ur a loser!
The
Black Sea is an
inland seaAn inland sea is a shallow sea that covers central areas of continents during high stands of sea level that result in marine transgressions. In modern days continents stand high, eustatic sea levels are low, and there are few inland seas, none larger than the Caspian Sea...
bounded by
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
,
AnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Iranian plateau to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west...
and the
CaucasusThe Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region between at the border of Europe and Asia. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, including Europe's highest mountain ....
and is ultimately connected to the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
via the
MediterraneanThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
and
Aegean SeaThe Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey respectively. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
s and various
straitA strait or straits is a narrow, navigable channel of water that connects two larger navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not navigable, for...
s. The
BosporusThe Bosphorus or Bosporus , also known as the Istanbul Strait , is a strait that forms part of the boundary between the European part of Turkey and its Asian part . It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with the Dardanelles...
strait connects it to the
Sea of MarmaraThe Sea of Marmara , also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, and in the context of classical antiquity as Propontis , is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating Turkey's Asian and European parts. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Black Sea and...
, and the strait of the
DardanellesThe Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosporus. It is located at approximately...
connects it to the Aegean Sea region of the Mediterranean. These waters separate eastern
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
and western
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
. The Black Sea also connects to the
Sea of AzovThe Sea of Azov is the world's shallowest sea, linked by the Strait of Kerch to the Black Sea to the south. It is bounded on the north by Ukraine, on the east by Russia and on the west by the Crimean peninsula. The Don River flows into it.-Geology and bathymetry:The sea is long and wide and has...
by the
Strait of KerchThe Kerch Strait connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch Peninsula in the west from the Taman Peninsula in the east. The strait is to wide and up to deep....
.
The Black Sea has an area of , a maximum depth of , and a volume of 547,000 km³ (133,500 cu mi). The Black Sea forms in an east-west trending elliptical depression which lies between
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
,
GeorgiaGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
,
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
,
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
,
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
, and
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
. It is constrained by the
Pontic MountainsThe Pontic Mountains The Pontic Mountains The Pontic Mountains ( are a range of mountains in northern Turkey, whose eastern end extends into southeastern Georgia.The range runs roughly east-west, parallel and close to the southern coast of the Black Sea. The highest peak in the range is Kaçkar...
to the south, the
Caucasus MountainsThe Caucasus Mountains is a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region.The Caucasus Mountains are made up of two separate mountain systems:* the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and...
to the east and features a wide shelf to the north-west. The longest east-west extent is about 1,175 km.
Important cities along the coast include (alphabetical order) :
BatumiBatumi is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. It has a population of 121,806 ....
(121,806),
BurgasBurgas is the second-largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast with population 210,260. It is also the fourth-largest by population in the country, after Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna...
(229,250),
ConstanţaConstanţa is the oldest living city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast...
(306,000 with a metropolitan area of 550,000),
GiresunGiresun is the provincial capital of Giresun Province in the Black Sea Region of northeastern Turkey, about west of the city of Trabzon.-Etymology:...
(90,034),
IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
(11,372,613),
KerchKerch is a city on the Kerch Peninsula of eastern Crimea, is an important industrial, transport and tourist centre of Ukraine.-Ancient times:...
(158,165),
KhersonKherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast...
(358,000),
MangaliaMangalia is a city and a port on the Romanian coast of the Black Sea in the south-east of Constanţa County.The following resorts are administered by the Mangalia municipality:* Cap Aurora* Jupiter...
(41,153),
NăvodariNăvodari is a town in Constanţa County, Dobruja, Romania, with a population of 32,400.The name of the town means "trawlers" in Romanian, indicating that it was originally a fishing village....
(34,669),
NovorossiyskNovorossiysk is a city in southern Russia, the main Russian port on the Black Sea, in Krasnodar Krai. It is one of the few cities honoured with the Soviet title of the Hero City. Population: 281,400 ; -History:...
(281,400),
OdessaOdessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .Odessa was founded by Hacı I Giray, the Khan of Crimea, in 1240...
(1,001,000),
OrduOrdu is a port on the Black Sea coast of Turkey and the capital city of Ordu Province.-Etymology:"Ordu" means 'army' in the Turkish language...
(190,143),
PotiPoti is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near the site of the ancient Greek colony of Phasis, the city has become a major port city and industrial center since the early 20th century...
(47,149),
RizeRize is the capital of Rize Province, in northeast Turkey, on the Black Sea coast.-Geography:thumb|left|250px|RizeThe city is built around a small bay on the Black Sea coast, on a narrow strip of flat land between the sea and the mountains behind. The coastal strip is being expanded with landfill...
(91,901),
SamsunSamsun is a city in northern Turkey, on the coast of the Black Sea, with a population of 725,111 as of 2007. It is the capital city of Samsun Province and an important port...
(439,000),
SevastopolSevastopol is a port city in Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451...
