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depth of 64o fathoms, and then over a shoal of 6o fathoms goes down to 1200 fathoms in 22° 7' N. The Gulf of Akaba is separated from the Red Sea by a submarine See also:

BANK

bank only 70 fathoms from the See also:

SURFACE

surface, and in 28° 39' N. and 34° 43' E. it attains the depth of 700 fathoms. See also:

South of the 'zoo-See also:

FATHOM

fathom depression a See also:

ridge rises to 500 fathoms in the See also:

LATITUDE (Lat. latitudo, latus, broad)

latitude of See also:

JIDDA (also written JEDDAH, DJIDDAH, DJEDDEH)

Jidda, and south of this again a similar depres- See also:

SION [Ger. Sitten]

sion goes down to 1190 fathoms. Throughout this northern See also:

PART

part, i.e. to the See also:

banks of See also:

SUAKIN, or SAWAKIN

Suakin and Farsan in 20° N., the See also:

LOO (formerly called " Lanterloo," Fr. lanturlu, the refrain of a popular 17th-century song)

loo-fathom line keeps to a See also:

belt of See also:

CORAL

coral See also:

REEF (1)

reef See also:

close inshore, but in See also:

LOWER

lower latitudes the shallow coral region, 300 M. See also:

long and 7o to 8o m. across, extends farther and farther seaward, until in the latitude of See also:

HODEDA (Hodeida, Hadeda)

Hodeda the deep channel (marked by the loo-fathom line) is only 20 M. broad, all the See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest of the See also:

AREA

area being dangerous to See also:

NAVIGATION (from Lat. navis, ship, and agere, to move)

navigation, even for small vessels. In the See also:

MIDDLE

middle of the gradually narrowing channel three depressions are known to exist; soundings in two of these are: rrio fathoms in 20° N. and 890 fathoms in 16° N., a little to the See also:

north of See also:

MASSAWA, or MASSOWAII

Massawa. To the north-See also:

west of the volcanic See also:

ISLAND (O.E. ieg =isle, +land')

island of Zebayir the depth is less than 500 fathoms; the bottom of the channel rises to the ioofathom line at Hanish Island (also volcanic), then shoals to 45 fathoms, and sinks again in about the latitude of See also:

MOKHA (Mocha, properly Makha)

Mokha in a narrow channel which curves westward See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round the island of See also:

PERIM

Perim (depth 170 fathoms), to lose itself in the See also:

INDIAN

Indian Ocean. This western channel is x6 m. wide in the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb; the eastern channel of the strait is 2 M. broad and 16 fathoms deep. See also:

Murray estimates the total area at 158,750 sq. m., and its See also:

VOLUME

volume at 67,700 cub. m., giving a mean depth of 375 fathoms. Karstens gives the area at 448,810 sq. kilometres Area, (130,424 sq. See also:

GEOGRAPHICAL

geographical m.) and the volume at volume 206,901 cub. kilometres (32,413 cub. geographical and mean m.), which gives a mean depth of 252 fathoms. depth.

Both these computations, however, were made before the date of the See also:

AUSTRIAN

Austrian exploring expeditions (1896—98). Bludau's measurements give the total area draining to the Red Sea at about 255,000 sq. geographical m. Krummel's more See also:

RECENT

recent calculations (see OCEAN) give values somewhat higher than those of Karstens. The Red Sea is formed by a line of fracture, probably dating from See also:

PLIOCENE (from the Gr. sr?eiov, mere, and xatvbs, recent)

Pliocene times, See also:

CROSSING

crossing the centre of a See also:

DOME (Lat domus, house; Ital. duomo, cathedral)

dome of Archean rocks, on both flanks of which, in Egypt and Arabia, Forma. rest Secondary and See also:

TERTIARY

Tertiary deposits. The See also:

GRANITE (adapted from the Ital. granite, grained; Lat. granum, grain)

granite rocks tton. forming the core of the dome appear at the surface on the Red Sea See also:

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

coast, at the western end of the transverse line of heights crossing See also:

NEJD

Nejd. Along the line of fracture traces of volcanic activity are frequent; a See also:

GROUP

group of volcanic islands occurs in 14° N., and on See also:

JEBEL (plur. jibed)

Jebel Teir, farther north, a See also:

VOLCANO

volcano has only recently become See also:

EXTINCT

extinct. The margin of the Red Sea itself consists, on the Arabian See also:

side, of a strip of See also:

low See also:

PLAIN (O. Fr. plain, from Lat. plenum)

plain backed by ranges of barren hills of coral and See also:

sand formation, and here and there by mountains of consider-able height. The greater elevations are for the most part formed of limestones, except in the south, where they are largely volcanic. The coasts of the Gulf of Akaba are steep, with numerous coral reefs on both sides. On the See also:

AFRICAN

African side there are in the north wide stretches of See also:

DESERT

desert plain, which towards the south rise to elevated tablelands, and ultimately to the mountains of Abyssinia. The shores of the Red Sea are little indented; See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good harbours are almost wanting in the desert regions of the north, while in the south the See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief inlets are at Massawa, and at Kamaran, almost directly opposite.

