NATURAL FEATURES OF THE TYLIGUL ESTUARY ON THE COAST OF THE BLACK SEA

The paper examines the key natural characteristics of the Tylihul Liman - one of the largest, deepest, and morphodynamically most active limans on the classical liman-type coast of the northwestern Black Sea. Over the past two decades, physical-geographical studies have shown that limans represent a distinct category of coastal lakes and bays that differ fundamentally from rias, fjords, limans, and lagoons. The modern natural conditions of the Tylihul Liman are controlled by its geological structure, neotectonic setting, hydrodynamic regime, and the long-term evolution of its coastal zone. The liman occupies a tectonically weakened linear depression that was transformed during the Pleistocene by fluvial erosion and later flooded by the Holocene transgression of the Black Sea, forming an ingression bay that was subsequently isolated from the sea by an extensive sandy–shell bar.Based on detailed bathymetric measurements, the liman reaches a maximum depth of nearly 26 m and possesses the strongest alongshore wave-energy transfer among the Black Sea limans, exceeding that of Shahan, Burnas, Budak, and Velykyi Adzhalytskyi by 2–3 orders of magnitude. These conditions maintain active cliff abrasion, the formation of numerous sandy–shell spits, and a highly indented shoreline. The wide and dynamically evolving bar regulates the hydrological and hydrochemical regime of the water body. The study integrates long-term regional research and the results of previous geomorphological and hydrological investigations, enabling a comprehensive assessment of landscape processes and the factors governing coastal evolution.The findings contribute to the broader understanding of the morphogenesis of limans as unique coastal systems of the non-tidal Black Sea. They also provide a scientific basis for sustainable nature management, conservation measures, and the assessment of environmental changes affecting one of the most distinctive coastal water bodies of southern Ukraine.