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Black Sea


An inland sea between Europe and Asia. It is connected with the Aegean Sea by the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles.

 

 
 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Black Sea

Sea between Europe and Asia. Bordered by Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania, it has a maximum depth of 7,250 ft (2,210 m). The Black Sea proper has an area of 163,000 sq mi (422,000 sq km). It is connected with the Aegean Sea through the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, and with the Sea of Azov by Kerch Strait. It receives many rivers, including the Danube, Dniester, Bug, Dnieper, Kuban, Kizil, and Sakarya. The Crimean Peninsula (see Crimea) extends into it from the north. Created when structural upheavals in Asia Minor split off the Caspian basin from the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea gradually became isolated; salinity is now less than half that of the world's oceans. Though long popular for its resorts, it has suffered severe pollution in recent decades.

For more information on Black Sea, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Black Sea,
inland sea, c.159,600 sq mi (413,360 sq km), between SE Europe and Asia, connected with the Mediterranean Sea by the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles. It is c.750 mi (1,210 km) from east to west, up to 350 mi (560 km) wide, and has a maximum depth of 7,364 ft (2,245 m). Its largest arm is the Sea of Azov, which joins it through the Kerch Strait. The Black Sea is enclosed by Ukraine on the north, Russia on the northeast, Georgia on the east, Turkey on the south, and Bulgaria and Romania on the west.

The Dnieper, Southern Buh, Dniester, and Danube rivers are its principal feeders; the Don and Kuban rivers flow into the Sea of Azov. The rivers flowing into the northern part of the Black Sea carry much silt and form deltas, sandbars, and lagoons along the generally low and sandy northern coast. The southern coast is steep and rocky. The Black Sea has two layers of water of different densities. The heavily saline bottom layer has little movement and contains hydrogen sulfide; it has no marine life. The top layer, much less saline and richer in fish, flows in a counterclockwise direction around the sea. There is little tidal action.

Pollution in the Black Sea has spurred surrounding nations to cooperate in instituting environmental safeguards; overfishing is also a significant problem and has altered the sea's ecosystem. The sea is subject to severe winter storms, and waterspouts are common in summer. Ice-free, it is the chief shipping outlet of the Ukraine and Russia; Odessa and Sevastopol in Ukraine and Novorossiysk in Russia are major ports. Other important ports are Constanţa in Romania; Varna and Burgas in Bulgaria; and Trabzon, Samsun, and Zonguldak in Turkey. The Black Sea region, especially in the S Crimea and W Caucasus, is a popular resort area.

History

The Black Sea was once part of a larger body that included the Caspian and Aral seas. In the Tertiary period, it was separated from the Caspian Sea and was linked to the Mediterranean Sea. Evidence suggests that more recently, about 7,600 years ago, at the end of a long dry period, it was flooded when the Mediterranean, having again become separate, broke through at the Bosporus, an event that may have scattered farmers from its shores into Europe and Asia. Some scientists have hypothesized that this event happened catastrophically and is the source of the biblical story of the Deluge.

The Pontus Euxinus [hospitable sea] of the ancients, the Black Sea was navigated and its shores colonized by the Greeks (8th–6th cent. B.C.) and later by the Romans (3d–1st cent. B.C.). Its importance increased with the founding of Constantinople (A.D. 330). In the 13th cent. the Genoese established colonies on the Black Sea, and from the 15th to the 18th cent. it was a Turkish “lake.” The rise of Russia led to protracted dispute with the Ottoman Empire over control and use of the Bosporus and Dardanelles. In 1783, Russia annexed the Tatar Khanate of Crimea, which blocked its access to the sea, but the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Crimean War of 1856, frustrated Russia's expansionist ambitions, and Russia and its successor, the Soviet Union, retained limited influence in the region. In 1992, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation was established by nations surrounding the sea (not all members actually border the sea); it became a formal international organization in 1998. The six nations bordering the sea established the Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group in 2001 to promote cooperation on naval and environmental issues.

Bibliography

See N. Ascherson, Black Sea (1995).

 
Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia: Black Sea

Large inland saltwater sea between Turkey on the south and Ukraine on the north, connected to the Mediterranean Sea.

