30 Facts About Black Sea

1.

Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia.

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2.

The Black Sea is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper, and Don.

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3.

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.

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4.

Current names of the sea are usually equivalents of the English name "Black Sea", including these given in the countries bordering the sea:.

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5.

In Greece, the historical name "Euxine Black Sea", which holds a different meaning, is still widely used:.

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6.

Littoral zone of the Black Sea is often referred to as the Pontic littoral or Pontic zone.

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7.

Largest bays of the Black Sea are Karkinit Bay in Ukraine; the Gulf of Burgas in Bulgaria; Dnieprovski Bay and Dniestrovski Bay, both in Ukraine; and Sinop Bay and Samsun Bay, both in Turkey.

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8.

Short-term climatic variation in the Black Sea region is significantly influenced by the operation of the North Atlantic oscillation, the climatic mechanisms resulting from the interaction between the north Atlantic and mid-latitude air masses.

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9.

Black Sea is the world's largest body of water with a meromictic basin.

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10.

Black Sea undersea river is a current of particularly saline water flowing through the Bosporus Strait and along the seabed of the Black Sea.

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11.

In total, the Black Sea's biodiversity contains around one-third of the Mediterranean's and is experiencing natural and artificial invasions or "Mediterranizations".

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12.

Main phytoplankton groups present in the Black Sea are dinoflagellates, diatoms, coccolithophores and cyanobacteria.

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13.

The change in species composition in Black Sea waters has consequences for hydrochemistry, as calcium-producing coccolithophores influence salinity and pH, although these ramifications have yet to be fully quantified.

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14.

Black Sea is connected to the World Ocean by a chain of two shallow straits, the Dardanelles and the Bosporus.

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15.

Some researchers theorize that the Black Sea had been a landlocked freshwater lake during the last glaciation and for some time after.

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16.

One possibility is that the Black Sea filled first, with excess freshwater flowing over the Bosporus sill and eventually into the Mediterranean Sea.

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17.

Black Sea deluge is a hypothesized catastrophic rise in the level of the Black Sea circa 5600 BC due to waters from the Mediterranean Sea breaching a sill in the Bosporus Strait.

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18.

Black Sea was a busy waterway on the crossroads of the ancient world: the Balkans to the west, the Eurasian steppes to the north, the Caucasus and Central Asia to the east, Asia Minor and Mesopotamia to the south, and Greece to the southwest.

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19.

Land at the eastern end of the Black Sea, Colchis, marked for the ancient Greeks the edge of the known world.

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20.

Steppes to the north of the Black Sea have been suggested as the original homeland of the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) by scholars such as Marija Gimbutas; others postulate a homeland further east towards the Caspian Sea, yet others to Anatolia.

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21.

The coastal communities of Black Sea Greeks remained a prominent part of the Greek world for centuries, and the realms of Mithridates of Pontus, Rome and Constantinople spanned the Black Sea to include Crimean territories.

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22.

Black Sea became a virtual Ottoman Navy lake within five years of the Republic of Genoa losing control of the Crimean Peninsula in 1479, after which the only Western merchant vessels to sail its waters were those of Venice's old rival Ragusa.

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23.

Black Sea was a significant naval theatre of World War I and saw both naval and land battles between 1941 and 1945 during World War II.

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24.

Black Sea was sailed by Hittites, Carians, Colchians, Thracians, Greeks, Persians, Cimmerians, Scythians, Romans, Byzantines, Goths, Huns, Avars, Slavs, Varangians, Crusaders, Venetians, Genoese, Georgians, Bulgarians, Tatars and Ottomans.

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25.

Concentration of historical powers, combined with the preservative qualities of the deep anoxic waters of the Black Sea, has attracted increased interest from marine archaeologists who have begun to discover a large number of ancient ships and organic remains in a high state of preservation.

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26.

Black Sea plays an integral part in the connection between Asia and Europe.

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27.

Black Sea contains oil and natural gas resources but exploration in the sea is incomplete.

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28.

Tourism at Black Sea resorts became one of the region's growth industries.

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29.

Russian Black Sea Fleet has its official primary headquarters and facilities in the city of Sevastopol.

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30.

Black Sea's was the largest ship to be lost in naval combat in Europe since World War II.

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