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Strait of Gibraltar
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The Strait of Gibraltar (Arabic: ???? ??? ????, 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 (??? ????) meaning mountain of Tariq.
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The Strait of Gibraltar (Arabic: ???? ??? ????, 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 (??? ????) meaning mountain of Tariq. It refers to the Umayyad Berber general Tariq ibn-Ziyad who led the Islamic conquest of Hispania in 711. There is a possibility that Jebel Tariq (??? ????) may derive from "Mountain of the Path" in reference to Gibraltar as the path of Islam into Europe. Tariq has three meanings in Arabic, two of which relate to "the path" or "pathfinder". Despite its origins, the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or "Gate of Charity". It is also known as the Straits of Gibraltar or STROG (Strait Of Gibraltar), in naval use.
Europe and Africa are separated by 14.24 km (7.7 nautical miles) of ocean at the strait's narrowest point. The strait depth ranges between . A ferry commutes between the two continents. The Spanish part of the strait is protected under the El Estrecho Natural Park.
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 Morocco from Spain.
Due to its location, the strait is widely used for illegal immigration from Africa to Europe.
Geology
Around 6 million years ago, the connection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean along the Bethic and Rifan Corridor was progressively restricted until its total closure, effectively causing the salinity of the Mediterranean to periodically fall within the gypsum and salt deposition range, during what is known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis. After a period of restricted or absent water exchange, at the Miocene/Pliocene boundary, approximately 5.33 million years ago, the Atlantic-Mediterranean connection was completely restablished across the Strait of Gibraltar, and has remained open ever 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 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 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 depth. It flows out and down the continental slope, losing salinity, until it equilibrates after mixing at a depth of about . 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 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 , and sometimes create interference patterns with refracted waves.
Resources
The place is very interesting for wind power production, windsurfing and dolphin and whale watching.
See also
External links
- — American Geophysical Union, 1997. Accessed 26 February 2006.
- — United Nations Economic and Social Council, 2001. Accessed 26 February 2006.
- — Multimap.com, 2006. Accessed 26 February 2006.
— La Universidad de Tetuán and La Universidad de Sevilla. Accessed 26 February 2006.
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