gas Indolo-Kuban region, which corresponds to the trough of the same name in the structure of the basement and sedimentary cover, and the gas-bearing Western Ciscaucasia, which includes almost the entire remaining water area, with the exception of the eastern part of the Taganrog Bay. The latter is assigned to the Central Ciscaucasia gas-bearing region.

The oil and gas potential of the Azov Sea is associated with a wide range of sediments. It includes pre-Cretaceous (Triassic) deposits of the transitional (intermediate) complex and Cretaceous-Cenozoic strata of the sedimentary cover of the Scythian plate. According to deep exploratory drilling and well testing data, five oil and gas bearing and promising complexes have been identified in the water area: pre-Cretaceous, Lower Cretaceous, Upper Cretaceous-Eocene, Maikop and Middle Miocene-Pliocene. At the same time, industrial productivity was established only in the deposits of the Maikop series and the Middle-Upper Miocene, in which gas deposits were discovered.

In the Western Ciscaucasia region, in the zone of the Azov swell, Maikop deposits are productive in the Morskaya, Nebolskaya, West Beysugskaya, Beisugskaya and Strelkovaya areas. The gas content of Middle-Upper Miocene deposits has been established in the Obruchevskaya, Signalnaya, Zapadno-Beisugskaya and Oktyabrskaya areas. It should be noted that in the Beysugskaya area, which is, as it were, the border between the local uplifts of the Azov and Kanevsko-Berezansky swells, the main gas reserves are associated with the Eocene sandy-clayey formations of the Tikhoretsk and Cherkasy formations; Lower Cretaceous deposits are also productive, although gas reserves in them are insignificant.

In the offshore part of the Indolo-Kuban region, industrial gas content has been established in the Middle Miocene clayey-carbonate formations in the North, North-Bulganak, North and East and Seismic exploration areas.

All gas deposits identified in the water area are located in the depth range of 300–1500 m, the reservoir pressures in them are close to hydrostatic, the initial flow rates of the wells are small and amount to the first tens of thousands of m3/day.

The volume of predicted hydrocarbon resources in the Sea of ​​Azov, estimated in 2002, amounted to about 1.5 billion tons of fuel equivalent (CF), including 757.4 million tons of fuel equivalent in the Russian sector of the Azov Sea. Of these, in the Indolo-Kuban trough - 35.7 million tons of carbon fuel, at the Timashov stage - 372.8 million tons of carbon fuel, on the Azov shaft - 342.1 million tons of carbon fuel and in the North Azov trough - 6.9 million tons of carbon fuel.

Until the recent past, the Azov Sea was the most productive fishing reservoir in the world. The ichthyofauna of the Azov Sea has a complex genesis and includes representatives of various faunal complexes - Mediterranean, Ponto-Caspian, boreal-Atlantic and freshwater. Currently it includes 103 species and subspecies of fish. Of these, 14 species are rare, 7 are endangered and vulnerable. The number of marine species is 39, freshwater - 8, anadromous and catadromous migrants - 14, brackish-water - 42. Average catches per unit of its water area were 70–80 kg/ha. In the second half of the 30s of the twentieth century, annual catches of “white” and “red” fish together with herring reached 140–170 thousand tons.

This was mainly determined by extremely favorable physical-geographical and, in particular, hydrometeorological conditions, which include:

• inland location of the Sea of ​​Azov in temperate latitudes on the southern edge of the Russian Plain;
• temperate continental climate;
• a large influx of total solar radiation (from 4.9 to 5.3 thousand MJ/m2), positive per year, causing a relatively high average annual and summer (11.5 ° C and 24–25 ° C, respectively);
• character determining, in particular, intense wind mixing of waters;
• a large, relative to the volume of the sea, influx of river waters enriched with nutrients, which determines a positive fresh balance;
• reduced salinity, approximately three times, compared to ocean waters;
• high concentrations of biogenic salts in its waters (total nitrogen on average 1000 mg/m3, including mineral - 120 mg/m3; total phosphorus - 65 mg/m3, including mineral - 9 mg/m3; silicon - 570 mg/m3 m3).

To a large extent, the high fish productivity of the Azov Sea was associated with the presence of huge areas (most of which have now been lost as a result of hydraulic engineering construction), floodplain and estuary spawning grounds for anadromous and semi-anadromous fish, the reproduction of which was ensured by a high and long spring season (55% of the annual volume in the natural period and 29% in modern times) or spring-summer floods.

Characterized by low inertia and rapid response to variability in river flow and processes that determine large spatiotemporal variability of not only hydrophysical and parameters, but also biological characteristics.

