The Black Sea. State-of-the-art and protection

The Black Sea is situated in the Northern Hemisphere, in the temperate zone, by its geographical coordinates (40˚55' and 46º32' north latitude, 27º42' and 41º42' east longitude). Because of its limited connection with the Planetary Ocean, and lying within the European continent, we can consider it a continental sea. Its main morphometric elements are – area of the sea waters of 421,638 km² (without of 38,000 km² of the Azov Sea), maximum depth 2,245 m, average depth 1,288 m, water volume 529,955 km³, shore length 4,869 km, hydrographic basin 2402,119 km² and it covers 21 states. Concerning the genesis and evolution of the sea depression, there have been issued more hypotheses about the age of the Black Sea, among which more interesting one say that the sea was formed in the Precambrian, in the medium-upper Mesozoic and in medium Neozoic and finally, assuming it was formed in the Quaternary era. The morpho-bathymetric configuration allows the identification of the main morphostructural units that characterize most of the tectonic sea basins’ type – shelf (continental platform), marginal depression (the continental base) and abyssal zone (the abyssal field). The climate conditions, hydric balance with the variation of the water oxygen level, hydrogen sulphide and eutrotrophication are also presented. Policies for the management of the Black Sea environment were developed through many projects.