Black Sea. Oceanographic research of the Black Sea Marine Atlas of the Black and Mediterranean Seas
The study of the Black Sea began in ancient times. Already in the 4th century BC, peripluses were compiled - ancient sailing directions of the sea. Another milestone in the study of the Black Sea was 1696, when the ship "Fortress" sailed from Azov to Constantinople. Peter I ordered to carry out cartographic work during the voyage, a drawing of the Black Sea from Kerch to Constantinople was drawn up, depth measurements were made. A more serious study was carried out in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1816, F. F. Bellingshausen compiled a complete description of the Black Sea coast, in 1817 the first map of the Black Sea was issued, in 1842 - the first atlas, in 1851 - the Black Sea sail.
The shores of the Black Sea are scarcely indented and mainly in its northern part. The only large peninsula is the Crimean. The largest bays are: Yagorlytsky, Tendrovsky, Dzharylgachsky, Karkinitsky, Kalamitsky and Feodosia in Ukraine, Varna and Burgassky in Bulgaria, Sinopsky and Samsunsky - off the southern coast of the sea, in Turkey. The Black Sea is unique nature, the northernmost subtropics. The flora and fauna of the sea is diverse. Most modern inhabitants are brought from the Mediterranean Sea. The fauna is represented by 2.5 thousand animal species. Among the small marine life mussels, oysters, mollusk-predator rapana are presented. Among the fish there are sturgeons (beluga, sturgeon), various types of gobies, anchovy, red mullet, sea urchin, mackerel, haddock, horse mackerel, herring. Among mammals, the Black Sea is represented by two species of dolphins - the common dolphin and the bottlenose dolphin, as well as the white-bellied seal.
Since 1774, the Crimea, separated from the Turkish Empire, became available for research. In 1782 V. Zuev crossed Steppe Crimea from Perekop to the city of Karasubazar (now Belogorsk) at the northern foot of the Crimean mountains. Zuev got acquainted with the Crimean Mountains briefly, visiting only some areas; he summarized the basic information from the words of people "experienced there." But he was the first to draw attention to the asymmetry of the front part of the Crimean mountains (the so-called cuesta): “The layers of the main mountains correspond ... to the front ones and rise from the north by noon, rising at an angle of 17 degrees from the horizon.” And he noted that most of the Crimean rivers originate on the northern slopes of the mountains, and the Chatyrdag massif is a watershed: to the east of it, the rivers flow into the Sivash, to the west - into the Black Sea.
In 1783, the Crimea was included in Russia and Karl Ivanovich Gablitz was appointed vice-governor of the new Taurida province. For two years he explored the peninsula in detail and compiled its first scientific description. Gablitz correctly distinguished three orographic regions there: the "flat", mountainous and plain-hilly Kerch Peninsula with steep and high banks. He was the first to propose a three-term division of the Crimean Mountains, now generally accepted: the ridges are Northern, or External (according to the Table, “advanced”), Middle, or Internal, and Southern, or Main. The southern slopes are steeper than the northern ones, and there are open valleys between the mountains. The southern ridge in the Chatyrdag region is divided into two parts by a transverse valley; in the ridge he found traces of volcanic activity. K. Gablits explored the Crimean rivers, noting their large slopes and the presence of waterfalls. He also described minerals, including Kerch iron ores.
Immediately after the annexation of Crimea, by order of Catherine II, a frigate headed for the peninsula under the command of a naval sailor Ivan Mikhailovich Bersenev to select a harbor at southwestern coast. Having inspected in April 1783 the bay near the settlement of Akhtiar (in ancient times the city of Chersonese-Taurian was located here, see Vol. 1, Ch. 5), I. Bersenev recommended it as a base for the ships of the future Black Sea Fleet. Soon a fortress and a port were founded on its shore, in 1784 Catherine II named it the “Majestic City” (Sevastopol). In the same year, I. Bersenev, commanding four ships, described the western and southern coasts of Crimea from Cape Tarkhankut to the Kerch Strait (500 km). In 1786 and 1787 K. Gablits published two works about the Crimea, adding to the second four maps of the south of European Russia. On them, the outlines of the peninsula are close to modern ones: probably, K. Tables used the materials of I. Bersenev.
In 1793-1795. Crimea was visited by P. S. Pallas. He described the Southern Ridge in much more detail than K. Tables and singled out the highest part in it - from Balaklava to Alushta. highest point he considered the ridge Chatyrdag (1527 m; now - Roman-Kosh, 1545 m). Then P. S. Pallas crossed to the Taman Peninsula and gave his first detailed description: “Taman represents a torn terrain covered with hills and planes ... Various branches of the Kuban and many bays and lowlands covered with water are made from Taman real island. The central [its] part ... between the Kuban and Temryuk estuaries, is more elevated ... ”P.S. Pallas described the mud hills of Taman and noted the presence of oil in some.