Currently, due to the impact of economic activities (mainly irrational fishing), commercial catches in the Azov Sea basin do not exceed 40 thousand tons, and the bulk of the catches are made up of only low-value fish species: sprat, anchovy, gobies, as well as an acclimatized species - sawn gas. Such valuable fish species as sturgeon, herring, vimba, shemaya, bream, carp, etc., which in the recent past formed the basis of the fishery, have now almost completely lost their commercial importance.

The regulation of the Don River in 1952 (the creation of the Tsimlyansk Reservoir), the reduction in flow volume by 13–15 km3 per year and other consequences of economic activities in the sea basin caused serious negative changes in the sea ecosystem.

A 30% decrease in the annual flow of the Don River and a significant reduction in the volume of floods caused a decrease in spawning areas and disrupted the conditions for the reproduction of freshwater species.

The quantity and composition of nutrients entering the sea and their distribution throughout the year have changed significantly. Most of the suspended solids settle in the Tsimlyansk reservoir; their quantity introduced into the sea in spring and early summer has decreased significantly; the supply of mineral forms of phosphorus and nitrogen decreased and the amount of organic forms, which are more difficult for organisms to assimilate, sharply increased. Nutrients reaching the sea are mainly consumed in the Taganrog Bay and are carried out into the open sea in small quantities.

Pollution of river and sea waters with various harmful chemicals - phenols, and in some areas of the sea - petroleum products has increased. The greatest pollution is observed in the estuary areas of the Don and Kuban rivers and in the water areas adjacent to major ports. These environmental changes have led to a sharp drop in the biological productivity of the sea. The food supply of fish has decreased several times, and the total catches, mainly of valuable fish species, have decreased.

The water management situation in the sea basin is very tense. Currently, an average of about 28 km3 of river water enters the sea per year. With such a volume of runoff, it is possible to maintain its salinity within the range of 13–14‰. A further increase in water consumption in the reservoir basin is unacceptable, as this will cause an irreversible increase in salinity to the level of the Black Sea and will lead to deterioration of living conditions for the most valuable marine organisms.

The Sea of ​​Azov, especially its Russian part, is a zone favorable for the accumulation of a wide variety of pollutants, primarily because the bottom of this basin is almost completely covered with silts of different compositions that accumulate a variety of pollutants. At the same time, it is in the Russian part of this basin that most of the main sources of these pollutants are concentrated. These are, first of all, the large rivers Don and Kuban, as well as a number of port cities, including such a large center as Rostov-on-Don. Almost all such sources are located in the Taganrog Bay, and Mariupol, which is one of the main polluters, is located in the territory, its influence is also felt in the Russian part of the bay. In addition, the Taganrog Bay has the largest extent of abrasion shores in the Sea of ​​Azov, many sections of which are subject to catastrophic erosion. Thus, the Taganrog Bay and its shores are the least environmentally stable in the entire Azov Sea. Smaller zones of pollution associated with the removal of pollutants from the land are outlined on the pre-estuary seaside of the Kuban and at the mouth of its Ponury channel, where water flows from rice paddies.

An important place in the Sea of ​​Azov, due to the nature of pollution, is occupied by a special strip of water area - the route of ships from the Kerch Strait to the Taganrog Bay. A special area in terms of environmental danger on the Russian coast of the Sea of ​​Azov is the zone of Kuban floodplains from Primorsko-Akhtarsk to Temryuk. Over the past 100 years, this entire area has been subject to catastrophic flooding twice during storm surges from the northwest.

Recreational resources

The total length of the Sea of ​​Azov (within Russia) is about 1000 km and covers a vast territory within the Rostov region and Krasnodar region. The coastal zone of the sea has favorable natural and climatic conditions for the development of recreational facilities. Recreational resources flat territory and the Eastern Azov region, of course, lose popular resorts Black Sea region, but upon careful consideration they can make a certain contribution to solving the problems of treatment and active rest population. Currently, it is advisable to use the territory to create the actual types of recreational systems (that is, only for recreation); the organization of medical and resort areas is possible only on the basis of deposits mineral waters and healing mud. Favorable natural conditions(sunshine, warm sea, sandy beaches, the presence of balneological springs) create a relatively favorable combination for organizing recreation, tourism and, possibly, treatment, designed to meet the needs of different groups of the population. To improve the recreational qualities of the territory, it is necessary to resume work on drawing up a regional program for recreational environmental management, creating a network of medical and health enterprises that use the local natural potential and are designed primarily for local resident, as well as activities to develop standards and recommendations for the rational use of the coastal zone.

