The seas of Russia are the Caspian Sea. The Caspian Sea is one of the most amazing enclosed bodies of water on Earth. To the east of the Caspian Sea is

Is it correct to call the Caspian a sea?

It is known that the sea is part of the oceans. From this geographically correct point of view, the Caspian cannot be considered a sea, because it is separated from the ocean by huge land masses. The shortest distance from the Caspian to the Black Sea, the closest of the seas included in the system of the World Ocean, is 500 kilometers. Therefore, it would be more correct to speak of the Caspian as a lake. This is the world's largest lake, often referred to simply as the Caspian or lake-sea.

The Caspian Sea has a number of features of the sea: its water is salty (however, there are other salt lakes), the area is not much inferior to the area of ​​such seas as the Black, Baltic, Red, North, and even exceeds the area of ​​Azov and some others (however, the Canadian Lake Superior also has a huge area , like the three Seas of Azov). In the Caspian, fierce storm winds and huge waves are frequent (and this is not uncommon in Baikal).

So, after all, the Caspian Sea is a lake? That's Wikipedia says it Yes, and the Great Soviet Encyclopedia answers that no one has yet been able to give an exact definition of this issue - "A generally accepted classification does not exist."

Do you know why this is very important and fundamental? And here's why...

The lake belongs to internal waters - the sovereign territories of coastal states, to which the international regime does not apply (the principle of non-intervention of the UN in the internal affairs of states). But the water area of ​​the sea is divided differently, and the rights of coastal states are completely different here.

By its geographical position, the Caspian itself, in contrast to the land territories surrounding it, has not been the object of any targeted attention from the coastal states for many centuries. Only at the beginning of the XIX century. between Russia and Persia, the first treaties were concluded: Gulistan (1813) 4 and Turkmanchay (1828), summing up the results of the Russian-Persian war, as a result of which Russia annexed a number of Transcaucasian territories and received the exclusive right to keep a navy in the Caspian sea. Russian and Persian merchants were allowed to freely trade on the territory of both states and use the Caspian Sea to transport goods. The Turkmanchay Treaty confirmed all these provisions and became the basis for maintaining international relations between the parties until 1917.

After the October Revolution of 1917, in a note of the new Russian government that came to power on January 14, 1918, it renounced its exclusive military presence in the Caspian Sea. The agreement between the RSFSR and Persia of February 26, 1921 declared invalid all agreements concluded before it by the tsarist government. The Caspian Sea became a body of water for the common use of the parties: both states were granted equal rights of free navigation, except in cases where the crews of Iranian ships could include citizens of third countries using the service for unfriendly purposes (Article 7). The 1921 agreement did not provide for a maritime border between the parties.

In August 1935, the following treaty was signed, the parties to which were new subjects of international law - the Soviet Union and Iran, which acted under the new name. The parties reaffirmed the provisions of the 1921 agreement, but introduced into the agreement a new concept for the Caspian - a 10-mile fishing zone, which limited the spatial limits for its participants to conduct this fishery. This was done in order to control and conserve the living resources of the reservoir.

In the context of the outbreak of World War II, unleashed by Germany, an urgent need arose to conclude a new treaty between the USSR and Iran on trade and navigation in the Caspian. The reason for this was the concern of the Soviet side, caused by Germany's interest in intensifying its trade relations with Iran and the danger of using the Caspian Sea as one of the stages of the transit route. The agreement between the USSR and Iran 10 signed in 1940 protected the Caspian Sea from such a prospect: it repeated the main provisions of the previous agreements, which provided for the presence in its waters of ships of only these two Caspian states. It also included a provision for its indefinite validity.

The collapse of the Soviet Union radically changed the regional situation in the former Soviet space, in particular in the Caspian region. Among the large number of new problems, the problem of the Caspian Sea has also arisen. Instead of two states - the USSR and Iran, which previously bilaterally resolved all emerging issues of maritime navigation, fishing and the use of its other living and non-living resources, now there are five of them. Of the former, only Iran remained, Russia took the place of the USSR on the rights of succession, the remaining three are new states: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan. They used to have access to the Caspian, but only as republics of the USSR, and not as independent states. Now, having become independent and sovereign, they have the opportunity to participate on an equal footing with Russia and Iran in the discussion and decision-making in the consideration of all the above issues. This was also reflected in the attitude of these states to the Caspian, since all five states that had access to it showed equal interest in the use of its living and non-living resources. And this is logical, and most importantly, justified: the Caspian Sea is rich in natural resources, both fish stocks and black gold - oil and blue fuel - gas. Exploration and production of the last two resources have long been the subject of the most heated and protracted negotiations. But not only them.

In addition to the presence of rich mineral resources, about 120 species and subspecies of fish live in the waters of the Caspian Sea, here is the world gene pool of sturgeons, the production of which, until recently, accounted for 90% of their total world catch.

Due to its location, the Caspian has traditionally and long been widely used for navigation, acting as a kind of transport artery between the peoples of the coastal states. On its shores there are such large seaports as the Russian Astrakhan, the capital of Azerbaijan Baku, the Turkmen Turkmenbashi, the Iranian Anzali and the Kazakh Aktau, between which trade, cargo and passenger sea transport routes have long been laid.

