Curonian%20Spit

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Curonian Spit
Lithuania
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• The Curonian Spit is a 98 km long, thin, curved
  sand dune peninsula that separates the Curonian
  Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. It is the home of the
  highest moving (drifting) sand dunes in Europe.

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The Spit, a sandy stretch of land was formed six
thousand years ago, as sand accumulated in the
shallower waters along the Baltic coast.     The
sea winds shifted the sand, creating a range of
large sand dunes.
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Landscape
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The cross-section of the Curonian Spit

• Baltic Sea
• Fore dune ridge
• Sea sand plain (Palve)
• Kupstyne
• The Great Dune Ridge
• Curonian lagoon

     Sand covered ancient forest soils
         Fine-grained dune sand          Old
eolian and marine sand          Organogenic
sediments of the lagoon          Sea sand with
gravel and cobble
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Due to forest clear cutting wind erosion
appeared. The Great Dune Ridge started to grow.
It buried 14 villages under the thick layer of
sand.
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So in 19th century people built a fore dune
ridge, planted trees and grass.
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Fauna
An estimated 40 mammal species can be found in
the Curonian Spit. The elk, wild boar, roe deer,
brown hare, red fox, stoat and grey seal are
among them. Many species of water birds breed
here.
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Flora
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• Problems of the Curonian Spit
• Natural processes
• Human activity

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Natural problems

• Wind erosion sand is blown away by the wind. As
  a result dunes are always moving.
• Storms beach and dunes are being washed because
  of strong wind, high waves and rain.

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Beach erosion and longshore drift the particles
of sand move along the coast. Thus in some areas
beaches narrow while in the others they become
wider.
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The Result of a hurricane in 1995
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The Curonian Spit also faces problems, which are caused by human activity Klaipeda city and harbor. There is Klaipeda city with the population of 200 000 people near the peninsula. Klaipeda harbor influences the Spit negatively pollutes water, air, makes noise. Oil industry. There is oil mining platform D6 ("Lukoil") in the Baltic Sea Russian Federation territory, only about 30km from the peninsula!! Eco-warriors evaluate it as a big potential danger for the peninsula.

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• Transport is one of the biggest problems in the
  summer when thousands of tourists visit Curonian
  Spit by cars. This causes air pollution, noise
  and that is dangerous for the unique nature of
  the spit. An important road connecting Klaipeda
  port and Russia makes the problem even bigger.

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• Fires From time to time fires occur in the
  Curonian Spit. The causers usually are the
  tourists. This spring 250ha of pine forest was
  burn on the peninsula.

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Saving the natural beauty

• The Curonian spit national part was established
  in 1991.
• In 2001 the spit was included to the UNESCO World
  Heritage list.

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THANK YOU