Curonian Spit National Park () covers the Russian-owned southern 41 km of the 98 km long, curved

Curonian Spit The Curonian Spit, sometimes called Courish Split (; ), is a long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared by Lithuania and Russia. Its southern portion lies w ...

– a type of depositional sandbar. The spit separates the salt-water

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

(on the west) from the freshwater

Curonian Lagoon The Curonian Lagoon (or Bay, Gulf; Prussian: ''Kursjanmari'', , ) is a freshwater lagoon separated from the Baltic Sea by the Curonian Spit. Its surface area is . The Neman River () supplies about 90% of its inflows; its watershed consists of ...

to the east. The southern portion of the spit lies within

Zelenogradsky District Zelenogradsky District () is an administrative district (raion), one of the fifteen in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the west of the oblast. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the town of Zelenogradsk.Resol ...

Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast () is the westernmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of the Russian Federation. It is a Enclave and exclave, semi-exclave on the Baltic Sea within the Baltic region of Prussia (region), Prussia, surrounded by Pola ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

; the northern portion lies within southwestern

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. It is a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

shared by the two countries.

Topography

The foundations of the spit were created about 15,000 BCE as the receding glaciers left the Baltic Sea behind, and the sand dunes of the Curonian built on the glacial moraine. The actions of sea and wind build large dunes, which average 35 meters on the spit. The area is one of high biodiversity due to the many different ecological communities in close proximity to each other: beach, dune ridge, wetlands of various types, meadows and forests. The Curonian Spit is the second longest spit in the world, after the 110-km long

Arabat Spit The Arabat Spit (; ; ) or Arabat Arrow is a spit (landform), barrier spit that separates the large, shallow, salty Syvash lagoons from the Sea of Azov. The spit runs between the Henichesk Strait in the north and the north-eastern shores of Crim ...

in the

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov is an inland Continental shelf#Shelf seas, shelf sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, and sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea. The sea is bounded by Ru ...

. The park follows the spit from the

Sambian Peninsula Sambia () or Samland () or Kaliningrad Peninsula (official name, , ''Kaliningradsky poluostrov'') is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The peninsula is bounded by the Curonian Lagoon to ...

in the south to the border with Lithuania about 40 km north; its width varies from 0.4 to 4 km. The water in the lagoon averages 3.7 meters in depth, and the water level of the lagoon is about 12 cm above that of the Baltic. File:Curonian Spit from Space, 2006.jpg , Curonian Spit (and Curonian Lagoon) from Space, 2006 File:Дюна Эфа, вид на Балтийское море.JPG , Beach in Kurshskaya Kosa National Park File:Лебедь озеро.jpg , Swan Lake, Kurshskaya Kosa National Park File:Curonian Spit.png , Map of Curonian Lagoon, spit to the west Curonian Spit NP 05-2017 img11 Dancing Forest.jpg, Dancing Forest Curonian Spit NP 05-2017 img19 aerial view at Epha Dune.jpg, Epha Dune, aerial view

Plants and animals

Birds and waterfowl are abundant, as the park has abundant wetlands and is on major migratory routes. 262 species of birds have been recorded in the park, and 100 are known to nest and breed in the territory. The park is also home to 46 species of mammals, including elk, European roe deer, wild boar, fox, marten, raccoon dog, badger, hare, red squirrel, and beaver. The park has recorded over 290 species of terrestrial vertebrates, representing 80% of the species found in the Kaliningrad region. Plant life is similarly varied: 889 species, hybrids, varieties and forms of wild vascular plants of 398 genera and 111 families.

References

External links

UNESCO World Heritage Site - Curonian Spit listing

Official Kurshskaya Kosa Guide - App for iPhone or Android
{{authority control National parks of Russia Nature conservation in Russia Protected areas established in 1987 1987 establishments in Russia Geography of Kaliningrad Oblast

Topography

Plants and animals

See also

References

External links