And yet, the main object of attention of the Caspian states is its mineral resources - oil and natural gas, to which each of them can lay claim within the limits that should be determined by them collectively on the basis of international law. And for this they will have to divide between themselves both the water area of ​​the Caspian Sea and its bottom, in the bowels of which its oil and gas are hidden, and develop rules for their extraction with minimal damage to a very fragile environment, primarily the marine environment and its living inhabitants.

The main obstacle in resolving the issue of the beginning of the wide extraction of the Caspian mineral resources for the Caspian states continues to be its international legal status: should it be considered a sea or a lake? The complexity of the issue lies in the fact that these states themselves must solve it, and so far no agreement has been observed in their ranks. But at the same time, each of them seeks to start extracting Caspian oil and natural gas as soon as possible and make their sale abroad a permanent source of funds to form their budget.

Therefore, the oil companies of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, without waiting for the end of the settlement of existing disagreements on the territorial division of the Caspian, have already begun active production of its oil, in the hope of ceasing to be dependent on Russia, turning their countries into oil producers and, in this capacity, begin to build their own long-term trading relations with neighbors.

However, the issue of the status of the Caspian Sea remains unresolved. Regardless of whether the Caspian states agree to consider it a "sea" or a "lake", they will have to apply the principles corresponding to the choice made or develop their own in this case to the territorial division of its water area and bottom.

Kazakhstan was in favor of recognizing the Caspian as a sea. Such recognition will make it possible to apply to the division of the Caspian the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on Internal Waters, the Territorial Sea, the Exclusive Economic Zone, and the Continental Shelf. This would allow the coastal states to gain sovereignty over the subsoil of the territorial sea (Article 2) and exclusive rights to explore and develop the resources of the continental shelf (Article 77). But the Caspian cannot be called a sea from the position of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea of ​​1982, since this body of water is closed and has no natural connection with the oceans.

In this case, the option of sharing its water area and bottom resources is also excluded.

In the treaties between the USSR and Iran, the Caspian Sea was considered as a border lake. With the legal status of a "lake" given to the Caspian Sea, it is supposed to be divided into sectors, as is done with respect to border lakes. But there is no rule in international law obliging states to do just that: division into sectors is an established practice.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly made statements that the Caspian is a lake, and its waters and subsoil are the common property of the coastal states. Iran also considers the Caspian Sea as a lake from the position fixed in the treaties with the USSR. The country's government believes that this status implies the creation of a consortium for the unified management of production and use of its resources by the Caspian states. Some authors also share this opinion, for example, R. Mammadov believes that with such a status, the extraction of hydrocarbon resources in the Caspian Sea by these states should be carried out jointly.

In the literature, there has been a proposal to give the Caspian Sea the status of a “sui generis” lake, and in this case we are talking about a special international legal status of such a lake and its special regime. Under the regime is assumed the joint development by states of their own rules for the use of its resources.

Thus, the recognition of the Caspian Sea as a lake does not require its mandatory division into sectors - each coastal state has its own part. In addition, in international law there are no rules at all on the division of lakes between states: this is their good will, behind which certain internal interests may be hidden.

At present, all the Caspian states recognize that the modern legal regime was established by the established practice of its use, but now the Caspian is in actual common use not by two, but by five states. Even at the November 12, 1996 meeting of foreign ministers in Ashgabat, the Caspian states confirmed that the status of the Caspian Sea could be changed only with the consent of all five coastal states. Later, this was also confirmed by Russia and Azerbaijan in a joint statement dated January 9, 2001 on the principles of cooperation, as well as in the Declaration on cooperation in the Caspian Sea signed between Kazakhstan and Russia dated October 9, 2000.

But in the course of numerous Caspian negotiations, conferences and four summits of the Caspian states (Ashgabat summit on April 23-24, 2002, the Tehran summit on October 16, 2007, the Baku summit on November 18, 2010 and Astrakhan on September 29, 2014), the consent of the Caspian countries it has not been possible to achieve.

More productive so far is cooperation at the bilateral and trilateral levels. Back in May 2003, Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on the junction of the lines of delimitation of adjacent sections of the bottom of the Caspian Sea, which was based on previous bilateral agreements. In the current situation, Russia, by its participation in these agreements, seemed to confirm that the agreements between the USSR and Iran are outdated and do not correspond to existing realities.

In the Agreement of July 6, 1998 between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan on the delimitation of the bottom of the northern part of the Caspian Sea in order to exercise sovereign rights to subsoil use, the delimitation of the sea bottom between adjacent and opposite sides along a modified median line was announced on the basis of the principle of justice and agreement of the parties. At the bottom of the section, the states have sovereign rights, but their common use of the water surface is preserved.

Iran perceived this agreement as separate and violating the previous Treaties with the USSR of 1921 and 1940. However, it should be noted that in the preamble of the 1998 agreement, to which Russia and Kazakhstan were parties, the agreement was considered as a temporary measure pending the signing of the convention by all the Caspian states.

