Everything about The Strait Of Gibraltar totally explained
The
Strait of Gibraltar (
Arabic: مضيق جبل طارق,
Spanish:
Estrecho de Gibraltar) is the
strait that connects the
Atlantic Ocean to the
Mediterranean Sea and separates
Spain from
Morocco. The name comes from
Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the
Arabic Jebel Tariq (جبل طارق) meaning mountain of Tariq. It refers to the
Ummayad Berber general
Tariq ibn-Ziyad who led the
Islamic conquest of Hispania in
711. It is also known as the
Straits of Gibraltar or
STROG (
Strait
Of
Gibraltar), the latter being in
naval use. There are 13
km (8
miles) of ocean separating Europe from Africa at the strait's narrowest point. The strait depth ranges between 300 and 900 meters. A ferry commutes between the two continents.
Location
On the northern side of the Strait is
Spain and
Gibraltar, while on the southern side is
Morocco and
Ceuta, a Spanish
exclave in
North Africa. Its boundaries were known in antiquity as the
Pillars of Hercules. There are several small islands, such as the
disputed Isla Perejil, that are claimed by both Spain and Morocco..
Geology
About 6 million years ago, the Strait closed, effectively turning the Mediterranean into a huge salty lake that eventually dried up, in what is known as the
Messinian Salinity Crisis. At the
Miocene/
Pliocene boundary, approximately 5.33 million years ago, the Strait opened up for the last time, and has remained open since.
Communications
The Straits are an important
shipping route from the
Mediterranean to the
Atlantic. There are
ferries that operate between Spain and Morocco across the strait, as well as between Spain and
Ceuta and
Gibraltar to
Tangier.
Tunnel across the strait
In December 2003, Spain and Morocco agreed to explore the construction of an
undersea rail tunnel to connect their rail systems. The gauge of the tunnel would be 1435 mm to match the proposed construction and conversion of significant parts of the existing broad gauge system to
standard gauge.
Inflow and outflow
On a net basis, water continually flows eastward into and through the Strait of Gibraltar, due to an evaporation rate within the Mediterranean basin higher than the combined inflow of all the rivers that empty into it. The
sill of the Strait of Gibraltar acts to limit mixing between the cold, less saline Atlantic water and the warm Mediterranean waters. The latter are so much saltier that they sink below the constantly incoming Atlantic water and form a highly saline (
thermohaline, both warm and salty) bottom water, called the
Mediterranean outflow. A density boundary separates the layers at about 100 m depth. It flows out and down the continental slope, losing salinity, until it equilibrates after mixing at a depth of about 1000 meters. The Mediterranean outflow water can be traced for thousands of kilometers before losing its identity.
Internal waves (waves at the density boundary layer) are common in the strait. Like traffic merging on a highway, the water flow is constricted in both directions because it must pass over a shallow submarine barrier, the
Camarinal Sill. When large tidal flows enter the Strait, internal waves are set off at the Camarinal Sill as the high tide relaxes. The waves—sometimes with heights up to 100 m—travel eastward. Even though the waves occur at great depth and the height of the waves at the surface is almost nothing, they can be traced in the
sunglint because they concentrate the biological films on the water surface, creating slight differences in roughness. The waves flow eastward, refract around coastal features; can be traced for as much as 150 km, and sometimes create
interference patterns with refracted waves.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Strait Of Gibraltar'.
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