Caspian Sea of around 149,200 square miles (386,400 square km)— bigger than the region of Japan—and its surface lies somewhere in the range of 90 feet (27 meters) below sea level. The sea bed in the southern part reaches as low as 1,023 m (3,356 ft) below sea level, which is the second lowest natural depression on earth after Lake Baikal (−1,180 m, −3,871 ft). The ancient inhabitants of its coast perceived the Caspian Sea as an ocean, probably because of its saltiness and large size. The sea has a surface area of 371,000 km (143,200 sq mi) (not including the detached
Early Holocene sea level rise Hemisphere source for the meltwater in the Laurentide ice sheet. Early Holocene sea level rise The early Holocene sea level rise (EHSLR) was a significant jump in sea level by about during the early Holocene, between about 12,000 and 7,000 years ago, spanning the Eurasian Mesolithic. The rapid rise in sea level and associated climate change, notably the 8.2 ka cooling event, and the loss of coastal land favoured by early farmers, may have contributed to the spread of the Neolithic to Europe. During deglaciation since the Last Glacial Maximum, between about 20,000 to 7,000 years ago (20–7 ka), sea