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The Black Sea is a marginal sea located between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bordered…
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Investigate this subjectThe Black Sea is a marginal sea located between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bordered by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
The Black Sea is a marginal sea located between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bordered by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The Black Sea is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper and Dniester. Consequently, while six countries have a coastline on the sea, its drainage basin includes parts of 24 countries in Europe.
The Black Sea, not including the Sea of Azov, covers 436,400 km2 (168,500 sq mi), has a maximum depth of 2,212 m (7,257 ft), and a volume of 547,000 km3 (131,000 cu mi).
Most of its coasts ascend rapidly.
These rises are the Pontic Mountains to the south, the southwest-facing peninsulas, the Caucasus Mountains to the east, and the Crimean Mountains to the mid-north.
In the west, the coast is generally small floodplains below foothills such as the Strandzha; Cape Emine, a dwindling of the east end of the Balkan Mountains; and the Dobruja Plateau considerably farther north. The longest east–west extent is about 1,175 km (730 mi). Important cities along the coast include (clockwise from the Bosporus) the northern suburbs of Istanbul, Burgas, Varna, Constanța, Odesa, Yevpatoria, Sevastopol, Yalta, Kerch, Novorossiysk, Sochi, Poti, Batumi, Rize, Trabzon, Ordu, Samsun and Zonguldak.
The Black Sea has a positive water balance, with an annual net outflow of 300 km3 (72 cu mi) per year through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles into the Aegean Sea. While the net flow of water through the Bosporus and Dardanelles (known collectively as the Turkish Straits) is out of the Black Sea, water generally flows in both directions simultaneously: Denser, more saline water from the Aegean flows into the Black Sea underneath the less dense, fresher water that flows out of the Black Sea. This creates a significant and permanent layer of deep water that does not drain or mix and is therefore anoxic. This anoxic layer is responsible for the preservation of ancient shipwrecks which have been found in the Black Sea, which ultimately drains into the Atlantic Ocean, via the Turkish Straits and the Aegean Sea into the Mediterranean Sea, and from it to the Atlantic proper through the Strait of Gibraltar. The Bosporus strait connects it to the small Sea of Marmara which in turn is connected to the Aegean Sea via the strait of the Dardanelles. To the north, the Black Sea is connected to the Sea of Azov by the Kerch Strait.
The water level has varied significantly over geological time. Due to these variations in the water level in the basin, the surrounding shelf and associated aprons have sometimes been dry land. At certain critical water levels, connections with surrounding water bodies can become established. It is through the most active of these connective routes, the Turkish Straits, that the Black Sea joins the World Ocean. During geological periods when this hydrological link was not present, the Black Sea was an endorheic basin, operating independently of the global ocean system (similar to the Caspian Sea today). Currently, the Black Sea water level is relatively high; thus, water is being exchanged with the Mediterranean. The Black Sea undersea river is a current of particularly saline water flowing through the Bosporus Strait and along the seabed of the Black Sea, the first of its kind discovered.
Current names of the sea are usually equivalents of the English name 'Black Sea', including these given in the countries bordering the sea:
Abkhaz: Амшын Еиқәа, romanized: Amŝən Ejkʷa, IPA: [ɑmʂɨn ɛjkʷʰɑ]
Adyghe: Хы Шӏуцӏэ, romanized: Xə Šʷʼucʼɛ, IPA: [xɘ ʃʷʼtsʼɜ]
Armenian: Սեւ ծով, romanized: Sev cov, IPA: [sɛv t͡sɔv]
Azerbaijani: Qara dəniz, IPA: [ɡɑˈɾɑ dæˈniz]
Bulgarian: Чeрно морe, romanized: Čérno moré, IPA: [ˈt͡ʃɛrno moˈrɛ]
Crimean Tatar: Qara deñiz, Къара денъиз, IPA: [qɑrɑ deŋiz]
Gagauz: Kara deniz
Georgian: შავი ზღვა, romanized: Shavi Zghva, IPA: [ʃavi zʁʷa]
Laz and Mingrelian: უჩა ზუღა, romanized: Ucha Zugha, IPA: [ˈutʃä ˈzuɣä], or simply ზუღა, Zugha, IPA: [ˈzuɣä], "Sea"
Persian: دریای سیاه, romanized: daryā-ye siyāh
Romanian: Marea Neagră, pronounced [ˈmare̯a ˈne̯aɡrə]
Russian: Чёрное мо́ре, romanized: Chornoye more, IPA: [ˈtɕɵrnəjɪ ˈmorʲɪ]
Turkish: Karadeniz, IPA: [kaˈɾadeniz]
Ukrainian: Чо́рне мо́ре, romanized: Chorne more, IPA: [ˈtʃɔrne ˈmɔre]
Such names have not yet been shown conclusively to predate the 13th century.
In Greece, the historical name 'Euxine Sea', which holds a different literal meaning (see below), is still widely used:
Greek: Εύξεινος Πόντος, romanized: Éfxinos Póndos, lit. 'Hospitable Sea', [ˈefksinos ˈpondos]; the name Μαύρη Θάλασσα, Mávri Thálassa, 'Black Sea', [ˈmavɾi ˈθalasa], is also used. It is also known among Pontic Greeks as Πόντος Εὔξεινος Póntos Éfxeinos.
The Black Sea is one of four seas named in English after common color terms – the others being the Red Sea, the White Sea and the Yellow Sea.
The earliest known name of the Black Sea is the 'Sea of Zalpa', so-called by both the Hattians and their conquerors, the Hittites. The Hattic city of Zalpa was "situated probably at or near the estuary of the Marrassantiya River, the modern Kızıl Irmak, on the Black Sea coast."
The principal Greek name Póntos Áxeinos is generally accepted to be a rendering of the Iranian word *axšaina- ('dark-colored'). Ancient Greek voyagers adopted the name as Á-xe(i)nos, identified with the Greek word áxeinos ('inhospitable'). The name Πόντος Ἄξεινος Póntos Áxeinos ('Inhospitable Sea'), first attested in Pindar (c. 475 BC), was considered an ill omen and was euphemized to its opposite, Εὔξεινος Πόντος Eúxeinos Póntos ('Hospitable Sea'), also first attested in Pindar. This became the commonly used designation in Greek, although in mythological contexts the 'true' name Póntos Áxeinos remained favored.
Strabo's Geographica (1.2.10) reports that in antiquity, the Black Sea was often simply called 'the Sea' (ὁ πόντος ho Pontos). He thought that the sea was c
Source: Black Sea (CC BY-SA)
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