Historically, each sea on Earth has its own unique qualities. The Red Sea is famous for its colorful and rich underwater world. The Dead Sea is the saltiest. The Mediterranean and the Aegean are recognizable for their crystal clear blue waters. The Baltic Sea is rich in amber, and the Black Sea is rich in hydrogen sulfide. The Azov Sea is famous for its depth, or rather, for its complete absence.
LAKE OR SWEET?
It’s even surprising how large ships can walk on the “paddling pool”, which is no more than a million years old, because its maximum depth is about 13-14 m, and the average one is only 7-8 m! It is no coincidence that Azov in ancient times was called whatever, but not the sea.
The ancient Greeks called it the Meotian swamp (after the name of the first people who inhabited these places - the Meots). Later, the Scythians and Sarmatians came to the seashore, and its name was accordingly changed to Scythian, and then Sarmatian lakes. The sea area is only 38 000 sq. km, and the maximum width is 230 km.
Only Lake Baikal can accommodate 74 Azov Seas! But Azov also has really unique features, which for some reason gazetteers are silent about.
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SCYTHE WILLS WITH JENDZIK
The Azov Sea is one of the few southern seas, which, as a rule, is completely covered with ice in winter. Those wishing to admire the ice rink from horizon to horizon can do it in January - February. In this sense, little has changed since ancient times. “The ice cover there, at the mouth of Lake Meotius, is so strong that in some area in winter the commander of Mithridates won a victory over the barbarians in horse ranks, fighting on the ice,” the ancient geographer Strabo said.
But a real miracle of nature is considered to be alluvial sand spits up to several kilometers in length. It turns out that the Sea of Azov is the world leader not only in the number, but also in the length of such streaks. The most famous are ten of them. On the northern coast: Fedotova, Obitochnaya, Berdyanskaya, Belosaraiskaya, Krivaya, Beglitskaya. On the east coast - Yeiskaya and Dolgaya. On the south - Chushka and, of course, the Arabat Spit, which is one of the five largest spits in the world.
Historically, each sea on Earth has its own unique qualities. The Red Sea is famous for its colorful and rich underwater world. The Dead Sea is the saltiest. The Mediterranean and the Aegean are recognizable for their crystal clear blue waters. The Baltic Sea is rich in amber, and the Black Sea is rich in hydrogen sulfide. The Azov Sea is famous for its depth, or rather, for its complete absence.
LAKE OR SWEET?
It’s even surprising how large ships can walk on the “paddling pool”, which is no more than a million years old, because its maximum depth is about 13-14 m, and the average one is only 7-8 m! It is no coincidence that Azov in ancient times was called whatever, but not the sea.
The ancient Greeks called it the Meotian swamp (after the name of the first people who inhabited these places - the Meots). Later, the Scythians and Sarmatians came to the seashore, and its name was accordingly changed to Scythian, and then Sarmatian lakes. The sea area is only 38 000 sq. km, and the maximum width is 230 km.
Only Lake Baikal can accommodate 74 Azov Seas! But Azov also has really unique features, which for some reason gazetteers are silent about.
SCYTHE WILLS WITH JENDZIK
The Azov Sea is one of the few southern seas, which, as a rule, is completely covered with ice in winter. Those wishing to admire the ice rink from horizon to horizon can do it in January - February. In this sense, little has changed since ancient times. “The ice cover there, at the mouth of Lake Meotius, is so strong that in some area in winter the commander of Mithridates won a victory over the barbarians in horse ranks, fighting on the ice,” the ancient geographer Strabo said.
But a real miracle of nature is considered to be alluvial sand spits up to several kilometers in length. It turns out that the Sea of Azov is the world leader not only in the number, but also in the length of such streaks. The most famous are ten of them. On the northern coast: Fedotova, Obitochnaya, Berdyanskaya, Belosaraiskaya, Krivaya, Beglitskaya. On the east coast - Yeiskaya and Dolgaya. On the south - Chushka and, of course, the Arabat Spit, which is one of the five largest spits in the world.
According to the most common version, it is believed that the "bricks" of the Azov spits are quartz sand that falls into the sea from the rivers flowing into it. In this case, the tip of the spit consists exclusively of small shells. The funny thing is that the shell ends of the braids resemble huge hooks.
The locals called them zedziks. Amazingly, if the braids themselves are relatively constant in their location, then their extremities now and then move under the influence of a changeable wind, turning the zenziki either to the root of the braid, then in the opposite direction.
Finally, the third feature of the Sea of Azov is the shell rock that covers the beaches with a white blanket. Some scientists believe that the spit owes its appearance not only to wind and sand, but also to the enormous productivity of self-reproducing shells. Only in the coastal strip of Temryuk Bay, the annual increase in shells is from 400 to 800 tons per 1 sq. km!
SEA OF DEAD SHIPS
The Sea of Azov is also famous for the inexplicable loss of ships and crews. Moreover, strange phenomena most often occur between the Berdyansk and Dolgaya spits. It sounds like an absurdity - how can you disappear or drown in the shallowest sea in the world? It turns out that this is not at all difficult if the bottom of the reservoir resembles quicksand in its structure. At the bottom of the Sea of Azov, scuba divers are unlikely to find the remains of sunken ships.
