Map of Jordan with resorts on the Red Sea. New tourist card

You can see where the Red Sea is on the map above. The sea is located between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa in a tectonic basin. Through the Suez Canal in the north the sea connects with the Mediterranean, in the south the sea exits into the Indian Ocean.

The saltiest sea in the world

Of all the seas, the Red Sea is the saltiest, yes, surprisingly, but it is believed that it is saltier than even the Dead Sea. This happens due to the fact that the Dead Sea is closed, and the Red Sea has an influx of salt water through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait where it connects with the Indian Ocean and at the same time, in a hot climate, it has evaporation from the surface of about 2000 mm per year with precipitation of only about 100 millimeters .

A sea into which no river flows

In addition to the hot climate, the Red Sea has one more feature - not a single river flows into the sea, but it is the rivers that carry fresh water to the seas. These are the main factors due to which the Red Sea is considered the most salty sea In the world, in one year, 1000 cubic kilometers of water enter the Red Sea more than flows out of it.

One liter of Red Sea seawater contains about 41 grams of salt. Although in the depths of the sea there are places where there are more than 260 grams of salt per liter. The maximum depth of the sea, according to various estimates, does not exceed three kilometers, officially 2211 meters.

A sea into which no river flows

In addition to the hot climate, the Red Sea has one more feature - not a single river flows into the sea, but it is the rivers that carry fresh water to the seas. These are the main factors due to which the Red Sea is considered the saltiest sea in the world; in one year, 1000 cubic kilometers more water is introduced into the Red Sea than flows out of it.

Where is the Red Sea

The Red Sea is an inland sea Indian Ocean and is located between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa. This is one of the warmest and saltiest seas in the world. The Red Sea washes the shores of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Israel and Jordan.

In the north, the Red Sea is connected by the Suez Canal to Mediterranean Sea, in the south - the Bab el-Mandeb Strait with the Arabian Sea. The peculiarity of the Red Sea is that not a single river flows into it, and rivers usually carry silt and sand with them, significantly reducing the transparency of sea water. Therefore, the water in the Red Sea is ideally clean and transparent.

The shores of the Red Sea are low, in the north they are adjacent to deserts, in the southern part the western coast is adjacent to mountainous Abyssinia. Many coral reefs, scattered throughout the coast, especially the Arabian, and in some places stretching for a long distance from the shore, constitute a distinctive feature of the Red Sea coast.

You can also familiarize yourself with the map of the Red Sea in more detail and find out the location of the main resorts:

A narrow trench, a rift, runs through the center of the sea, with depths exceeding 1000-1500 m, and in the north this trench breaks up into a series of depressions filled with brines that differ in temperature and salinity.

The discovery of depressions with hot brines in the Red Sea was a real scientific discovery in the sixties of the twentieth century. To date, more than 20 such depressions have been discovered in the deepest areas. The huge number of exotic fish of the Red Sea and the beauty of the coral reefs attract diving enthusiasts here.

Tourism in Egypt

Sights and interesting facts about the Red Sea.

Where is the Red Sea?

The Red Sea is the natural water boundary between the continents of Eurasia and Africa. Considered an inland sea of the Indian Ocean, it divides with its almost parallel shores the northeastern side of the African continent and southern shores countries of the Middle East. The geological origin of the sea is associated with the divergence (drift) of the continents and the resulting series of faults - troughs, which turn into one another. The man-made Suez Canal completes the “official” separation of the continents and connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, providing a short shipping route from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean.

Why is the sea called Red?

Historians are finding out where the sea got its name. Several versions have a right to exist (although there is not much evidence):

In spring, the water takes on a reddish tint due to the excessive proliferation of red unicellular algae.
In ancient times, the cardinal directions had “colored” names: “northern” was called “black”, “southern” - “red”, “eastern” - “white”. The “Red” sea was called that, perhaps because it was further south relative to the “Middle Sea”.
The Arabs could have misread the ancient cuneiform records and instead of naming the sea from the Himyarites tribe, who considered the sea theirs, they called it the Arabic word “Akhmar” (red).