About 180,000 square miles (466,000 sq. km.), the Black Sea is connected to the Aegean Sea, the northeast arm of the Mediterranean Sea, by the Turkish Straits (the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus). Until the late eighteenth century, the Black Sea was controlled almost entirely by the Ottoman Empire, but the sea was opened to Russia in the Treaty of Kuçuk Kaynara (1774). Over the next century and a half, the Russians and the Ottoman Turks vied for control of the Black Sea. The Ottoman Empire attempted to keep Russia from establishing a military presence in the Black Sea, and the Russians attempted to push the Ottomans ever southward and prevent access to the Black Sea by the other European powers through the Turkish Straits. Control of the straits remained a live issue well into the twentieth century. After World War II, Josef Stalin, USSR premier, unsuccessfully pressured Turkey to revise the 1936 Montreux Convention, which barred belligerents from the straits and hence limited the ability of the USSR to use the Black Sea as a naval base. The Black Sea is also a major commercial shipping region. It is thus a vital economic link between Eastern Europe, Russia and other states of the former USSR, Turkey, and the states of western Central Asia, as well as a link between these states and the countries of the Mediterranean and the world.

Bibliography

Lenczowski, George. The Middle East in World Affairs, 4th edition. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1980.

Shaw, Stanford, and Shaw, Ezel Kural. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. 2 vols. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976 - 1977.

— ZACHARY KARABELL

 
Geography: Black Sea

Sea between Europe and Asia, bordered on the north by Moldova and Ukraine, on the northeast by Russia, on the east by Georgia, on the south by Turkey, and on the west by Bulgaria and Romania. It receives many great rivers, including the Danube, the Dnieper, and by way of the Sea of Azov, the Don.

  • It is a popular resort area for Russians and eastern Europeans.

 
Wikipedia: Black Sea
Euxine Sea (Older name) redirects here.
Map of the Black Sea
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Map of the Black Sea
NASA satellite image of the Black Sea
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NASA satellite image of the Black Sea

The Black Sea is an inland sea between southeastern Europe and the Anatolian peninsula (Turkey) and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, then the long island-bound strait of the Dardenelles to the Aegean Sea region of the Mediterranean. These waters separate eastern Europe and western Asia. The Black sea is also connected to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch.

The Black Sea has an area of  km² ( sq mi),[1] and a maximum depth of 2200 m. (7,218 ft.)[2] Like the Mediterranean Sea, there is a net inflow of seawater through the Bosporus into the oceanic region[clarify] of some  cubic kilometers ( cu mi) per year, that is lost to evaporation or into geologic faults and so gradually raises the salinity. Freshwater flows in from the surrounding areas, especially central and middle-eastern Europe,  km3 ( cu mi) per year. The most important river entering the Black Sea is the Danube.[3]

Countries bordering the Black Sea are Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia.[4] The Crimean peninsula is a Ukrainian autonomous republic.

Important cities along the coast include: Constanţa (urban area of 401,613), Mangalia, Burgas, Varna (urban area of 357,752) , Odessa, Sevastopol, Yalta, Kerch, Novorossiysk (281,400), Sochi, Sukhumi, Poti, Batumi, Trabzon, Samsun (439,000) and Zonguldak.

Name

Modern names of the Sea are equivalents of the English name, "Black Sea", including Bulgarian Cherno more (Черно море), Georgian Shavi zghva (შავი ზღვა), Laz Ucha Zuğa, or simply Zuğa 'Sea', Romanian Marea Neagră, Russian Chyornoye more (Чёрное море), Turkish Karadeniz, Ukrainian Chorne more (Чорне море), Ubykh /ʃʷaʤa/. This name cannot be traced to an earlier date than the thirteenth century, but there are indications that it may be considerably older.

Strabo's Geography (1.2.10) reports that in antiquity, the Black Sea was often just called "the Sea" (pontos). For the most part, Graeco-Roman tradition refers to the Black Sea as the 'Hospitable sea', Euxeinos Pontos (Εὔξεινος Πόντος). This is a euphemism replacing an earlier 'Inhospitable Sea', Pontos Axeinos, first attested in Pindar (early fifth century BCE). 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; and that the name was changed to "hospitable" after the Milesians had colonized, making it part of Greek civilization. It is also possible that the name Axeinos arose by popular etymology from an Iranian axšaina- 'dark'; the designation "Black Sea" may thus date from Antiquity. The reason for the name may be an ancient assignment of colours to the direction of the compass — black referring to the north, and red referring to the south. Herodotus on one occasion uses Red Sea and Southern Sea interchangeably.[5]

Another possible explanation comes from the colour of the Black Sea's deep waters. Being further north than the Mediterranean Sea and much less saline, the microalgae concentration is much richer, causing the dark colour. Visibility in the Black Sea is on average approximately five meters (5.5 yd), as compared to up to thirty-five meters (38 yd) in the Mediterranean.

