Adriatic Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, lying between the Italian and Balkan peninsulas.
The Strait of Otranto at its south-easterly limit links it with the Ionian Sea.
The Adriatic has been of great importance in the historical development of Mediterranean Europe and is of considerable scientific interest in itself.
There is a striking contrast between its two shores. The Italian coast is relatively straight and continuous, having no islands, whereas the Croatian coast is full of both large and small islands, generally oblong in shape and running parallel to the continental shore.
Many tortuous straits form inlets between the islands similar to those of the Norwegian fjords and make the coastline very intricate.
The Adriatic has two types of rather special sea bottoms, difficult to arrange in a rigorous classification but very common in the Mediterranean, namely, inlet-derived sediments and heat-altered sediments of the sea bottom proper.
Adriatic Sea