What is an inland sea?
A defining characteristic of all inland seas is their shallow depth, none reaching more than 2,000 in depth. The two great inland seas of the world today are Hudson Bay in North America and the Baltic Sea in Europe. Some sources also define the South China Sea and the Persian Gulf as inland seas. The world has seen the inner seas come and go in its history. The western inland seaway is an example of a prehistoric inland sea.
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay covers an area of X million square miles, making it the largest inland sea in the world. The sea drainage area is even larger and covers an area of 0.47 million square miles. The maximum length of the inland sea is 1.49 miles and 851 miles at its widest point. The relatively shallow depth of the sea is on average 652 feet and 330 feet at their deepest point, which is still shallow and characteristic of epicontinental seas. The inland sea has the longest coastline of any bay in North America and is surpassed only by the Bay of Bengal. The islands of the inland sea are classified into two groups; the Ottawa and Belcher Islands. Most of the islands are on the east coast of the bay. The Strait of Hudson is the link that connects the inland sea to the Atlantic Ocean, while the Foxe Basin connects the inland sea to the Arctic Ocean. The main countries of the inland sea are the United States and Canada.
The baltic sea
The Baltic Sea is a large inland sea which covers an area of 0.146 million square miles. With a coastline exceeding 5,000 miles, the sea has a maximum length of 995 miles and extends for 120 miles at its widest point. While the sea has an average depth of 180 feet, it is 1,506 feet deep at its deepest point (which is still shallow compared to other seas). The sea is made up of brackish water and is the largest brackish sea in the world. Nine rivers flow into the Baltic Sea; Vistula, Oder, Narva, Neman, Daugava, Torne (Alv), Kemijoki, Neva and Lule alv. The Baltic Sea watershed covers an area of 0.633 million square miles, more than four times the size of the sea itself. Poland, Denmark, Germany, Russia,
Prehistoric Inland Sea
The western interior seaway was a prehistoric inland sea that existed in the Cretaceous. The inland sea was found in modern North America and crossed the continent, connecting the Arctic Sea to the Gulf of Mexico. North America was at the time made up of two land masses; Appalachians and Laramidia. At its peak, the inland sea had a maximum width of 620 miles, stretching from the Appalachians to the Rockies, while its maximum length extended for 2,000 miles. The deepest point of the western inland seaway was between 2,600 feet and 3,000 feet, making the inland sea fairly shallow by sea standards.