The work of I. Bersenev was continued by the English sailor in the British and then Russian service, Joseph (Iosif Iosifovich) Billings, a member of the third circumnavigation D. Cook. After completing the North-Eastern Expedition (see Ch. 17), in the summer of 1797, I. Billings carried out hydrographic work off the Taman Peninsula, off the southern and western coasts of the Crimea. And in the summer of next year, he described the northwestern coast of Crimea and Black Sea coast European Russia from Tarkhankut to the Dniester estuary and back - a section about 1 thousand km long, which at that time was of paramount importance for the Russian state. In 1799, I. Billings published the "Atlas of the Black Sea"; the maps he compiled were far superior to their predecessors in accuracy, as they relied on numerous astronomical points he had identified.
Pont Aksinsky, Scythian, Russian, Black Sea ... As soon as they did not call this dark water! From time immemorial, a man settled on its shores, scooping the gifts of Poseidon from the meager bowels. The Black Sea washes the shores of Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Abkhazia and Georgia. Its transport and strategic importance for these countries is great, and their history is inextricably linked with the eternal struggle for possession of the Black Sea region. The only large peninsula - Crimean, like a prisoner, is surrounded by salty embraces. Every year, thousands of tourists come to the shores of the ancient sea, which can now rightfully be called Russian.
There is a sea in which I swam and drowned
And pulled ashore fortunately
There is air that I inhaled as a child
And I couldn't breathe enough
And I couldn't breathe enough
By the Black Sea...
L.Utesov
At the time of
Being an inland sea basin atlantic ocean, The Black Sea is connected by the Bosphorus Strait with the Marmara Strait, the Dardanelles Strait with the Aegean and Mediterranean and Kerch with Seas of Azov. The area of its water surface is 436,400 km².
One of the hypotheses of the origin of the Black Sea says that 7500 years ago the reservoir was the deepest freshwater lake on Earth. At the end of the Ice Age, the level of the World Ocean rose, and the Bosporus Isthmus was broken through. 100 thousand km² of fertile land was flooded. The emergence of the Black Sea was accompanied by the mass death of the entire freshwater world of the lake, as a result of the decomposition of the remains of which hydrogen sulfide contamination of its depths occurred.
The origin of the name is associated with the properties and nature of the newly formed reservoir. The ancient Greeks called it - Pont Aksinsky, which means "Inhospitable Sea". The name "Scythian" is also found in ancient chronicles. In Strabo's Geography, it is suggested that the inhospitable sea was nicknamed because of the difficulties with navigation, as well as the hostility of the tribes that inhabited its shores. However, the same Strabo mentions that in antiquity the body of water was simply called the “sea” (pontos). In the X-XIV centuries, in ancient Russian, Arabic and Western sources, it is referred to as the "Russian Sea", which is associated with its active use by Scandinavian navigators - the Varangians-Rus. In The Tale of Bygone Years, there is a mention of this particular option: “And the Dnieper to flow into the Pontic Sea with three bellies, the sea to catch the Russkoe” ...
Another version of the origin of the name "Black" is associated with the observation of sailors. It is based on the fact that anchors lowered into the sea water deeper than 150 meters for a long time were covered with a black coating due to the action of hydrogen sulfide.
The first to study the Black Sea were the ancient Greeks, who founded settlements on the coast of Crimea in ancient times. Already in the 4th century BC, they made up the peripluses - ancient sailing directions of the sea. Greek and Roman authors, such as Pliny the Elder, very accurately described the size of the sea, its depth, analyzed and observed the local climate. Ancient geographers told about the seasonal migrations of fish, noted the influence of the rivers flowing into it, in particular, paid attention to the desalination of sea waters.
In the VI-VII centuries, the Slavs became frequent guests of the Black Sea. During the time of Kievan Rus, the expanses of water begin to plow nasads (a deckless vessel with high sides). According to the chronicles, hundreds of ships took part in the campaign of the legendary Oleg against Constantinople in 907 and the Bulgarian campaign of Svyatoslav Igorevich in 968-971.
Hydrographic work in the Black Sea began during the reign of Peter the Great. Equipping the ship "Fortress" to sail from Azov to Constantinople in 1696, Peter gave the order to carry out cartographic work along the way of his movement. Thus, a “direct drawing of the Black Sea from Kerch to Tsar Grad” was drawn up, as well as depth measurements were taken.
At the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, Russian scientists academicians Peter Pallas and Middendorf studied the properties of the waters and fauna of the Black Sea. At this time, scientific expeditions are regularly made.
In 1817, F.F. Bellingshausen issued the first map of the Black Sea, and in 1842, the first atlas.
The initiative to create permanent scientific stations on the Black Sea belongs to the outstanding Russian scientist and traveler N. N. Miklukho-Maclay. In 1871, the first biological station was launched in Sevastopol. Today it is the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, which is engaged in systematic research of the living world of the Black Sea.
