Sea of Azov

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Image:Sea of Azov-NASA.jpg The Sea of Azov (Template:Lang-ru - Azovskoye more; Template:Lang-uk - Azovs'ke more, Template:Lang-qr) is a northern section of the Black Sea, linked to the larger body through the Strait of Kerch. It is bounded on the north by Ukraine, on the east by Russia and on the west by the Crimean peninsula.

The Black Sea deluge theory dates the genesis of the Sea of Azov to 5600 BC, and there are traces of Neolithic settlement in the area now covered by it. In antiquity, it was known as the Maeotian Lake or Maeotian Sea (Greek Template:Polytonic and Latin Palus Maeotis).

The current name is popularly said to come from a certain Polovtsian prince named Azum or Asuf, who was killed defending a town in this region in 1067. Most scholars derive the name from the city of Azov, or Azak, meaning "low" in Turkish, a reference to its location.

The sea is 340 km long and 135 km wide and has an area of 37,555 km² (14,500 mi²). The main rivers flowing into the sea are the Don and Kuban; they ensure that the waters of the sea are comparatively low in salinity and almost fresh in places, and also bring huge volumes of silt into the sea. To the west also lie the 110 km Arabat Spit and the highly saline marshy inlets of the Sivash.

The Sea of Azov is the shallowest sea in the world with an average depth of only 13 metres; in fact, where the silt has built up, such as the Gulf of Taganrog, the average depth is less than 1 metre. The prevailing current in the sea is a counter-clockwise swirl; the tides are variable but can peak at over 5 metres. In the winter large portions of the sea can be ice-bound.

Significant ports on the sea are Berdyansk, Mariupol, Rostov-na-Donu, Taganrog and Yeysk. Two canals enter into the sea — the Volga-Don Canal and a link to the Caspian Sea through the Manych Canal. The sea has a number of significant fisheries and has been exploited for gas and oil extraction.

Historically the sea has had a rich variety of marine life, with over eighty fish species identified as well as 300 varieties of invertebrates. Diversity and numbers have been reduced by over-fishing and increasing levels of pollution.

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