The ancient Greek geographer and historical writer Agatharchides of Knidos wrote the book “On the Red Sea (Erythraean)”, for the first time describing waters far from Greece.

Features of the Red Sea: climate, geology, water and unique living world

Both shores of the Red Sea are distinguished by a dry desert climate, only closer to the north it becomes mild Mediterranean, as on the coast of Turkey. In summer, the temperature above the sea reaches +50, in winter it drops to +22-25. Over the sea, only 100 mm of precipitation falls per year, which is considered an exceptionally small amount even for deserts. But 15 times more evaporates from the surface, and if not for the Indian Ocean, whose current replenishes and renews the water volume of the sea, it would dry up.

The Red Sea is considered the saltiest sea in the Indian Ocean (in which living organisms can live). 41 grams of salt/liter (and even more at the bottom thanks to salty springs) do not frighten animals, on the contrary, they attract them, since there is more oxygen in sea water.

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The coastal shelf gently drops to 200 meters, ending sharply with faults, the deepest of which reaches 3 kilometers. Very pure salt water is not polluted by any fresh river.

The fauna of the Red Sea is considered unique. The coral kingdom is so diverse that the sea has been declared a nature reserve of world significance. Growing at a rate of several millimeters per year, the coral banks and ridges have grown into multimeter-long limestone deposits along the shore. On the border of the abruptly falling coral shores, life is in full swing: coral fish, sea urchins and coral-eating stars inhabit every square meter of the shoreline.

In the Red Sea, you can often find unique inhabitants of the sea: giant whale sharks, sea turtles and hammerhead sharks, giant rays and moray eels. To protect these animals, countries with developed tourism have introduced strict laws protecting the underwater world.

Egypt's popular resorts of Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab, Taba attract scuba diving and beach holiday, windsurfing and sailing yachts. Comfortable hotels and Egyptian exotica provide tourists from all over the world with an unforgettable vacation.

The RED SEA, a Mediterranean sea of the Indian Ocean, is connected to it in its southern part through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north it is connected to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal. Located between the northeastern edge of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula in southwestern Asia.

Area 460 thousand km 2, volume 201 thousand km 3. The greatest depth is 3039 m. The sea is significantly elongated from northwest to southeast (length 1932 km, width up to 306 km). The Red Sea, due to the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait, is the most isolated sea in the Indian Ocean. The shores are mostly flat, sandy, and rocky in places. Coastline slightly indented, the eastern and western shores of the sea along their main length run almost parallel to each other. In the north there are two large elongated gulfs - the shallow Gulf of Suez and the deep-sea Aqaba, separated Sinai Peninsula. In the coastal zone there are numerous small islands and coral reefs, large islands in the northern part they are rare, most of them are located in the south, where they form groups, the most significant of which are Dahlak and Farasan.

