Atmospheric circulation and storm events in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea

Extreme sea storms are dangerous and a potential source of damage. In this study, we examine storm events in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, the atmosphere circulation patterns associated with the sea storm events, and their changes in the present (1961–2000) and future (2046–2065) climates. A calendar of storms for the present climate is derived from results of wave model SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore) experiments. On the basis of this calendar, a catalog of atmospheric sea level pressure (SLP) fields was prepared from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis dataset for 1961–2000. The SLP fields were subjected to a pattern recognition algorithm which employed empirical orthogonal decomposition followed by cluster analysis. The NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data is used to evaluate the occurring circulation types (CTs) within the ECHAM5-MPI/OM Atmosphere and Ocean Global Circulation Model (AOGCM) for the period 1961–2000. Our analysis shows that the ECHAM5-MPI/OM model is capable of reproducing circulation patterns for the storm events. The occurrence of present and future ECHAM5-MPI/OM CTs is investigated. It is shown that storm CTs are expected to occur noticeably less frequently in the middle of the 21^st century.     

Climatic and tectonic events controlling the Quaternary in the Black Sea Region

The Quaternary geology of the Black Sea — Caspi region is reconstructed in a sequential series of maps. Over the past 400 000 years the total subsidence in the former shallow basins can be as high as 3 km, resulting in the Black Sea and Caspian deep basins of today with water depths ofca. 2000 and 1000 m, respectively. In relation to such dimensions, eustatic sea level changes have only a minor impact on bathymetry.

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Zusammenfassung Die tektonische und paläogeographische Entwicklung im Schwarzmeer — Kaspi Gebiet während des Quartärs ist in einer zeitlich gestaffelten Serie von Karten dargestellt und erläutert. Absenkungen bis zu 3 km haben im Verlauf der letzten 400 000 Jahre aus altquartären Flachmeerbecken das heutige Schwarze und Kaspische Meer mit Wassertiefen von ca. 2000 bzw. 1000 m geprägt. Gemessen an dieser Größe sind die durch eustatische Meeresspiegelschwankungen verursachten Veränderungen der Bathymetrie unbedeutend.

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Résumé La géologie quaternaire de la région Mer Noire — Caspienne a été représentée dans une série de cartes successives; depuis 400 000 ans l'affaissement total dans ces bassins, à l'origine peu profonds, est important: jusqu'à 3 km. En conséquence, les bassins des Mers Noire et Caspienne sont profonds, avec des bathymétries d'environ 2000 et 1000 m respectivement. En comparaison, les variations eustatiques d'ordre climatique sont mineures.

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Regional isostatic response to Messinian Salinity Crisis events

The salinity crisis of the Mediterranean during Messinian time was one of the most dramatic episodes of oceanic change of the past 20 or so million years, resulting in the deposition of kilometer thick evaporitic sequences. A large and rapid drawdown of the Mediterranean water level caused erosion and deposition of non-marine sediments in a large ‘Lago Mare’ basin. Both the surface loading by the Lower Messinian evaporites, and the removal of the water load resulted in isostatic/flexural rebound that significantly affected river canyons and topographic slopes. We use flexure models to quantitatively predict possible signatures of these events, and verify these expectations at well-studied margins. The highly irregular shape of the reconstructed basin calls for a three-dimensional model. Near basin margins, plate-bending effects are most pronounced which is why flexure is particularly important for a relatively narrow basin like the Mediterranean. We focus on one specific sea level scenario for the Messinian Salinity Crisis, where most of the evaporite load was deposited during a sea level highstand, followed by a rapid desiccation. Evaporite loading at current sea level is expected to cause subsidence of the deep basins by hundreds of meters and simultaneous uplift of continental parts of the margins. Differential uplift may lead to significant slope angle changes and thus gravity flows. The relative scarcity of Lower Evaporite sequences along the margins may be a result of these phenomena. Normal faulting of Lower Evaporite and older sediments and rocks is expected on the margins. Desiccation enhances erosion of the freshly exposed continental shelf and slope. Subsidence and riverbed sedimentation occurs on the continental margins, and significant uplift towards the basin center. Reverse faulting is predicted at the margins. Finally, regional isostatic uplift following Zanclean flooding is predicted to destabilize margin slope deposits, and to cause marginal uplift, river down-cutting, and normal faulting.     

