On Earth, there is a close eighty seas. Some of them are part of the World Ocean. Many people know that all reservoirs of this type are salty. Not everyone knows about the concentration of alkalis in different seas. We suggest considering the very saline seas in the world. Before that, I would like to remind you that the most fresh sea is the Baltic. The salt content in this reservoir is only 7 percent. It follows that one liter of water from the Baltic Sea accounts for only 7 grams of salts.

10 most saline lakes in the world

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Closes the top 10 of the most saline seas on the planet white. In places the salt content is 30%. At the same time, this reservoir is considered one of the smallest in Russia among the seas. The area is only 90 thousand square meters. In winter, the temperature reaches -1 degrees. In the summer, the temperature rises to +15 degrees. In total, there are about 50 different types of fish in the sea. Among them should be to celebrate salmon, cod and Beluhu. Occasionally gets across a born.


The top ten most saline seas in the world includes the Chukchi Sea, the composition of alkalis in which it reaches 33%. This unique reservoir is located between Alaska and Chukotka. Its area is 589 thousand square kilometers. It is worth noting that the water temperature in the summer reaches a maximum of 12 degrees. At the same time, in winter, it may lower up to -1.8 degrees. In addition, the Chukchi Sea is distinguished by cold, it has a unique animal world. Frighteners, seals and unique types of fish live here. In particular, Harius, Cod and Far Eastern Navaga.


Do not forget about the reservoir, which is forgotten between the Novosibirsk and the islands of the North Earth. We are talking about the sea of \u200b\u200bLaptev, the area of \u200b\u200bwhich is 662 thousand square kilometers. The salinity of water reaches 34%. In this case, the temperature never rises above 0 degrees. It should be noted that at the bottom of this sea is perch, sterlet and sturgeon. Also in the sea dwells the walrus. Every year, surfing championships are held on the expanses of the sea, which is due to large waves.


On the territory of the Russian Federation, a more dangerous reservoir is not found. At the same time, it refers to the very saline seas on the planet. The area is 1.4 thousand square kilometers. In the cold season, the temperature varies from 10 to 12 degrees. In winter, it can reach -4 to -5 degrees. Special attention deserves the underwater world. Here you can find washing, perch, herring and even tobutch. Also from time to time, fishermen manage to catch Belugu and the clock. Actually, the last animal is not only prey, but also a danger to many fishermen and sailors.


Closes the first top 5 of the most salted seas Japanese. It shares between the shores of Japan's Islands and Eurasia. In addition, covers part of Sakhalin. The average temperature per year varies from 0 to 12 degrees. In the southern part, the temperature may lower up to -26 degrees. It is a very cold reservoir, which also affects the variety of animal, underwater world. Most of the sea fauna represent anchovies and crabs. Nevertheless, you can catch a lot of shrimp, oysters and herring. Actually, this is due to such a choice of marine products in Japanese cuisine.


In Greece, this reservoir is considered the most salty and at the same time dense. However, all over the world. This sea is perfect for people who are only on the way to learn to swim. The sea literally holds on the surface. Due to the density in it, it is almost impossible to go to the bottom. In summer, the water temperature reaches 26 degrees above zero. In winter, it can lower up +14. Thus, we see that the inhabitants of the sea, including mackerel, cambal and tuna there are enough warmth. However, as well as vacationers, which can be seen in the reservoir throughout the year.

38.5% of salts


Another salted sea in the world that reaches the shores of Greece. This time we are talking about very concentrated alkalis content. Specialists are recommended after bathing in this water rinsed with fresh water, as it is possible to damage the epithelial layer of the skin. Sodium, which focuses on the skin, is able to cause bleeding violation and create cracks. As for the water temperature, it holds about 14 degrees even in winter. Summer reaches +24 degrees. Sea There are more than 20 thousand years. Its area is 179 thousand square meters.

39.5% of salts


Opens the top three in the field of the most salty seas of the Earth Mediterranean. It shares between Africa and Europe. It should be noted that this reservoir is also considered the warmth in the world, which is due to the following indicators. In winter, the minimum temperature reaches 12 degrees. In the summer, it may exceed the degree in +25 degrees. In total, about 500 varieties of fish live in the sea. They should also include sharks. There are crabs, sea dogs and mussels. Separate attention deserve electrical skates that are listed in the Red Book.

