The Red Sea lies in a fault depression that separates two great blocks of Earth’s crust—Arabia and North Africa.
The Red Sea contains some of the world’s hottest and saltiest seawater.
With its connection to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal, it is one of the most heavily travelled waterways in the world, carrying maritime traffic between Europe and Asia.
Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez (leading to the Suez Canal). It is underlain by the Red Sea Rift, which is part of the Great Rift Valley.
Its name is derived from the colour changes observed in its waters.
Normally, the Red Sea is an intense blue-green; occasionally, however, it is populated by extensive blooms of the algae Trichodesmium erythraeum, which, upon dying off, turn the sea a reddish brown colour.
Red Sea