(379,200),
SochiSochi is a Russian resort city, situated in Krasnodar Krai just north of the southern Russian border. It sprawls along the shores of the Black Sea and against the background of the snow-capped peaks of the Caucasus Mountains. At , Greater Sochi claims to be the longest city in Europe. As of the...
(328,809),
SukhumiSukhumi is the capital of Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast, which has been recognized as an independent state by Russia, Venezuela and Nicaragua, and is regarded by all other UN member states as an autonomous republic within Georgia...
(43,700),
TrabzonTrabzon, historically known as Trapezus and Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road, became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Iran in...
(275,137),
VarnaVarna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and in Northern Bulgaria, third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, and 77th-largest in the European Union, with a population of 355,450 .Commonly referred to as the marine capital of Bulgaria, Varna is a...
(357,752),
YaltaYalta is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea.The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by Greek sailors who were looking for a safe shore on which to land. It is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black...
(80,552), and
ZonguldakZonguldak is a city and the capital of Zonguldak Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. Its population according to the 2000 census was 104,276. It is an important port on the Black Sea, and is famous for its coal mines.-Etymology of the name:...
(104,276) .
The Black Sea has a positive
water balanceIn hydrology, a water balance equation can be used to describe the flow of water in and out of a system. A system can be one of several hydrological domains, such as a column of soil or a drainage basin.-Equation:...
, which results in a net outflow of water 300 km³ per year through the Bosphorus into the
Aegean SeaThe Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey respectively. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
(part of the Mediterranean Sea). Mediterranean water flows into the Black Sea as part of a 2-way hydrological exchange. The Black Sea outflow is less
salineSaline water is a general term for water that contains a significant concentration of dissolved salts . The concentration is usually expressed in parts per million of salt....
and cool, and therefore floats over the warm, more saline Mediterranean inflow. The Black Sea also receives river water from large
EurasiaEurasia is a large landmass covering about 52,990,000 km
2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface...
n
fluvialFluvial is used in geography and Earth science to refer to the processes associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them...
systems to the north of the Sea, of which the
DonThe Don is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
, Dnieper and
DanubeThe Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg rivers which join at the German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows...
are the most significant.
In the past, the water level has varied significantly. Depending on the water level in the basin, varying surrounding shelf and associated aprons are aerially exposed. At certain critical depths, it is possible for connections with surrounding water bodies to become established. It is through the most active of these connective routes, the
Turkish StraitsThe term Turkish Straits refers to the two narrow straits in northwestern Turkey, the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, that connect the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea on one side and the Aegean arm of the Mediterranean Sea on the other. They are conventionally considered the boundary between the...
, that the Black Sea joins the global ocean system. When this hydrological link is not present, the Black Sea is a lake, operating independently of the global ocean system. Currently the Black Sea water level is relatively high, thus water is being exchanged with the Mediterranean. The Turkish Straits connect the Black and Aegean Seas and comprise the Bosphorus, the
Sea of MarmaraThe Sea of Marmara , also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, and in the context of classical antiquity as Propontis , is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating Turkey's Asian and European parts. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Black Sea and...
and the
DardanellesThe Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosporus. It is located at approximately...
.
Modern names
Current names of the Sea are equivalents of the English name, "Black Sea", including ,
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
Mavri Thalassa (Μαύρη Θάλασσα),
BulgarianBulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian demonstrates several linguistic innovations that set it apart from all other Slavic languages except the Macedonian language, such as the elimination of case declension, the development of a suffixed definite...
Cherno more (Черно море),
GeorgianGeorgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 3.9 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
Shavi zghva (შავი ზღვა),
LazThe Laz language is spoken by the Laz people on the Southeast shore of the Black Sea...
Ucha Zuğa, or simply
Zuğa 'Sea',
RomanianRomanian or Daco-Romanian is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova. It has official status in Romania, Republic of Moldova, and the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Serbia...
Marea Neagră,
RussianRussian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe...
Chornoye more (Чёрное море),
TurkishTurkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
Karadeniz,
UkrainianUkrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses the Cyrillic alphabet....
Chorne more (Чорне море),
UbykhUbykh or Ubyx is a language of the Northwestern Caucasian group, spoken by the Ubykh people up until the early 1990s.The word is derived from , its name in the Abdzakh Adyghe language...
. Such names have not yet been shown conclusively to predate the twelfth century, but there are indications that they may be considerably older.
The reason for this
color term may be an ancient assignment of colors to the cardinal directions—black referring to the north, red referring to the south, and yellow to the east.
HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture. He was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
on one occasion uses
Red SeaThe Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez,...
and Southern Sea interchangeably. A somewhat similar view shows the Turkish name: 'Kara (Black)' and 'Ak (White)' are respectively used to denote 'North' and 'South' in Medieval Turkish, as in Akhun Empire, Akkoyunlu and Karakoyunlu Empires, and Akdeniz (lit., 'White Sea', referring to the Mediterranean which lies south of Anatolia). Another possible explanation comes from the colour of the Black Sea's deep waters. Being further north than the
Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
and much less saline, the
microalgaeAlgae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms. The largest and most complex marine forms are called seaweeds. They are photosynthetic, like plants, and "simple" because they lack the many distinct organs found in...
concentration is much richer, causing the dark colour. Visibility in the Black Sea is on average approximately five metres (5.5
ydA yard is a unit of length in several different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. It is equal to 3 feet or 36 inches, although its length in SI units varied slightly from system to system...
), as compared to up to thirty-five metres (38 yd) in the Mediterranean.
Historical names
StraboStrabo was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born in a wealthy family from Amaseia in Pontus , which had recently become part of the Roman Empire.. He studied under various geographers and philosophers; first in Nysa, later in Rome...
's Geography (1.2.10) reports that in antiquity, the Black Sea was often just called "the Sea" (
ho pontos). For the most part, Graeco-Roman tradition refers to the Black Sea as the 'Hospitable sea',
Euxeinos Pontos . This is a
euphemismA euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener, or in the case of Doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker...
replacing an earlier 'Inhospitable Sea',
Pontos Axeinos, first attested in
PindarPindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, Pindar is the one whose work is best preserved...
(early fifth century BCE,~475 BC). Strabo (7.3.6) thinks that the Black Sea was called "inhospitable" before Greek colonization because it was difficult to navigate, and because its shores were inhabited by savage tribes. The name was changed to "hospitable" after the
MilesiansThe Milesians of Hellenic civilization were the inhabitants of Miletus, a city in the Anatolia province of modern-day Turkey, near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and at the mouth of the Meander River. Settlers from Crete moved to Miletus sometime in 16th century BC...
had colonized southern shoreline, the
PontusPontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Pontos...
, making it part of Greek civilization.
It is also possible that the name
Axeinos arose by popular etymology from a Scythian
IranicThe Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily, Indo-Iranian. They are spoken by the Iranian peoples. Avestan is the oldest recorded Iranian language....
axšaina- 'unlit,' 'dark'; the designation "Black Sea" may thus date from
AntiquityClassical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
.
One
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
n understanding of the name is that the sea used to be quite stormy. The
Black Sea deluge theoryThe Black Sea deluge is a hypothesized prehistoric flood that occurred when the Black Sea filled rapidly circa 5600 BC. The hypothesis made headlines when The New York Times published it in December 1996.-Flood hypothesis :...
is based on that idea.
In naval science, the Black Sea is thought to have received its name because of its
hydrogen sulphideHydrogen sulfide is the chemical compound with the formula H
2S. This colorless, toxic and flammable gas is partially responsible for the foul odor of rotten eggs and flatulence....
layer that begins about 200 metres below the surface, and supports a unique microbial population which produces black sediments probably due to anaerobic methane oxidation.
Geology and bathymetry
The geological origins of the basin can be traced back to two distinct relict back-arc basins which were initiated by the splitting of an
AlbianThe Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch/series. Its approximate time range is 112.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 99.6 ± 0.9 Ma...
volcanic arcA volcanic arc is a chain of volcanic islands or mountains formed by plate tectonics as an oceanic tectonic plate subducts under another tectonic plate and produces magma. There are two types of volcanic arcs: oceanic arcs and continental arcs...
and the
subductionIn geology, subduction is the process that takes place at convergent boundaries by which one tectonic plate moves under another tectonic plate, sinking into the Earth's mantle, as the plates converge. A subduction zone is an area on Earth where two tectonic plates move towards one another and...
of both the
PaleoThe Paleo-Tethys Ocean was an ancient Paleozoic ocean. It was located between the paleocontinent Gondwana and the so called Hunic terranes. These are divided into the European Hunic and Asiatic Hunic...
-and Neo-
TethysThe Tethys Ocean was an ocean that existed between the continents of Gondwana and Laurasia during the Mesozoic era before the opening of the Indian Ocean.-Modern theory:...
Oceans, but the timings of these events remain controversial. Since its initiation, compressional tectonic environments led to
subsidenceSubsidence is the motion of a surface as it shifts downward relative to a datum such as sea-level. The opposite of subsidence is uplift, which results in an increase in elevation...
in the basin, interspersed with extensional phases resulting in large-scale volcanism and numerous
orogeniesOrogeny refers to natural mountain building, and may be studied as a tectonic structural event, as a geographical event, and a chronological event...
, causing the uplift of the
Greater CaucasusGreater Caucasus , sometimes translated as "Caucasus Major", "Big Caucasus" or "Large Caucasus") is the major mountain range of the Caucasus Mountains....