Later, on July 19 of the same year, Iran and Russia made a joint statement in which they proposed three possible scenarios for the delimitation of the Caspian Sea. First: the sea should be shared on the basis of the condominium principle. The second scenario boils down to dividing the water area, waters, bottom and subsoil into national sectors. The third scenario, which is a compromise between the first and second options, suggests dividing only the bottom between the coastal states, and considers the water surface to be common and open to all coastal countries.

The existing options for the delimitation of the Caspian Sea, including those mentioned above, are possible only if there is good political will on the part of the parties. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have clearly expressed their position from the very beginning of the process of multilateral consultations. Azerbaijan considers the Caspian Sea to be a lake and, therefore, it should be divided. Kazakhstan proposes to consider the Caspian as a closed sea, referring to the 1982 UN Convention (Articles 122, 123), and, accordingly, stands for its division in the spirit of the Convention. Turkmenistan has long supported the idea of ​​joint management and use of the Caspian, but foreign companies already developing resources off the coast of Turkmenistan influenced the policy of its president, who began to object to the establishment of a condominium regime, supporting the position of dividing the sea.

Azerbaijan was the first of the Caspian states to start using the hydrocarbon resources of the Caspian under the new conditions. After the signing of the "Deal of the Century" in September 1994, Baku expressed a desire to declare the sector adjacent to it an integral part of its territory. This provision was enshrined in the Constitution of Azerbaijan, adopted in order to exercise sovereign rights to subsoil use, Moscow, July 6, 1998 at a referendum on November 12, 1995 (Article 11). But such a radical position from the very beginning did not correspond to the interests of all other coastal states, especially Russia, which expresses fears that this will open access to the Caspian Sea to countries in other regions. Azerbaijan agreed to a compromise. In the Agreement between the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan on the delimitation of adjacent sections of the Caspian Sea in 2002, a provision was fixed in which the division of the bottom was carried out using the median line, and the water area of ​​the reservoir remained in joint use.

Unlike Azerbaijan, which expressed a desire to completely divide the Caspian, Iran proposes to leave its subsoil and water for joint use, but does not object to the option of dividing the Caspian into 5 equal parts. Accordingly, each member of the Caspian five would be allocated 20 percent of the total territory of the reservoir.

Russia's point of view was changing. For a long time Moscow insisted on establishing a condominium, but wanting to build a long-term policy with its neighbors, who did not benefit from considering the Caspian as the property of five coastal states, it changed its position. This then prompted the states to start a new stage of negotiations, at the end of which, in 1998, the above Agreement was signed, where Russia declared that it was “ripe” for the division of the Caspian Sea. Its main principle was the position "the water is common - we divide the bottom."

Taking into account the fact that some Caspian states, namely Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia, have reached agreements on the conditional delimitation of spaces in the Caspian, we can conclude that they are actually satisfied with the already established regime with the division of its bottom along a modified median line and the joint use of the surface reservoir for navigation and fishing.

However, the lack of complete clarity and unity in the position of all countries of the coast prevents the Caspian states themselves from developing oil production. And oil is of key importance to them. There are no unequivocal data regarding their reserves in the Caspian Sea. According to the US Energy Information Agency in 2003, the Caspian was ranked second in oil reserves and third in gas reserves. The data of the Russian side is different: they speak of an artificial overestimation by Western experts of the energy resources of the Caspian Sea. Differences in assessments are due to the political and economic interests of regional and external players. The data distortion factor was the geopolitical significance of the region, with which the foreign policy plans of the US and the EU are connected. Zbigniew Brzezinski back in 1997 expressed the opinion that this region is the "Eurasian Balkans".

The Caspian Sea is the largest lake on our planet. It is located between Europe and Asia and is called the sea for its size.

Caspian Sea

The water level is below the level of 28m. The water in the Caspian Sea has less salinity in the north in the delta. The highest salinity is observed in the southern regions.

The Caspian Sea covers an area of ​​371 thousand km2, the greatest depth is 1025 meters (South Caspian depression). The coastline is estimated from 6500 to 6700 km, and if you take it together with the islands, then more than 7000 km.

The seashore is mostly low-lying and smooth. If you look at the northern part, then there are many islands, water channels, indented by the Volga and the Urals. In these places, the coast is swampy and covered with thickets. From the east, semi-desert and desert terrain with limestone shores approaches the sea. The area of ​​the Kazakh Bay, the Absheron Peninsula and the Kara-Bogaz-Gol Bay have winding shores.

Bottom relief

The bottom relief is divided into three main forms. The shelf is in the northern part, the average depth here is from 4 to 9 m, the maximum depth is 24 m, which gradually increases and reaches 100 m. The continental slope in the middle part drops to 500 m. The Mangyshlak threshold separates the northern part from the middle part. Here one of the deepest places is the Derbent depression (788 m).

2. Heraz, Babol, Sefudrud, Gorgan, Polerud, Chalus, Tejen - https://site/russia/travel/po-dagestanu.html;

4. Atrek - Turkmenistan;

Samur is located on the border between Azerbaijan and Russia, Astarachay is on the border of Azerbaijan and Iran.

