Curonian Spit
| Curonian Spit | |
|---|---|
| Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List | |
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| Location | Lithuania and Russian Federation |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | v |
| Reference | 994 |
| UNESCO region | Europe and North America |
| Coordinates | 55°16′28″N 20°58′15″E / 55.27444°N 20.97083°ECoordinates: 55°16′28″N 20°58′15″E / 55.27444°N 20.97083°E |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2000 (24th Session) |
 Location of the Curonian Spit on the Baltic Sea coast of Eastern Europe
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The Curonian Spit (Lithuanian: Kuršių nerija, Russian: Ку́ршская коса́ (Kurshskaya kosa), German: Kurische Nehrung, Latvian: Kuršu kāpas) is a 98 km long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea coast. Its southern portion lies within Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia and its northern within southwestern Lithuania. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared by the two countries.
The Curonian Spit stretches from the Sambian Peninsula on the south to its northern tip next to a narrow strait, across which is the port city of Klaipėda on the mainland of Lithuania. The northern 52 km long stretch of the Curonian Spit peninsula belongs to Lithuania, while the rest is part of the Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. The width of the spit varies from a minimum of 400 m in Russia (near the village of Lesnoy) to a maximum of 3,800 m in Lithuania (just north of Nida).
The Curonian Spit was formed about 3rd millennium BC. A glacial moraine served as its foundation; winds and sea currents later contributed enough sand to raise and keep the formation above sea level.
The existence of this narrow shoal is inherently threatened by the natural processes that govern shoreline features. It depends on a dynamic balance between sand transport and deposition. If (hypothetically) the source area to the south-west were cut off, say, by a large port construction with a pier, the Spit would erode and eventually disappear. It is thus a geologically speaking ephemeral coast element. The most likely development, however, is that the shallow bay inside the Curonian Spit will eventually fill up with sediment, thus creating new land.
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Wikipedia