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- The Caspians (Persian: کاسپیها, Kaspyn; Greek: Κάσπιοι, Káspioi; Aramaic: ܟܣܦܝ, kspy; Old Armenian: Կասպք, Kaspk’; [ 1] Latin: Caspi, Caspiani) were a people of antiquity who dwelt along the southwestern shores of the Caspian Sea, in the region known as Caspiane. [ 2]
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The Caspians (Persian: کاسپیها, Kaspyn; Greek: Κάσπιοι, Káspioi; Aramaic: ܟܣܦܝ, kspy; Old Armenian: Կասպք, Kaspk’; [1] Latin: Caspi, Caspiani) were a people of antiquity who dwelt along the southwestern shores of the Caspian Sea, in the region known as Caspiane. [2]
- Overview
- Physical features
- Shoreline features
- Submarine features
The Caspian Sea lies to the east of the Caucasus Mountains and to the west of the vast steppe of Central Asia.
What is unique about the Caspian Sea?
The Caspain Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water and the world's largest salt lake.
What countries border the Caspian Sea?
The Caspian Sea is bordered by five countries: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia.
How salty is the Caspian Sea?
The Caspian basin, as a whole, is usually divided into the northern, middle, and southern Caspian, based partly on underwater relief and partly on hydrologic characteristics. The sea contains as many as 50 islands, most of them small. The largest are Chechen, Tyuleny, Morskoy, Kulaly, Zhiloy, and Ogurchin.
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The shores of the northern Caspian are low and reflect the great accumulation of alluvial material washed down by the Ural, Terek, and, above all, Volga rivers, whose deltas are extensive. The western shore of the middle Caspian is hilly. The foothills of the Greater Caucasus Mountains loom close but are separated from the coast by a narrow marine plain. The Abşeron Peninsula, on which the city of Baku is sited, thrusts out into the sea there, while just to its south the floodplain of the Kura and Aras rivers forms the Kura-Aras Lowland along the western shore of the southern Caspian. The southwestern and southern Caspian shores are formed of the sediments of the Länkäran and Gīlān-Māzanderān lowlands, with the high peaks of the Talish and Elburz ranges rearing up close inland. The eastern shore of the southern Caspian is low, formed partly by sediments derived from the erosion of the cliffs along the sea. The shoreline there is broken sharply by the low, hilly Cheleken and Türkmenbashi peninsulas. Just to the north, behind the east shore of the middle Caspian, is the Kara-Bogaz-Gol (Garabogazköl), formerly a shallow gulf of the Caspian but now a large lagoonlike embayment that is separated from the sea by a man-made embankment. For the most part, the eastern shore of the middle Caspian is precipitous, with the sea destroying the margin of the limestone plateaus of Tüpqaraghan and Kendyrli-Kayasansk.
The major rivers—the Volga, Ural, and Terek—empty into the northern Caspian, with their combined annual flow accounting for about 88 percent of all river water entering the sea. The Sulak, Samur, Kura, and a number of smaller rivers flow in on the western shore of the middle and southern Caspian, contributing about 7 percent of the total flow into the sea. The remainder comes in from the rivers of the southern, Iranian shore. Apart from the Atrak (Atrek) River of southern Turkmenistan, the sea’s arid eastern shore is notable for a complete lack of permanent streams.
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The northern Caspian, with an area of 38,380 square miles (99,404 square km), is the shallowest portion of the sea, with an average depth of 13 to 26 feet (4 to 8 metres), reaching a maximum of 66 feet (20 metres) along the boundary with the middle Caspian. The bottom is formed of a monotonously rippling sedimentary plain, broken only by a line of ...
The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world by area and accounts for 40–44% of the total lake waters of the world, [ 24] and covers an area larger than Germany. The coastlines of the Caspian are shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan.
The Caspians were a people of antiquity who dwelt along the southwestern shores of the Caspian Sea, in the region known as Caspiane. Caspian is the English version of the Greek ethnonym Kaspioi, mentioned twice by Herodotus among the Achaemenid satrapies of Darius the Great and applied by Strabo.
Feb 22, 2024 · Nestled within the heart of the Caspian region, the Caspian Sea lies at the crossroads of continents, bordered by five countries: Kazakhstan to the northeast, Turkmenistan to the east, Iran to the south, Azerbaijan to the west and Russia to the northwest.
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Caspian Sea, Inland salt lake between Europe and Asia, bordering Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Iran. With a basin 750 mi (1,200 km) long and up to 200 mi (320 km) wide and an area of 149,200 sq mi (386,400 sq km), it is the largest inland body of water in the world.
The salinity is in large part a residue of the sea’s formation. Along with the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to its west (which are not entirely landlocked) and the Aral Sea to its east, the Caspian is a remnant of the ancient Paratethys Sea.