INTRx\CONTlNENTAL SEAS 107 



with the ocean. These seas would become wholly independent if 

 the surface of the ocean were lowered sufficiently, or, at the most, 

 would remain connected with the oceans only by very narrow chan- 

 nels. Dependent seas are merely arms of the ocean extending 

 into the land, without marginal rim, becoming progressively nar- 

 rower and shallower the further they penetrate into the land. 

 Seas of this type would merely become shorter on the lowering of 

 the sea-level, but would always maintain their open connection with 

 the oceans. 



In each of these groups we may further distinguish a subordi- 

 nate group in which an abyssal area is present, and another in which 

 it is absent. Independent intracontinental seas with an abyssal area 

 are called mediterraneans (Mittelnieere), while the shallow type, 

 without the abyssal area, constitutes the true epicontinental sea."^ 

 Each of these types may further be divided into marginal seas, i. e., 

 those largely enclosed by islands rising from a submerged rim, and 

 land-locked seas, or those largely surrounded by the mainland. 



A. Independent Seas. 



I. The Mediterraneans. The land-locked mediterraneans are the 

 most typical of this kind, and by some they are regarded as the only 

 true mediterraneans. Examples of these are the Roman mediter- 

 ranean (the JMediterranean of geographers; in reality, a double one, 

 the western descending to 3,151 meters oiif the coast of Sardinia, 

 and the eastern to 4,404 meters south of Greece) ; the Black Sea, 

 an extreme type with a maximum depression of 2,244 meters ; the 

 Red Sea, 2,271 meters ; and the Mexican mediterranean, or Gulf of 

 Mexico, 3.809 meters. An intermediate type between the land-locked 

 and the marginal is seen in the Caribbean Sea, partly enclosed by 

 islands, and in the group of Austral-Asian mediterraneans. f This 

 group comprises a number of distinct mediterraneans, each one of 

 which, considered separately, would be classed as of the marginal 

 type. The chief of these are : the South China Sea. with a maxi- 

 mum depth of 4,226 meters; the Celebes Sea, 5,112 meters ; and the 

 Banda Sea, 5,226 meters. An example of an abnormal marginal 

 mediterranean is found in the Tung-Hai, or East China Sea. This 

 descends regularly from the shore to below the 200-meter line, 



* This term was proposed by Professor Chamberlin, and made to include the 

 littoral zone of the open ocean, which by no stretch of meanings can be classed 

 as a distinct sea. The present restriction of the term was proposed by the 

 author in 1907 (18). 



t Classed by Krummcl as a typical intercontinental mediterranean. 



