The Gulf of Gabes (or Cabès, Cabes, Gaps; ar, خليج قابس, ḫalīǧ Qābis), also known as Lesser Syrtis (from grc, Μικρά Σύρτις, Mikrá Sýrtis; la, Syrtis Minor), contrasting with the Greater Syrtis in Libya, is a gulf on

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

's east

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

, off

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. The gulf roughly spans the coast from

Sfax Sfax (; ar, صفاقس, Ṣafāqis ) is a city in Tunisia, located southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD849 on the ruins of Berber Taparura, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate (about 955,421 inhabitants in 2014), and a Mediterrane ...

Djerba Djerba (; ar, جربة, Jirba, ; it, Meninge, Girba), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. It had a population of 139,544 a ...

. At the head of the gulf is the city of Gabès (Ghannouche) where the

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravity, gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide t ...

s have a large range of up to 2.1 m at

spring tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ca ...

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency within the United States Department of Defense whose primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of national ...

(2002
Section 8: Tunisia–Cap Serrat to Ras Ajdir"
''Sailing Directions (Enroute) for Western Mediterranean'' (tenth edition) National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Bethesda, Maryland, page 102 Both Gabès and Sfax are major

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

s on the gulf, supporting

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through t ...

and

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

, with Gabès being the

economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...

and administrative center.

History

The Latin name ''Syrtis Minor'' is used by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

, quoting an earlier description in

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

br>1.39.2
who uses the equivalent grc, ἡ μικρά Σύρτις (elsewhere also ). An alternative name was ''Lōtophagîtis sýrtis'' "Syrtis of the

lotus-eaters In Greek mythology, the lotus-eaters ( grc-gre, λωτοφάγοι, lōtophágoi) were a race of people living on an island dominated by the lotus tree, a plant whose botanical identity is uncertain. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary ...

", reported by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

''Geographica'' Book XVII, Chapter III, Sections 16-1
pages 288-289
/ref> (Compare Syrtis Major, the ancient name of the Gulf of Sidra.) Syrtis is referred to in the New Testament of the Bible where the

Apostle Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

relates being sent in chains to Rome to stand trial before Caesar Nero. The crew of his ship was worried about being driven by a storm into Syrtis, and took precautions to prevent it, resulting, eventually, in being shipwrecked on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea.

refers to Tacape (the modern

Gabès Gabès (, ; ar, قابس, ), also spelled Cabès, Cabes, Kabes, Gabbs and Gaps, is the capital city of the Gabès Governorate in Tunisia. It is located on the coast of the Gulf of Gabès. With a population of 152,921, Gabès is the 6th largest ...

) as an important entrepot of the Lesser Syrtis. In Book IV of the ''Histories'',

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

describes a violent ritual that took place in the region: A modern counterpart to this festival of violence, involving two opposing gangs near the Shatt al-Jerid annually engaging in combat with stones and clubs was described in ''Une fete de printemps au Jerid'' (1942) by G. Payre.

Geography

Most sourcesBritish Naval Intelligence Division (1945) ''Tunisia'' London, pages 65-66, consider the Gulf of Gabès as just being within the line between the northwest tip of Djerba (Jerba) Island on the southeast and Ras Yonga (Point Yonga) on the northwest. Ras Yonga is just north of the island of Jazīrat Khunayyis and its marshes and some southwest of Sfax. The geographer

indicated that the entrance to the gulf was located at the islands of Cercinna (Kerkennah) and Meninx (Djerba). Following Strabo gives a larger area with the line being from just north of Sfax to Djerba Island. That larger area would include part of the

Kerkennah Islands Kerkennah Islands ( aeb, قرقنة '; Ancient Greek: ''Κέρκιννα Cercinna''; Spanish:''Querquenes'') are a group of islands lying off the east coast of Tunisia in the Gulf of Gabès, at . The Islands are low-lying, being no more than abo ...

and the coast around Sfax. The centroid for the smaller gulf is at , and the distance across is , with a depth of . The larger gulf is across with a depth of , and the centroid is at . The entire Gulf of Gabes, both larger and smaller versions, is underlain by the continental shelf of the

African Plate The African Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes much of the continent of Africa (except for its easternmost part) and the adjacent oceanic crust to the west and south. It is bounded by the North American Plate and South American Plat ...

, and is nowhere deeper than 200 meters. During the

Permian Period The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleozo ...

and

Triassic Period The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

carbonate minerals Carbonate minerals are those minerals containing the carbonate ion, . Carbonate divisions Anhydrous carbonates *Calcite group: trigonal **Calcite CaCO3 **Gaspéite (Ni,Mg,Fe2+)CO3 **Magnesite MgCO3 **Otavite CdCO3 **Rhodochrosite MnCO3 **Sider ...

and

evaporite An evaporite () is a water-soluble sedimentary mineral deposit that results from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution. There are two types of evaporite deposits: marine, which can also be described as ocea ...

s were deposited in the Gulf of Gabes which now form

salt dome A salt dome is a type of structural dome formed when salt (or other evaporite minerals) intrudes into overlying rocks in a process known as diapirism. Salt domes can have unique surface and subsurface structures, and they can be discovered using ...

s and

diapir A diapir (; , ) is a type of igneous intrusion in which a more mobile and ductily deformable material is forced into brittle overlying rocks. Depending on the tectonic environment, diapirs can range from idealized mushroom-shaped Rayleigh–T ...

s. In addition carbon and hydrocarbons primarily from vegetation were deposited. These now form the basis for the oil and gas industry in the gulf. Among the important oil and gas fields in the gulf are the Ashtart Field and the Chergui Field.Dean, Lucy (2006) ''The Middle East and North Africa 2007'' Routledge, London, page 1094, The Ashtart Oil Terminal lies just outside the gulf at where tankers can easily tranship the oil.

(2002
Section 8: Tunisia–Cap Serrat to Ras Ajdir"
''Sailing Directions (Enroute) for Western Mediterranean'' (tenth edition) National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Bethesda, Maryland, page 101

Notes

External links

Port Gabes
photograph from Panoramio {{DEFAULTSORT:Gulf Of Gabes Gabes Gabes Sfax Governorate