The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia, and the Caucasus. It connects to the Mediterranean Sea via various straits, draining into the Atlantic Ocean. Historically, it has been known by various names, including "Euxine Pontos" and "Axinos," meaning "inhospitable sea" before Greek colonization. The water level has varied significantly in the past, sometimes connecting or isolating the Black Sea. Important cities along the coast include Istanbul, Odessa, and Sochi. The Black Sea supports a dynamic marine ecosystem adapted to its nutrient-rich but brackish conditions.

1. BLACK SEA
UNIVERSITATEA DE STIINTE AGRONOMICE SI
MEDICINA VETERINARA –BUCURESTI
PROFESOR COORDONATOR:MIHAI FRUMUSELU
ELEV:STOICA IONUT
GRUPA:8102

2. BLACK SEA
The Black Sea is a sea in Southeastern Europe. It is
bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, and
drains through the Mediterranean into the Atlantic
Ocean, via the Aegean Seas and various straits. The
Bosphorus Strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara,
and the Strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to
the Aegean Sea region of the Mediterranean. These
waters separate eastern Europe and western Asia.
The Black Sea is also connected to the Sea of Azov by
the Strait of Kerch.

3. HISTORIC NAME
• Historical names
• Strabo's Geographica (1.2.10) reports that in antiquity, the Black Sea was often just called
"the Sea" (ho pontos). For the most part, Graeco-Roman tradition refers to the Black Sea as
the "Hospitable sea", Euxinos Pontos . This is a euphemism replacing an earlier
"Inhospitable Sea", Pontos Axinos, first attested in Pindar (c. 475 BC).
• Strabo (7.3.6) thinks that the Black Sea was called "inhospitable" before Greek colonization
because it was difficult to navigate, and because its shores were inhabited by savage tribes.
The name was changed to "hospitable" after the Milesians had colonized the southern
shoreline, the Pontus, making it part of Greek civilization.It is also possible that the name
Axinos arose by popular etymology from a Scythian word axšaina- "unlit", "dark"; the
designation "Black Sea" may thus date from Antiquity.A map of Asia dating to 1570,
entitled "Asiae Nova Descriptio", from Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, labels
the sea Mar Maggior ("Great Sea", cf. Latin mare major).
• English-language writers of the 18th century often used the name "Euxine Sea" or to refer
to the Black Sea. Edward Gibbon, for instance, calls the sea by this name throughout The
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

4. HISTORY
• In the past, the water level has varied significantly. Due to
these variations in the water level in the basin, the
surrounding shelf and associated aprons have sometimes
been land. At certain critical water levels it is possible for
connections with surrounding water bodies to become
established. It is through the most active of these
connective routes, the Turkish Straits, that the Black Sea
joins the world ocean. When this hydrological link is not
present, the Black Sea is an endorheic basin, operating
independently of the global ocean system. Currently the
Black Sea water level is relatively high, thus water is being
exchanged with the Mediterranean. The Turkish Straits
connect the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea, and comprise
the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles.

5. CITIES
• Important cities along the coast include
Batumi, Burgas, Constanța, Giresun,
Hopa, Istanbul, Kerch, Mangalia,
Năvodari, Novorossiysk, Odessa, Ordu,
Poti, Rize, Samsun, Sevastopol, Sochi,
Sukhumi, Trabzon, Varna, Yalta and
Zonguldak.

6. ECOLOGY
• The port of Poti, Georgia
• The Black Sea supports an active and dynamic marine ecosystem, dominated by species
suited to the brackish, nutrient-rich, conditions. As with all marine food webs, the Black
Sea features a range of trophic groups, with autotrophic algae, including diatoms and
dinoflagellates, acting as primary producers. The fluvial systems draining Eurasia and
central Europe introduce large volumes of sediment and dissolved nutrients into the Black
Sea, but distribution of these nutrients is controlled by the degree of physiochemical
stratification, which is, in turn, dictated by seasonal physiographic development.[28]
• During winter, strong wind promotes convective overturning and upwelling of nutrients,
while high summer temperatures result in a marked vertical stratification and a warm,
shallow mixed layer.[29] Day length and insolation intensity also controls the extent of the
photic zone. Subsurface productivity is limited by nutrient availability, as the anoxic bottom
waters act as a sink for reduced nitrate, in the form of ammonia. The benthic zone also
plays an important role in Black Sea nutrient cycling, as chemosynthetic organisms and
anoxic geochemical pathways recycle nutrients which can be upwelled to the photic zone,
enhancing productivity.