Water covers the large area of \u200b\u200bour planet. The overwhelming majority of this water is part of the seas and oceans, so it is salted and unpleasant to taste. According to the server Ocean Service, 3.5% of oceans consist of sodium chloride or kitchen salt. This is tons of salt. But where does it come from and, therefore, why is the sea salty?

It's important to know!

For 4 billion years, the rain waters ground, rainwater penetrates the rocks, from where it finds his way. It carries with them a dissolved salt. During the geological history, the salt content in the sea gradually increases.

The Baltic Sea, due to low water temperatures, contains 8 times less than salt than, for example, the Persian bay. If the water from all oceans had evaporated today, the remaining salt would have formed a coherent layer of 75 m worldwide around the world.

Where does the salt come from?

Yes, some salt enters the water directly from the seabed. On the bottom there are a number of core-containing stones, of which the salt penetrates into the water. Sodium chloride part also comes from volcanic valves. However, according to the Air Force, most of the salt comes from the mainland.

Therefore, sodium chloride from sushi is the main reason why the sea is salted.
Each kilogram of sea water contains an average of 35 g of salt. Most of this substance (about 85%) is precisely sodium chloride, known to all kitchen salt. Salts in the sea are coming from several sources:

  • The first source - weathering rocks on the mainland; When the stones are wedged, salts and other substances that rivers carry in the sea are washed off (exactly the same action is rendered rocks on the seabed);
  • Another source is the explosions of underwater volcanoes - volcanoes produce lava into water, which reacts with sea water and dissolves some substances in it.

Water also penetrates the cracks that lie deeply at the ocean day in the T.N. Mid-ocean ridges. Here are hot stones, often on the bottom there is a lava. In cracks, water is heated, due to which it dissolves a significant number of salts from surrounding rocks, which penetrate the sea water.

Sodium chloride is the most common salt in seawater, because it is as soluble as possible. Other substances dissolve worse, so in the seas they are not so much.

Special cases are calcium and silicon. Rivers bring a large number of these two elements to the oceans, but despite this, there are few of them in seawater.

Calcium "pick up various aquatic animals (corals, bucheloga and double mollusks) and embed them into their tanks or skeletons. Silicon, in turn, use microscopic algae to create cell walls.

The sun illuminating oceans causes evaporation of a large amount of sea water. However, the evaporated water leaves the whole salt. Due to this evaporation salt in the sea concentrates, as a result of which the water becomes salty.

At the same time, some salt is deposited on the seabed, which supports the balance of salinity of water - otherwise, the sea would have become increasingly salty every year.

The salinity of water or salt content in water varies depending on the position of the water resource. The least salty are the sea and oceans from the northern and southern poles, where the sun does not shine so much, and the water does not evaporate.

In addition, salted water is diluted with melting glaciers.
On the contrary, the sea near the equator evaporates more due to elevated temperatures that prevail in this area.

This factor is not only the answer to the question why the sea is salted, but also responsible for the increased density of water. This process is characteristic of some large lakes, which in its course become soles.

An example is where the water is so salted and dense that people can safely lie on her surface.

The above factors are the causes of seawater salinity, as scientists understand them at the modern level of scientific knowledge. However, there are several unresolved questions. It is unclear, for example, why different salts are found everywhere in the world in almost the same proportions, although the salinity of the individual seas varies significantly.

Are these hypotheses true?

Of course, no hypothesis is completely true. Sea water was formed for a very long time, so scientists have no reliable evidence about the causes of her salinity. Why do all the indicated hypotheses can be refuted? Water flushes the land where there is no such high salt concentration. In geological epochs, the salinity of water changed. The salt content also depends on the specific sea.

Water water Return - Salted water has different properties. Sea - characterized by salinity of about 3.5% (1 kg of sea water contains 35 g of salt). Salted water has different density, varies and freezing points. The average seawater density is 1.025 g / ml, it freezes at temperatures -2 ° C.

The question may sound different. How do we know that water in the sea is salted? The answer is simple - everyone can easily try her "taste". Therefore, everyone knows the fact of salinity, but the exact reason for such a phenomenon remains a mystery.

Interesting fact! If you visit San Carles de la Rapiti and go to the bay, you will see the White Mountains formed from Salt extracted from sea water. If mining of minerals and salty water trade will be successful, then in the future, hypothetically, the sea risks the "freshwater puddle" ...