The Caspian Sea belongs to five states. From the west and northwest, the length of the coast of 695 km is the territory of Russia. Most of the coastline with a length of 2320 km belongs to Kazakhstan in the east and northeast. Turkmenistan has 1,200 km in the southeast, Iran has 724 km in the south, and Azerbaijan has 955 km of coastline in the southwest.

In addition to the five states that have access to the sea, the Caspian basin also includes Armenia, Turkey, and Georgia. The Volga (Volga-Baltic Way, White Sea-Baltic Canal) connects the sea with the World Ocean. There is a connection with the Azov and Black Seas through the Volga-Don Canal, with the Moscow River (the Moscow Canal).

The main ports are Baku in Azerbaijan; Makhachkala in ; Aktau in Kazakhstan; Olya in Russia; Nowshahr, Bander-Torkemen and Anzeli in Iran.

The largest bays of the Caspian Sea: Agrakhan, Kizlyar, Kaydak, Kazakh, Dead Kultuk, Mangyshlak, Gasan-kuli, Turkmenbashi, Kazakh, Gyzlar, Enzeli, Astrakhan, Gyzlar.

Until 1980, Kara-Bogaz-Gol was a bay-lagoon, which was connected to the sea by a narrow strait. Now it is a salt lake, separated from the sea by a dam. After the construction of the dam, the water began to decrease sharply, and a culvert had to be built. Through it, up to 25 km3 of water enters the lake annually.

Water temperature

The greatest fluctuations in temperature are observed in winter. In shallow water, it reaches 100 in winter. The difference between summer and winter temperatures reaches 240. On the coast in winter, it is always 2 degrees lower than in the open sea. The optimum heating of water occurs in July-August, in shallow water the temperature reaches 320. But at this time, north-western winds raise cold layers of water (upwelling). This process begins already in June and reaches intensity in August. The temperature at the surface of the water drops. The temperature difference between the layers disappears by November.

The climate in the northern part of the sea is continental, in the middle part it is temperate, and in the southern part it is subtropical. On the east coast, the temperature is always higher than on the west. Once on the east coast recorded 44 degrees.

The composition of the Caspian waters

About salinity is 0.3%. This is a typical desalinated pool. But the farther south, the higher the salinity. In the southern part of the sea, it already reaches 13%, and in Kara-Bogaz-Gol more than 300%.

Storms are frequent in shallow water areas. They occur due to changes in atmospheric pressure. Waves can reach 4 meters.

The water balance of the sea depends on river flows and precipitation. Among them, the Volga makes up almost 80% of all other rivers.

In recent years, there has been a rapid pollution of water by oil products and phenols. Their level already exceeds the permissible level.

Minerals

Back in the 19th century, the beginning of hydrocarbon production was laid. These are the main natural resources. There are also mineral, balneological biological resources here. Today, in addition to gas and oil production, sea-type salts (Astrakhanite, mirabalite, halite), sand, limestone, and clay are mined on the shelf.

Animal and plant world

The fauna of the Caspian Sea is up to 1800 species. Of these, 415 are vertebrates, 101 species of fish, and there is a world stock of sturgeons. Freshwater fish such as carp, pike perch, and vobla also live here. They catch carp, salmon, pike, bream in the sea. The Caspian Sea is the habitat of one of the mammals - the seal.

From plants, blue-green algae, brown, red can be noted. Zostera and ruppia also grow, they are classified as flowering algae.

The plankton brought into the sea by birds begins to bloom in spring, the sea is literally covered with greenery, and rhizosolation during flowering paints most of the sea territory in yellow-green color. The accumulation of rhizosolenia is so dense that even waves can calm down. In some places near the coast, literally meadows of algae have grown.

On the coast you can see both local and migratory birds. In the south, geese, ducks winter, birds such as pelicans, herons, flamingos arrange nesting.

The Caspian Sea contains almost 90% of the world's sturgeon stocks. But recently, the environment has been deteriorating, you can often meet poachers who hunt sturgeon because of expensive caviar.

Governments are investing a lot of money to improve the situation. They purify sewage, build factories for breeding fish, despite these measures, it is necessary to limit the production of sturgeon.

The Caspian Sea is notable for the fact that its western coast belongs to Europe, and the eastern one is located on the territory of Asia. This is a huge body of salt water. It is called the sea, but, in fact, it is a lake, as it has no connection with the oceans. Therefore, it can be considered the largest lake in the world.

The area of ​​the water giant is 371 thousand square meters. km. As for the depth, the northern part of the sea is rather shallow, while the southern part is deep. The average depth is 208 meters, but it does not give any idea of ​​​​the thickness of the water mass. The entire reservoir is divided into three parts. These are the Northern, Middle and Southern Caspian. The northern one is the sea shelf. It accounts for only 1% of the total volume of water. This part ends behind the Kizlyar Bay near the island of Chechen. The average depth in these places is 5-6 meters.