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The smallest, shallowest and most freshwater sea in the world, the Sea of ​​Azov is not inferior to the Black Sea in popularity among Crimean tourists. Warm water sandy beaches, cozy bays - the best place recreation for children and adults. The shores of the Azov Sea are popular with skysurfers and divers. Despite ecological problems, interest in local waters among fishermen continues. In the generous sea you can still catch gobies, flounder, mullet and anchovy... And the Sea of ​​Azov is also called the paradise of shellfish, because this is where it lives great amount mussels!

By the blue sea

Many millions of years ago, the Sea of ​​Azov was part of the vast Tethys Ocean. The history of the formation of the reservoir is closely connected with the geological past of the Crimea, the Caucasus, the Black and Caspian Seas. Under the influence of internal processes, the earth's crust either sank or rose, forming mountain ranges. Subsequently, the stone blocks eroded the waters and were destroyed by the winds, turning them into plains. As a result, the waters of the World Ocean either flooded individual areas of land or exposed them. Only in the Cenozoic era did the outlines of the continents and seas become the way we are accustomed to seeing them on modern maps. At this time, in the process of raising the Crimean Mountains, one of the bays of the Black Sea turns into a separate body of water. Crimea emerges, separated by the narrow Kerch Strait from the mainland and connecting the Black and Azov Seas. In ancient times, this strait was called the Cimmerian Bosporus. The hint of the shallowness of the strait is obvious, since “bospor” translated means “bull ford”.

Within the Crimean Peninsula, the southern coast of the Sea of ​​Azov is mostly steep cliffs. Such, for example, is Cape Kazantip, at the base of which lies a reef - an atoll. To the west of this cape is the Arabat Bay, to the east - Kazantip Bay. To the east of Kazantip there is a low-lying alluvial section of the coast. The shores of the bays are composed of soft clayey rocks. South of Cape Kazantip is the relict salt lake Aktash. It is a remnant of the Kazantip Bay, which once protruded deeply into the land.

There are no large islands in the Sea of ​​Azov, but there are a number of shoals, partially flooded with water and located near the coast. Such are, for example, the islands of Biryuchiy, Turtle and others.

The depth of the smallest and shallowest sea in the world does not exceed 14 meters. The volume of the entire reservoir is 320 cubic meters. For comparison, the Aral Sea is 2 times larger in area than the Sea of ​​Azov, and the Black Sea is almost 11 times larger!

However, the main advantage is not the size! It is not for nothing that in ancient times the Sea of ​​Azov was called “fish” or “bream”. Its generous waters have fed people from time immemorial.

origin of name

In Rus', the Sea of ​​Azov became known in the 1st century AD. They called it then the Blue Sea. After the formation of the Tmutarakan principality, the reservoir was nicknamed Russian. Subsequently, the sea was renamed many times: Samakush, Salakar, Mayutis, there were many variations. Finally, at the beginning of the 13th century, the name Saksi Sea was approved.

The Tatar-Mongol conquerors added to the collection of names of Azov, calling it in their own way - Balyk-dengiz, which translated means “sea of ​​fish”.

Another version of the origin of the name of the reservoir says: azak is a Turkic adjective meaning “low or low-lying.”

In the Middle Ages, the Russians called the Sea of ​​Azov the Surozh Sea.

However, the origin of the name from the city of Azov should be considered the most reliable. There are also a number of hypotheses regarding the etymology of the word “Azov”, one of which is associated with the name of the Polovtsian prince Azum (Azuf), who was killed during the capture of the city in 1067.

It is generally accepted that the modern name of the Sea of ​​Azov came into Russian toponymy at the beginning of the 17th century thanks to the chronicle of Pimen. At first, it was assigned only to its part - the Taganrog Bay, and only during the Azov campaigns of Peter I the name Azov spread to the entire reservoir.

The ancient Greeks, in turn, called the Sea of ​​Azov Mayotis Estuary - “Meotian Lake”, and the Romans - “Meotian Swamp”. In those days, its southern and eastern shores were inhabited by people - the Meotians. This unflattering nickname is associated with shallow and swampy waters. eastern shores reservoir

The first map of Maeotis was compiled by Claudius Ptolemy; he determined the geographical coordinates for cities, river mouths, capes and bays of the Azov Sea coast.

In 1068, the Russian prince Gleb measured the distance between Kerch and Taman along the ice. It is known that the Sea of ​​Azov freezes completely during particularly cold winters, so you can easily walk on it without fear of falling through the ice.