Variscan orogeny in the Black Sea region

International Journal of Earth Sciences - Two Gondwana-derived Paleozoic belts rim the Archean/Paleoproterozoic nucleus of the East European Platform in the Black Sea region. In the north is a belt...     

Messinian events in the Sorbas Basin in southeastern Spain and their implications in the recent history of the Mediterranean

The Messinian (Late Miocene) marine stratigraphic record of the Sorbas Basin (S.E. Spain) is well preserved and can be considered as being representative of the entire western Mediterranean. It exhibits a series of features relating to: (1) the composition, characteristics and evolution of coral reefs; (2) changes between temperate and subtropical climates; and (3) the extensive development of microbial carbonates (stromatolites and thrombolites) at the end of the Messinian. Each of these features has global significance.

Porites, which is the major and almost only coral component in reefs, is heavily encrusted with stromatolites. These reefs grew at the edge of the subtropical belt and were totally eliminated at the end of the Messinian because of global cooling.

Lowermost-Messinian carbonate sediments in the Sorbas Basin reflect a temperate climate, whereas those immediately above, which contain bioherms and coastal reefs, are subtropical. The shift from temperate to subtropical conditions during the early Messinian was accompanied by an important change in water circulation within the western Mediterranean. Temperate times were marked by cold surface Atlantic waters entering the Mediterranean, whereas subtropical times coincided with warm surface waters entering the western Mediterranean from the east. The subtropical waters were thermally stratified, which favoured the deposition of euxinic marls and diatomites at the centre of the basin. The upwelling of nutrient-rich water promoted stromatolite development within reefs and Halimeda growth on adjacent slopes.

Lastly, microbial carbonates (stromatolites and thrombolites) attained giant dimensions during the late Messinian, which can be regarded as a measure of their success in occupying a variety of ecological niches. This abundance of available habitats is believed to have resulted from the Messinian “salinity crisis”, which was followed by a re-colonization of the western Mediterranean. In this context stromatolite proliferation was due to opportunism of microbial communities in colonizing the new environments, rather than to a complete absence of other competitive biota. We do not believe that hypersaline conditions were a causal factor in stromatolite development because of the normal-marine biota associated with them.     

Sulfur speciation in the upper Black Sea sediments

We report solid phase sulfur speciation of six cores from sediments underlying oxic, suboxic and anoxic-sulfidic waters of the Black Sea. Our dataset includes the five sulfur species [pyrite-sulfur, acid volatile sulfides (AVS), zerovalent sulfur (S(0)), organic polysulfides (RS_x), humic sulfur] together with reactive iron and manganese, as quantified by dithionite extraction, and total organic carbon. Pyrite – sulfur was the major phase in all cores [200-400 µmol (g dry wt)^- 1] except for the suboxic core. However, zerovalent sulfur and humic sulfur also reached very significant levels: up to about 109 and 80 µmol (g dry wt)^- 1, respectively. Humic sulfur enrichment was observed in the surface fluff layers of the eastern central basin sediments where Unit-1 type depositional conditions prevail. Elemental sulfur accumulated as a result of porewater sulfide oxidation by reactive iron oxides in turbidities from the anoxic basin margin and western central basin sediments. The accumulation of elemental sulfur to a level close to that of pyrite-S in any part of central Black Sea sediments has never been reported before and our finding indicates deep basin turbidites prevent the build-up of dissolved sulfide in the sediment. This process also contributes to diagenetic pyrite formation whereas in the non-turbiditic parts of the deep basin water column formed (syngenetic) pyrite dominates the sulfur inventory. In slope sediments under suboxic waters, organic sulfur (humic sulfur + organic polysulfides) account for 33-42% of total solid phase S, indicating that the suboxic conditions favor organosulfur formation. Our study shows that the interactions between depositional patterns (Unit 1 vs. turbidite), redox state of overlying waters (oxic-suboxic-sulfidic) and organic matter content determine sulfur speciation and enable the accumulation of elemental sulfur and organic sulfur species close to a level of pyrite-S.     

