The
Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on
Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest
lake or a full-fledged
sea.
[2][3] It has a surface area of 371,000
square kilometers (143,244&_160;sq&_160;mi) and a volume of 78,200
cubic kilometers (18,761&_160;cu&_160;mi).
[4] It is an
endorheic body of water (has no outflows), and lies between the southern areas of the
Russian Federation and northern
Iran. It has a maximum depth of about 1025 meters (3,363 ft). It was perceived as a sea by its ancient coastal inhabitants because it is salty and seemed boundless. It has a
salinity of approximately 1.2%, about a third the salinity of most
seawater.
It is named after the ancient Caspians.
The Caspian Sea is a remnant of the Tethys Ocean, along with the Black and Mediterranean seas. It became landlocked about 5.5 million years ago due to continental drift. Due to the inflow of fresh water, the Caspian Sea is a fresh-water lake in its northern portions. It is more saline on the Iranian shore. The Caspian owes its salinity to its origins as a remnant of the World Ocean. Freshwater inflows have been responsible for lowering the Caspian's salinity, although salinity remains variable. Currently, the mean salinity of the Caspian is three times less than the Earth's oceans. The largely dried-up Garabogazköl embayment routinely exceeds oceanic salinity.[5]
The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world and accounts for 40 to 44 percent of the total lacustrine waters of the world. The coastlines of the Caspian are shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. The Caspian is divided into three distinct physical regions Northern, Middle, and Southern Caspian.[6] The North-Middle boundary is the Mangyshlak threshold, which runs through Chechen Island and Cape Tiub-Karagan. The Middle-South boundary is the Apsheron threshold, which runs through Zhiloi Island and Cape Kuuli.[7]