After all, absolutely everything that gets there immediately disappears without a trace. The bottom of Azov, as it were, eats up all the objects that touch it. The fact is that a pound of sea is a viscous silt, diluted with a small shell, more than 5 m thick.
Underwater currents are especially dangerous. The press has repeatedly published stories about how vacationers, having moved away from the coast for several tens of meters into the sea, suddenly realized that they could not move. And after all, the water in these places barely reached their waist. The most popular version of this phenomenon is the eddies that appear at the end of the sand bars at the meeting point of two currents.
Local fishermen willingly share stories from personal experience when their boats were twisted and carried out to sea. It is not surprising that local authorities forbid vacationers to swim in the zedziks, where most of the tragic cases occur. However, the daredevils cannot be restrained by bans, because the end of the sand spit, which juts into the open sea for kilometers, is so mesmerizing that it is almost impossible to resist visiting it.
The most dangerous are the "tails" of the Belosaraiskaya, Berdyanskaya and Dolgaya sandy spits. Only in the coastal strip of Temryuk Bay, the annual increase in shells is from 400 to 800 tons per 1 sq. km.
During perestroika, the press discussed for a long time the discovery of a vessel near the Dolgaya spit, whose crew had disappeared. The bodies of the dead were then washed up on the opposite side of the sea. According to the investigation, they all became victims of whirlpools and underwater currents when they tried to push the ship aground. It was after this incident that scientists noticed that the Dolgaya and Belosaraiskaya spits are practically opposite each other. Water, moving along the sea and reaching this narrow place, naturally intensifies its flow.
Little of! The surge wave in the Taganrog Bay area, where the famous spits are located, under the influence of the western and south-western winds is amplified so much that it rises up to two meters! Only after the winds subside does the water rush back into the open sea in a powerful stream.
The author of these lines was amazed when, while resting in Yeisk (and this is just the Taganrog Bay), he witnessed a similar phenomenon with his own eyes. For about three days in a row, the sea stubbornly shallowed, and then over the next three days the water returned. And on the outskirts of the Dolgaya Spit, the author of these lines observed two colliding sea currents literally crashing against each other.
Local residents claim that the average speed of the Azov currents is quite high - IQ-20 cm / s, but during stormy winds it increases to 1 m / s. Moreover, the strongest currents are observed in the same resort Taganrog Bay.
STORM IN A TEACUP
The Sea of Azov is famous for its seiches. It is unlikely that this word can say something to a person far from hydrology. Nevertheless, every vacationer who finds himself on the shores of the Sea of Azov should know about this phenomenon. Translated from the language of science to human, seiches are standing waves that form in closed bodies of water. Most often, they are caused by gusts of wind, changes in atmospheric pressure or seismic shocks.
Having suddenly appeared, such a wave literally stands, reflecting from the walls of the reservoir. The lifetime of a standing wave usually ranges from a couple of minutes to several days; it rises in height from ten millimeters to two or three meters.
It turns out that a global geological fault runs along the bottom of the Sea of Azov at a depth of about one kilometer. It also creates seismic activity that generates standing waves. The crawling of bottom layers on top of each other causes the formation of underwater rivers, which are extremely dangerous for humans.
This is especially true for fans of windsurfing and those who are not averse to swimming at the tip of the Azov spits, because when seiche fluctuations are amplified by a storm surge or increased river runoff, a sharp rise or fall of water in the sea can occur, and sometimes even a small tsunami can form!
A similar danger lies in wait for vacationers on Berdyansk, Fedotov, Dolgaya, Yeisk and Obitochnye spits. For example, on the Dolgaya spit, which is 14 km out in the sea, in 1983 there was a terrible flood. The fishermen's houses were torn off the ground with terrible force and carried into the sea. Later they were found on the other side, in the Ukrainian SSR. A similar story happened in 2006.
Despite the warning from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the tourists who were resting on the spit did not want to leave the places occupied with such difficulty. As a result, an unexpected storm tore about 200 tents. Someone tried to leave in private cars, but in vain. The element tore even the braid itself into several parts. The most offensive thing is that it is almost impossible to predict the appearance of seiches in advance, and they appear even with the slightest wind.
HEALING MUD
The Azov spits also have their positive sides - these are healing mud. On the beach, you can often see a seemingly adult man furiously digging coastal sand. To play in sand castles is not his age, and there is no child in the neighborhood. What for? The answer becomes obvious after a few minutes, when instead of sand mixed with shells, lumps of black mud appear on the surface.
Old-timers say that the mud of the Azov Sea, alternating in layers with coastal sand, is very healing. For centuries, the powers that be of the Russian Empire and neighboring states came to lie in the mud of the Sea of Azov.
Local sulphide-silt mud is rich in vitamins, enzymes, hormones, and is also an excellent natural stimulant. Under the influence of mud, many inflammatory processes go away, and the skin rejuvenates.
Dmitry TUMANOV