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Relief and geological structure bottom. The bottom topography includes a shelf with numerous coral structures, a continental slope and a bed, which is almost entirely occupied by a narrow abyssal trough, elongated along the longitudinal axis of the sea and divided by a number of transform faults into separate deep-sea trenches, which received individual names (Albatross, Atlantis, Valdivia, Discovery, Oceanographer, etc., about 20 in total). The width of the shelf in the northern part is from 1 to 20 km, gradually increasing to the south to 100 km or more. In the southernmost part of the sea, adjacent to the Babel-Mandeb Strait, the shelves on the opposite shores are separated only by a small trench about 200 m deep. The sedimentary cover of the shelf area is composed of Lower Miocene terrigenous and volcanic-sedimentary rocks with evaporite horizons (2-4 km thick), which overlain by Pliocene-Quaternary calcareous and silty-calcareous silts. The cover rests on fault-broken folded metamorphic rocks and granites of the African-Arabian platform. The underwater slopes of the Red Sea depression are ledges composed of continental rocks overlain by coral limestones. The bottom of the deep-sea basin of the Red Sea is divided into two parts according to its morphology and structure: a wide and flat northwestern part (up to about 23° north latitude) and a narrow and highly dissected southeastern part. In the northwestern part, the bottom of the basin is occupied by a wide (about 100 km) accumulative plain, bordered by steps with steep mountains, the tops of which often form reefs, shoals, and islands. Within the lateral steps, the bottom is composed of horizontally lying or gently folded, mainly carbonate, sediments, which are underlain by a layer of limestone and evaporites. Sediments overlie a granitic-metamorphic basement, which pinches out in the direction of the trough axis; in the same direction the thickness of the sedimentary layer decreases. South-eastern part The basin is characterized by a large (2000-3000 m) depth, the presence of an axial trench complicated by numerous depressions, one of which is confined to the greatest depth of the Red Sea. In the mid-1960s, in a number of depressions (Atlantis I, Discovery, Chain, etc.), bottom waters with a very high temperature (over 60 ° C) and salinity (over 260‰) were discovered - the so-called hot brines, similar in chemical composition with relict brines from oil wells. The bottom of the depressions is lined with Pliocene-Quaternary metal-bearing silts with very high concentrations of compounds of iron, zinc, copper and other metals. Bottom sediments rest on basalts and basic igneous rocks of the dike complex (the second layer of the oceanic crust). In the southeastern part of the basin, modern underwater volcanism is observed, the heat flow is increased compared to the average level characteristic of the ocean floor; The epicenters of earthquakes are concentrated near the axial trench.

In geotectonic terms, the Red Sea depression is an intercontinental rift structure, which is a link in the East African Rift System and connects through the Gulf of Aden rift with the Arabian-Indian spreading ridge of the Indian Ocean. To the north, the Red Sea rift continues into the Gulf of Aqaba and is connected by a regional strike-slip fault to the Dead Sea rift basin and the Jordan Valley. In the rift zone of the Red Sea, starting from the late Miocene, new formation of the oceanic crust occurs, accompanied by the expansion of the seabed (spreading), as a result of which the Arabian Peninsula moves away from Africa and the opening of the ocean basin occurs. The rate of separation of lithospheric plates is estimated to be about 1-2 mm per year.

Climate. Climatic conditions The Red Sea is determined primarily by the fact that its basin belongs to one of the most pronounced arid regions of the Earth. The presence of deserts surrounding the sea area in the northeastern part of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula leads to the predominance of dry and hot weather, characteristic of a continental tropical climate.

The main mechanism of weather formation is the regional system of atmospheric circulation in the space surrounding the Red Sea, determined by the presence of stationary and seasonal centers of atmospheric action: an anticyclone in northern Africa, an area of low pressure in the central part of Africa and an alternating extreme of atmospheric pressure over Central Asia.

Their interaction leads to the fact that for most of the year, north-northwest winds dominate over the entire Red Sea water area, and only south of 20° north latitude from October to April, during the winter Indian Ocean monsoon, do south-southeast winds prevail. IN coastal areas daily breezes are developed. Significant daily and seasonal fluctuations in air temperature are characteristic. The average daily temperature in mid-summer in the north is about 27 °C, in the south about 33 °C, in winter 17 and 23 °C, respectively. The observed maximum temperature in the south is about 47 °C, the minimum temperature in the north is below 6 °C. Rainfall over the sea is extremely rare, the average annual number of days with precipitation is no more than 10. Precipitation is observed mainly in winter - from a few mm in the north to 200 mm in the south. With the exception of some areas, the average relative humidity does not exceed 70%. In some cases (during the action of the Khamsin and Samum desert winds), humidity can drop to 5%. The Red Sea is characterized by dust fogs and mirages. Evaporation from the sea surface due to the high average temperature and great dryness of the air is very significant - more than 200 cm/year, which far exceeds the corresponding figures for all other areas of the World Ocean located in the same latitudinal zone. Highest repeatability clear skies on average is 250 days a year. From May to October there are 20-28 days with minimal cloudiness, from November to April - 13-22.

