The Black Sea resorts attract Russians like a magnet. They are attracted by the warm sea, clean sea air and hot sun. It seems that the Black Sea is so affectionate and familiar that we know everything about it. But in fact, it hides many secrets.
Why is it Black?
Different peoples living on the Black Sea shores gave the sea different names, sometimes formidable, sometimes affectionate. Now they call him Black.
According to one version, this name came from the ancient world. The ancient Greeks and Romans considered the Black Sea to be the northern one. And then the north was traditionally indicated in black. No wonder in some languages "north" and "midnight" are designated by the same word.
According to another version, it was called that because of the excess of hydrogen sulfide in its depths. It creates such an effect that any metal objects that fall to the bottom turn black.
At the performance of one of the Ukrainian KVN teams, the following version was announced. The Sea of Azov was called the Sea of Azov, since the Azovstal metallurgical plant flows into it. And the Black Sea was so named because the Azov flows into it.
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Sea of Dead Depths
There is practically no life in the Black Sea at a depth of more than 150-200 meters. This feature has become the reason for another, rather ominous name of the Black Sea - the Sea of the Dead Depths. This phenomenon is explained by the high content of hydrogen sulfide in the water.
Scientists have calculated that this gas contains more than three billion tons. According to one version, it was formed due to the mass death of freshwater organisms that lived more than seven thousand years ago in the Black Sea. After the ingress of salt water from the Mediterranean Sea, the former inhabitants died out and decomposed, producing large amounts of hydrogen sulfide.
In addition to it, seawater contains gold and silver. They have already learned how to extract it. Work on the extraction of precious metals from the Black Sea water is underway in Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.
The Flood Happened Here
Some researchers believe that the original Black Sea was freshwater and had no communication with the World Ocean. Later, after a series of earthquakes that happened several thousand years ago, the Mediterranean Sea merged with the Black Sea. Then the salty Mediterranean waters poured into the freshwater Black Sea. Huge areas along the coast were flooded.
There is a version that this was the biblical flood. It all happened too quickly, so there must have been a lot of casualties. The Bosphorus Strait, connecting the Black Sea with the Mediterranean, then looked like a huge waterfall. Its capacity exceeded Niagara by 200 times.
Black ocean
Once upon a time there was a huge lake, which later became the sea. And in the future, it can turn into an ocean. By geological standards, the Black Sea is young, it is still growing. It takes about 20 centimeters of land annually.
So, only a few million years will pass, and the Black Sea will gradually turn into the Black Ocean.
Sergey Kuzmitsky