, Pontides, Southern
CrimeaCrimea or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the only autonomous republic of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name.The territory of Crimea was conquered and controlled many times throughout its history...
and Balkanides mountain ranges. The ongoing collision between the
EurasianThe Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate which includes most of the continent of Eurasia , with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Chersky Range in East Siberia...
and
AfricanThe African Plate is a tectonic plate which includes the continent of Africa, as well as oceanic crust which lies between the continent and various surrounding ocean ridges....
plates and westward escape of the
AnatolianAnatolian means of or pertaining to Anatolia , or a person from Anatolia, including:Biology* Anatolian Black, a breed of cattle.* Anatolian buffalo, a domestic animal of Anatolia....
block along the
North Anatolian FaultThe North Anatolian Fault is a major active right lateral-moving geologic fault in northern Anatolia which runs along the tectonic boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Anatolian Plate. The fault extends westward from a junction with the East Anatolian Fault at the Karliova Triple Junction...
and
East Anatolian FaultThe East Anatolian Fault is a major geologic fault in eastern Turkey. It runs along the tectonic boundary between the Anatolian Plate and the northward-moving Arabian Plate...
s dictates the current tectonic regime, which features enhanced subsidence in the Black Sea basin and significant volcanic activity in the Anatolian region. It is these geological mechanisms which, in the long term, have caused the periodic isolations of the Black Sea from the rest of the global ocean system.
The modern basin is divided into 2 sub-basins by a convexity extending south from the Crimean Peninsula. The large shelf to the north of the basin is up to 190 km wide, and features a shallow apron with gradients between 1:40 and 1:1000. The southern edge around
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
and the western edge around
GeorgiaGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
, however, are typified by a shelf that rarely exceeds 20 km in width and an apron that is typically 1:40 gradient with numerous submarine canyons and channel extensions. The
Euxine abyssal plainThe Euxine abyssal plain is a physiographic province of the Black Sea, an abyssal plain in its central parts. Its name comes from the Ancient Greek name Euxeinos Pontos of the Black Sea....
in the centre of the Black Sea reaches a maximum depth of 2,212 m just south of
YaltaYalta is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea.The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by Greek sailors who were looking for a safe shore on which to land. It is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black...
on the Crimean Peninsula.
The littoral zone of the Black Sea is often referred to as the
Pontic-Geography:* The Pontic colonies, on its northern shores* Pontus, a region on its southern shores* The Pontic-Caspian steppe, steppelands stretching from north of the Black Sea as far as the east as the Caspian Sea...
littoral.
Hydrology and hydrochemistry
The Black Sea is the world’s largest
meromicticA meromictic lake has layers of water that do not intermix. In ordinary, "holomictic" lakes, at least once each year there is a physical mixing of the surface and the deep waters...
basin where the deep waters do not mix with the upper layers of
waterWater is an ubiquitous chemical substance that is composed of hydrogen and oxygen and is essential for all known forms of life.In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam. Water covers 71%...
that receive
oxygenOxygen Oxygen Oxygen (acid, literally "sharp", from the taste of acids) and -γενής (-genēs) (producer, literally begetter) is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O...
from the atmosphere. As a result, over 90% of the deeper Black Sea volume is
anoxic waterAnoxic waters are areas of sea water or fresh water that are depleted of dissolved oxygen. This condition is generally found in areas that have restricted water exchange....
. The current hydrochemical configuration is primarily controlled by basin topography and
fluvialFluvial is used in geography and Earth science to refer to the processes associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them...
inputs, which result in a strongly stratified vertical structure and a positive water balance. The upper layers are generally cooler, less dense and less salty than the deeper waters, as they are fed by large fluvial systems, whereas the deep waters originate from the warm, salty waters of the Mediterranean. This influx of dense water from Mediterranean is balanced by an outflow of fresher Black Sea surface-water into the Marmara Sea, maintaining the stratification and
salinitySalinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. It is a general term used to describe the levels of different salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium sulfates, and bicarbonates...
levels.
The surface water has an average salinity of 18 to 18.5 parts per thousand (compared to 30 to 40 for the oceans) and contains
oxygenOxygen Oxygen Oxygen (acid, literally "sharp", from the taste of acids) and -γενής (-genēs) (producer, literally begetter) is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O...
and other nutrients required to sustain biotic activity. These waters circulate in a basin-wide cyclonic shelfbreak
gyreAn oceanic gyre is any large-scale system of rotating ocean currents, particularly those involved with large wind movements. Gyres are caused by the Coriolis effect; planetary vorticity along with horizontal and vertical friction, which determine the circulation patterns from the wind curl .The...
known as the Rim Current which transports water round the perimeter of the Black Sea. Within this feature, two smaller cyclonic gyres operate, occupying the eastern and western sectors of the basin. Outside the Rim Current, numerous quasi-permanent coastal eddies are formed due to
upwellingAn Upwelling is an oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water towards the ocean surface, replacing the warmer, usually nutrient-depleted surface water...
around the coastal apron and ‘wind curl’ mechanisms. The intra-annual strength of these features is controlled by seasonal atmospheric and fluvial variations. The temperature of the surface waters varies seasonally from to .