Flora and fauna
The population of the Black Sea is noticeably poorer than, say, the Mediterranean. Here you will not meet starfish, urchins, octopuses or cuttlefish. However, the world of the "inhospitable" sea is only at first glance poor. 2,500 species of animals live here, of which 500 are unicellular, 160 are vertebrate fish and mammals, 500 are crustaceans, 200 are mollusks…
No less interesting vegetable world sea, which includes 270 species of multicellular green, brown, red bottom algae. The low salinity of the water and the constant presence of hydrogen sulfide at depths of more than 200 meters complicate, and sometimes even make life here impossible. However, the Black Sea has become home to shallow water and coastal species. At the bottom of it, mussels, oysters, scallops, as well as a predatory rapana, brought to the Crimea by ships with Far East. Crabs hide in the crevices of the coastal rocks and among the stones, by the way, shrimp lovers also have something to profit from!
The Black Sea was chosen by jellyfish, various types of gobies, mullet, red mullet, mackerel, horse mackerel, herring and garfish. There are sturgeon and salmon here.
Mammals are represented by two species of dolphins: the common dolphin and the bottlenose dolphin, the Azov-Black Sea porpoise, and the white-bellied seal.
There is even a shark in the Black Sea, however, it is rare. Katran is also called the "prickly shark" because of the dorsal fins, equipped with large spikes. Fish use them to protect themselves from attacks. For a person, a katran injection is not fatal, although it is quite painful. The miniature shark is quite shy, it very rarely comes to the shore. But who really should be feared is the “sea dragon”. This fish also has spines on its dorsal fin and gill covers. However, it is worth remembering that these thorns contain a strong and dangerous poison for humans.
Well, the most romantic creature that lives in the Black Sea is called the nightlight. This planktonic variety of algae is endowed with phosphorus. It is the night light in August that makes the Black Sea shine with amazing shades of blue and green.
Black Sea in art
Without the Black Sea, there was no Aivazovsky, or rather, his masterpiece paintings depicting all his incarnations and states. Storms and calms, sunsets and dawns, peaceful idylls and fiery sea battles, the painter created many works inspired by the Crimean coast.
In Soviet times, Crimea was a mecca for filmmakers. " Scarlet Sails”, “Amphibian Man”, “Diamond Arm”, “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession”, “Assa” and many other legendary films were shot against the backdrop of the Black Sea. Among them, Sergei Eisenstein's film "Battleship Potemkin", filmed in 1925, gained worldwide fame.
The Black Sea theme runs like a red line in the work of many writers, poets and musicians. Mikhail Bulgakov, Konstantin Paustovsky and Valentin Kataev dedicated their works to the sea. The song "By the Black Sea" by Leonid Utesov is probably known not only to the older generation, but also to young people, since the content of its meaning, glorifying beauty, love and tenderness, is eternal.
The coastal zone is dominated by large-clastic bottom sediments: pebbles, gravel, sands; as they move away from the coast, they are rather quickly replaced by fine-grained sands and silts. In the northwestern part, shell and modern shell banks inhabited by mussels, oysters and other molluscs are widespread. The slope and bed of the depression are characterized by pelitic silts, the carbonate content of which increases towards the center of the sea (in places exceeding 50%); coccolithophores play a significant role in the carbonate material. In the southeastern part of the sea, at depths up to 2000 m, there are deposits of silt and sand carried by turbidity currents.
According to the nature wind activity over the sea, strong waves most often develop in autumn and winter in the northwestern, northeastern and central parts of the sea. Waves 1-3 m high prevail in the sea, depending on the wind speed and the length of the wave acceleration. In open areas maximum heights waves reach 7 m, and in very strong storms they can be higher. southern part the sea is the calmest, strong waves are rarely observed here, and there are almost no waves higher than 3 m.
Seasonal changes in sea level are created mainly due to intra-annual differences in the inflow of river runoff. Therefore, in the warm season, the level is higher, in the cold - lower. The magnitude of these fluctuations is not the same and is most significant in areas affected by continental runoff, where it reaches 30–40 cm.
The greatest magnitude in the Black Sea are surge fluctuations in the level associated with the impact of stable winds. Especially often they are observed in autumn and winter in the western and northwestern parts of the sea, where they can exceed 1 m. In the west, strong surges cause east and northeast winds, and in the northwest - southeast. Strong surges in these parts of the sea occur during northwestern winds. Off the Crimean and Caucasian coasts, surges and surges rarely exceed 30–40 cm. Usually, their duration is 3–5 days, but sometimes it can be longer.
In the Black Sea, seiche level fluctuations up to 10 cm high are often observed. Seiches with periods of 2–6 hours are excited by the action of the wind, and 12-hour seiches are associated with tides. The Black Sea is characterized by irregular semidiurnal tides.
ice formation usually begins in mid-December, and the maximum extent of ice occurs in February. The duration of the ice period varies greatly: from 130 days to very harsh winters, up to 40 days in soft. Ice thickness on average does not exceed 15 cm, in severe winters it reaches 50 cm.
