Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea, like the Black Sea, Namak Lake, and Lake Urmia, is a remnant of the ancient Paratethys Sea. It became landlocked about 5.5 million years ago due to tectonic uplift and a fall in sea level. During warm and dry climatic periods, the landlocked sea almost dried up, depositing evaporitic sediments like halite that were covered by wind-blown deposits and were sealed off as an evaporite sink when cool, wet climates refilled the basin. (Comparable evaporite beds underlie the Mediterranean.) Due to the current inflow of fresh water, the Caspian Sea is a freshwater lake in its northern portions, and is most saline on the Iranian shore, where the catchment basin contributes little flow. Currently, the mean salinity of the Caspian is one third that of Earth's oceans. The Garabogazköl embayment, which dried up when water flow from the main body of the Caspian was blocked in the 1980s but has since been restored, routinely exceeds oceanic salinity by a factor of 10.
Nordic Seas
The first intermediate water is a remnant of the Atlantic Water from the East Greenland Current. This water has been cooled and covered by the Polar Surface Water. The temperature is around 2 °C with a salinity of 35 psu. The second intermediate water is the Arctic Intermediate Water. This water is cooler and fresher. The temperature is around -1.5 to 3 °C and has a salinity of approximately 34.88 psu. Depths are around 800 meters. This intermediate water is a salinity minimum layer in the Nordic Seas, which is unique in that is lies below a salinity maximum layer, the Atlantic Water. The third intermediate layer is called the upper Polar Deep Water. This water mass comes through the Fram Strait and is found in the East Greenland Current. This intermediate water has a temperature of -0.5 °C and a salinity of 34.85-34.9 psu.