Double face salt

There are huge salt reserves on Earth, which can be extracted from the sea (sea salt) and from mines (stone salt).

It was scientifically proven that the kitchen salt (sodium chloride) is a vital substance. Even without accurate chemical and medical analyzes and research, people from the very beginning it was clear that the salt is very valuable, useful and supporting substance, which they themselves, and animals make it possible to survive in the world.

On the other hand, excessive salinity causes a decrease in soil fertility. It does not allow plants to receive minerals in the roots. As a result of excessive salinity of the soil, for example in Australia, desertification is widespread.

The fact that water in the sea salty - everyone knows no obstacle. But answer the question of which the sea is the most salty on the planet, most people are most likely difficult. However, it was unlikely that a person was thinking about why the sea is salty and is there a life in the world in the world in the world.

The world ocean is a single whole natural organism. On the planet, he takes two thirds of the whole earthly space. Well, marine water, which fills the world ocean, is considered the most common substance on the surface of the Earth. She has a bitter-salty taste, from fresh water, sea is distinguished by transparency and color, specific weight and aggressive impact on materials. But this is simply explained - in seawater there are more than 50 different components.

Most Salted Sea World

Which seas are more salty, what less - scientists know for sure. The liquid in the seas has already been studied and literally decomposed on the component. And it turned out that the salty seas in Russia occupy the highest lines in the ranking of salinity. So, the main challenger on the status of the salty itself is the Barents Sea. All because during the year the salinity of the surface layers fluctuates in the area of \u200b\u200b34.7-35 percent, however, if deviate to the north and east, the percentage will decrease.


The white sea is also distinguished by high salinity. In the surface layers, the indicator stopped at 26 percent, but at a depth it increases to 31 percent. In the Kara Sea salinity about 34 percent, however, it is heterogeneous and in the mouths of the flowing rivers water becomes almost fresh. Another of the most salty seas of the world can be called Laptev Sea. The surface records salinity at 28 percent. An even greater indicator is 31-33 percent - in the Chukchi Sea. But it is in winter, in the summer salinity descends.


What kind of sea salty

By the way, all the favorite Mediterranean Sea can also compete for the status of the most saline in the world. Saltness in it varies from 36 to 39.5 percent. In particular, because of this, the sea is noted a weak quantitative development of phyto and zooplankton. However, despite this, a large number of fauna representatives live in the sea. Here you can meet seals, sea turtles, 550 species of fish, about 70 fish endemics, cancer, as well as octopus, crabs, lobs, squid.


It is certainly not a salty of the Mediterranean another famous sea - the Caspian Sea. Caspian boasts a rich animal world - 1809 species. Most of the world stocks of sturgeon live in the sea, as well as freshwater fish (Sudak, Sazan and Vobla). The plant world is also very rich - in the Caspian Sea 728 species of plants, but prevail, of course, algae. An interesting fact, in Karakalpakstan there is a unique natural object - the Aral Sea. And his distinctive feature is that it can be called the second Dead Sea. Another half a century ago, the Aral Sea had a standard salinity. However, as soon as the water from the sea began to take land for irrigation, the salinity began to rise, and by 2010 it raised 10 times. The dead sea is called not only in salinity indicators, but also due to the fact that many inhabitants of the Aral Sea as a protest against raising the level of salinity extinct.

Why salty seas

Why salty seas - this question was interested in people for a long time. For example, according to the Norwegian legend at the bottom of the seas, an unusual mill is standing, which is constantly challenged salt. Similar stories are in the fairy tales of residents of Japan, Philippines and Karelia. But in the Crimean legend, the Black Sea is salty due to the fact that the girls who have fallen in Neptune's network are forced to weave white lace for the waves and constantly crying their native land. From tears water and became salty.


But according to scientific hypothesis, salted water has become different. All water in the seas and oceans is taken from rivers. However, fresh water flows in the latter. And on average, 35 grams of salts was dissolved in one liter of the world's ocean. According to scientists, each tip of salt is washed by river waters from the soil and goes to the sea. Over the ages and millennia of salt in the world ocean, more and more are intertwined. And she can not leave anywhere.


There is a version that water in the oceans and the seas initially was salted. The first reservoir on the planet, allegedly, was filled with acid rain, which fell to the ground as a result of a major eruption of volcanoes at the beginning of the life of the planet. Acid, according to scientists, corrosion rocks, entered them into chemical compounds. As a result of chemical reactions, salted water appeared, which now fills the world ocean.