Ice forms annually only in a narrow coastal strip of the northwestern part of the sea. Even in severe winters, it covers less than 5%, and in moderate winters - 0.5–1.5% of the sea area. In very severe winters, fast ice along the western coast extends to Constanta, and floating ice goes to the Bosphorus.
water circulation throughout the year has a cyclonic character with cyclonic gyres in the western and eastern parts seas and enveloping them along the coastal main Black Sea current.
The main Black Sea current and cyclonic gyres are most clearly expressed in winter and summer. In spring and autumn, water circulation becomes weaker and more complex in structure.
The general circulation of the sea waters has a unidirectional character to a depth of about 1000 m. In deeper layers, it is very weak, and it is difficult to speak, in general, about its nature.
An important feature of the main Black Sea current is meandering, which can lead to the formation of isolated eddies that differ in salinity temperature from the surrounding waters. The size of the eddies reaches 40–90 km. The phenomenon of vortex formation is essential for water exchange not only in the upper, but also in the deep layers of the sea.
Inertial currents with a period of 17–18 hours are widespread in the open sea. These currents affect mixing in the water column, since their velocities can be 20–30 cm/s even in a layer of 500–1000 m.
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Water temperature on the sea surface in winter it rises from –0.5 to 0°C in the coastal areas of the northwestern part to 7–8°C in the central and 9–10°C in the southeastern part of the sea. In summer, the surface layer of water warms up to 23–26°C. Only during the ebb can there be short-term significant drops in temperature (for example, near the southern coast of Crimea).
Salinity in the surface layer throughout the year, it is minimal in the northwestern part of the sea, where the main volume of river waters enters. In the estuarine areas, salinity increases from 0–2 to 5–10‰, and in most of the water area high seas it is equal to 17.5–18.3‰. Deep waters in the layer from 1000 m to the bottom (more than 40% of the volume of the sea) are characterized by a high constancy of temperature (8.5–9.2°C) and salinity (22–22.4‰).
During the cold season, vertical circulation develops in the sea, by the end of winter covering a layer with a thickness of 30–50 m in central to 100–150 m in coastal areas. The waters cool most strongly in the northwestern part of the sea, from where they spread by currents to intermediate horizons throughout the sea and can reach the regions most remote from the cold centers. As a consequence of winter convection, a cold intermediate layer is formed in the sea during subsequent summer heating. It persists throughout the year at horizons of 60–100 m and is distinguished by temperature at the boundaries of 8°C, and in the core -6.5–7.5°C.
Convective mixing in the Black Sea cannot extend deeper than 100–150 m due to an increase in salinity (and, consequently, density) in deeper layers as a result of the entry of salty Marble Sea waters there. In the upper mixed layer, salinity increases slowly, and then sharply increases from 18.5 to 21‰ at 100–150 m. This is a permanent salinity jump layer (halocline).
Starting from the horizons of 150–200 m, salinity and temperature slowly increase towards the bottom due to the influence of the more saline and warm Marble Sea waters entering the deeper layers. At the exit from the Bosporus, they have a salinity of 28–34‰ and a temperature of 13–15°C, but quickly change their characteristics, mixing with the Black Sea water. In the near-bottom layer, a slight increase in temperature also occurs due to the geothermal heat inflow from the sea bottom.
Thus, in the vertical hydrological structure of the Black Sea waters, the main components are distinguished:
– the upper homogeneous layer and the seasonal (summer) thermocline, associated mainly with the process of wind mixing and the annual cycle of heat flux through the sea surface;
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– a cold intermediate layer with a temperature minimum in depth, which in the northwest and northeast of the sea arises as a result of autumn-winter convection, and in other areas is formed mainly by the transfer of cold waters by currents;
- permanent halocline - a layer of maximum increase in salinity with depth, located in the contact zone of the upper (Black Sea) and deep (Marmara) water masses;
- deep layer - from 200 m to the bottom, where there are no seasonal changes in hydrological characteristics, and their spatial distribution is very uniform.
The processes occurring in these layers, their seasonal and interannual variability determine the hydrological conditions of the Black Sea.
The Black Sea has a two-layer hydrochemical structure. Unlike other seas, only the upper well-mixed layer (0–50 m) is saturated with oxygen (7–8 ml/l). Deeper, the oxygen content begins to decrease rapidly, and already at the horizons of 100–150 m it is equal to zero. At the same horizons, hydrogen sulfide appears, the amount of which increases with depth up to 5.3–6.6 ml/l at a horizon of 1500 m, and further to the bottom it stabilizes. In the centers of the main cyclonic gyres, where water rises, the upper boundary of the hydrogen sulfide zone is located closer to the surface (70–100 m) than in coastal areas (100–150 m).
On the border between the oxygen and hydrogen sulfide zones, there is an intermediate layer of the existence of oxygen and hydrogen sulfide, which is the lower "boundary of life" in the sea.