Directly beneath the surface waters the Cold Intermediate Layer (CIL) is found. This layer is composed of cool, salty surface waters, which are the result of localised atmospheric cooling and decreased fluvial input during the winter months. The production of this water is focussed in the centre of the major gyres and on the NW shelf and as the water is not dense enough to penetrate the deep waters,
isopycnalAn isopycnal is a surface of constant potential density of water. In the ocean, as the depth increases, so too does the density. Varying degrees of salinity and temperature act to modify the density of water, and the denser water always lies below the less dense water. Because of the action of...
advectionAdvection, in chemistry and engineering, is a transport mechanism of a substance or a conserved property with a fluid in motion. The fluid motion in advection is described mathematically as a vector field, and the material transported is typically described as a scalar concentration of substance,...
occurs, dispersing the water across the entire basin. The base of the CIL is marked by a major
thermoclineThe thermocline is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid , in which temperature changes more rapidly with depth than it does in the layers above or below...
,
haloclineIn oceanography, a halocline is a strong, vertical salinity gradient. Because salinity affects the density of seawater, it can play a role in its vertical stratification...
and
pycnoclineA pycnocline is a rapid change in water density with depth. In freshwater environments such as lakes this density change is primarily caused by water temperature , while in seawater environments such as oceans and estuaries, the rapid density change in the water column is often caused by a...
at and this density disparity is the major mechanism for isolation of the deep water.
Below the pycnocline, salinity increases to 22 to 22.5 ppt and temperatures rise to around . The hydrochemical environment shifts from oxygenated to anoxic, as bacterial decomposition of sunken biomass utilises all of the free oxygen. Certain species of
extremophileAn extremophile is an organism that thrives in and even may require physically or geochemically extreme conditions that are detrimental to the majority of life on Earth...
bacteria are capable of using
sulfateIn inorganic chemistry, a sulfate is a salt of sulfuric acid.-Chemical properties:...
(SO
42−) in the
oxidationRedox describes all chemical reactions in which atoms have their oxidation number changed....
of organic material, which leads to the creation of
hydrogen sulfideHydrogen sulfide is the chemical compound with the formula H
2S. This colorless, toxic and flammable gas is partially responsible for the foul odor of rotten eggs and flatulence....
(H
2S). This enables the
precipitationPrecipitation is the formation of a solid in a solution during a chemical reaction. When the reaction occurs, the solid formed is called the precipitate, and the liquid remaining above the solid is called the supernate...
of
sulfideA sulfide is a chemical compound containing sulfur in its lowest oxidation number of −2.- Properties :...
s such as the iron sulphides
pyriteThe mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS
2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold due to its resemblance to gold...
,
greigiteGreigite is an iron sulfide mineral with formula: FeFe2S4, also written as Fe3S4. Every molecule has one Fe2+ and two Fe3+ ions....
and iron monosulphide, as well as the dissolution of carbonate matter such as
calcium carbonateCalcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula CaCO
3. It is a common substance found in rock in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, pearls, and eggshells. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural...
(CaCO
3), found in shells. Organic matter, including
anthropogenicAnthropogenic effects, processes or materials are those that are derived from human activities, as opposed to those occurring in biophysical environments without human influence....
artefacts such as boat hulls, are well preserved. During periods of high surface productivity, short-lived
algalAlgae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms. The largest and most complex marine forms are called seaweeds. They are photosynthetic, like plants, and "simple" because they lack the many distinct organs found in...
blooms form organic rich layers known as
sapropelSapropel is a term used in marine geology to describe dark-coloured sediments that are rich in organic matter...
s. Scientists have reported an annual
phytoplanktonPhytoplankton are the autotrophic component of the plankton community. The name comes from the Greek words φυτον , or "plant", and πλαγκτος , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter". Most phytoplankton are too small to be individually seen with the unaided eye...
bloom that can be seen in many NASA images of the region.
Modelling shows the release of hydrogen sulphide clouds in the event of an asteroid impact into the Black Sea would pose a threat to health—or even life—for people living on the Black Sea coast. The black sea also contains important heavy water deposits inside the lower, anoxic layer.
Ecology
The Black Sea supports a complex ecology in its upper waters, characterised by quasi-endemic species which thrive in the fresher surface waters, as well as cosmopolitan
stenohalineStenohaline describes an organism, usually fish, that cannot handle a wide fluctuation in the salt content of water. Stenohaline is derived from the words: "steno" meaning narrow, and "haline" meaning salt. Many fresh water fish, such as goldfish , tend to be stenohaline and die in environments of...
and
euryhalineEuryhaline organisms are able to adapt to a wide range of salinities. An example of a euryhaline fish is the molly which can live in fresh, brackish, or salt water. The European shore crab is an example of a euryhaline invertebrate that can live in salt and brackish water...
species. The fluvial systems draining
EurasiaEurasia is a large landmass covering about 52,990,000 km
2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface...
and central
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
introduce large volumes of nutrients in the Black Sea, but distribution of these nutrients is controlled by the degree of physiochemical
stratificationWater stratification occurs when water of high and low salinity , as well as cold and warm water , forms layers that act as barriers to water mixing....
