Black Sea – UPSC Prelims

Black Sea:
  • Black Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean.
  • It is located between Eastern Europe and Western Asia
  • Border countries: Black Sea is bordered by six countries- Romania and Bulgaria to the west; Ukraine, Russia and Georgia to the north and east and Turkey to the south.

Connecting water bodies:
  • The Black Sea ultimately drains into the Mediterranean Sea via the Turkish Straits and the Aegean Sea.  
  • 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. 
Meromictic Basin: 
  • The Black Sea is the world’s largest body of water with a meromictic basin. 
  • A meromictic lake has layers of water that do not intermix. The deep waters do not mix with the upper layers of water that receive oxygen from the atmosphere.
  • As a result, over 90% of the deeper Black Sea volume is anoxic water. Anoxic waters are areas of sea water, fresh water or groundwater that are depleted of dissolved oxygen.
  • Hence, anoxic layer is responsible for the preservation of ancient shipwrecks which have been found in the Black Sea.
Scroll to Top