Road sign "Welcome to Asia" after crossing the bridge over the bosphorus strait, Istanbul Turkey 101290_Turkey
The Bosphorus or Bosporus also known as the Istanbul Strait is a strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with the Dardanelles. The world's narrowest strait used for international navigation, it connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara (which is connected by the Dardanelles to the Aegean Sea, and thereby to the Mediterranean Sea). Bosphorus' limits are defined as the connecting line between the lighthouses Rumeli Feneri and Anadolu Feneri in the north and between the Ahırkapı Feneri and the Kadıköy İnciburnu Feneri in the south. The strait is between the limits 31 km long, with a width of 3,329 m at the northern entrance and 2,826 m at the southern entrance. Its maximum width is 3,420 m between Umuryeri and Büyükdere Limanı, and minimum width 704 m between Kandilli Point and Aşiyan. The depth of Bosphorus varies from 36 to 124 m in midstream with an average of 65 m. The deepest location is between Kandilli and Bebek with 110 m. The most shallow locations are off Kadıköy İnciburnu on the northward route with 18 m and off Aşiyan Point on the southward route with 13 m. The shores of the strait are heavily populated as the city of Istanbul (with a metropolitan area in excess of 14 million inhabitants) straddles it. The name comes from Greek Bosporos which the ancient Greeks analysed as bous 'means of passing a river, ford, ferry', thus meaning 'ox-ford'. Although it has been known for a while that the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara flow into each other in an example of a density flow, findings of a study by the University of Leeds in August 2010 reveal that there is in fact an underwater river flowing through the Mediterranean and under the Bosphorus (caused by the difference in density of the two seas), which would be the sixth largest river on Earth if it were to be on land.
Size: 4568px × 3636px
Location: Istanbul Turkey Asia
Photo credit: © DV TRAVEL / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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