International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No.3, 19-30
19
Research Article Open Access
The Hydromorphology of the Caspian Sea
Homayoun Khoshravan
1
, Ramiz Mammadov
2
1 Water Research Center, Coastal Management Group, Caspian Sea Research Center, Iran
2 Geography Institute of Azerbaijan Academy of Science, Azerbaijan
Corresponding email
International Journal of Marine Science, 2017, Vol.7, No. 3 doi
Received: 23 Jan., 2017
Accepted: 4 Feb., 2017
Published: 15 Feb., 2017
Copyright © 2017
Khoshravan et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Khoshravan H. and Mammadov R., 2017, The hydromorphology of the Caspian Sea, International Journal of Marine Science, 7(3): 19-30 (doi:
Abstract
The analysis of hydrology and morphologic characteristics of the Caspian Sea is main target in this paper. So by long
term marine data analysis, the hydromorphology properties of Caspian Sea (morphology, fluctuation, temperature, salinity and
transparency) have been studied. The main results show that the Caspian Sea as largest inland sea has unique morphologic cond ition
and rapid sea level changing is the one of the most important natural process. The intensity of physical vulnerability and erosion risk
in Caspian Sea is related to fluctuation rhythm and the spatial and temporal of marginal beach morphologic changing.
Keywords
Caspian Sea; Morphology; Hydrology; Fluctuation
Introduction
The Atlas of Caspian Sea Hydromorphology can be applied as a functional manual in designing and exploitation
of oil and gas resources in continental shelf and abyssal zones, likewise it can be used in seafaring, fishing, fishery,
dealing with problems related to the protection of marine environment, and forecasting the climate of the region
(Mammadov and Khoshravan, 2012). The history of scientific researches done on the Caspian Sea water resources
reveals that climatological observations were done in Caspian Sea during the eighteenth century. During the last
100 years, important activities have also been done on measurement of marine parameters by Azerbaijan
Meteorological Organization (Azhydromet), Azerbaijan Institute of Geography, Transcaucasia Science and
Research Institute of Climatology (Zaknigmi), State Oceanographic Institute of Russia (Goin), National Research
Center of Caspian Sea (CSNRC), and other research institutes. The fixed and portable stations were chosen as the
centennial stations. In this regard, the Baku, Fort-Shevchenko, Krasnovodsk, Makhachkala and Anzali study
stations were selected as the water level gauging posts of centennial Caspian Sea water level . In addition, the
centennial profiles were defined and eight centennial hydrological stations were specified in the Caspian Sea
(Figure 1). As the result of marine explorations done by the above mentioned research and study organizations, a
great database was produced and this paper is the outcome of analysis and processing of the data. It is crystal clear
that without using these documents, it would be impossible to create a whole picture of the temporal and spatial
variability of Caspian Sea hydromorphologic parameters. Caspian Sea hydrological behavior is different
comparison to ocean during the Anthropocene period (Khoshravan, 2014). At the past two decade the ocean level
has increased slowly but Caspian Sea level has been decreased (Khoshravan, 2014). The fluctuation rate of the
Caspian Sea is 100 times more than ocean level changing (Leroy et al., 2013).
Statistic data improve the Caspian Sea level increased about 34 cm in year 1991. This amount is equal to ocean
level changing during one century (Khoshravan, 2014). Therefore, the Caspian Sea fluctuation is the vital event
and it is so hazardous for riparian countries The rapid sea level changing of the Caspian Sea has major impact on
infrastructure and economic properties (Khoshravan, 2014). Therefore, crisis management and risk mitigation of
fast fluctuation of Caspian Sea is so important and true predicting needs the historical record and finally precisely
forecasting can help us to prevent the next hazard. The most important questions associated to the Caspian Sea
integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) are what is reliable prediction of sea level changing during global
warming? What natural crisis will happen if the Caspian Sea level decreases? How can we manage the unforeseen
disaster? Historical records indicated that global sea level changing has been happening at the past and the ocean