The spread of oxygen into the deep layers of the sea is hindered by large density gradients in the contact zone of the Black Sea and Marble Sea waters. At the same time, water exchange in the Black Sea occurs throughout the entire water column, albeit slowly.
Diverse vegetable and animal world The Black Sea is almost entirely concentrated in the upper layer 150–200 m thick, which is 10–15% of the volume of the sea. The deep water column, deprived of oxygen and containing hydrogen sulfide, is almost lifeless and inhabited only by anaerobic bacteria.
From plants, about 350 species of unicellular phytoplankton algae are known (including approximately 150 species of diatoms and peridiniums) and about 280 species of bottom macrophytes (129 red, 71 brown and 77 green algae and several species of sea grasses - mainly Zoster). Especially numerous are the brown alga Cystoseira and the red algae Phyllophora, which form huge accumulations at a depth of 20–50 m in the northwestern part of the sea (it is of commercial importance, the reserves are more than 5 million tons). The fauna of the Black Sea is about three times poorer than the Mediterranean.
Among the animals, benthic species predominate (about 1700). The most characteristic biocenoses are mussel and phaseolina (after the mollusk Modiola phaseolina) oozes: the first, mainly at a depth of 30-70 m, the second - 50-200 m. By origin, Mediterranean invaders predominate (more than 30% of species); a smaller role is played by relics of the Pliocene brackish-water Pontic basin and freshwater invaders living in the most desalinated areas. Endemic species are about 12%. In total, 2000 species are known: about 300 are protozoa, 650 different worms (including 190 polychaetes), 640 are crustaceans, more than 200 are mollusks, 160 are fish and about 150 are animals of other groups (including 4 species of mammals - a seal). and 3 species of dolphins). Due to low salinity, many groups of stenohaline marine animals are few (for example, echinoderms 14 species, radiolarians - 10 or absent (cephalopods, brachiopods, etc.).
Ichthyofauna The Black Sea was formed from representatives of different origins and has about 160 species of fish. One of the groups is fish of freshwater origin: bream, crucian carp, perch, rudd, pike perch, ram and others, found mainly in the northwestern part of the sea. In desalinated areas and brackish estuaries there are representatives of the ancient fauna, preserved from the time of the existence of the ancient Ponto-Caspian basin. The most valuable of them are sturgeon, as well as several types of herring. The third group of Black Sea fish are immigrants from North Atlantic- these are cold-loving sprats, whiting, prickly katran shark, etc. The fourth, largest group of fish in terms of numbers - Mediterranean invaders - has over a hundred species. Many of them enter the Black Sea only in summer, and winter in the Marmara and Mediterranean Seas. Among them are bonito, mackerel, tuna, Atlantic horse mackerel, etc. Only 60 species of fish of Mediterranean origin that constantly live in the Black Sea can be considered Black Sea. These include: anchovy, garfish, mullet, horse mackerel, red mullet, mackerel, kalkan, stingrays, etc. Of the 20 commercial species of the Black Sea fish, only anchovy, small horse mackerel and sprat, as well as the katran shark are of importance.
At present, the state of the Black Sea ecosystems unfavorably. There is an impoverishment of the species composition of plants and animals, a reduction in the reserves of useful species. First of all, this is observed in the shelf areas experiencing a significant anthropogenic load. The greatest changes are observed in the northwestern part of the sea. A large amount of biogenic and organic substances coming here with continental runoff causes the massive development of planktonic algae (“bloom”). In areas affected by the runoff of the Danube River, the phytoplankton biomass increased 10–20 times. When the supply of oxygen to the bottom layers of the sea water is limited, its deficiency develops - hypoxia, which can lead to the death of bottom organisms (freezes). The deterioration of water quality and oxygen regime is one of the main reasons for the decline in the number of commercial fish in the northwestern part of the Black Sea.
There are no explored oil and gas fields in the Russian sector of the Black Sea. There are only promising areas. On the shelf adjacent to the southern part Taman Peninsula, within the depths of the sea bottom of 100–200 m, local uplifts were revealed, which are the western continuation of the folds of the Kergen-Taman trough, to which oil and gas fields of the Krasnodar Territory are confined.
On a small estuary - Lake Solenoye - located southeast of Cape Zhelezny Rog on the coast of the Taman Peninsula, a typical beach placer was found, composed of fine-grained sands with a heavy fraction (7.5–30%), in which the content of garnets reaches 68%.
Of great importance water protection Black Sea. The sea is polluted to the greatest extent by oil and oil products, phenols and detergents. The western part of the sea is especially polluted with oil, where the routes of ships lie along the lines Odessa-Danube mouth-Istanbul and Odessa-Danube mouth-Varna, as well as coastal waters. Work is underway to prevent the discharge of untreated industrial and domestic effluents into the sea, the discharge of oil, oil products and other water pollutants is completely prohibited.
