Journal of Marine Science: Research & Development
Open Access

Abstract

The study of water intrusions into the Black Sea (BS) from the Mediterranean Sea (MS) and Caspian Sea (CS) based on paleontological records was initiated by N.I. Andrusov at the end of the 19th century and was continued by a great number of scientists including authors of present paper. Lately, some researchers proposed their view of the MS and CS water intrusions into the BS using oxygen isotope (δ18O) signatures in stacked speleothems from Sofular Cave in northern Turkey. This paper provides a comparison between the number and intensity of water intrusions from the MS and CS into the BS since the Brunhes?Matuyama reversal (780 kys) based on paleontological and lithological records from coastal outcrops and bottom sediments of the BS with those revealed on δ18O signatures in stacked speleothems in Sofular Cave. Studied material includes 112 costal outcrops (including stratotypes) from elevated terraces of the Kerch-Taman Peninsula and Caucasus (BS region) as well as several thousand boreholes and gravity/vibracores recovered in the BS, CS and Eastern Mediterranean. According to our data, the connections between the BS and MS and the BS and CS existed nine and four times, respectively. It contradicts to the data obtained on stacked speleothems from Sofular Cave, which show that connection between the BS and MS existed atleast 12 times, and at least seven times between the BS and CS during last 670 kys.

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