Hydrological regime. Not a single river flows into the Red Sea. Only in the north, sometimes, after the passage of the next Mediterranean cyclone, the beds of dry rivers are filled with rainwater flowing into the sea in the form of short-term turbid streams; river flow actually does not matter for the marine hydrological regime. Level fluctuations in the Red Sea are caused by the seasonal course of evaporation from its surface, tides, which are mainly semi-diurnal in nature, and surge phenomena under the influence of seasonal winds in the southern part of the basin.

An increase in the density of sea water due to its winter cooling also plays a small role. All these factors, to one degree or another, affect level fluctuations, but since the stability of the sea volume is largely regulated by water exchange with the Indian Ocean through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the resulting fluctuations in the average monthly water level for the sea as a whole are small, up to 30-35 cm. In the middle part of the sea, the spring tide is about 25 cm, in the extreme southern and northern regions - up to 1-1.5 m. Non-periodic surge level fluctuations are most significant in the northern parts of the Gulf of Suez and Aqaba and in the south in the bays of the islands Dahlak, where amplitudes can exceed 1.5 m. Storms occur quite rarely and mainly in the north of the region.

Water circulation in the Red Sea is characterized by significant seasonal variability. In the southern part, from November to March, the surface current is directed north-northwest along the east coast at a speed of about 50 cm/s. From June to September, currents in the opposite direction prevail here. IN summer period under the influence of winds prevailing over the entire water area, the transport of surface water towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait develops at a speed of 20-30 cm/s. In the central part of the sea, at 20-21° north latitude, under certain wind conditions, large-scale gyres are observed.

The hydrological structure of the sea is characterized by the presence of three main water masses. The upper layer (0-150 m) is occupied by water with a relatively low salinity of Indian Ocean origin. Deeper (up to 300-350 m) lies the intermediate Red Sea water mass proper, formed in the north under the influence of winter vertical convection. Finally, the lower layer is also a deep water mass formed in the north with high salinity (>40‰) and a constant temperature of about 20 °C. The average surface water temperature in winter ranges from 22 °C in the north to 26 °C in the south. In the central part of the sea in winter and spring, due to circulation patterns, an increase in water temperature up to 27 °C is observed. In summer average temperature surface water in the north is about 27 °C, and in the south it can exceed 32 °C. A small influx of fresh water and intense evaporation from the sea surface lead to a significant increase in water salinity, which in the north reaches the highest value in the seas of the World Ocean (Gulf of Suez), the lowest average salinity of surface water is about 37‰. Its values gradually decrease towards the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. Water exchange through this strait plays an important role in hydrological regime seas. The salty deep waters of the Red Sea flow through it into the Indian Ocean and spread at the depth of their density over large spaces. In turn, from Gulf of Aden to the north, as a rule, in winter, there is a surface gradient and wind current, compensating for the decrease in the volume of sea water due to evaporation.

History of research. The sea apparently got its name from the presence of planktonic algae in it, which have a reddish tint during the flowering period. According to another version, this name was given under the impression of the reddish coastal mountains of the Sinai Peninsula, reflected on the water surface. The proximity of the Red Sea to the centers of ancient Afro-Asian civilizations made it famous many millennia ago. The sea has long served the peoples of North Africa and Arabia as an important transport artery along which their trade routes passed. Modern scientific research into the Red Sea actually began only in the 19th century, after European expeditions that explored the Indian Ocean visited it. One of the first among them, who passed by sea after the creation of the Suez Canal in 1869, were the Russian round the world expedition on the Vityaz under the command of Captain 1st Rank S. O. Makarov and the German one on the Valdivia. From the Vityaz in March 1889, 4 oceanographic stations were carried out in the Red Sea to a depth of 600 m. The main studies that made it possible to obtain existing ideas about the nature and resources of the sea were carried out in the 20th century. Among them, special mention should be made of expeditions European countries and the USA during the International Geophysical Year (1957-58), the work of the International Indian Ocean Expedition (1960-1965). Several special oceanographic expeditions in the Red Sea in the 1960-80s were carried out by scientific vessels of the USSR. Particularly interesting were the results obtained by the expedition of the Institute of Oceanology of the Academy of Sciences named after P. P. Shirshov in 1979-80 using the Pisis underwater manned vehicles, from which for the first time visual observation of the surface of the brine layer, water sampling and geological survey of the bottom were carried out.