In the Middle Caspian, the seabed noticeably decreases, and the average depth reaches 190 meters. The maximum is equal to 788 meters. This part of the sea contains 33% of the total volume of water. And the South Caspian is considered to be the deepest one. It absorbs 66% of the total water mass. The maximum depth was noted in the South Caspian depression. She is equal 1025 meters and is considered the official maximum sea depth to date. The Middle and South Caspian are approximately equal in area and occupy a total of 75% of the area of ​​the entire reservoir.

The maximum length is 1030 km and the corresponding width is 435 km. The minimum width is 195 km. The average figure corresponds to 317 km. That is, the reservoir has an impressive size and is rightfully called the sea. The length of the coastline, together with the islands, reaches almost 7 thousand km. As for the water level, it is 28 meters below the level of the World Ocean.

The most interesting thing is that the level of the Caspian Sea is subject to cyclicity. The water goes up and down. Water levels have been measured since 1837. According to experts, over the past thousand years, the level has fluctuated within 15 meters. This is a very big number. And they associate it with geological and anthropogenic (human impact on the environment) processes. However, it has been noted that since the beginning of the 21st century, the level of the huge reservoir has been steadily rising.

The Caspian Sea is surrounded by 5 countries. These are Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan. Moreover, Kazakhstan has the longest coastline. Russia is in 2nd place. But the length of the coastline of Azerbaijan reaches only 800 km, but in this place there is the largest port in the Caspian Sea. This is, of course, Baku. The city is home to 2 million people, and the population of the entire Absheron Peninsula is 2.5 million people.

"Oil Rocks" - a city in the sea
These are 200 platforms with a total length of 350 kilometers

Notable is the settlement of oil workers, which is called " Oil Stones". It is located 42 km east of Absheron in the sea and is a creation of human hands. All residential and industrial buildings are built on metal overpasses. People serve drilling rigs pumping oil from the bowels of the earth. Naturally, there are no permanent residents in this village.

In addition to Baku, other large cities are located along the banks of the salt reservoir. At the southern tip is the Iranian city of Anzali with a population of 111 thousand people. This is the largest Iranian port in the Caspian. Kazakhstan owns the city of Aktau with a population of 178 thousand people. And in the northern part, directly on the Ural River, is the city of Atyrau. It is inhabited by 183 thousand people.

The Russian city of Astrakhan also has the status of a seaside city, although it is 60 km away from the coast and is located in the delta of the Volga River. This is a regional center with a population of over 500 thousand people. Directly on the seashore are such Russian cities as Makhachkala, Kaspiysk, Derbent. The latter belongs to the oldest cities in the world. People have been living in this place for more than 5 thousand years.

Many rivers flow into the Caspian Sea. There are about 130 of them. The largest of them are the Volga, Terek, Ural, Kura, Atrek, Emba, Sulak. It is the rivers, and not the precipitation, that feed the huge body of water. They give him up to 95% of water per year. The basin of the reservoir is 3.626 million square meters. km. These are all rivers with their tributaries flowing into the Caspian. The territory is huge, it includes bay Kara-Bogaz-Gol.

This bay is more correctly called a lagoon. It means a shallow body of water, separated from the sea by a sandy spit or reefs. There is such a spit in the Caspian. And the strait through which water flows from the sea is 200 km wide. True, people with their restless and ill-conceived activities almost destroyed Kara-Bogaz-Gol. They blocked off the lagoon with a dam, and its level dropped sharply. But after 12 years, the mistake was corrected and the strait was restored.

The Caspian has always been developed shipping. In the Middle Ages, merchants brought exotic spices and skins of snow leopards from Persia to Russia by sea. Today, the reservoir connects the cities located on its banks. Ferry crossings are practiced. There is a water connection with the Black and Baltic Seas through rivers and canals.

Caspian Sea on the map

The reservoir is also important from the point of view fisheries, because sturgeon lives in it in large numbers and gives caviar. But today the number of sturgeons has significantly decreased. Ecologists propose to ban the capture of this valuable fish until the population recovers. But this issue has not yet been resolved. The number of tuna, bream, pike perch also decreased. Here it is necessary to take into account the fact that poaching is highly developed at sea. The reason for this is the difficult economic situation in the region.

And, of course, a few words must be said about oil. The extraction of "black gold" at sea began in 1873. The areas adjacent to Baku have become a real gold mine. There were more than 2 thousand wells here, and oil production and processing was carried out on an industrial scale. At the beginning of the 20th century it was the center of the international oil industry. In 1920, Azerbaijan was occupied by the Bolsheviks. Oil wells and factories were requisitioned. The entire oil industry came under the control of the USSR. In 1941, Azerbaijan supplied 72% of all oil produced in the socialist state.

In 1994, the "Contract of the Century" was signed. It marked the beginning of the international development of the Baku oil fields. The main Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline allows Azerbaijani oil to flow directly to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. It was put into operation in 2006. To date, oil reserves are estimated at 12 trillion. US dollars.

Thus, it is clear that the Caspian Sea is one of the most important economic regions of the world. The political situation in the Caspian region is rather complicated. For a long time there were disputes about maritime borders between Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran. There were many inconsistencies and disagreements, which negatively affected the development of the region.