One Bulgarian understanding of the name is that the sea used to be quite stormy. Some sources stipulate that it goes back to the time of Noah's Ark. The Black Sea deluge theory is based on that idea.

In naval science, the Black Sea is thought to have received its name because of its hydrogen sulfide layer that begins about 200 meters below the surface, and that ends all life from that point downward.

Geology and bathymetry

Bay of Sudak.
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Bay of Sudak.

The Black Sea forms an enclosed basin, located between south-eastern Europe and Asia Minor. The basin was formed during the Miocene orogenies which uplifted the mountain ranges and divided the ancient Tethys Ocean into several brackish basins, including the Sarmatic Sea. The Caspian, Azov, Aral and Black Seas are the remnants of this evaporated basin.

The basin is divided into two sub-basins by a convexity extending south from the Crimean peninsula. The north-west of the basin is characterized by a relatively large shelf up to 190 km wide, which has a relatively shallow apron with gradients between 1:40 and 1:1000. The southern edge around Turkey and the eastern edge around Georgia, 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 plain in the centre of the Black Sea reaches a maximum depth of 2,206 m just south of Yalta on the Crimean peninsula. The basin is connected to the Mediterranean Sea via the Turkish Straits System (TSS) in the south-west, which includes the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits and the Sea of Marmara. The Black Sea is connected to the Sea of Azov in the north-east via the Kerch straits.

Hydrology and hydrochemistry

Satellite view of the Black Sea, taken by NASA MODIS.
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Satellite view of the Black Sea, taken by NASA MODIS.

The Black Sea is the world’s largest meromictic basin where the deep waters do not mix with the upper layers of water that receive oxygen from the atmosphere. As a result, over 90% of the deeper Black Sea volume is anoxic water. The current hydrochemical configuration is primarily controlled by basin topography and fluvial 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 salinity levels.

The surface water has an average salinity of 18 to 18.5 ppt and contains oxygen and other nutrients required to sustain biotic activity. These waters circulate in a basin-wide anti-cyclonic shelfbreak gyre 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 upwelling around the coastal apron and ‘wind curl’ mechanisms. The intra-annual strength of these features is controlled by seasonal atmospheric and fluvial variations. Sea Surface Temperature of the surface waters varies seasonally from 8°C to 30°C.

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, isopycnal advection occurs, dispersing the water across the entire basin. The base of the CIL is marked by a major thermocline, halocline and pycnocline at ~100-200m and this density disparity is the major cause of deep-water isolation.

Below the pycnocline, salinity increases to 22 to 22.5 ppt and temperatures rise to around 8.5°C. The hydrochemical environment shifts from oxygenated to anoxic, as bacterial decomposition of sunken biomass utilises all of the free oxygen. Certain species of extremophile bacteria are capable of using sulfate (SO42−) in the oxidation of organic material, which leads to the creation of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). This enables the precipitation of sulfides such as iron-sulphides like pyrite, greigite and iron-monosulphide as well as the dissolution of carbonate matter such as Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) found in shells. Organic matter, including anthropogenic artefacts such as boat hulls, are well preserved. During periods of high surface productivity, short-lived algal blooms cause organic rich layer known as sapropels to occur. Scientists have reported an annual phytoplankton bloom that can be seen in many NASA images of the region.[6]

Another danger to people posed by the anoxic layer could come from a small asteroid's impact into the Black Sea. Recently modelling shows there is a significant threat to life for people living on the sea's shore.[7]

Fauna

Jellyfish, near Romanian coast.

Actinia, near Romanian coast.

Actinia, near Romanian coast.

Goby, near Romanian coast.

Stingray, near Romanian coast.

Goat fish, near Romanian coast.

Hermit crab, near Romanian coast.

Blue sponge (?), near Romanian coast.

Spiny Dogfish (Black Sea Sharks at Risk)

Mediterranean connection during the Holocene

The Bosporus, taken from the ISS.
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The Bosporus, taken from the ISS.
Map of the Dardanelles.
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Map of the Dardanelles.

While it is agreed that the Black Sea has been a freshwater lake (at least in upper layers) with a considerably lower level during the last glaciation, its post glacial development into a marine sea is still a subject of intensive study and debate. There are catastrophic scenarios such as put forward by William Ryan and Walter Pitman as well as models emphasizing a more gradual transition to saline conditions and transgression in the Black Sea.