Economic use.

The Red Sea is the most important transport route after the construction and commissioning of the Suez Canal. On the coasts of the Red Sea there are large modern ports that handle large flows of various cargo: Suez, Bur Safaga (Egypt), Port Sudan (Sudan), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Massawa (Eritrea), Hodeidah (Yemen), etc. Underwater Oil fields are being developed on the shelf of the northern part of the sea, in the Gulf of Suez (Egypt), several fields have been discovered on the southern shelf (Eritrea, Saudi Arabia). Phosphorite deposits developed in the Red Sea (Egypt) are of great economic importance. Reserves of non-ferrous and precious metals are concentrated at the bottom of the rift zone. Fish production is gradually increasing and other seafood is being fished - crustaceans, mollusks (mainly squid), etc. At the end of the 20th century rapid development received a tourism business, a network of sea resorts of various classes was created on the coast of the northern part of the sea, the largest of which are Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada (Egypt), Aqaba (Jordan), Eilat (Israel).

Ecological state. Active industrial and resort development of the coast and waters of the Red Sea, especially oil production and transportation, pose a real threat to the safety of its unique ecosystem. The most polluted areas of the sea are in its northern part, in the Gulf of Suez. Almost all coastal states take certain measures to protect and control the marine environment. International conventions provide for serious sanctions against anthropogenic pollution of the Red Sea with household waste and oil products, which pose a particular danger here due to big amount transit transport ships.

Lit.: Kanaev V.F., Neiman V.G., Parin N.V. Indian Ocean. M., 1975; Monin A. S. et al. Immersion in brines of the Red Sea depressions // Reports of the USSR Academy of Sciences. 1980. T. 254. No. 4; Metalliferous sediments of the Red Sea / Edited by A. P. Lisitsyn, Yu. A. Bogdanov. M., 1986; Plakhin E. A. Hydrology of the Mediterranean Seas. L., 1989; Red sea. St. Petersburg, 1992.

V. G. Neumann.

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Exploring the Indian Ocean, between the Arabian and Hindustan peninsulas, we will see the Arabian Sea. Its area is one of the largest in the world, it is 4832 thousand square meters. km, the most deep depression is 5803 meters.

In ancient times this sea was called the Eritrean Sea. The Indus River flows into the Arabian Sea. The seashores are indented by bays and bays, they are high and rocky, partly low-lying deltaic. The most large bays the seas are Aden, it connects with the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Kutch, Cambay and Oman, it connects with Persian Gulf Strait of Hormuz.

The Arabian Sea is part of the Indian Ocean. The sea is divided into two basins - the Arabian, with a depth of more than 5,300 meters, and the Somali, which is about 4,600 meters deep. They are framed by two underwater plateaus less than 1800 meters deep.

The expanses of water cross the Arabian-Indian mid-ocean ridge in a rift valley whose depth is more than 3,600 meters.
The relief of the sea bottom was formed in the Mesozoic-Cenozoic, most of it in the Pliocene. Near the Indus River delta, the shelf is cut by submarine canyons. Its width off the coast of India and Goa is 120 km, depth up to 220 meters, near the Gulf of Cambay - depth 90 meters and width 352 km. Approaching the Makran coast, the shelf narrows to 35 km, decreasing in a westerly direction. The slope of the continent to a depth of 2750 meters is covered with terrigenous sediments, and the basins are covered with red clay.
The Arabian Sea is distinguished by the fact that there are few islands here, most of them are located off the coast, the largest being the Laccadive Islands and Socotra. The climate here is tropical, monsoon; in winter the winds blow from the north-east, bringing clarity and coolness. In summer, southwestern directions predominate, determining humidity and cloudiness. Typhoons are possible in autumn, spring and summer. In the winter months, the air temperature is 20-25 degrees Celsius, in the summer - 25-29 degrees, precipitation falls from 25 to 125 mm per year, in the east the amount can increase to a maximum of 3000, especially in the summer. The water temperature in winter is 22-27 degrees, in summer – 23-28 degrees, the maximum occurs in May, when the temperature of the surface layer of water is 29 degrees Celsius. Due to the fact that the waters of the Arabian Sea all year round remain warm, a large number of popular world resorts are located on the coasts of the Arabian Sea. One of the most popular among them is Goa, a state in southern India. Every year a huge number of tourists fly to Goa to relax on the sandy Goan shores, visit local excursions and swim in the soft waters of the Arabian Sea.

