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North Sea

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General Geography

   A contemporary transnational Euroregion encompasses the North Sea
   countries.
   Enlarge
   A contemporary transnational Euroregion encompasses the North Sea
   countries.

   The North Sea (historically also known as the German Ocean) is a part
   of the Atlantic Ocean, located between Norway and Denmark in the east,
   Scotland and England in the west, and Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium
   and France in the south. An offshoot of the North Sea is the Skagerrak,
   between Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, which connects to the Baltic Sea
   through the Kattegat, Öresund, the Great Belt and the Little Belt. In
   the south, the North Sea connects with the rest of the Atlantic through
   the Strait of Dover into the English Channel and in the north through
   the Norwegian Sea.

   Major rivers that drain into the North Sea include the Forth (at
   Edinburgh), Elbe (at Cuxhaven), the Weser (at Bremerhaven), the Ems at
   Emden, the Rhine and Meuse (at Rotterdam), the Scheldt (at Flushing),
   the Thames, and the Humber (at Hull). The Kiel Canal, one of the
   world's busiest artificial waterways, connects the North Sea with the
   Baltic.

Naming

   Its name originates from its relationship to the land of the Frisians
   (see Frisia). They live directly to the south of the North Sea, and to
   the west of the East Sea (Oostzee, the Baltic Sea), the former South
   Sea (Zuiderzee, today's IJsselmeer) and the today reclaimed Middle Sea
   (Middelzee).

   In classical times this body of water was also referred to as the
   Oceanum- or Mare Germanicum, meaning Germanic Ocean or Sea. This name
   was commonly used in English and other languages along with the name
   North Sea, until the early eighteenth century. By the late nineteenth
   century, German Sea was a rare, scholarly usage even in Germany. In
   Danish the North Sea is also named Vesterhavet (besides Nordsøen),
   meaning Western Ocean as it is located west of Denmark.

History

   The bed of the North Sea forms two basins. The main northern one lies
   to the north of a ridge between north Norfolk and Frisia. The southern
   basin, if not flooded, would now drain towards the Strait of Dover
   thence to the English Channel. During the Devensian glacial much of the
   northern basin was covered by the ice sheet and the remainder,
   including the southern basin, was tundra. However, during the
   Cromerian, there was a natural dam of chalk between the South Foreland
   and Cap Blanc Nez. This is what is normally called the "Strait of Dover
   Land Bridge" but, since it collapsed (probably mainly during the
   Anglian glacial), the lower ridge mentioned above has been the highest
   part of the land bridge between continental Europe and Great Britain
   during periods when the volume of land ice in the world has led to low
   levels of the oceanic surface. The Channel Tunnel runs through the
   chalk base of the former natural dam so that the approach routes to the
   tunnel afford good views of the landward ends of the dam as they remain
   today.

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