Mazaro

{{short description|River in Sicily, Italy}} {{Infobox river | name = Mazaro | image = Pescherecci 1, Mazara.jpg | image_caption = Fishing boats along the Mazaro river, in Mazara del Vallo. | source1_location = Rapicaldo, Salemi | mouth = Mediterranean Sea | mouth_location = Strait of Sicily, Mazara del Vallo | mouth_coordinates = {{Coord|37.6512|12.5856|type:river_region:IT|display=it}} | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = Italy | length_km = 28 | source1_elevation = | discharge1_avg = | basin_size = }} The '''Mazaro''' ({{IPA|it|ˈmaddzaro|lang}}; sometimes spelt as ''Màzaro'') is a river in Sicily, Italy.

The Mazaro river flows {{convert|28|km|mi}} across south-western Sicily,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiumi.com/acque/index.php?id_g=1430|publisher=Fiumi.com|language=Italian|title=Fiumara Màzaro|accessdate=2007-10-28}}</ref> from its source in Rapicaldo, located within the Salemi city boundaries, to the Mediterranean Sea in Mazara del Vallo.

Mazaro is a historically important river which has provided water and farming for the people living around it for centuries. The Greeks and Muslims used the river for water to supply their armies in Sicily. The river is shallow. It is connected to the Mediterranean Sea.

=="Mad sea" phenomenon== The river is characterized by a periodical phenomenon locally known as ''marrobbio'' (also known in English as "mad sea"), which consist in rapid and dramatic sea level oscillations seemingly caused by sudden atmospheric pressure changes;<ref name="marrobbio">{{cite journal|url=http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1175%2F1520-0485(1999)029%3C2210%3ATMSPIT%3E2.0.CO%3B2&ct=1|publisher=AMS Journals Online|title=The "Mad Sea" Phenomenon in the Strait of Sicily|year=1999 |volume=29 |page=2210 |doi=10.1175/1520-0485(1999)029<2210:TMSPIT>2.0.CO;2 |issn=1520-0485 |accessdate=2007-10-28 |last1=Candela |first1=Julio |last2=Mazzola |first2=Salvatore |last3=Sammari |first3=Chérif |last4=Limeburner |first4=Richard |last5=Lozano |first5=Carlos J. |last6=Patti |first6=Bernardo |last7=Bonanno |first7=Angelo |journal=Journal of Physical Oceanography |issue=9 |bibcode=1999JPO....29.2210C |s2cid=54870133 |doi-access=free }}</ref> similar phenomena were observed only in a very few other places in the world, including Nagasaki Bay in Japan (where the phenomenon is known as ''abiki'') and Ciutadella (in Menorca, Spain, where it is called ''rissaga'').<ref name="marrobbio" />

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Rivers of Italy Category:Rivers of Sicily Category:Mazara del Vallo Category:Rivers of the Province of Trapani Category:European drainage basins of the Mediterranean Sea