Yellow Sea

yellow sea

The northern part of the East China Sea is known as yellow sea. It is a wide sea that occupied an area of ​​about 417 km². It is located between mainland China and the Korean peninsula. The name comes from the sand particles that give the water a color very similar to yellow. It is the yellow river in charge of feeding this sea and giving it this color. The yellow river is known as Huang he. It is also known locally, in South Korea, as the West Sea.

In this article we are going to tell you about all the characteristics, formation and origin of the Yellow Sea and its river.

Key features

yellow river delta

The Yellow Sea is a fairly shallow sea that only has a maximum depth of 105 meters. It has an immense bay that forms the bottom of the sea and is called the Bohai Sea. This bay is where the Yellow River empties. The Yellow River is the main source of sea water. This river emptied after crossing the province of Shandong and its capital, Jinan, as well as the Hai River that crosses Beijing and Tianjin.

The name of this sea does not come from the river, but from the amount of quartz sand particles that it drags up to the water masses and gives it this somewhat particular color. This is the reason why it has the name of the Yellow Sea. It is a sea rich in marine algae, cephalopods and crustaceans. Mainly we can find species of algae from the green-blue group that arise mainly in the summer season and that also contribute to the color of the water. Being so shallow, the color of its algae is determining for the color it will have from a general vision.

Oil in the Yellow Sea

In 2007 there was a discovery by the China Oil and Gas Corporation, CNPC. And it is that a very important oil field of almost one billion tons was discovered. This discovery is found both on the coast and on the continental shelf of the Yellow Sea. It is located in Hebei province and has an area that extends to 1570 square kilometers. Two-thirds of all this amount of oil is located on the offshore platform.

The animal and plant species are increasing as we get closer to the south of the sea. This is where we also find a number of larger fish. During the last decade, North Korea has been carrying out different nuclear weapons maneuvers on the coast of the Yellow Sea. For this reason, it has been sanctioned by the UN, although it has not seemed to matter to this communist country.

Main tributary of the Yellow Sea

tributary of the yellow sea

We know that this sea is fed by the Yellow River. It is a fairly long body of fresh water that is often considered the cradle of Chinese civilization. It is the second longest river in all of China, being the third longest river in Asia and the sixth longest in the whole world. It is known by this name for the amount of sediment that it transported to the Yellow Sea and gives it this color.

Link in the mountains of Bayan Har on the plateau of Tibet at altitudes of up to 4.800 meters. It flows irregularly in an easterly direction through some 9 Chinese provinces until it empties into the Yellow Sea. In this place it generates a delta of considerable size that makes it well known.

The total length of the river is 5,464 kilometers, and its hydrographic basin covers an area of ​​approximately 750,000-752,000 km2. It usually discharges a flow into the sea of ​​2.571 cubic kilometers per second. Such is its drainage basin, which is the third largest in China. Several shorter rivers contribute water to this river on a continuous basis. If we analyze the entire course, we see that it has 3 parts: upper course, middle course and lower course.

The first part of its course begins in the mountains to Togtoh County, through more than 3,400 kilometers. It is here where it has its somewhat steeper slope and where its birth begins. The middle course runs from the county to Zhengzhou in Henan province. It is in this section where the current takes more than 90 percent of the sediments. Sediments are the remains of sand and rock that are moved and transported both by repair and by flotation and dissolution. Finally, the lower course starts from Zhengzhou and ends at the sea. Already in this part of the sea is where it is loaded with the greatest amount of sediment.

Training and biodiversity

yellow River

The river is acquiring a yellowish brown hue as it flows in the company of tons of solid particles that have this color. Part of the soil of the Tibetan plateau where the river begins to rise is highly vulnerable to erosion by wind action and all fine sand is washed into the river. If the river is loaded with particles with this color, they are transported and sedimentary end up in the Yellow Sea.

It is a river not very rich in biodiversity, so the sea is not very rich either. The sea, being so shallow, is not capable of harboring a large amount of flora and fauna. Some of the best known animals are the Yangtze spoonbill and some types of carp. It is estimated that in total they could be found about 150 species of fish but the number is much smaller today. In the basin there are numerous species of mammals such as the leopard and the sica deer.

Among the best known birds we have the Great Bustard, Chinese Serreta and European Eagle. The river is used to generate hydroelectric energy and has made all this part prosper. The same is true of aquaculture and fish farming and some marine animals. It is one of the most important economic activities apart from oil extraction.

I hope that with this information you can learn more about the Yellow Sea and its characteristics.


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