, which is in turn dictated by seasonal physiographic development.
PhytoplanktonPhytoplankton are the autotrophic component of the plankton community. The name comes from the Greek words φυτον , or "plant", and πλαγκτος , meaning "wanderer" or "drifter". Most phytoplankton are too small to be individually seen with the unaided eye...
blooms occur in surface waters throughout the year, most reliably in the form of a
DiatomDiatoms are a major group of eukaryotic algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton. Most diatoms are unicellular, although they can exist as colonies in the shape of filaments or ribbons Diatoms (Greek: (dia) = "through" + (temnein) = "to cut", i.e., "cut in half") are a major...
bloom during March. However, subsurface productivity is limited by nutrient availability, as the anoxic bottom waters act as a sink for reduced
nitrateIn inorganic chemistry, a nitrate is a salt of nitric acid with an ion composed of one nitrogen and three oxygen atoms . In organic chemistry the esters of nitric acid and various alcohols are called nitrates.-Chemical properties:...
, in the form of
ammoniaAmmonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula NH
3. It is normally encountered as a gas with a characteristic pungent odor. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to foodstuffs and fertilizers...
. Some chemosynthetic productivity occurs in the
hypolimnionThe hypolimnion is the dense, bottom layer of water in a thermally-stratified lake. It is the layer that lies below the thermocline.Typically the hypolimnion is the coldest layer of a lake in summer, and the warmest layer during winter...
, estimated at ~10% of photosynthetic productivity.
The Black Sea underwent a catastrophic
ecological collapseEcological Collapse refers to a situation where an ecosystem suffers a drastic, if not permanent, reduction in carrying capacity for all organisms, often resulting in mass extinction...
in the early 1990s caused by
eutrophicationEutrophication is an increase in the concentration of chemical nutrients in an ecosystem to an extent that increases in the primary productivity of the ecosystem...
; a chronic nutrient pollution from farms, feed lots, and municipal sewers throughout its vast watershed. Massive
algal bloomAn algal bloom is a rapid increase in the population of algae in an aquatic system. Algal blooms may occur in freshwater as well as marine environments. Typically, only one or a small number of phytoplankton species are involved, and some blooms may be recognized by discoloration of the water...
s resulted in
hypoxic conditionsHypoxia or oxygen depletion is a phenomenon that occurs in aquatic environments as dissolved oxygen becomes reduced in concentration to a point detrimental to aquatic organisms living in the system...
across the ecologically critical northwest shelf, wiping out much of the flora and fauna there. Perhaps because of the attendant ecological disruptions, an alien species—the warty comb jelly (
Mnemiopsis leidyi)—was able to establish itself in the basin, exploding from a few individuals to an estimated biomass of one billion metric tons.
Recently, scientists have noted signs of ecological recovery, in part due to the collapse of agriculture (and subsidized fertilizer usage) in much of the lower Danube basin and the construction of new sewage treatment plants in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria in connection with membership in the European Union.
Mnemiopsis leidyi populations have been checked with the arrival of another alien species which feeds on them.
Climate
Short-term climatic variation in the Black Sea region is significantly influenced by the operation of the
North Atlantic OscillationThe North Atlantic oscillation is a climatic phenomenon in the North Atlantic Ocean of fluctuations in the difference of atmospheric pressure at sea-level between the Icelandic Low and the Azores high. Through east-west oscillation motions of the Icelandic Low and the Azores high, it controls the...
, which is a term used to describe the climatic mechanisms resulting from the interaction between the north Atlantic and mid-latitude air masses. While the exact mechanisms causing the North Atlantic Oscillation remain unclear, it is thought the climate conditions established in western Europe mediate the heat and precipitation fluxes reaching Central Europe and Eurasia, regulating the formation of winter cyclones, which are largely responsible for regional
precipitationIn meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that is deposited on the Earth's surface. The main forms of precipitation include rain, snow, ice pellets, and graupel...
inputs and influence Mediterranean Sea Surface Temperatures (SST's). The relative strength of these systems also limits the amount of cold air arriving from northern regions during winter. Other influencing factors include the regional
topographyTopography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
, as depressions and storms systems arriving from the Mediterranean are funneled through the low land around the Bosphorus,
PonticThe Pontic Mountains The Pontic Mountains The Pontic Mountains ( are a range of mountains in northern Turkey, whose eastern end extends into southeastern Georgia.The range runs roughly east-west, parallel and close to the southern coast of the Black Sea. The highest peak in the range is Kaçkar...
and
CaucasusThe Caucasus Mountains is a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region.The Caucasus Mountains are made up of two separate mountain systems:* the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and...
mountain ranges acting as wave guides, limiting the speed and paths of cyclones passing through the region
Mediterranean connection during the Holocene
The Black Sea is connected to the
World OceanThe World Ocean, world ocean, or global ocean is the interconnected system of the earth's oceanic waters, and comprises the bulk of the hydrosphere....
by a chain of two shallow straits, the
DardanellesThe Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosporus. It is located at approximately...
and the
BosporusThe Bosphorus or Bosporus , also known as the Istanbul Strait , is a strait that forms part of the boundary between the European part of Turkey and its Asian part . It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with the Dardanelles...