This ended on August 12, 2018. On this day, the states of the "Caspian Five" signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. This document demarcated the bottom and subsoil, and each of the five countries (Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan) received its share in the Caspian basin. The rules for the implementation of navigation, fishing, scientific research, and the laying of pipelines were also approved. The boundaries of territorial waters received the status of state.

Yuri Syromyatnikov

The Caspian Lake is one of the most unique places on Earth. It keeps many secrets connected with the history of the development of our planet.

Position on the physical map

The Caspian is an internal drainless salt lake. The geographical position of the Caspian Lake is the continent of Eurasia at the junction of parts of the world (Europe and Asia).

The length of the lakeshore line is from 6500 km to 6700 km. Taking into account the islands, the length increases to 7000 km.

The coastal areas of the Caspian Lake are mostly low-lying. Their northern part is indented by the channels of the Volga and the Urals. The river delta is rich in islands. The surface of the water in these areas is covered with thickets. Swampiness of large areas of land is noted.

The eastern coast of the Caspian adjoins to the lake. There are significant limestone deposits on the shores of the lake. The western and part of the eastern coast is characterized by a winding coastline.

The Caspian lake on the map is represented by a significant size. The entire territory adjacent to it was called the Caspian Sea.

Some characteristics

The Caspian Lake in terms of its area and the volume of water in it has no equal on Earth. It stretches from north to south for 1049 kilometers, and its longest length from west to east is 435 kilometers.

If we take into account the depth of reservoirs, their area and volume of water, then the lake is commensurate with the Yellow, Baltic and Black Seas. By the same parameters, the Caspian surpasses the Tyrrhenian, Aegean, Adriatic and other seas.

The volume of water available in the Caspian Lake is 44% of the reserve of all lake waters of the planet.

Lake or sea?

Why is the Caspian lake called the sea? Is it really the impressive size of the reservoir that caused the assignment of such a “status”? More precisely, this was one of those reasons.

Others include a huge mass of water in the lake, the presence of a large wave during storm winds. All this is typical for real seas. It becomes clear why the Caspian Lake is called the sea.

But here one of the main conditions is not named, which must necessarily exist so that geographers can classify a reservoir as a sea. We are talking about the direct connection of the lake with the oceans. The Caspian does not meet this condition.

Where the Caspian Lake is located, a deepening in the earth's crust was formed several tens of thousands of years ago. Today it is filled with the waters of the Caspian Sea. According to scientists, at the end of the 20th century, the water level in the Caspian Sea was 28 meters below the level of the World Ocean. The direct connection of the waters of the lake and the ocean ceased to exist approximately 6 millennia ago. The conclusion from the above is that the Caspian Sea is a lake.

There is another feature that distinguishes the Caspian Sea from the sea - the salinity of the water in it is almost 3 times lower than the salinity of the World Ocean. The explanation for this is that about 130 large and small rivers carry fresh water to the Caspian Sea. The Volga makes the most significant contribution to this work - it is she who “gives” up to 80% of all water to the lake.

The river played another important role in the life of the Caspian Sea. It is she who will help find the answer to the question of why the Caspian Lake is called the sea. Now that many channels have been built by man, it has become a fact that the Volga connects the lake with the oceans.

The history of the lake

The modern appearance and geographical position of the Caspian Lake are due to continuous processes occurring on the surface of the Earth and in its depths. There were times when the Caspian was connected with the Sea of ​​Azov, and through it with the Mediterranean and Black. That is, tens of thousands of years ago, the Caspian Lake was part of the World Ocean.

As a result of the processes associated with the uplift and lowering of the earth's crust, mountains appeared on the site of the modern Caucasus. They isolated a body of water that was part of a vast ancient ocean. More than one tens of thousands of years passed before the basins of the Black and Caspian Seas separated. But for a long time, the connection between their waters was carried out through the strait, which was on the site of the Kumo-Manych depression.

Periodically, the narrow strait was either drained or refilled with water. This was due to fluctuations in the level of the oceans and changes in the appearance of the land.

In a word, the origin of the Caspian Lake is closely connected with the general history of the formation of the Earth's surface.

The lake got its modern name because of the tribes of the Caspians, who inhabited the eastern parts of the Caucasus and the steppe zones of the Caspian territories. Over the entire history of its existence, the lake had 70 different names.

Territorial division of the lake-sea

The depth of the Caspian Lake in its different places is very different. Based on this, the entire water area of ​​the lake-sea was conditionally divided into three parts: the Northern Caspian, the Middle and the Southern.

Shallow - this is the northern part of the lake. The average depth of these places is 4.4 meters. The highest indicator is a mark of 27 meters. And on 20% of the entire area of ​​the Northern Caspian, the depth is only about a meter. It is clear that this part of the lake is of little use for navigation.

The Middle Caspian has the greatest depth of 788 meters. The deep part occupies lakes. The average depth here is 345 meters, and the greatest is 1026 meters.

Seasonal changes at sea

Due to the large length of the reservoir from north to south, the climatic conditions on the coast of the lake are not the same. Seasonal changes in the territories adjacent to the reservoir also depend on this.