Coral formations are abundant; immense reefs, both barrier and fringing, skirt both coasts, often enclosing wide channels between the reef and the See also:

LAND

land. The reefs on the eastern side are the more extensive; they occur in places as much as 25 m. from the land. It has long been known that the whole Red Sea area is undergoing See also:

GRADUAL (Med. Lat. gradualis, of or belonging to steps or degrees; gradus, step)

gradual See also:

ELEVATION

elevation, and much has been done in recent years in investigating the levels of raised beaches found in different localities. In the northern part, down to almost 19° N., the prevailing winds are north and north-west. The middle region, to 14°–16° N., has variable winds in an area of low barometric pressure, while in the southern Red Sea south-See also:

east and okay. east winds prevail. From See also:

JUNE

June to See also:

AUGUST (originally Sextilis)

August the north-west See also:

wind blows over the entire' area ; in See also:

SEPTEMBER (Lat. septem, seven)

September it retreats again as far as 16° N., south of which the winds are for a See also:

time variable. In the Gulf of Suez the See also:

WESTERLY

westerly, or " See also:

EGYPTIAN

Egyptian," wind occurs frequently during See also:

winter, sometimes blowing with violence, and generally accompanied by See also:

fog and clouds of dust. Strong north-north-east winds prevail in the Gulf of Akaba during the greater part of the See also:

YEAR

year; they are weakest in See also:

APRIL

April and May, sometimes giving See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place at that See also:

SEASON (0. Fr. seson, seison, mod. saison, Lat. satio, sowing time, the spring, from serere, to sow; in Late Lat. the word is found with its present meaning, the spring being considered as particularly the season of the year)

season to southerly breezes. The high temperature and See also:

GREAT

great relative humidity make the summer See also:

CLIMATE

climate of the Red Sea one of the most disagreeable in the See also:

WORLD

world. The mean See also:

ANNUAL

annual temperature of the surface See also:

WATERS, TERRITORIAL

waters near the See also:

head is 77° F.; it rises to 8o° in about 22° N., to 84° in 16° N., and drops again to 82° at the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb. See also:

TEMPERA (the Italian term), or DISTEMPER

Tempera- Daily See also:

variations of temperature are observable to a taredepth of over 5o fathoms. Temperature is. on the whole, higher near the Arabian than the Egyptian side, but it everywhere diminishes with increase of depth and latitude, down to 38o fathoms from the surface; below this depth a See also:

UNIFORM

uniform See also:

CONSTANT, BENJAMIN (1845-1902)

constant temperature of 70.7° F. is observed throughout.

In the Gulf of Suez temperature is relatively low, falling rapidly from south to north. The waters of the Gulf of Akaba are warmer towards_ the Arabian than the Sinai coasts; a uniform temperature of 70.2° is observed at all depths below 270 fathoms. The salinity of the waters is relatively great, the highest re-corded being 42.7 per mille (Gulf of Suez), and the lowest 36-2 salinity. (Perim See also:

HARBOUR (from M.E. hereberge, here, an army; cf. Ger. Heer and -beorg, protection or shelter. Other early forms in English were herberwe and haiborow, as seen in various place names, such as Market Harborough.. The French auberge, an inn, derived through

harbour). The See also:

DISTRIBUTION (Lat. distribuere, to deal out)

distribution is, speaking generally, the opposite to that of temperature; salinity increases from the surface downwards, and from the south north-wards, and it is greater towards the western than the eastern side. This statement holds good for the Gulf of Suez, in which the water is much See also:

SALTER, JOHN WILLIAM (1820-1869)

salter than in the open sea; but in the Gulf of Akaba the distribution is exceedingly uniform, nowhere differing much from an See also:

AVERAGE

average of 40.6 per mille. The movements of the waters are of great irregularity and complexity, rendering navigation difficult and dangerous. Two features stand out with See also:

SPECIAL

special distinctness: the ex-Circula- See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change of water between the Red Sea and the Indian See also:

Lion. Ocean, and the tidal streams of the Gulf of Suez. From the observations of salinity it is inferred that a surface current flows inwards to the Red Sea in the eastern channel of the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, while a current of very See also:

salt water flows outward to the Indian Ocean, through the western channel, at a depth of 5o to Too fathoms from the surface. In the Gulfs of Suez and Akaba, almost the only part of the Red Sea in which tidal phenomena are well See also:

DEVELOPED

developed, a sharply defined tidal circulation is found. Elsewhere the surface movements at least are controlled by the prevailing winds, which give rise in places to complex " transverse " currents, and near the coast are modified by the channels enclosed by the coral reefs.

During the prevalence of the north and north-west winds the surface level of the northern part of the Red Sea is depressed by as much as 2 ft. The great evaporation going on from the surface probably causes a slow See also:

VERTICAL (from Lat. vertex, highest point)

vertical circulation in the depth, the salter colder waters sinking, and ultimately escaping to the Indian Ocean. Extensive collections of the deposits forming the See also:

bed were made by the expeditions of the Austrian See also:

SHIP

ship " See also:

POLA (Gr. Hart or Haas; Slovene, Pulj)

Pola " (1896 and 1898). These were analysed by Dr K. Natterer, whose conclusions, however, have been disputed by a number of other investigators. The zoological collections of the " Pola " expeditions show that certain well-defined districts are extremely See also:

rich in See also:

PLANKTON

plankton, while others are correspondingly poor; and it appears that the latter occur in districts surrounded by currents of relatively low temperature, while the richer parts are where the movements of water are blocked by irregularities in the coast-line.

End of Article: RED SEA

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