Seas of the Atlantic Ocean
The western and southern coasts of Europe are washed by the Atlantic Ocean and its seas. Europe's largest islands— Great Britain, Ireland and Iceland — are situated in this ocean. The British Isles are separated from the continent by straits (33 kilometres wide at the narrowest point) and by the shallow North Sea.
 Straits also link the North Sea with the Baltic, the latter cutting far inland.
Fig. 10. The eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. On the dunes grow pines. The sea may be seen in the distance.
At the very entrance to the Baltic Sea is situated the small, low-lying Jutland Peninsula with its adjacent islands. The Baltic is a shallow sea. It is but brackish, as the water the rivers empty into it is fresh and evaporation is moderate. Its northern part, the Gulfs of Bothnia, Finland and Riga included, is frozen every winter; its southern part does not freeze. The numerous skerries along the northern coasts of the Baltic make navigation difficult.
Near the coast of Western Europe the Atlantic forms a deep and stormy arm called the Bay of Biscay.
I n the south, Europe is washed by the vast Mediterranean Sea, also a branch of the Atlantic. Its water is warm (13° C all the year round and at all depths), for the Strait of Gibraltar linking the Mediterranean with the Atlantic is not very deep (320 metres), and the cold, deep ocean waters cannot enter that Sea.
The Mediterranean, on the other hand, is rather deep, depressions alternating with shallower areas. Various islands and peninsulas divide it into parts which are regarded as separate seas.
The coastline of the Mediterranean is richly indented and contains three large peninsulas. To the west, between the Atlantic and Mediterranean, lies the Iberian Peninsula, the southern edge of its comparatively even coastline closely approaching Africa. In the centre lies the long and narrow Apennine Peninsula with the islands of Sici1y and Sardinia close by. To the east lies the Balkan Peninsula with its richly indented coastline. Between the Apennine and Balkan Peninsulas is the shallow Adriatic Sea and eastward of the Balkan Peninsula— the Aegean Sea with its numerous islands.
The long and winding Dardanelles lead river-like from the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara, the latter being linked with the deep and warm waters of the Black Sea by the very short and narrow Strait of Bosporus. At a depth of 200 metres and deeper the waters of the Black Sea are saturated with hydrogen sulphide, and the lower depths, therefore, are empty of life (except for bacteria).
The Crimean Peninsula extends southward into the Black Sea, separating it from the Sea of Azov. The latter is very small and shallow; it contains little salt and is frozen in winter. The Sea of Azov abounds in fish: pike perch, bream, sevruga, sturgeon and herring. |