In winter, on the southern coast of the lake in Iran, the water temperature does not drop below 13 degrees. During the same period, in the northern part of the lake off the coast of Russia, the water temperature does not exceed 0 degrees. The Northern Caspian is covered with ice during 2-3 months of the year.

In summer, almost everywhere the Caspian Lake warms up to 25-30 degrees. Warm water, excellent sandy beaches, sunny weather create excellent conditions for people to relax.

Caspian on the political map of the world

Five states are located on the shores of the Caspian Lake - Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

The territory of Russia includes the western regions of the Northern and Middle Caspian. Iran is located on the southern shores of the sea, it owns 15% of the entire length of the coastline. The eastern coastline is shared by Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Azerbaijan is located in the southwestern territories of the Caspian Sea.

The issue of dividing the water area of ​​the lake between the Caspian states has been the most acute for many years. The heads of the five states are trying to find a solution that would satisfy the needs and requirements of everyone.

The natural wealth of the lake

Since ancient times, the Caspian has served as a waterway for local residents.

The lake is famous for its valuable species of fish, in particular sturgeon. Their reserves account for up to 80% of the world's resources. The issue of preserving the sturgeon population is of international importance, it is solved at the level of the government of the Caspian states.

The Caspian seal is another mystery of the unique sea-lake. Scientists have not yet fully unraveled the mystery of the appearance of this animal in the waters of the Caspian Sea, as well as other species of animals of northern latitudes.

In total, 1809 species of various groups of animals live in the Caspian Sea. There are 728 species of plants. Most of them are the "indigenous inhabitants" of the lake. But there is a small group of plants that were deliberately brought here by man.

Of the minerals, the main wealth of the Caspian is oil and gas. Some information sources compare the oil reserves of the Caspian Lake fields with Kuwait. Industrial marine mining of black gold has been carried out on the lake since the end of the 19th century. The first well appeared on the Apsheron shelf in 1820.

Today, the governments unanimously believe that the region cannot be considered only as a source of oil and gas, while leaving the Caspian ecology unattended.

In addition to oil fields, there are deposits of salt, stone, limestone, clay and sand on the territory of the Caspian Sea. Their extraction also could not but affect the ecological situation of the region.

Sea level fluctuations

The water level in the Caspian Lake is not constant. This is evidenced by evidence relating to the IV century BC. The ancient Greeks, who explored the sea, discovered a large bay at the confluence of the Volga. The existence of a shallow strait between the Caspian and the Sea of ​​Azov was also discovered by them.

There are other data on the water level in the Caspian Lake. The facts show that the level was much lower than it is now. The evidence is ancient architectural structures found on the seabed. The buildings date back to the 7th-13th centuries. Now the depth of their flooding is from 2 to 7 meters.

In 1930, the water level in the lake began to decline catastrophically. The process went on for almost fifty years. This caused great concern among people, since all the economic activities of the Caspian region are adapted to the previously established water level.

Since 1978 the level has started to rise again. Today it has become more than 2 meters taller. This is also an undesirable phenomenon for people living on the coast of the lake-sea.

Climate change is said to be the main reason for fluctuations in the lake. This entails an increase in the volume of river water entering the Caspian, the amount of precipitation, and a decrease in the intensity of water evaporation.

However, it cannot be said that this is the only opinion that explains the fluctuations in the water level in the Caspian Lake. There are others, no less plausible.

Human activities and environmental issues

The area of ​​the catchment basin of the Caspian Lake is 10 times larger than the surface of the water area of ​​the reservoir itself. Therefore, all the changes taking place in such a vast territory in one way or another affect the ecology of the Caspian Sea.

Human activity plays an important role in changing the ecological situation in the area of ​​the Caspian Lake. For example, pollution of a reservoir with harmful and hazardous substances occurs along with the influx of fresh water. This is directly related to industrial production, mining and other human activities in the catchment area.

The state of the environment of the Caspian Sea and adjacent territories is of general concern to the governments of the countries located here. Therefore, the discussion of measures aimed at preserving the unique lake, its flora and fauna, has become traditional.

Each state has an understanding that only through joint efforts can the ecology of the Caspian Sea be improved.

Today in Astrakhan the program of celebrating the Day of the Caspian Sea has begun. Such holidays are also celebrated in the five Caspian states. Although the Caspian in modern conditions requires not so much festive events as respect from all who inhabit its shores and exploit its wealth.

"Caspian News", of course, cannot stand aside, because the attitude to the Caspian Sea is inherent in the very name and ideology of our portal. Our story about a unique reservoir is a kind of offering to the “hero of the occasion”.

The uniqueness of the Caspian lies, first of all, in the fact that it is not a sea, but a real drainless lake. The sea should have access to the World Ocean, which the Caspian does not have, on the other hand, this salty lake has all the signs of the sea, from the tides to real storms, about which sailors say: “He who has survived a storm in the Caspian Sea is not afraid of any oceanic storms ". And the oceanic relief of the bottom is convincing evidence that the Caspian, together with the Black and Azov Seas, originally belonged to a single ancient reservoir, that is, it was part of the World Ocean.

