Mar Menor

The Mar Menor (' Little Sea ') is a located in the Spanish region of Murcia salt water lagoon and Europe's largest inland saline waters.

Geography

She is from the Mediterranean through the 24 km long and 100 m to 1,200 m wide Spit ( sandbank ) La Manga (translated: " The sleeve " ) is separated. The salinity of 42-47 g / l The Mediterranean has compared to a concentration of 36-37 g / l

The length of their internal coast is 73 km. The deepest point is about seven meters, but these are only small areas. For the most part, the depth is about two meters.

There are connections to the Mediterranean Sea ( in Murcia also called " Mar Mayor" ) through the weirs in La Torre and El Ventorrillo and through the channels El Estacio and Marchamalo.

The last show performed by the University of Murcia surveys (1995), that sludge deposits contain high percentages of the cations calcium, magnesium and potassium, and the anions chloride and sulfate, which are far above the expected in such saline waters values. Because of the sludge should have a therapeutic effect, which should be based on their large absorption ability of toxic substances and mineralizing action.

Flora and Fauna

Due to the special conditions, which has the Mar Menor, there are flora and fauna, which differ significantly from the open Mediterranean Sea.

Inter alia The following types can be found:

• Seabream
• " Jibias " (Spanish for octopus )
• Groupers
• Flamingos (especially near the salt )

Conservation

The lagoon was declared in 1982 by the United Nations for Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance and is even today managed by the UNEP SPAMI list.

Nevertheless, there are major problems, inter alia, with the driven to a large degree water. Next La Manga is a single sealed surface on which it is difficult at all to find a vacant spot.

Sports

Due to the particularly exposed to the wind situation and the shallowness of the water and resulting low waves the Mar Menor is ideal for many types of water sports. Every year in July there is the " Copa Española ", the Spanish kayak championship.