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Caspian Sea

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The World’s Coasts: Online
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11.1 11.1 Iran - Caspian Sea Coast

Compiled by: Geostudies, as an edited version of a chapter by E. Ehlers in The World’s Coastline (1985: 487–490). A new version is in preparation.

Last revised: June 2002

11.1.1 Introduction

The Caspian coast of Iran is about 740 km long, stretching like a horseshoe around the southern side of the Caspian Sea. The land descends from the lower slopes of the Elburz Mountains to the Caspian Sea, now about 26 m below global mean sea level. The surface of the Caspian Sea has shown long-term oscillations, and fell about 3 m between 1930 and 1977, since when it has risen about 2.5 m, providing an important example of a modern marine transgression (1).

1
figure 1

© Geostudies. Changes in the level of the Caspian Sea from 1930, as indicated on the Baku tide gauge (Azerbaijan). Sea level fell intermittently until 1977, then rose fairly rapidly, probably because of a trend towards a more humid climate and increased river runoff in the region, but possibly related to...

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Eric C. F. Bird

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© 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Bird, E.C.F. (2003). Caspian Sea. In: Bird, E.C.F. (eds) The World’s Coasts: Online. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48369-6_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48369-6_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-306-48369-1

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