The mild climate, good water heating in the warm season, rich and diverse vegetation, the presence of historical cultural monuments on the coast contribute to the active recreational and resort use of the Black Sea. Main resort areas: The southern coast of Crimea (Ukraine), the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus (Russia, Georgia), Golden Sands and Sunny Beach (Bulgaria), Mamaia (Romania).
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| Novorossiysk and surroundings (space image) |
On August 2, 1981, the eruption began at 3 am, with a volume of up to 8-10 thousand cubic meters. and was accompanied by three hours, according to the shepherd I.I. Roan, rumble, push, but no flame. The year 1982 was also marked by the same type of eruption of the hill breccia. Ejections of large masses of hilly breccia were accompanied by a rumble and shocks. On May 6, 2001, a paroxysmal catastrophic eruption of the mud volcano Karabetova Gora occurred, accompanied by a strong rumble, tremors, flames, columns of thick smoke and dust up to 100 m high. and a volume of up to 800 cubic meters, as well as pockets of brick-red slag. Dry knoll gases selected later were studied for their chemical and carbon isotope compositions. The studied gases are mixtures of hydrocarbons of the methane series and its homologues up to iso- and normal pentanes and hexanes, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and also helium, and in single samples - molecular hydrogen. On June 19, 2004, the eruption repeated with a rapid ejection of about 47 thousand cubic meters of hilly breccia. In the 19th century on Karabetova Gora, researchers identify 5 the strongest eruptions, and in the second half of the 20th century - 4. The crater of the volcano (more precisely, the crater plateau), in plan view, has the form of an oval, elongated by a long axis from the southwest to the northeast by 1380 m, the width of the crater is 860 m. Its surface is complicated by mud cones hills (salz), streams of mud, bulging domes and closed basins, sometimes occupied by lakes. By the color of the mud, one can very clearly distinguish the stages and determine the relative time of the eruptions. A mud lake is located in the eastern part of the crater plateau. In its center there is a constant release of gases. Liquid mud flows out in a stream along a well-developed hollow into the nearest ravine. Near the lake there is a small active mud hill. It looks like a boot. In the upper part of the “shaft” there is a crater hole 40 cm long and 10 cm wide. The height of the “shaft” is 65 cm.
In the crater of the hill - liquid mud. Its fresh streams can be traced to the bottom of the ravine. Near this salsa there is a dome of dried mud more than 0.5 m high. According to local residents and travelers, Karabetova Sopka can be called the largest, active and beautiful volcano in Taman. It erupts at intervals of 2 times a year - in spring and autumn. There is an outpouring of mud, and catastrophic eruptions, judging by the literary sources, are repeated approximately every 15-20 years. The slopes of the volcano, composed of hilly breccia, are subject to intense erosion. Perhaps, not a single uplift of the Taman Peninsula is dissected so strongly by ravines as Karabetka. At the top of the volcano, steps are clearly visible, corresponding to periods of active outpouring of the hill breccia, as a result of which the plateau seemed to be built up, and the mountain grew upwards. The impressive volcanic eruption on Karabetka was told in June 1985 by Maya Ivanovna Lyut, director of the Taman Museum of Local Lore. - "... in the pre-sunset time on August 19, 1984, the population of the village of Taman was seriously alarmed by the behavior of a restless neighbor, the shepherds of sheep flocks were especially worried. At first, something rumbled inside Karabetka, so much so that cold sweat covered the skin, and everyone an incomprehensible anxiety seized. Underground sounds drew the attention of the observers to the colossus of the volcano, and everyone followed the development of events. In a matter of minutes, a flame shot up over the volcano and, at the same time, there was a roar of deafening force, very similar to the firing of a large-caliber artillery device. Columns of flame rose up and went out, and the volcano threw out huge stones over considerable distances. This went on for a little over an hour. At the same time, an outpouring of a solution of clay breccia and small stones took place; outgassing. Such emissions, increasing in intensity, were repeated several times. Against the background of the evening sky, flashes were especially Chaos was not only on the volcano.
