The Mar Menor a is a lagoon of salty water placed in the south-east of the Iberian peninsula, to the south of the European continent, in the Region of Murcia in Spain.
Of semicircular, this form separated from the Mediterranean Sea for a band of sand of 24 km from length and between 100 and 1.200 m. Of width, named the Sleeve of the Mar Menor. His special ecological and natural characteristics do of the Minor Sea the natural unique place.

The Mar Menor represented in image Aerial photography.

The ecological balance of the Mar Menor is very fragile. His isolation during million years, his small size, and his scanty depth make it specially sensitive. The uncontrolled proliferation of powerful motorboats removes the funds and there prevents the baby of numerous species. The law of protection of the Mar Menor, approved years ago was foreseeing the prohibition of motorboats, yet it has not been applied. The part west of the south half of the island of the Baron stands out to the bottom.

For his scanty depth and the high temperature of his waters it is an ideal place in order that the children enjoy long baths and familiarize themselves with the water.
The muds of the funds of the MarMenor are used by many persons to relieve the rheumatic diseases.
The high salinity of his waters also has beneficial effects on the skin.

The nature, the unique places replete with life and beauty like the Minor Sea are a cultural patrimony of his inhabitants and of the whole humanity. And they form a part of the cultural array of those who know and live, are a good that we must respect and preserve for the future as a source of well-being and happiness. Even from the point of view of his exploitation economical development is much more profitable, to average and long term, to do it of rational form, protecting it and preserving it.

Description

The Mar Menor is a coastal lagoon placed in the Penísula Ibérica (37 º 38 '-37 º 50 ' N and 0 º 41 '-0 º 52 ' W), it borders in the northern part on the province of Alicante and in the southern part on the End of Sticks.
His this basin delimited by the saws of Columbares, Carrascoy, It Staggers, Carob-tree and Cartagena and this one separated from the sea Mediterranean for The Sleeve, a bar of 24 kilometres of length and of changeable width between 100 and 1.200 meters. The surface is 135 square kilometres and his maximum depth is 7 meters, being his depth happens of 4 meters.
The communication between the lagoon and the sea Mediterranean is done across a series of gullets: encañizadas of The Tower and The Ventorrillo, in the northern part, and the artificial channels of "The Estacio ofMarchamalo".
Inside the lagoon there are five islands of volcanic origin: Major or of the Baron, Perdiguera, of the Deer, Rondella and of the Subject.

To The Mar Menor a series of ravines spill that drenan the plain of the Field of Cartagena (Ravines of the Albujón, of the Beal, Ponce and Carrasquilla), not existing nigún course of permanent water.
The funds of the lagoon are principally soft (87 % mire, 10 % sand, 3 % rock), clearly muddy in his central, deeper part, and sandy in the most shallow parts, principally in The Sleeve.
The climate is dry and hot (Mediterranean subdesert domain.
The annual everage temperature is of 18 º C, July and August they are the coldest hottest months and January and February.
The rainfalls range about 300 mm per year with torrential regime and maximums in spring and especially autumn, the dominant winds are of And and I KNOW in the hot months and of the SW in the coldest.
The salinity of the lagoon changes of 42-47 gr/l, opposite to the 36-37 gr/l of the sea Mediterranean and the temperature of the water of 12ºC in winter to 30ºC in summer, though in the shores more extreme temperatures can be reached.
The this become oxygenated well lagoon and the concentrations of nutrients are low.