The North Sea

Geography

The North Sea- shelf sea placed between: Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, British Isles, Germany Belgium, Netherlands and France. It is connected with the Baltic because by sea straits.

Surface area: 750,000 km2

Average depth: 95 mMax depth: 700 mResources: natural gas, petroleum, coalMax temperature: 17°CMin temperature: 6°CSalinity: 35‰

The North Sea fauna Because of similar climate the North Sea is the home of the same animals

as the Baltic Sea : seals and porpoises. Thanks to higher salinity more species live in the North Sea:

herring flounder hake rabbit fish electric ray shortfin mako shark basking shark sea duck auk bottlenose dolphin harbor seal walrusAnd… some species of whales.

The North Sea FloraPlant species ,like in theBaltic, include species

of wrack, algae and kelp. Among these we can distinguish:

bladder wrackKnotted wrackmacroalgalseagrassApart from these a new invasive species of

plant called „japanese seaweed”can be found in the North Sea

The North Sea- benefitsan important communication route developed fishing (herring, mackerel, flounder, cod) extraction of natural gas and crude oil the biggest harbors in the world are situated at the North

Sea: the Netherlands- Rotterdam and Amsterdam, Great Britain- London, Newcastle or Germany- Hamburg.

Facts hidden in the North Sea1) Organic bomb- 10 years ago about 65 tons of

mercury have been discovered at the bottom of the sea in a German ship destroyed in 1945.

2) Distaster of Baltic Ace- 5th December 2012 , two ships: „Baltic Ace” and „Corvus J”collided. In the disaster 11/24 memebers of the „Baltic Ace” crew were lost.

3) History contained in sharks’ fangs- scientists think that thanks of sharks’ tusks we can track the history of the climate of the North Sea. They claim that 55 mln years ago water of this sea was the same as water in lakes today.

To be continued…