Most Salted Sea in the world

The very saline sea in the world is called red. In one liter of its water contains 41 grams of salts. By the sea there is only one source of water intake - the Aden Bay. During the year through the Bab El Mongland, the Red Sea receives a thousand cubic kilometers of water more than being taken out of the sea. Therefore, according to researchers, the Water of the Red Sea is fully updated, it is necessary for about 15 years.


The salty red sea is very well and evenly mixed. In winter, surface waters are cooled, lowered down, lifting warm water from the sea depth. In the summer, the water from the surface evaporates, the remaining becomes salty and heavy, so it sinks down. Ups up not so salted water. Thus, water and mixed. The sea is equally in salinity and temperatures everywhere, except for depression.

By the way, the detection of the depression in the Red Sea with hot brine in the 60s of the last century was a present discovery for scientists .. brine in such depressions has a temperature of 30 to 60 degrees Celsius, and it increases a maximum of 0.7 degrees per year. It turns out that water is heated from the inside "earth" heat. And scientists declare that the brine does not mix with sea water and differs from it by chemical indicators.


In the Red Sea, there is a completely lack of coastal stock (rivers and rainflows). As a result, there is no dirt from sushi, but there is crystal transparency of water. All year round, the temperature is held at 20-25 degrees. This has led wealth, as well as the uniqueness of the marine life in the sea.

Why the Red Sea is the most salty? Some say the most salty is the Dead Sea. Its salinity is 40 times higher than the salinity of the Baltic Sea and 8 times the Atlantic Ocean. However, to call the Dead Sea is the most salty - it is impossible, but it is considered the warmest.

The Dead Sea is located in Jordan and Israel in West Asia. Its area is more than 605 square kilometers at a maximum depth of 306 meters. In this famous Sea falls the only river - Jordan. There is no exit by the sea, so it is more correct to call it more correctly by the lake.
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Source photo: log archive

There are many miracles of nature in the world. But, perhaps, nothing turns the idea of \u200b\u200bthe world as a fresh lake with Belgium or Holland - Baikal.

Nice Sea, Sacred Baikal

If you try to think of scientific categories, it will surely come up with something from the textbook of geography - about the largest freshwater lake on the planet, about the fact that if the water suddenly disappears, Baikal will be able to water the population of the Earth for several centuries. But, being on his shore, somehow forget about it, the mind is trying to realize that this water surface is that it spreads where the eyes grabs and merges on the horizon with the sky, - in fact the lake (like, say, Seliger or Geneva) - And can not. It seems that this is the sea - not only because great, but also because the water in it is very transparent, the emerald shade. Baikal ecosystem has an amazing self-cleaning ability (recently, alas, giving failures), so that the bottom does not tighten the Tina, the shores do not overgrow reed and water lily. Brave swimsters (water rarely warms more than 20 degrees) argue that swimming in fresh water is as easy as in the salty sea.

The most popular resort in tourists is the village of Latvyanka, which is one and a half hours drive from Irkutsk. It offers advanced infrastructure, hotels for every taste and wallet, a variety of entertainment. But it is worth spending a little longer time and strength to get to the truth of the Pearl of Baikal - Olkhon Islands.

Nature and myths

At the most fresh. Source: At the most fresh.

Source photo: log archive

The biggest of twenty-seven islands divides Baikal on the so-called small and large sea. The area of \u200b\u200bthe island is almost 80 square kilometers, about one and a half thousand people live here and there is only one major settlement - the village of Khuzhir. Olkhon - a unique place. Here are more than three hundred sunny days a year, almost like in Nice, and the variety of natural landscapes amazes: sandy beaches, pine groves, impregnable rocks and plains, about which the Scots say that these empty is much more Scottish than their homeland. There is even a salty lake Shara-Nur.

For Buryat Olkhon - the center of spiritual life, the focus of myths and legends. It is on the island that lives the spirit of Baikal himself. Once the shamans were hidden here from Genghis Khan. It is believed that they were given the ability to speak with spirits. By the way, the locals urge not to believe those who dance before speckful tourists in masks and with tambourines. According to them, the real shamans look like ordinary people, but they know many conspiracies, spells, therapeutic herbs - in a word, do not differ much from the more familiar to us rustic signs.