The long stay of Karabetka in a "lethargic dream" set people up in a carefree way, and then the administration was alarmed. Yes, and many did not go to bed and tried not to use electricity. They called, of course, Temryuk and prepared for the evacuation. But closer to midnight it seemed that everything calmed down, the activity of the eruption diminished, but the eruption of the mud-stone flow continued for several more days, gradually fading ... "It is convenient to start the journey to the Karabetka volcano from the monument" Aircraft MIG-17 ", established by the pilots who heroically defended the sky during the years of WWII. At the entrance to the village of Taman from a fighter aircraft, the volcano is visible in all its glory, the distance in a straight line is 4 km, but the approach is 5-6 km due to the fact that it is very difficult to go in a straight line on rough terrain. The ascent will take 2-4 hours, depending on the preparedness of the group, on the goals and time of stay. Considering that travel across the Taman Peninsula is generally fraught with difficulties, certain circumstances must be kept in mind. The summer heat oppresses the traveler, from 11 am to 7 pm. drops of rare rains evaporate before reaching the surface of the earth. There are no springs or sources of fresh water; all estuaries have brackish or very salty water; so many salts are dissolved in the water of volcanic lakes that it is absolutely impossible to drink it. So drinking water must be carried with you, as well as fuel, if you mean making a fire. Summing up the story about terrestrial volcanoes, we note that by the decision of the Regional Executive Committee of the Temryuk Council of N / Deputies No. 354 of July 1, 1978, Karabetova Gora was approved as a natural monument. This decision was supported by the Krasnodar CEC of 07/14/1980. The ancient Greeks revered the god of fire, metallurgy and blacksmithing, Hephaestus. He, like his Roman colleague Vulcan, liked to organize their forges - workshops in grottoes, inside volcanoes - fire-breathing mountains. That is why volcanoes got their own, which has become a household name: after the name of the god of fire - Vulcan.
One cannot ignore the heavy breathing of the earth, I mean mud volcanoes located under the sea water of the Taman and Temryuk bays and the waters of the Kerch Strait. Most often erupted with explosive phenomena documented in the literature, the mud underwater volcano Golubitsky (between the station Golubitskaya and the city of Temryuk, 200 m from the coast). On September 5, 1799, an underground rumble, crackling, a pillar of fire and black smoke was heard. The breccia that erupted for two hours created an island with a diameter of 100 m and a height of 2 m from the mud. The eruption coincided with the Lower Kuban earthquake of 1799. pair. In 1906, the eruption of a sea volcano was accompanied by smoke, ejection of large stones and the formation of an island. In 1924, for several days at the very beginning of July, the volcano again reminded of itself with the creation of an ever-increasing island. On July 15, the peak of the eruption - a column of fire, smoke, and ejection of stones was observed for an hour. The size of the island is 81 x 58 m. According to the observations of the keeper of the Temryuk lighthouse, I.D. Sexually in 1929, explosive emissions destroyed the coastal mud bath. Then the volcano erupted with the appearance of the island and the release of mud and water to a height of up to 100 m in 1945, 1950 - 1953, 1963, 1966, 1981, 1988, 1994, 2000, 2002. etc. Mud volcano Temryuksky (Peresyp, Kazbek Bank) has been “working” since 1979 annually with explosive emissions, up to 100 m high, stones, smoke, water and the appearance of an island. Volcano Tizdar Marine (Peresypsky) is located five kilometers north of the coast. On March 26, 2002, he created an island 500 meters offshore. Recently "works" annually, marked with a buoy. The water area of the Kerch Strait hides many secrets: sunken ships, ancient settlements and, of course, numerous unidentified geological mysteries. Among them, one of the most interesting is the mud volcanoes of the strait. The dispute among scientists does not subside for a long time.
Some say that there are no volcanoes (academician N.I. Andrusov and others), others claim their existence. So to the north of the strait there are several rounded shallows, the nature of which is not clear, but probably these are mud volcanoes. The author of one of the first local history essays about Kerch is Kh.Kh. Zenkovich, published in 1894, described in it the appearance in the Kerch Bay in 1880 of a small island, washed out after two weeks. Its exact location is unknown, and its occurrence was then associated with "volcanic forces." Mud volcano Blevaka is located on the Chushka Spit, 7 km from its base. According to researchers V.V. Belousova, E.V. Felitsyn and L.A. Yarotsky - Blevaka - a cone of semi-liquid mud 3 m high above sea level. When surveyed in 1986, the volcano consisted of two hills connected by bases, 2 m high above the water, with a base diameter of about 20 m each. Five griffins were located on the gentle slopes, spewing liquid mud. In the summer of 1995, on the site of the volcano, an island (25 x 30 m) was observed, only half a meter above the water, overgrown with reeds. Blevaka is considered a relatively inactive volcano. It lies approximately at the latitude of Goreloy Mountain. There is a smell of hydrogen sulfide near it. To the west of Cape Tuzla there is a mud volcano, first described by Shepel S.A. According to him, in 1914 a steamer ran aground in the strait. It turned out that in the zone of 9-meter depths, a cone-shaped 4-meter shoal unexpectedly arose, soil samples, which were represented by hilly breccia. Subsequent geological studies showed the constant presence in the area of the alleged location of this eroded shoal of various anomalies (the appearance of spots, etc.). Not so long ago, geologists discovered a mud volcano on the Taman underwater slope southeast of the Kerch Strait. According to fishermen, another mud volcano is known in the Black Sea, southwest of Cape Skirda on the Kerch Peninsula. The mud volcano Peklo Azov is very powerful and large.