. The Dardannelles are 55 m deep and the Bosporus is as shallow as 36 m. By comparison, at the height of the last
Ice ageThe general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within a long-term ice age, individual...
, sea levels were more than 100 m lower than they are now. There's also evidence that water levels in the Black Sea, too, were considerably lower at some point during the post-glacial period. Thus, for example, archeologists found fresh-water snail shells and man-made structures in roughly of water off the Black Sea coast of modern
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
. Therefore it is agreed that the Black Sea has been a landlocked freshwater
lakeA lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all. Another definition is, a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size that is surrounded by land...
(at least in upper layers) during the last glaciation and for some time after.
In the aftermath of the Ice Age, water levels in the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea rose independently until they were high enough to exchange water. The exact timeline of this development is still subject to debate. One possibility is that the Black Sea filled first, with excess fresh water flowing over the Bosporus sill and eventually into the Mediterranean Sea. There are also catastrophic scenarios, such as the "deluge theory" put forward by William Ryan and Walter Pitman.
Deluge hypothesis
In 1997, William Ryan and Walter Pitman from
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
published a hypothesis according to which a massive flood through the
BosporusThe Bosphorus or Bosporus , also known as the Istanbul Strait , is a strait that forms part of the boundary between the European part of Turkey and its Asian part . It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with the Dardanelles...
occurred in ancient times. They claim that the Black and
Caspian SeaThe Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. It has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometres and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometres...
s were vast freshwater lakes, but then about 5600 BC, the
MediterraneanThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
spilled over a rocky sill at the Bosporus, creating the current communication between the Black and Mediterranean Seas. Subsequent work has been done both to support and to discredit this hypothesis, and archaeologists still debate it. This has led some to associate this catastrophe with prehistoric flood myths. William Ryan and Walter Pitman have a book on their theory.
Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event That Changed History Published by Simon & Schuster Paperbacks New York, NY. Copyright 1998.
History
The Black Sea was a busy waterway on the crossroads of the ancient world: the Balkans to the West, the Eurasian steppes to the north, Caucasus and Central Asia to the East, Asia Minor and Mesopotamia to the south, and Greece to the south-west. The oldest processed gold in the world, arguably left by Old Europeans, was found in Varna, and the Black Sea was supposedly sailed by the
ArgonautsIn Greek mythology, the Argonauts were a band of heroes who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo, which was named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts", therefore, literally means...
. The land at the eastern end of the Black Sea,
ColchisIn ancient geography, Colchis or Kolkhis was an ancient Georgian , state kingdom and region in the Western Georgia , which played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the Georgian nation and its subgroups...
, (now
GeorgiaGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
), marked for the Greeks an edge of the known world. The steppes to the north of the Black Sea have been suggested as the original homeland (
UrheimatUrheimat is a linguistic term denoting the original homeland of the speakers of a proto-language.-Indo-European homeland:...
) of the speakers of the
Proto-Indo-European languageThe Proto-Indo-European language is the unattested, reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans. The existence of such a language has been accepted by linguists for over a century, and there have been many attempts at reconstruction...
, (PIE) the progenitor of the
Indo-European languageThe Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major languages of Europe, Iran, and northern India, and historically also predominant in Anatolia and Central Asia...
family, by some scholars (see
KurganKurgan is the Russian word for a tumulus, a type of burial mound or barrow, heaped over a burial chamber, often of wood....
; others move the heartland further east towards the
Caspian SeaThe Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. It has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometres and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometres...
, yet others to
AnatoliaAnatolia is a geographic region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Iranian plateau to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west...
). Numerous ancient ports line Black Sea's coasts, some older than the pyramids.
Ancient trade routes in the region are currently being extensively studied by American, Bulgarian, and other scientists. It is widely believed that the Black Sea is packed with archaeology to be found. Perhaps the most promising areas in deepwater archaeology are the quest for submerged prehistoric settlements in the continental shelf and for ancient shipwrecks in the anoxic zone, which are expected to be exceptionally well preserved due to the absence of oxygen.
The Black Sea has witnessed the rivalries of
HittitesThe Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia ca. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height ca...
,
Carians-Greek mythology:According to Greek tradition, the Carians were named after an eponymous Car, one of their legendary early kings. Classical Greeks would often claim that Caria was originally colonized by Ionian Greeks...
,
ThraciansThe ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes who spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...
, Greeks, Persians,
CimmeriansThe Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to Herodotus, they originally inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea, in what is now Ukraine and Russia, in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. Although Herodotus's view was widely...