Where the Caspian Lake is now located, a deepening in the earth's crust was formed several tens of thousands of years ago. Today it is filled with the waters of the Caspian Sea. At the end of the 20th century, the water level in the Caspian Sea was 28 meters below the level of the World Ocean. Approximately six thousand years ago, the waters of the Caspian gained independence, parting with the World Ocean. Another feature that distinguishes the Caspian from the sea is that the salinity of the water in it is almost three times lower than the salinity of the sea. This is because the rivers carry their fresh waters to the Caspian Sea. The Volga accounts for the largest contribution: it gives the sea-lake almost 80% of all water. And it also connects the Caspian Sea with the World Ocean through a system of canals. That is why this lake is still considered the sea!

In terms of its area and volume of water, the Caspian Sea-Lake has no equal on Earth. The volume of Caspian water is 44% of the reserve of all lake waters of the planet! If we talk about the depth of reservoirs, their area and volume of water, then the lake can compete with the Yellow, Baltic and Black Seas and surpasses the Aegean and Adriatic Seas in the same parameters.

Not every sea can boast that in its history it had as many names as the Caspian: as many as seventy! Each traveler, each expedition to the Caspian Sea and the ancient peoples inhabiting its coast gave it their names. The most famous names are: Dzhurdzhansky, Khvalynsky, Shirvansky, Derbentsky, Saraysky and finally, Khazarsky. In Azerbaijan and Iran, the Caspian Sea is still called the Khazar Sea. And the sea got its modern name because of the tribes of Caspian horse breeders, who for a very long time inhabited the eastern parts of the Caucasus and the steppes of the Caspian territories.

The Caspian Sea is the hero of many legends and traditions in the epic of all peoples living on its shores. Legends, as a rule, tell about the love of the mighty and beautiful hero of the Caspian Sea for one of the beauties named Volga, Kura or Amu Darya - the choice is huge, since about 130 large and small rivers flow into the sea, nine of which have a mouth in the form deltas. Fantasy on the theme of love is about the same for everyone.

The water area of ​​the sea is divided into three regions: the North, Middle and South Caspian. The northern Caspian is shallow. The deepest depth of the Middle Caspian in the region of the Derbent depression is about 788 m. Beyond the Absheron threshold, the South Caspian begins, it is here that the sea is the deepest: about 1025 m. For clarity, imagine three Eiffel towers stacked on top of each other.

Many secrets and mysteries are connected with the Caspian Sea. In 1939, archaeologists-divers found a flooded ancient Gostiny Dvor (caravanserai) in the Baku Bay. There are many inscriptions on the walls, indicating that the building was erected in 1234-1235. Perhaps these are the remains of the ancient city of Sabail. Nearby, ancient quarries were discovered in the sea. And in 1940, when laying a dam on the Absheron Peninsula, an ancient cemetery was discovered at the bottom of the sea. Burials date back to the 1st century BC. It can be assumed that the level of the Caspian in those days was about four meters lower than the present one.

It is no coincidence that the inscription on a geographical map drawn up in 1320 reads: “The sea arrives on one palm every year, and already many good cities are flooded”

Instrumental measurement of the level of the Caspian Sea and systematic observations of its fluctuations have been carried out since 1837. The highest water level was recorded in 1882 (−25.2 m), the lowest - in 1977 (−29.0 m), since 1978 the water level has risen and in 1995 reached −26.7 m, since 1996 began to decline again, and since 2001 - to rise again and reached -26.3 m. The reasons for this "behavior" of the Caspian Sea are climate change, as well as geological and anthropogenic factors.

Another mystery of the unique sea-lake is the Caspian seal: scientists cannot answer the question of where the animal of northern latitudes appeared in the Caspian Sea. In total, 1809 species of various groups of animals live in the Caspian Sea. The Caspian is also famous for its valuable fish species, in particular sturgeons. Their reserves account for up to 80% of the world's resources. The most valuable caviar is not black, as many people used to think, but white. Albino beluga caviar "Almas" has a color from light gray to white. The lighter, the more expensive: the cost of 100 grams is 2000 US dollars. This fish is caught in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Iran.

Many oil and gas fields are being developed in the Caspian Sea. The first oil well was drilled on the Absheron Peninsula near Baku back in 1820. In 1949, for the first time, they began to extract oil from the bottom of the Caspian Sea. Salt, limestone, stone, sand and clay are also mined on the coast of the Caspian Sea and the Caspian shelf.

The Caspian Sea washes the shores of five countries: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Russia. Caspian Day has been celebrated in every country for several years now, reminding that the Caspian is not just a water and breadwinner for the peoples inhabiting its shores, but a very fragile ecosystem.

By the way, in 1978, World Maritime Day appeared on the calendar of world events, which refers to the UN international days, designed to draw the attention of mankind to the problems of the hydraulic system. There is also an international Black Sea day: in 1996, representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Georgia signed a strategic action plan to save the Black Sea. In this series, the day of the Caspian Sea is also, rather, not a holiday, but a warning, a warning to people about how everything is interconnected in this world and how it is possible, mercilessly exploiting, to lose what is dear to everyone.

Marina Parenskaya