As evidenced by the inscription on the Tmutarakan stone, the distance from Tmutarakan to Korchev (the ancient name of Taman and Kerch) was approximately 20 kilometers. It turns out that in 939 years this distance has increased by 3 kilometers.

From the 12th to 14th centuries, the Genoese and Venetians also began to compile portolans - nautical maps of the Black and Azov Seas. During the reign of the Italians in Crimea, a variety of fish were actively caught in the Sea of ​​Azov. Trade flourished, and sturgeon caught in Azov were delivered alive to Constantinople.

By the way, one of the routes of the Great Silk Road passed at the confluence of the Don into the Sea of ​​Azov. From here followed the roads to all major cities states located on the coast of the Azov and Black Seas, such as Phanagoria, Kafa (Feodosia), Olvia, Sugdeya (Sudak) and Sevastopol.

Catch fish big and small...

Despite its shallow waters, the Sea of ​​Azov has long been famous for its wealth underwater world. This is due to the special composition of the water. For several thousand years, two powerful rivers Don and Kuban flowed into the reservoir, which desalinated local waters. As a result, a special system of community of living organisms was formed, which occupies a middle position between the marine and lake habitats, which is called a biocenosis. “Lightly salted water” attracted attention to the sea of ​​freshwater fish species such as bream and pike perch. At the same time, marine representatives continue to spawn here: sturgeon, ram and others. For a long time, freshwater did not allow blue-green algae to multiply, which causes water to bloom, “sucking” oxygen from it, which is so necessary for fish for normal life. This factor allowed Azov to be very prolific for decades.

Another record for the Sea of ​​Azov - it ranks first in the world in terms of biological productivity. Among the benthos biomass, mollusks occupy a dominant position. Their remains, represented by calcium carbonate, have a significant share in the formation of modern bottom sediment. It’s not for nothing that the Sea of ​​Azov is also called the sea of ​​mollusks. These marine fauna are an important source of fish nutrition. Prominent representatives of this type of underwater inhabitants are the heartfish, sandesmia and mussel.

The Sea of ​​Azov is home to more than 70 species of different fish, including: beluga, sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, flounder, mullet, sprat, anchovy, ram, vimba, shemaya, and various types of gobies.

The most numerous fish is the sprat, and today it pleases zealous fishermen. They say that in especially generous years, its catch reached 120 thousand tons!

At the mouths of rivers flowing into the sea, as well as in estuaries, 114 species and subspecies of fish are found. Among them there are predators - pike perch, sterlet and beluga.

At the end of the 60-70s, the salinity of the sea reached 14% due to the arrival of Black Sea waters, along with which jellyfish entered the sea. Their appearance turned out to be a bad omen.

Lately, the Sea of ​​Azov has not been experiencing the best better times. Environmentalists are sounding the alarm, but there is no real action to save the reservoir’s ecosystem. the main problem- increase in water salinity. The waters of the Don and Kuban rivers are withdrawn for irrigation and the influx of fresh water into Azov is reduced. At the same time, salt water from the Black Sea flows through the Kerch Strait. The change in salt percentage immediately affected fish that were accustomed to spawning in desalinated water. One problem leads to a chain of others. As soon as the water became more salty, harmful algae, alien to the flora of the Azov Sea, began to multiply in it. In recent years, a sad picture has been observed - a massive pestilence of gobies. Due to the lack of oxygen, which is drawn out by underwater vegetation, the fish are thrown ashore and die.

Today, scientists are puzzling over how to help the Sea of ​​Azov. It is useless to hope that agricultural land will stop being irrigated. There are proposals related to the artificial narrowing of the Kerch Strait. Perhaps this measure would slightly reduce the flow of salt water, and thus the unique ecosystem of the Azov Sea would be saved.

The Sea of ​​Azov is a truly valuable gift of nature to the residents of Southern Ukraine, and in particular the Zaporozhye region, a gentle, warm sea to which our region is lucky to have access.

The Sea of ​​Azov is part of the Atlantic Ocean basin. It is part of a very long chain of seas, which starts in the Mediterranean Sea, then the Sea of ​​Marmara, the Black Sea and ends with the Sea of ​​Azov itself. Constant communication of water with the world's oceans occurs directly through a network of straits, such as the Kerch Strait, the Bosporus Strait, the Dardanelles and, of course, Gibraltar itself.

It should be noted that the Sea of ​​Azov is not only the smallest sea in the world, but also the freshest and shallowest sea on planet Earth.