Here, on Olkhon, there is one of the main shrines of Asia - the rock shaman. With her, a well-known legend of the harsh father of Baikal and his recalcitrant daughter, hangar, who instead of marriage with Nõlah Irkut ran away to his beloved Yenisei. The angry father threw her after a huge cliff - that the very shaman. Inside the cliff there is a cave, where the Buryat shamans once assumed prayers and brought victims. It is believed that an ordinary person should not come here - not to good.

And the rock itself, and Cape Burkhan, on which it is located, is the most concentrated look of Baikal. Not less picturesque and Cape Hoea in the north of the island. Translated from the Buryat "Hobbie" means "Klyk". And the truth, in their outlines of the rock on the tip of the cape look like a tooth. But if you look at the rock on the side, then it will rather remind a female profile, from here the second name - Virgin. In clear weather from Khoboy, you can see the mainland - mountainous Peninsula Holy Nose. One of the best panoramic sites overlooking the Small Sea - Cape Fun. It rises above the water almost a hundred meters. For his height and huge sizes, he received such a name: "FUN" in Buryatski means "fat".

On practice

At the most fresh. Source: At the most fresh.

Source photo: log archive

Rest on Olkhon is becoming more and more popular. With a constant population, just a half thousand people come here more hundreds of thousands of tourists per year. Nevertheless, there is no feeling of a noisy crowded resort. At Olkhon, you will like the fans of a quiet contemplative rest, and those who are not used to sit still. It is possible, for example, to do a mountain tracking and climb to the highest mountain of the island of the center, which overlooks the east coast of Olkhon. Equestrian routes are designed for lovers of eco-tourism, cycling also works. Cruises around the island are offered for several hours or for a whole day - fishing.

In the village of Khuzhir there is a tourist office, whose employees will answer all questions and will help develop the best route. If you are limited in time, you can rent a car with a guide. By the way, the roads on Olkhon are only soil, road signs are practically absent - except that "cautiously, cows" (they feel here in the same way, as in the Alpine meadows: they roam where they want, not paying attention to any tourists or transportation) .

Housing here - for every taste and wallet. You can stay in a modern hotel or on a hostel or settle in the private sector: the entire wrench was hung on the announcements about the delivery of rooms and houses. And lovers of the "wild" rest are where to smash the tent.

The editors thanks Bonaqua for help in preparing the material.

Olkhon, Baikal

  • Airline: 5 h to Irkutsk + transfer to Baikal
  • Time difference: + 5 h
  • Cost: Flight - from 15 000 r., Accommodation - from 300 r. per day

How to get

Airplane to Irkutsk (or to Ulan-Ude), from there on regular buses or minibuses to Baikal (about 7 hours), then on the ferry (15 min) to Olhon.

When to go

The tourist season lasts all year. In the autumn paints, Baikal is especially beautiful. In winter, you can ride snowmobiles or engage in treated fishing.

What will bring

A classic gift from Baikal is the legendary Omul. It is prepared here in different kinds: Salt, knit, coat, bake.

The Baltic Sea is a small sea. The average depth is 60 meters. The greatest depth is 459 meters (at the Swedish side).