, Scythians,
RomansAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, Byzantines,
GothsThe Goths were a heterogeneous East Germanic tribe. The historian Jordanes claimed that the Goths arrived from semi-legendary Scandza, believed to be somewhere in modern Götaland , and that a Gothic population had crossed the Baltic Sea before the 2nd century, lending their name to the region of...
,
HunsThe Huns were a group of nomadic pastoral people who, appearing from beyond the Volga, migrated into Europe c.AD 370 and built up an enormous empire in Europe. They were possibly the descendants of the Xiongnu who had been northern neighbours of China three hundred years before and may be the first...
,
AvarsThe Eurasian Avars, sometimes referred to as the European Avars, or Ancient Avars, were a highly organized and powerful confederation of a mixed ethnic background, thought to be closely related to the Mongols, Bulgars, Khazars and other Oghur Turkic peoples of the time...
,
BulgarsThe Bulgars were originally semi-nomadic people, probably of Turkic descent, originating in Central Asia, who from the 2nd century onwards conquered different parts of Europe...
, Slavs,
VarangiansThe Varangians or Varyags , sometimes referred to as Variagians, were Vikings, Norsemen, who went eastwards and southwards through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine mainly in the 9th and 10th centuries...
,
CrusadersThe Crusaders are a New Zealand rugby union team based in Christchurch that compete in the Super 14 . They are the most successful team in Super Rugby history. The franchise represents the Buller, Canterbury, Mid-Canterbury, South Canterbury, Tasman, and West Coast provincial rugby unions...
,
VenetiansThe Most Serene Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century AD until the year 1797...
,
GenoveseGenovese is an Italian surname meaning, properly, someone from Genoa, but more often , a clever person, a generalization particularly in Southern Italy of people from Genoa...
,
TatarsTatars , sometimes spelled Tartars, are a Turkic ethnic group mainly inhabiting Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. They numbered 10 million in the late 20th Century, which includes all subgroups of Tatar people, such as...
, Ottomans, and
RussiansThe Russian people are an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
.
The Black Sea was a significant naval theatre of World War I and saw both naval and land battles during
World War IIThe Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of war between the European Axis powers, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia and Finland , and the Soviet Union which encompassed central and eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9...
.
Holiday resorts and spas
In the years following the end of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
, the popularity of the Black Sea as a
touristTourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other...
destination has been steadily increasing. Overall, tourism at Black Sea resorts has become one of the region's growth industries. The following is a list of well-known Black Sea
resortA resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company. Such a self-contained resort attempts to provide for most of a vacationer's wants while remaining on...
s:
1 AbkhaziaAbkhazia is a disputed region on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. Since its declaration of independence from Georgia in 1991 during the Georgian–Abkhaz conflict, it is governed as the partially-recognized Republic of Abkhazia.Georgia considers Abkhazia part of its territory and has designated...
has been a
de factoDe facto is a Latin expression that means "by [the] fact". In law, it is meant to mean "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but without being officially established"...
independent republic since 1992, although remains a
de jureDe jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact"....
autonomous republic of Georgia.
Regional organizations
See also the Balkans Regional organizations and Post-Soviet Regional organizations
See also
- Anoxic event
Oceanic anoxic events or anoxic events occur when the Earth's oceans become completely depleted of oxygen below the surface levels. Although anoxic events have not happened for millions of years, the geological record shows that they happened many times in the past. Anoxic events may have caused...
- Black Sea deluge theory
The Black Sea deluge is a hypothesized prehistoric flood that occurred when the Black Sea filled rapidly circa 5600 BC. The hypothesis made headlines when The New York Times published it in December 1996.-Flood hypothesis :...
- Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
The Bulgarian Black Sea Riviera covers the entire eastern bound of Bulgaria stretching from the Romanian Black Sea Riviera in the north to European Turkey in the south, along 378 km of coastline. White and golden sandy beaches occupy approximately 130 km of the 378 km long coast...
- Romanian Black Sea resorts
The Romanian Black Sea Riviera stretches from Danube Delta in north down to the Bulgarian Black Sea Riviera in south, along 275 km of coastline....
- Ancomah
Ancomah is a mythological place which was first mentioned by Hasan Umur in the 1940s. It is approximately fifty meters inland near Trabzon, Turkey. It is a place on the lower slopes of a mountain....
- 1927 Crimean earthquakes
The 1927 Crimean earthquakes occurred on June 26 and September 11-12, 1927 in the waters of the Black Sea, hitting the Crimean peninsula. The June earthquake hit with a force of 6-7 on the Richter scale, while the one in mid-September was reported to have been up to 9 on the Richter scale near the...
- Black Sea Games
The Black Sea Games are a multi-sport games held every four years, mainly for nations bordering the Black Sea.- Sports :* Archery * Athletics * Basketball * Cycling ...
- Crimea
Crimea or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the only autonomous republic of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name.The territory of Crimea was conquered and controlled many times throughout its history...
External links