The Black Sea is a body of water that belongs to the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. According to one theory, the sea emerged in the place of a huge freshwater lake about 7,000 years ago as a result of the “Black Sea Flood. This hypothesis states that after the end of the glacial period, the water level in the ocean rose sharply and the natural dam, located on the site of the present-day Bosporus Strait, was breached. More than 100,000 square kilometers of land on which there were cities and human settlements were flooded in a short period of time. After that, the Black Sea took its modern shape.
Compared with other seas, the area of the Black Sea is small, and according to various data, from 422,000 to 436,000 square kilometers. The water level in the Black Sea is constantly rising. Not so long ago, scientists came to the conclusion that the area of the reservoir increases every century by about 25-30 square centimeters. It doesn’t seem like much, but it has managed to flood several cities during its existence.
There are few islands in the Black Sea. They are mostly small, uninhabited formations, whose area does not exceed 1 square kilometer. But there are exceptions. For example, the area of the island Dzharylgach, which is located between the Crimean isthmus and the Kherson region (Ukraine), as much as 62 square kilometers. And on Snake Island (Odessa region, Ukraine) there is a settlement where scientists of the Research Institute and employees of the Ukrainian border service live.
Characteristics of the total volume of water in the Black Sea
Despite its small size, the Black Sea contains a lot of water reserves. The total volume of water of the Black Sea is 555 thousand cubic kilometers. This was made possible by the fact that the reservoir is located in a fairly deep depression.
The water balance of the sea is, on average, within normal limits. Water loss (evaporation and export to the Mediterranean Sea through the Bosphorus Strait) is about 570 cubic kilometers per year. They are compensated by atmospheric precipitation (230 cubic kilometers), continental runoff (310 cubic kilometers) and the influx of water from the Azov Sea (30 cubic kilometers).
Physical and geographical characteristics of the Black Sea
As mentioned above, the Black Sea is an inland body of water and washes a large number of independent states. Among them are: Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, the partially recognized Republic of Abkhazia, and Georgia.
In addition, several large rivers flow into the Black Sea: the Dnieper, Danube, Dniester, Southern Bug, etc.
Cities on the Black Sea
Because of its favorable location and weather conditions along the coast of the Black Sea is a large number of resort towns and villages. The most famous and popular are Yalta and Sochi. These two cities since tsarist times have been popular among people of great wealth. And the salubrious sea air served as the reason for the opening of various resorts and other therapeutic and prophylactic facilities. Also among vacationers are very popular and other resorts of the Crimea and Krasnodar Krai: Sudak, Alushta, Evpatoria, Feodosia, Gelendzhik, Anapa, Novorossiysk.
Also, the Black Sea is an important navigable artery of the world ocean. It is because of this a large number of ports can be found on its shores: Odessa (Ukraine), Sevastopol, Novorossiysk (Russia), Constanta (Romania), Varna (Bulgaria), Poti (Georgia), Samsun (Turkey). In addition, a number of the above cities have another important function – naval bases.
The Black Sea with different peoples
The name “Black Sea” is first found in the period when its coast was occupied by Turkic-speaking nomadic tribes who came to this territory from Central Asia.
There are two main versions of the origin of the name:
- “The Black Sea” was the color the peoples of Central Asia used to refer to the north. So, literally, “Black Sea” translates as the North Sea.
- When the metal is immersed to a depth of 100 meters or more, it begins to turn black. This phenomenon occurs due to an overabundance of hydrogen sulfide in the water.
The size of the Black Sea: depth, width and length
The Black Sea is an inland body of water that connects to the World Ocean through a long chain of straits and other seas. Therefore, its size is relatively small (the length of the coastline of the Black Sea is only 3400 kilometers).
In its appearance, the sea looks like an oblong oval. The Black Sea is 1,150 kilometers long and 580 kilometers wide. These are the maximum dimensions from the most distant points. But there are exceptions. For example, the smallest width of the Black Sea is only 265 kilometers, from the coast of the Crimean peninsula to Turkey. The natives of Crimea say that if you climb one of the highest mountains of the peninsula Ai-Petri (height 1234 meters) – in good weather you can see the naked eye of the Turkish coast.
Despite its location inland, the Black Sea is quite deep. The maximum depth is 2210 meters. At the same time the sea has one peculiarity: at a depth of more than 150 meters almost completely absent any form of life. This phenomenon is caused by the high content of hydrogen sulfide in the water.