Its main part is located in the sea, and fragments of iron ore of the Cimmerian-Sarmatian age were found on the coastal beach profile, i.e., there is an ore-bearing structure. Most of the Taman volcanoes have nicknames given to them by the sharp-tongued Black Sea Cossacks when they settled in the Kuban. Watching "restless neighbors", they called them rotten mountains, burnt graves, hills, vomits. Most of these nicknames firmly stuck to the Taman volcanoes, since all of them fell "not in the eyebrow, but in the eye." Volcano Miska, in the city of Temryuk, got its name from the shape of the crater. Blewaki - for a sharp ejection of dirt, reminiscent of spitting. Blue Beam - for its location in a recessed place. It is also called the Azov Hill and Tizdar after the name of the mountain located about a kilometer from it, etc. Finishing the story about volcanoes, let's briefly touch on the mud volcano of Mount Goreloy or Kuku-Oba, as it was called earlier. The mountain is located opposite the shore (beach) of the village of Taman, across the bay and is a regular pointed hill, reminiscent of the tents of ancient nomads. Now the volcano is sleeping. Its explosive eruption in March 1794 was described in detail by Academician P.S. Pallas. First, “a column of black smoke rose from the middle of the hill and then a column of fire rose, which from a distance seemed to be 50 fathoms high in girth.” The flame was visible for about three hours. For three days, dirt “two human heights high” flew out of the vent. The eruption was accompanied by thunder peals. “... in March, a land surveyor found on the top of the Kuku-Oba hill a hole of 10 to 12 fathoms made by an eruption and an abyss inward about one arshin (arshin is 71.26 cm - author) and a half in diameter, he saw more steam coming out and mud with oil flowing out of the hole. P. Alekseev, in his notes published in 1880, indicates that “the amazement of archaeologists was great when, according to the most precise instructions of Strabo, instead of the tomb of King Satyr, they find the Kuku-Oba mud volcano.
JULES VERNE - ABOUT THE MUD VOLCANOES OF TAMAN
During the eruption of this volcano in 1794, fragments of an ancient statue were thrown out. "The volcano of Mount Goreloy, attracting the ancients with its location, was a kind of trap for them, leading to the death of settlements during catastrophic eruptions. In July 1794, Academician P.S. "Pallas, who found shards of ancient vessels, amphoras, reeds and roots in the mud. He suggested that before the formation of the hill there was a burial mound or a place of sacrifices in this place ... Which of the great science fiction writers wrote about the mud volcanoes of Taman?" or as they are also called mud hills, hills, makalubs, saiz, pseudo-volcanoes, rotten hills, burnt graves, vomits, etc. - wrote none other than Jules Verne himself in 1882 in the novel "The Stubborn Keraban". biography it follows that the writer traveled little and, of course, never visited our area. So science fiction is good because you can write about what you have never seen. The author begins: "Taman is a rather miserable town." Not true Li, very reminiscent of Lermontov: “Taman is the nastiest town of all the coastal cities of Russia.” However, the heroes of the novel crossed the town on a carriage, without stopping, and then went on south coast Taman Bay - an area extremely rich for hunting. In the evening, "at dinner time", the travelers stopped at one of the stations with a mediocre hotel, "but there was enough food in it." On their way they set off to the side Caucasus mountains already dark night. “It was about 11 p.m. when a strange sound woke them from their half-asleep state. It was a kind of whistle, comparable to that of seltzer water escaping from a bottle, but ten times stronger. One would have thought that compressed steam was escaping from some kind of boiler through a pipe.
When asked what was happening, the coachman replied that it was mud volcanoes that woke up, and suggested that the passengers leave the carriage and walk 5-6 versts behind the carriage, as the horses might suffer. It was very dark, but if this happened during the day, then “one could see: the steppe, over a vast extent, seemed to swell with small cones of eruptions, similar to the huge anthills of Equatorial Africa. From these cones, correctly designated by the scientific name "mud volcanoes" (although volcanic activity is in no way involved in this phenomenon), water, gas and bitumen escaped. Under the pressure of hydrogen mixed with carbon, a mixture of silt, gypsum, limestone, pyrite, even oil breaks out with force. These swellings gradually increase, burst and spewing contents, and then settle ... These erupting cones in in large numbers cover the surface of the Taman Peninsula. They are also found in similar territories of the Kerch Peninsula, ”but there they were away from the road. Now someone warned that in order to avoid an explosion, one should not smoke. “Smoking in this steppe is just as dangerous as in a powder magazine,” they walked in the dark and very carefully. The horses neighed in front, reared up, and with a new dazzling flash, illuminating a whole verst, the driver could not hold the team. “The frightened horses carried on, the carriage sped off at great speed. Everyone stopped. After this dark night, the steppe was a sight capable of terrifying. The flame that arose on one cone spread to the neighboring ones. They began to explode one after another as violently as firework batteries with criss-crossing jets of fire. Now the plain was brightly lit. In this light, hundreds of thick fire-breathing bumps became visible, blazing with gas and spewing liquid contents, some with an ominous sheen of oil, others with various colors due to the presence of white sulfur, pyrite or iron carbonate.
To be continued in part 9