What about the salinity of the Azov Sea? Unlike the Aral and Caspian Sea, which are essentially large lakes, because they are not connected by straits to the world ocean. Therefore, purely by geographical rules and concepts, they can only be considered large lakes, and the Sea of ​​Azov is precisely a classical sea.

How the Sea of ​​Azov Appeared

The process of formation of the Sea of ​​Azov began during the period of the end of the Mesozoic - the end of the Cenozoic. The Sea of ​​Azov was formed from one of the bays of the Black Sea after the rise of the Crimean mountains. The Crimean mountains, by their rise, formed themselves Crimean peninsula, which to this day separates the Azov and Black Seas by the narrow Kerch Strait. In general, the Crimean Mountains belong to the Alpine folding, because they appeared simultaneously with such mountains as the Alps, Tatras, and Carpathians.

Part of the land rose and formed the modern bottom of the Sea of ​​Azov, which is why it turned out to be so unusually shallow. You will be surprised, but the depth of the Sea of ​​Azov on average does not exceed 8 meters. And this makes the Sea of ​​Azov the shallowest sea in the world! Maximum depth Sea of ​​Azov was recorded at a point of 14 meters. One can easily imagine that any diver with sufficient training can easily reach the bottom of the sea anywhere.

The total area of ​​the Sea of ​​Azov is 39 thousand square kilometers. In terms of area, the Sea of ​​Azov is considered the smallest sea (if we compare with other seas).

Salinity of the Azov Sea

If we talk about salinity, it changed over a long period of time. Considering the fact that previously it was only part of the Black Sea, and the water here was just as salty. After all, the Black Sea is connected to the world ocean much more strongly and regularly receives salt water from the Mediterranean Sea.

Low salinity in the Sea of ​​Azov arose gradually, over a long period of time (possibly even several thousand years), due to the waters of two large inflow rivers that flow into the sea. These are large rivers - Kuban and Don. So, fresh river water gradually diluted sea water and reduced the degree of salinity. This clearly ensured the uniqueness of the Sea of ​​Azov due to the habitat of a large number of different living organisms. In the Sea of ​​Azov, an average biogeocenosis has formed, between lake and sea.

Flora and Fauna of the Azov Sea

Both freshwater fish, such as pike perch and bream, come to spawn in the Sea of ​​Azov, and sea fish, such as ram and sturgeon, etc., spawn. They were able to coexist peacefully in this amazing body of water. The low freshwater content of the sea ensures the presence of very small amounts of harmful blue-green algae, which often cause the water to bloom in various seas. Blooming water is a natural phenomenon when, during active reproduction, algae affect the composition of the upper layers of water. Blue-green algae, as a rule, negatively affect fish, pollute water and affect the oxygen saturation of water, actively absorbing it. The Sea of ​​Azov was able to provide a truly unique, sanatorium-like regime for the living organisms that live in it (both invertebrates and vertebrates).

Ebbs and flows in the Sea of ​​Azov

Since the Sea of ​​Azov is directly connected to the world ocean, tidal fluctuations of water can be observed here, but they are very insignificant here. Every resident of the Zaporozhye region, who has been to the Sea of ​​Azov at least once, should have paid attention to minor daily fluctuations in sea water, no more than a few tens of centimeters. This effect (the effect of hydraulic resistance) is ensured by the presence of a narrow strait connecting the Sea of ​​Azov with the waters of the world ocean, on the coast of which we can observe the most obvious tidal phenomena. While the tide reaches the waters of the Azov Sea, it gradually loses its energy and strength in narrow and winding straits, such as the Turkish Bosporus and Dardanelles. That is why in our sea daily fluctuations are practically unnoticeable.

Seasonal Movement of Large Masses of Water

But there is also another side to the coin. In the Sea of ​​Azov, seasonal fluctuations in sea level are very noticeable due to the influence of wind surges. This is when a large mass of water moves under the influence of constant winds. IN winter time in the steppes of the Azov region, seasonal strong winds are established that blow in a westerly direction, and in the spring-summer period, the wind blows in the opposite direction most of the time east direction. These winds blow on the water mass of the Sea of ​​​​Azov and in winter the sea retreats, exposing the bottom, and it is possible to record the withdrawal of water from the summer line in some places up to 4 kilometers. This effect works on the principle of a shallow plate of water. If you start blowing strongly on a plate from one side, then a mass of water will be moved from one side of this plate to the other. You can observe this effect firsthand in winter, when the estuaries and channels of Sivash (the so-called “Sea of ​​Fire”) are filled. And in the summer, everything happens exactly the opposite, Sivash becomes smaller and in many places salt appears, formed in the process of natural evaporation, and the soil becomes salinized. The water itself returns to the eastern side of the reservoir. This is how the Sea of ​​Azov is “special” and “cunning”.