Internal Waves of Mode 2 in the Black Sea

Doklady Earth Sciences - The results of the first observations of mode 2 internal waves in the Black Sea are presented. The measurements were carried out on the Crimean shelf from the MGI platform...     

Subboreal aridity and scytonemin in the Holocene Black Sea

Many species of cyanobacteria tolerate exposure to harmful levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation by producing photoprotective pigments. Scytonemin, found in extracellular polysaccharide sheaths, is produced in abundance when terrestrial or benthic cyanobacteria are exposed to direct sunlight, such as in desert soil crusts and intertidal mats. It is exclusive to cyanobacteria and therefore can serve as a diagnostic biomarker, particularly for UV-exposure growth conditions. Here we report that it is preserved in abundance in mid-Holocene sedimentary intervals in the Black Sea, a novel deep sea occurrence that demonstrates that scytonemin is resistant to degradation during erosion and transport. C and N isotopic compositions support the interpretation that scytonemin was derived from cyanobacteria in cryptobiotic desert soil, suggestive of expanding aridity during the Subboreal Phase in the Black Sea region. Scytonemin has potential for preservation in black shales, where it may serve as an important biomarker for tracing the evolution and expansion of cyanobacterial populations, especially in association with elevated UV stress.     

Vertical Mixing in the Active Layer of the Black Sea

The averaged parameters of vertical turbulent mixing in the active layer of the Black Sea are discussed according to small-scale synchronous measurements of the profiles of current velocity and conditional density.     

The Messinian Sicilian stratigraphy revisited: new insights for the Messinian salinity crisis

Controversies around the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) are because of the difficulties in establishing genetic and stratigraphic relationships between its deep and shallow‐water record. Actually, the Sicilian foreland basin shows both shallow and deep‐water Messinian records, thus offering the chance to reconstruct comprehensive MSC scenarios. The Lower Gypsum of Sicily comprises primary and resedimented evaporites separated in space and time by the intra‐Messinian unconformity. A composite unit including halite, resedimented gypsum and Calcare di Base accumulated between 5.6 and 5.55 Ma in the main depocentres; it records the acme of the Messinian Salinity Crisis during a tectonic phase coupled with sea‐level falls at glacials TG14‐TG12. These deposits fully post‐date primary gypsum, which precipitated in shallow‐water wedge‐top and foreland ramp basins between 5.96 and 5.6 Ma. This new stratigraphic framework results in a three‐stage MSC scenario characterized by different primary evaporite associations: selenite in the first and third stages, carbonate, halite and potash salt in the second one associated with hybrid resedimented evaporites.     

Regional and local geothermal conditions in the northern Black Sea

More than 100 new heat flow measurements have been collected in recent years (2002–2004) in different tectonic environments of the northern Black Sea. The northern periphery of the Black Sea is characterized by strong geodynamic and seismic activity, high sedimentation rates, diapiric structures, mud volcanism, and fluid and gas escape at the sea floor. We present new thermal data from the shelf, continental slope and deep-water basin, measured off-shore using a marine thermo-probe and on-shore in drill holes. Heat flow density ranges from 20 to more than 2,000 mW/m². For two local areas (the Dnieper gas seeps and the Dvurechenski mud volcano area), we discuss the relation between heat flow variability and the geological and physical processes in the near-bottom sediment layer. The Dnieper gas seeps area is characterized by strong small-scale heat flow variability and is controlled by fluid and gas migration. In the Dvurechenski active mud volcano, the near-bottom temperature in sediments is anomalously elevated because additional heat is carried out by mass flows of fluids and clay minerals. Away from the mud volcano heat flow quickly decreases to background values.     