They are based on different theories about the level the freshwater lake had reached by the time the Mediterranean Sea was high enough to flow over the Dardanelles and the Bosporus. On the other hand, a study of the sea floor on the Aegean side shows that in the 8th millennium BC there was a large flow of fresh water out of the Black Sea.[1]

In a series of expeditions, a team of marine archaeologists led by Robert Ballard identified what appeared to be ancient shorelines, freshwater snail shells, drowned river valleys, tool-worked timbers, and man-made structures in roughly 300 feet (100 m) of water off the Black Sea coast of modern Turkey. Radiocarbon dating of freshwater mollusc remains indicated an age of about seven thousand years.

Deluge theory

Main article: Black Sea deluge theory

In 1997, William Ryan and Walter Pitman from Columbia University published a theory that a massive flood through the Bosporus occurred in ancient times. They claim that the Black and Caspian Seas were vast freshwater lakes, but that about 5600 BC, the Mediterranean 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 theory, and archaeologists still debate it. This has led some to associate this catastrophe with prehistoric flood myths.

History

Ivan Aivazovsky. Black Sea Fleet in the Bay of Theodosia, just before the Crimean War.
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Ivan Aivazovsky. Black Sea Fleet in the Bay of Theodosia, just before the Crimean War.

The steppes to the north of the Black Sea have been suggested as the original homeland (Urheimat) of the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language, (PIE) the progenitor of the Indo-European language family, by some scholars (see Kurgan; others move the heartland further east towards the Caspian Sea, yet others to Anatolia).

The land at the eastern end of the Black Sea, Colchis (now Georgia), marked for the Greeks an edge of the known world.

The Black Sea was a significant naval theatre of World War I and saw both naval and land battles of the Second World War.


Holiday resorts and spas

Photo of the Black Sea near Gagra, taken in 1915.
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Photo of the Black Sea near Gagra, taken in 1915.
Cities of the Black Sea.
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Cities of the Black Sea.

In the years following the end of the Cold War, the popularity of the Black Sea as a tourist destination has been steadily increasing, particularly in Bulgaria. Overall, tourism at Black Sea resorts has become one of the region's growth industries.[2] The following is a list of well-known Black Sea resorts:

1 Abkhazia has been a de facto independent republic since 1992, although remains a de jure autonomous republic of Georgia.

Regional organizations

Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC)      members      observers
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Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC)      members      observers
Community of Democratic Choice (CDC)      members      observers
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Community of Democratic Choice (CDC)      members      observers
Black Sea Forum for Partnership and Dialogue (BSF)      members      observers
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Black Sea Forum for Partnership and Dialogue (BSF)      members      observers

See also the Balkans Regional organizations and Post-Soviet Regional organizations

See also

References and bibliography

  1. ^ New Scientist, 4 May 2002, p.13.
  2. ^ Bulgarian Sea Resorts. Retrieved on 2007-02-02.
  • Charles King, The Black Sea: A History, 2004, ISBN 0-19-924161-9
  • William Ryan and Walter Pitman, Noah's Flood, 1999, ISBN 0-684-85920-3
  • Neal Ascherson, Black Sea (Vintage 1996), ISBN 0-09-959371-8
  • Özhan Öztürk. Karadeniz: Ansiklopedik Sözlük (Black Sea: Encyclopedic Dictionary). 2 Cilt (2 Volumes). Heyamola Publishing. Istanbul.2005 ISBN 975-6121-00-9.
  • Rüdiger Schmitt, "Considerations on the Name of the Black Sea", in: Hellas und der griechische Osten (Saarbrücken 1996), pp. 219–224
  • West, Stephanie. "‘The Most Marvellous of All Seas’: the Greek Encounter with the Euxine", Greece & Rome, Vol. 50, Issue 2 (2003), pp. 151–167.

External links


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Countries bordering the Black Sea
Flag of Bulgaria Bulgaria  ·   Flag of Georgia (country) Georgia  ·   Flag of Romania Romania  ·   Flag of Russia Russia  ·   Flag of Turkey Turkey  ·   Flag of Ukraine Ukraine

Coordinates: 43.5° N 34.5° E

frp:Mar Nêrabe-x-old:Чорнае мораnds-nl:Zwarte Zeenrm:Néthe Mérmy:Kali Deryav


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
Translations: Translations for: Black Sea

Dansk (Danish)
n. - Sortehavet

Français (French)
n. - Mer Noire

Deutsch (German)
n. - Schwarzes Meer

Português (Portuguese)
n. - Mar Negro

Español (Spanish)
n. - Mar Negro

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
黑海

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 黑海

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮הים השחור‬

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Geography. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Black Sea".  Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

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