Useful Properties of Healing Mud

Many people ask us “why is the water in the Sea of ​​Azov so cloudy?” Yes, all residents of the region and vacationers who have at least once visited the coast of the Azov Sea could notice that during waves, the water becomes quite cloudy. But this has nothing to do with the environmental pollution of the sea, and it should not be considered “dirty”. You just need to take into account the fact that two large, full-flowing plain rivers Don and Kuban flow into the Sea of ​​Azov and, flowing through the plains, collect various silt particles on their way. Basically, this is fine clastic material, river silt or silty particles and constantly “throws” a stream of water into the sea, where these particles mix with various remains of microorganisms living in sea water. This entire biological mixture forms our “Black Healing Mud” of the Azov Sea, which accumulates at the bottom of the sea and has healing properties of a balneological type. It is the mixture of biogenic remains of simple life in the Sea of ​​Azov and the muddy mixture that has a positive effect on human health.

Ecology of the Azov Sea

Recently, there have been rumors that environmental problems have appeared in the Azov Sea. This is only partially true. In terms of the degree of environmental pollution, the Sea of ​​Azov can be considered cleaner than the Black Sea, due to the significantly lower degree of navigation on the reservoir. The state of the Sea of ​​Azov is mainly influenced by the technogenic impact of human activity during agricultural work. The main problem of the Sea of ​​Azov is that the waters of the same deep rivers Don and Kuban are very much taken by farmers to irrigate their fields. During the summer, fields directly absorb water, and the daily productivity of these rivers drops significantly. With a decrease in the influx of fresh water, the level of the Azov Sea itself drops accordingly, and more water begins to flow into it through the Kerch Strait. salty water from the Black Sea. In fact, a fairly constant current has already formed, and salty water constantly flows from the Black Sea to the Azov Sea. Scientists have recorded the fact that with a decrease in the intensity of agricultural work, on the contrary, there was a noticeable flow of water back from the Sea of ​​Azov to the Black Sea.

Previously, water flowing out of the Sea of ​​Azov could easily mix with the rest of the salt water. But now, the influx of salt water is gradually affecting the increase in salinity of the Azov Sea. This dramatically affected the local fauna and fish, which were accustomed to spawning in almost fresh water. The fish population has dropped significantly, as have the incomes of fish enterprises that fish in the Sea of ​​Azov, since fish simply do not want to spawn as actively as before in the Sea of ​​Azov. The fish have no incentives and external factors significantly influence the desire of the fish to produce offspring. Scientists don't yet know what can be done about it. It is unlikely that people will stop watering fields and taking water from rivers. The only thing that can be a fairly effective deterrent is an artificial narrowing of the Kerch Strait to reduce the flow of water.

Change in Ecosystem

Another problem in the Sea of ​​Azov is also directly related to the increase in water salinity. After all, harmful blue-green algae, which had never been in this body of water before, began to actively multiply in salt water. With the intensive proliferation of algae, such a phenomenon as the “pest of gobies” has become more frequent. The bullheads washed ashore and lay on the Belosarayskaya spit and on the Berdyansk spit. Previously, whales were thrown out, but now gobies. They are thrown out due to a lack of oxygen in the water, which they took in with their gills in salt water. Harmful algae multiply intensively, consume a lot of oxygen for their photosynthesis and the gobies become unable to breathe. So they are thrown out and die. The only salvation for fish on hot August days can only be a slight disturbance of the water. The algae themselves do not live very long and also die off over time, increasing the overall siltation of the reservoir. When we talk about “useful black mud”, or part of the biogenic remains of small-celled organisms and plants carried by rivers, they also die and increase the overall siltation, settling to the bottom of the Sea of ​​Azov. The number of these dying microorganisms has increased significantly in recent years, so we are seeing general pollution of the sea with natural elements.

Freezing of the Azov Sea

The Sea of ​​Azov is one of the few seas in the world that can completely freeze in winter. For example, the Black Sea never freezes completely, even in the harshest winters, but Azov freezes, and even so that the ice turns out to be “soldered”, it completely freezes to the shore, the sea is covered with ice and in winter you can easily walk with one side of the sea to the other (but this is only subject to good frost for a long time).

THE SEA OF AZOV - IN PICTURES