Where is Egypt located on the world map? The Arab Republic of Egypt is a state located in North Africa on the Sinai Peninsula in Asia. That is why Egypt is called the country of two continents. From the northeast the country borders on Israel and the Gaza Strip, on the south on Sudan, on the west on Libya. The eastern part of the country borders Palestine and also shares sea borders with Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

You can get to Egypt both by land transport and by plane, although, mainly, many are interested in connecting flight time to Egypt, since they travel with children.

On a detailed map of the Red Sea coast we can see that its waters wash eastern part country, the north is washed by the Mediterranean Sea. And both seas are connected to each other by the artificial Suez Canal, thanks to which the shortest route from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean opens. One of the greatest rivers in the world, the Nile, flows throughout the country from south to north.

On our website you can find detailed map Egypt - resorts and cities in Russian. Since tourism is one of the main directions of the country's economy, therefore the most popular resort complexes are such as Luxor, Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada. Also on the map of Egypt you will find many monuments of ancient Egyptian, Coptic, and medieval civilization. The most visited are the Pyramids of Giza, the Valley of the Kings and Queens, the temples of the pharaohs, monuments of the medieval era in Islamic and Old Cairo.

Red sea- an inland sea of the Indian Ocean, located between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa in a tectonic basin. One of the warmest and saltiest seas.

It washes the coasts of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Jordan.

Resorts: Hurghada, Sharm el-Sheikh, Safaga, El Gouna (Egypt), Eilat (Israel)

In the north, the Red Sea is connected by the Suez Canal with the Mediterranean Sea, in the south by the Bab el-Mandeb Strait with the Arabian Sea.

The peculiarity of the Red Sea is that not a single river flows into it, and rivers usually carry silt and sand with them, significantly reducing the transparency of sea water. Therefore, the water in the Red Sea is crystal clear.

The climate on the Red Sea coast is dry and warm, the air temperature in the coldest period (December-January) during the day is 20-25 degrees, and in the hottest month - August, does not exceed 35-40 degrees. Thanks to the hot climate off the coast of Egypt, the water temperature does not drop below +20 degrees even in winter, and reaches +27 in summer.

Strong fumes warm water turned the Red Sea into one of the saltiest on the globe: 38-42 grams of salts per liter.

The length of the Red Sea today is 2350 km, width 350 km (in its widest part), maximum depth reaches 3000 meters in its central part. The area of the Red Sea is 450 thousand sq. km.

The Red Sea is very young. Its formation began about 40 million years ago, when a crack appeared in the earth's crust and the East African Rift formed. The African continental plate separated from the Arabian, and between them a gap formed in the earth's crust, which gradually filled over thousands of years sea water. The plates are constantly moving, so the relatively flat shores of the Red Sea diverge in different directions at a speed of 10 mm per year, or 1 m per century.

In the north of the sea there are two gulfs: Suez and Aqaba, or Eilat. It is along the Gulf of Aqaba (Eilat) that the fault runs. Therefore, the depth of this bay reaches great values (up to 1600 meters). The two bays are separated from each other by the Sinai Peninsula, in the south of which is located famous resort Sharm el-Sheikh.

There are few islands in the northern part of the sea and only south of 17° N latitude. they form numerous groups, the largest of which is Dahlak in the southwestern part of the sea.