Black Sea
Marginal sea between Europe and Asia with anoxic deep waters.
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via Wikipedia: Black Sea · see source
The Black Sea receives water from major rivers like the Danube, Dnieper, and Dniester, and its drainage basin encompasses portions of 24 countries.[1]
Geography and history
The surface outflow from the Black Sea to the Aegean amounts to about 610 cubic km annually.[2] The principal Greek name Póntos Áxeinos is generally accepted to be a rendering of the Iranian word *axšaina- ('dark-colored').[3] The name 'Black Sea' may derive from a system of Turkic color symbolism representing the cardinal directions, with black for north.[4] The Black Sea's sole connection to the Mediterranean is via the Bosphorus Straits, a 35-km channel that in some sections is only 40 m deep and 700 m wide.[2]
Each year, a net outflow of 300 km³ of water leaves the Black Sea through the Bosporus and Dardanelles, heading into the Aegean Sea, which results from a positive water balance.[5] Both the Hattians and the Hittites referred to the Black Sea by its earliest recorded name, the 'Sea of Zalpa'.[6] The Black Sea holds the title of the world's largest meromictic basin, meaning its deep and surface waters do not intermix.[7] Anoxic conditions prevail in more than 90% of the Black Sea's deeper water volume.[8]
What the cited sources add
The surface layer salinity is 17‰, two times less than that of the ocean, which is the most important environmental factor influencing marine biodiversity.[9] Two to five times fewer species of benthic animals live in the Black Sea compared to the neighboring Mediterranean.[9] The Black Sea is virtually dead below a depth of about 180 metres, and hydrogen sulphide is present in the entire lower layer.[2] The Black Sea shelf and river deltas are important spawning grounds for sturgeon and other fish species.[2]
The Black Sea's drainage basin extends across a third part of Europe, and rivers discharge an average of 350 km³ of freshwater into it annually.[9] Dinoflagellates, diatoms, coccolithophores, and cyanobacteria constitute the principal phytoplankton groups found in the Black Sea.[10]
References
- Wikipedia, "Black Sea" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ""Black Sea Geography, Oceanography, Ecology, History"" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Our Black Sea", www.bsnn.org. facts only, no text reused. bsnn.org
- Wikipedia, "Black Sea" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Schmitt 1989; Schmitt 1989 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Black Sea" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Schmitt 1989 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Black Sea" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Miladinova, "Black Sea thermohaline properties: Long-term trends and variations", Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, July 2017, p. 5624–5644 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Black Sea" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Journal of Indo-European Studies", Journal of Indo-European Studies, 1985 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Black Sea" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Meromictic" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Black Sea" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Exploring Ancient Mysteries: A Black Sea Journey", University of Delaware (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- ""Black Sea Geography, Oceanography, Ecology, History"". facts only, no text reused. web.archive.org
- Wikipedia, "Black Sea" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Factors controlling the summer Emiliania huxleyi bloom in the Black Sea: A modeling study", Journal of Marine Systems, 2006, p. 173–188; Eker, E., "Phytoplankton distribution in the western and eastern Black Sea in spring and autumn 1995", ICES Journal of Marine Science, 1999, p. 15–22 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Black Sea (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Black Sea (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the , each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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