Black Sea

Why in news?

• Russia is expected to agree to extend a United Nations-brokered deal allowing exports of Ukrainian grain and other farm products from the Black Sea, ensuring a vital flow of foodstuffs to the world market.

About Black Sea:

• Black Sea is a body of water and marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean between the Balkans, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Western Asia.
• It is supplied by a number of major rivers, such as the Danube, Dnieper etc.
• Coastal countries:
  • Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine.
• The Black Sea drains into the Mediterranean Sea, via the Aegean Sea.
• The Bosphorus Strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara which then connects to the Aegean sea through the Dardanelles strait.

???????

• The nature of Black Sea water is anoxic. This means there is a significant deficiency of oxygen in the water
• Anoxic waters are areas of seawater, freshwater, or groundwater that are depleted of dissolved oxygen and are a more severe condition of hypoxia
• It is a saltwater sea but its salinity is not as high as ocean water. It is believed that thousands of years ago the water was freshwater but later due to the Mediterranean Sea and floods, the water turned salty

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Which of the following countries does not have a coast on the Black Sea?

(a) Serbia

(b) Romania

(c) Ukraine

(d) Georgia

Answer