  1. The Baltic Sea is a young sea. It was formed about 10,000 years ago, after the last glaciation, when the ice retreated.
  2. The Baltic Sea is like a river with two sleeves (Finnish and combatant bay). Geological studies made apparent that before Pleistocene in the area was the River (Eridanos). By the time of the passionflaps, the river bed turned into the sea, and the pool was called Eemian - the EEM Sea.
  3. The Baltic Sea is the inner sea. The length of the Baltic Sea is approximately 1610 km (1000 miles) in length, 193 km (120 miles) in width. The volume of water is about 21,700 cubic kilometers. Coastline about 8000 km (4968 miles)
  4. The Baltic Sea is the world's largest solonish-fresh water. The fact is that the sea is not formed from the collision or fault of the plates, but this is a glacially washed valley of the river, which explains his relative freshwater.
  5. The saline of the Baltic is significantly lower than the ocean water, due to the abundant river flow from the adjacent lands. The stream of fresh water goes to the sea of \u200b\u200btwo hundred rivers. Stock contributes to the exchange of water about one fortieth of its total volume per year.
  6. The Square of the Baltic Sea is about 400,000 km², which is 0.1% of the overall area of \u200b\u200bthe world's ocean. The catchment of the Baltic Sea is about four times the area of \u200b\u200bthe surface of the sea itself.
  7. Let us list 9 Baltic countries :, Poland, Russia, Sweden ,.
  8. The Baltic Sea has narrow compounds with the rest of the oceans, which makes tidal movements minimal.
  9. The Baltic Sea is geographically located between 53 - 66 degrees. Northern latitude and 20 - 26 degrees. Eastern longitude. In addition to the mainland Europe, the Baltic Sea belongs to the Scandinavian Peninsula and Danish Islands.
  10. Skagen, Denmark - a place where the Baltic and North Sea are found. Because of very different densities of water and chemical differences, these two seas do not like to mix. As a result, they create the most amazing phenomenon of nature - two reservoirs are fighting for each other, side by side.
  11. From the Baltic Sea, the path lies through the strait (, large loft and small loft), then through the strait and.
  12. The Baltic Sea is connected by artificial water paths with a white-toe, and with the German Cove of the North Sea through the Kiel Canal.
  13. In winter, the ice rolls about half the surface of the Baltic Sea Square. Oblase region includes, Vyunamen (shed in Estonia, at the Monsundsky Archipelago). In the central part of the Baltic Sea, as a rule, does not freeze, with the exception of protected coves and shallow lagoon (type, the Curonian Gulf).
  14. Since 1720, cases occasionally known when the Baltic Sea frozen entirely: a total of 20 times - the most recent case was in early 1987. The typical ice thickness in the northern regions is about 70 centimeters of gap sea ice.
  15. The first who called the Baltic Sea (Mare Balticum) was the German chronicle of the eleventh century Adam Bremensky. The origin of the title can specifically be connected with the German word "belt", the Latin Balteus (belt) - the sea extends through the ground as a belt. Either this is the influence of the name of the legendary island of Baltici (Balcia), referred to in the natural history of the Senior Plina. Pliny refers to Pypheus and Xenophon - an island called Basilia ("Kingdom" or "Royal"). Baltia can also be obtained from the word "tape". Or, the name comes from the proto-Indo-European root "Bhel", which means white. This root and its main meaning were preserved in Lithuanian (like Baltas) and in Latvian. The name of the sea is associated with various water forms (ice and snow - originally white).


    Some Swedish historians believe that the name comes from God Baldra from Scandinavian mythology.
  16. In the middle eyelids, the sea was known under different names. The name of the Baltic Sea has become dominant only since 1600. The use of "Baltic" and other similar terms appeared already in the 19th century.
  17. At the time of the Roman Empire, the Baltic Sea was known as the Sebicum sea or the Sarmaticum Sea. Tacitis in his 98 AD "Agricola / Germania" described that the Sea Swivel got his name in honor of the swover - so the tribes called the Spring months when the ice on the sea was split and melted. The Sarmatian Sea was called because Eastern Europe in those days were inhabited by Sarmatian tribes. Jordanes called this Sea Germany in his work Getica.
  18. In the era of Vikings, Scandinava called him "Eastern Sea" (Austmarr). This name appears in Heimskringla and in the Scandinavian chronicle of Sörla. Sakson Grammar recorded in Gesta Danorum the name of the ganvik from the ancient Years "Vicky" - "Bay". This means that the Vikings considered the Baltic Sea not as the sea, but as an outdoor exit. The name "Grandvik" is repeated in one English translation - Acts of Danov.
  19. The northern part of the Baltic Sea is known as a combatant bay. The more southern pool of the bay is called Selchamy, and directly south of it is the sea of \u200b\u200bAlands. The Finnish Bay connects the Baltic Sea with St. Petersburg. The Riga Bay is located between the Latvian capital of Riga and the Estonian Island of Saaremaa.
  20. In the south, Gadansk Bay - east of the Hel Peninsula on the Polish coast and in the west of the Sambia Peninsula. Pomeranian bay is north of the island of Usedom and Volin, east of the Rügen. Between Falthter and the German coast lies Mecklenburg Bay and Lübeck Bay. Western Baltic Sea - Kiel Bay.

  21. About 48% of the region is covered with forests (at and Finland accounts for most of the forests). About 20% of the Earth are used for agriculture and pastures. About 17% of the basin is not used - open earth. Another 8% make up wetlands.
  22. About 85 million people live in Baltik - 15% within 10 km from the coast, 29% - within 50 km from the coast. About 22 million people live in cities.
  23. The Baltic Sea is richly amber, especially at the southern shores. The first mention of amber fields on the Baltic Sea coast appeared in the 12th century. In addition to fishing and amber, border countries traditionally supply wood, wood resin, luna, hemp and fur. Sweden from the early Middle Ages is flourishing the mining industry, especially on iron ore and silver. All this provided the region rich trading, starting with Roman times.

