Sywasch

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Sywash, Ukraine
The water in the western part of the Sywasch salt lake has a very high salt concentration. The pink color comes from the beta-carotene-producing unicellular green alga Dunaliella Salina.

The Syvash or Sywaschsee ( Ukrainian and Russian : Сиваш , Crimean Tatar is a large-scale system of flat Sivas) bays to the west of the Azov Sea , which the Crimea from Ukraine separates mainland. Because of its shallow depth, its high salinity and its high evaporation potential , the Siwasch is also called Lazy Sea (Гниле Море / Гнилое Море = Hnyle More / Gniljoe More ). A part of the Sywasch belongs to the Azov-Sywasch National Park and since November 1995 the central and eastern Sywasch has been an internationally important and protected wetland area according to the Ramsar Convention for the Protection of Wetlands.

geography

The total water area of ​​the Sywasch is 2,560 km², that of the entire area with islands over 10,000 km². The maximum east-west extension of the area is approx. 200 km, the maximum north-south extension up to 35 km. The islands and the surrounding area of ​​the Sywasch are flat, damp and swampy . In the east, the Chonhar corridor divides the Sywasch into the eastern and western Sywasch . At Henitschesk , the Sywasch is separated from the Sea of ​​Azov by the 112 km long Arabat Spit . The Salhyr ( Салгир ), the largest river on the Crimean peninsula, is worth mentioning as a tributary .

The depth of the Sywasch is very shallow and is a maximum of 3 m. The bottom of the water is covered with a layer of fine coal and salt deposits up to 10 m thick . In summer the shallow water heats up and gives off an unpleasant smell, which justifies the common name of Sywasch as " lazy sea ". In addition, large areas dry out in summer and thus become a kind of bare salt desert . The salt content in the remaining water points continues to rise and a brine with a salt concentration of approx. 30% (natural saturation) is formed. The color of the brine is pink, which is due to the beta-carotene- containing microalgae Dunaliella salina .

Salt works

Traditional salt production (around 1820)
Soviet soldiers in Sywasch, 1943

The economic importance of the Sywasch is due to the high salt content and the dry climate mainly in the saltworks of various minerals , which are used for therapeutic and medical purposes, among other things. The brine of the Sywaschsee contains the chlorine compounds of sodium, potassium, magnesium as well as magnesium bromide, magnesium sulfate and other salts. The lake's total salt reserves are estimated at 200 million tons.

history

In history, the Sywasch represented an insurmountable obstacle for invaders of the Crimea, so that fighting was mostly concentrated on the Isthmus of Perekop to the west . In contrast , during the Russian Civil War in 1920 the Red Army succeeded in penetrating the Crimea via the Chongar corridor . During the Second World War , troops of the Red Army again managed to reach Crimea via the Sywasch in November 1943.

Coordinates: 46 ° 5 ′ 0 ″  N , 34 ° 20 ′ 0 ″  E

Web links

Commons : Sywasch  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Azov-Sywasch National Park (Ukrainian)
  2. List of wetlands according to the Ramsar Convention (PDF; 1.0 MB) page 43

Remarks

  1. The Ukrainian Wikipedia has an article on the national park under Азово-Сиваський національний природний парк