Was the Black Sea catastrophically flooded in the early Holocene?

A catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea basin was proposed to have occurred during its reconnection to the ocean in the early Holocene. Possible cultural consequences of the flood include the migration of Neolithic farmers from around the Black Sea towards central Europe as well as the creation of flood myths. Stratigraphic and paleo-geomorphologic information from Danube delta aided by radiocarbon ages on articulated mollusks constrain the level in the Black Sea before the marine reconnection to ca 30 m below the present sea level rather than 80 m or lower. If the flood occurred at all, the sea level increase and the flooded area during the reconnection were significantly smaller than previously proposed.     

Organic Geochemistry of Black Sea cores

Six Black Sea bottom sediments samples were analyzed for their organic content (chloroform extract and humic compounds) by elemental analysis, liquid and gas chromatography, various chemical methods and especially infra-red spectroscopy. Four of these samples came from an euxinic facies (“unit 2”) and two from a normally oxygenated facies below (“unit 3”).Even though important differences exist between the two sets of samples, the origin of the organic matter was found to be the same for both facies; this origin is mixed, with the marine contribution slightly predominant over the terrestrial one.Consequently, the compositional differences originate in the different environmental conditions in the sedimentary basin. More precisely, the euxinic facies appears to “preserve” the organic matter, on both quantitative and qualitative grounds. This effect is due more to the anoxic and toxic nature of the environment than to the reducing conditions.The sulfur incorporation in relatively small molecules does not proceed by a rapid biochemical pathway, but by slow and abiotic reactions.     

Messinian deposits and erosion in northern Tunisia: inferences on Strait of Sicily during the Messinian Salinity Crisis

Outcrops, offshore wells, electric logs and seismic profiles from northern Tunisia provide an opportunity to decipher the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the Strait of Sicily. Messinian deposits (including gypsum beds) near the Tellian Range reveal two successive subaerial erosional surfaces overlain by breccias and marine Zanclean clays, respectively. In the Gulf of Tunis, Messinian thick evaporites (mostly halite) are strongly eroded by a fluvial canyon infilled with Zanclean clays. The first erosional phase is referred to the intra-Messinian tectonic phase and is analogous to that found in Sicily. The second phase corresponds to the Messinian Erosional Surface that postdates the marginal evaporites, to which the entire Sicilian evaporitic series must refer. The Western and Eastern Mediterranean basins were separated during deposition of the central evaporites.     

Sedimentary processes on the Crimean continental margin in the Black Sea

Structural specific features of the sedimentary succession on the continental margin of the South Crimea in the Black Sea have been examined in the Yalta Area using geomorphologic, acoustic, and lithologic methods. Alternation of regressive and transgressive sequences has been ascertained in sediment sections formed on the shelf and in the Yalta deep-sea fan due to Quaternary oscillations of the basin level. The analysis of sediment sections resulted in revealing a leading role of sedimentary material transference from upper hypsometric levels to lower ones in the sediment accumulation.     

Uronic and other organic acids in Baltic Sea and Black Sea sediments

Organic acids were released from marine sediments by acid hydrolysis. Ion-exchange chromatography and GC-MS were used to separate and identify the acids. The major compounds detected were galacturonic, glucuronic, mannuronic, 4-O-methylglucuronic, cellobiouronic, guluronic, glyceric, glycolic, lactic and erythronic acids. Numerous biouronic (sugar-uronic acid compounds) and aldonic acids were also found. The low abundance of uronic acids characteristic of terrigenous plants and the similarity of the biouronic composition to that of marine algae indicate a marine algal source for the acids in the sediment. Results from the Black Sea are compared with those from the Baltic Sea and several diagenetic transformations are discussed.