  24. In the Epoch of the Early Middle Ages, the Wikings of Scandinavia fought for power over the sea with Slavic tribes of Pomerania. Vikings used rivers for trading paths so as to end up the path to.
  25. Three Danish Straits - Large Large, Small Blouth and Ersunn (Öresund / Sound), connect the Baltic Sea with the straits Kattegat and Skagerrak in the North Sea.
  26. Baltic Sea Bay - Botnik, Finnish, Riga, Graphswald, Matsalu, Möklenburg, Kielsky, Kaliningrad, Pomeranburg, Pärnusky, Untervarnov, Lumeparnas, Szczecin and Gadansk Bay. The Curonian Bay (freshwater) is separated from the sea with sandy oblique.
  27. The Fauna of the Baltic Sea is a mixture of marine and freshwater species. Among the sea fish - cod, herring, heck, flounder, barley, halibut. Examples of freshwater species - perch, pike, sig and roach.
  28. Under the threat of disappearance there are populations of atlantic white dolphins and sea pigs. Outside the range of species, such as prestabors, aphalines, belugues, tales, and the family of trumpors - have become rare visitors to the Baltic Water. In recent years, the Finvals and humpback whales are migrating very little into the Baltic Sea.
  29. Shipbuilding at the Baltic Sea shipyards. The largest shipyards - Gdansk, and Szczecin (Poland); Kiel (Germany); Karlskron and Malmo (Sweden); Rauma, Turku and Helsinki (Finland); Riga, Ventspils and Liepaja (Latvia); (Lithuania); (Russia).
  30. In the Baltic Sea there are many sunken ships. By modest estimates, there are about 100,000. Ships, which are found for over a thousand years. The boat of the stone century, made of a hollow tree, is the oldest ship discovered in the Baltic - dated 5 200 BC.
  31. In 2010, the international group of scientists in the Baltic Sea examined the shipwreck of the 17th century at a depth of 130 meters using robots and echo-sounders, which was never previously used in deep-sea archeology.
  32. The saline of the Baltic Sea is only 0.06-0.15% (in comparison with the saline of 3.5% in large oceans), which makes it unsuitable for the worm Teredo Navalis. This is the main reason why wooden remains of sunken ships survive in the Baltic Sea. In the Baltic Sea there are also archaeological traces of the inhabitants of the Stone Age - under water there are whole forests that were recessed when the glaciers of the last glacial period retreated, about 15,000 years ago.

  33. Gotland is the largest island of the Baltic. Gotland is a Swedish province. Visby is the capital of Gotland, sometime the Hanseatic city with a medieval center, which has become the national treasure in Sweden. Visby is the most ancient urban wall of the preserved in Northern Europe. Inside there is more than 200 medieval stone buildings.
  34. In 1628, the Swedish military vessel Vase (Swede Vasa) sunk in his first flight near the Stockholm Harbor. After 35 years, the group of bold submariners managed, using a primitive diving bell, raise about fifty guns (guns) of this ship. And only in 1961, 333 after his death, Vasu raised from a depth of 30 meters. The VASA Museum is now one of the most popular tourist places in Sweden.
  35. The worst maritime catastrophe and the only similar kind of mankind of mankind, happened in the Baltic Sea - this is the death of a passenger liner Wilhelm Gustloff - more than 10,000 people died. The catastrophe occurred on January 30, 1945 in the southern part of the Baltic. was torpedid by the Soviet submarine.
  36. The ghost ship discovered by chance in 2003 during the search for the Swedish spy aircraft. This discovery was made public in 2007, the Swedish scientist came to the conclusion that the shipwreck is really unique and has a great historical significance. This is typical for the Dutch shipbuilding ship of the 17th century, probably built in 1650. In Dutch, the type of ship is called Fluyt. 26 meters long, 8 meters wide. Its lifting capacity is 100 units (about 280 tons). Thanks to the three-dimensional model of the ship, scientists can now reconstruct the external and inner part of it. This gives a lot of new knowledge about shipping and trade in that historical period.