The Black Sea & It's Islands

Situated in Eurasia, between the northern coast of Turkey and the southern coast of The Ukraine, the Black Sea is connected to the oceanic system by way of the sixty one kilometer long, Dardanelles Strait and the Bosphoros Sea. These two waterways are fed by way of the Aegean Sea, which is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Black Sea has a surface area of 436,400 square kilometres, a coastline of about 8,000 kilometers and a depth of 2,206 metres.

The Black Sea is fed by a fluvial system made up of several rivers, the largest of which are The River Don, The River Dnieper and The River Danube.

The Kerch Straits, on it's northern shore with The Ukraine, also connects The Black Sea with the Sea of Azov to it's north.

The Black Sea's sea bed was formed by way of the uplift of the Caucasus, Pontides and Balkan mountain ranges, after the collision of the Eurasian and African tectonic plates, between five and twelve million years ago. This uplift caused a vast, low lying valley.

Eight thousand, five hundred years ago, global warming caused ice caps in Northern Canada to melt, which in turn caused the sea level of the Atlantic Ocean to rise dramatically. The billions of gallons of water which flowed into the Atlantic Ocean during this period went on to further swell the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, which in turn went on to flood this low lying valley into the area of water we know today as the Black Sea. The formation of the Black Sea was caused by the same phenomena which also formed the Bosphorous Sea, further south, and caused what is now known as the Island of Great Britain, to became separated from the rest of Europe.

The Black Sea is the world's largest meromictic basin, which means that it's layers of water do not mix. This leads to the sea having anoxic water, which means that it's water is depleted of dissolved oxygen.

Oxygen is prevented from reaching it's deeper water levels by a pronounced density stratification, a condition which occurs when the rate of oxidation of organic matter is greater than the supply of dissolved oxygen.

The Black Sea's deeper water levels are fed by the warm, salty waters of the Mediterranean Sea and have a salinity level of around twenty two parts per thousand, whereas it's upper levels are cooler and less saline with a salinity level of around eighteen parts per thousand.

This occurs by way of a cyclonic gyre, a rotating ocean current, along it's outer shelf, or perimeter. This phenomena helps support an active marine eco - system dominated by brackish water lovers such as Sea Horses, Stingrays and Spiny Dogfish as well as a large colonies of phytoplankton.

Phytoplankton is a component of plankton that lives on the well lit surface layer of the Black Sea. It is an organism that produces complex organic compounds and when it finds it's self in favourable conditions, can lead to vast colonies of it. The phytoplankton is a problem as it's growth and decay consumes all the available oxygen in the water, leading to large dead areas where fish and plants can not survive.

Phytoplankton accounts for half of the photosynthetic activity on earth.

The above NASA image shows a large blue ring of phytoplankton circling the outer, shallow perimeter of the Black Sea. Growth of this phytoplankton is aided by way of sediment flowing into the Black Sea from it's vast network of rivers, which contain silt and more importantly, fertiliser from agricultural run off, which feeds the phytoplankton. This can be seen as the large green area to the top left of the above picture, as sediment runs from the mouth of the River Danube.

The area is also of great interest to marine archaeologists, as shipwrecks have been found in it's waters in an excellent state of preservation.

The Black Sea is surrounded by built up industrial areas and large sea ports. It also has a thriving tourist industry along it's Bulgarian, Turkish and Ukrainian coasts.

Major port cities located on the Black Sea are Odessa, the capital of The Ukraine, Novorossiyek in Russia, Sevastopol in Crimea, Burgas in Bulgaria and Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul.

Major holiday resorts along the Black Sea coast are Varna in Bulgaria, the country's largest seaside resort, Samsun in Turkey, Sochi, picyutred above, Russia's premier holiday resort - and host city of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games - Batumi in Georgia and Constanta in Romania, an historic port city built by the ancient Greeks in 600 BC.

The whole area experiences warm, dry Summers, with cold, dry Winters on it's northern coast and cold, wet Winters on it's southern coast. Localised industrial pollution and heavy precipitation also leads to dense cloud cover over much of it's southern coast during the Winter months.

The Black Sea coast is the site of the River Danube Delta, pictured below, Europe's largest wetland and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Romania and four National Parks located in Turkey, the Altindere National Park, the Kure Mountain National Park, the Kachkar Mountain National Park and the Yedi Goller National Park.

THE DANUBE DELTA, ROMANIA

Image courtesy of Acaro, wikimedia commons

COUNTRIES WHICH BORDER THE BLACK SEA:

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

Bulgaria.

Georgia.

Rumania.

Russia.

Turkey.

Ukraine.

ISLANDS OF THE BLACK SEA:

St Anastasia - Bulgaria.

Berezan - Turkey.

St Cyricus - Bulgaria.

Dzharylgach - Ukraine.

Giresun - Turkey.

St Ivan - Bulgaria.

St Peter - Bulgaria.

Sacalin - Rumania.

Snake - Rumania.

St Thomas - Bulgaria.

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