Taganrog Bay or Taganrog Gulf (Russian: Таганрогский залив) is the northeastern arm of the Sea of Azov. At its northeast end is the mouth of the Don River. Length: about 140 km, width at the mouth: 31 km, median depth: about 5 m. It may freeze some winters from December to March. Two other rivers, the Kalmius and the Mius, flow into the bay. The flow of water into the bay is the chief factor in the current development in the Sea of Azov.
Its mouth is marked by the Dolgaya Spit on the south and the Belosaray Spit (Belosarayskaya Spit) on the north. It abounds in sandy spits that partly enclose shallow bays. The bay contains Sandy Isles (Песчаные острова). Rivers Don, Kalmius, Mius and Yeya fall into the Taganrog Bay. The major ports are Taganrog, Mariupol (Ukraine), and Yeysk. Rostov-on-Don is a few miles up the Don river.
The concentration of salt water in the Gulf is uneven. East, the most shallow part of the bay, which receives water directly to Don desalinized, and the western most osolonena, as is often subjected to the direct effects of Azov water. Taganrog Yeisk in Russia and Mariupol in the Ukraine are the main ports of Taganrog Bay.
One strange phenomenon is the presence of both fresh and salt water in the bay. The water in the eastern and shallower part of the bay, which receives water from the Don River, is mostly desalinized. The western end of the bay is completely salt water.
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—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)