Biomass and Size Composition of the Comb Jelly Mnemiopsis sp. in the North-western Black Sea During Spring 1997 and Summer 1995

In a single methodological basis, based on complex lithologic and stratigraphic and petrophysical studies, logging interpretation, beds correlation, were selected and indexed 45 productive horizons of Cenozoic sediments at Black and Azov seas shelf (Ukrainian sector): МU-1, МU-2, МU-3, МU-4, МU-5, МU-6, МU-7, МM-1, МM-2, МL-1, МL-2, МL-3, МL-4, МL-5 and МL-6 in Miocene sediments; ОU-1, ОU-2, ОU-3, ОU-4, ОU-5, ОL-1, ОL-2, ОL-3, ОL-4, ОL-5, ОL-6, ОL-7, ОL-8, ОL-9, ОL-10 and ОL-11 – Oligocen; ЕU-1, ЕU-2, ЕM-1, ЕM-2, ЕM-3, ЕM-4, ЕM-5, ЕL-1, ЕL-2 and ЕL-3 – Eocene, PU-1, PL-1, PL-2 and PL-3 – Paleocene. The name of each productive horizon is the sum of the abbreviations of names of department and sub-department, which is the horizon, and the numeral indicating its serial number.Single scheme of indexing and correlation was composed. Key words: productive horizon, Cenozoic sediments, Ukrainian waters of the Black and Azov Seas References Atlas of oil and gas in Ukraine. V.VI. South oil and gas region. 1998. Lviv. UNGA. 224 p. (in Ukrainian). Boboshko A.V., Vakarchuk G.I., Vinnichenko L.G. et al.1974. The scheme of correlation and unified synonymy oil and gas horizons of the Lower Carboniferous of the Dnieper-Donets basin (guidelines). Kharkiv. 52 p. Vakarchuk G.I., Vinnichenko L.G., Kononenko L.P. 1990. The new scheme of indexing and correlation of the productive horizons of the Lower Carboniferous of the Dnieper-Donets basin. Geological Journal. #6. S. 109-115. Stratigraphic Code of Ukraine. 2012. Resp. editor P.F. Gozhyk. 66 p. Gozhik P.F. 2006. Oil-gas facilities in Ukraine. Scientific and practical basis for finding hydrocarbons in the Azov Sea. Kyiv. EKMO. 340 p. (in Ukrainian). Gozhik P.F. 2007. Oil-gas facilities in Ukraine. Scientific and practical basis for finding hydrocarbons in the northwestern Black Sea shelf. Kyiv. ЕКМО. 231 p. (in Ukrainian). State balance of mineral reserves Ukraine. 2012. Кiev, SSPE Geoinform Ukrainin, 3284 p. (in Ukrainian). Oil and gas potential of the northwestern Black Sea. 1995. Series «Oil-gas potencial water area of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov». V.2. Kyiv. Ukrainian Oil-gas institute. 250 p. (in Ukrainian). Oil and gas potential of the Azov Sea 1995. Series «Oil-gas potencial water area of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov». V 1. Kyiv. Ukrainian Oil-gas institute. 166 p. (in Ukrainian). Oil and gas potential Kerch-Taman Black Sea shelf, continental slope and deep-sea depression Black Sea. 1996. Series «Oil-gas potencial water area of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov». V.2. Kyiv. Ukrainian Oil-gas institute. 186 p. (in Russian). Ukraine's oil and gas province. 1981. Kyiv. Naukova dumka, 172 p. (in Russian). Forecast oil and gas exploration in the south of the USSR and adjacent waters. 1981. Ed. V.V. Glushko and S.P. Maximov. Moscov. Nedra. 240 p. (in Russian). Murasta W.А., Baschkirov G.L., Karpenko О.М. 2012. On the issue of allocation of productive horizons in the Paleogene and Neogene sediments Ukrainian shelf of the Black and Azov Seas. Problems of Oil and Gas Industry. Proceedings of SE Naukanaftogaz NAK Naftogaz Ukraine. Kyiv.Vol. 10. P. 97-104 (in Ukrainian). Creation of unified directory breakdowns productive horizons Cenozoic sediments within the areas of the Black and Azov seas based on a single indexing and correlating. 2011. Report on implementation of the provision of geological and thematic work. Responsibility G.L. Bashkirov and I.I. Ishchenko. SE Naukanaftogaz. Vischneve, №16/200. Book 1,2. 503 p. (in Ukrainian). Handbook of Petroleum Geology. 1984. Ed. N.А. Yeremenko. М. Nedra. P. 480. (in Russian). Hanin А.А. 1969. Reservoir rocks of oil and gas and their study. M.: Nedra. 366 p. (in Russian).

Piebaldism is one of three types of hypopigmentation of animals, when some areas on the skin have no pigments. Anomalously white cetaceans are rare, although they have been reported in more than 20 different cetacean species, including the common bottlenose dolphin, which in the Black Sea is recognized as an endangered endemic subspecies — the Black Sea bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus ponticus Barabash-Nikiforov, 1940). Its main habitat in the north-western Black Sea region is the coastal waters, however, these dolphins also occur offshore. Thirty cases of anomalously white bottlenose dolphins have been reported from the Black Sea, which were unevenly distributed, and only a few sightings have been reported from the north-western Black Sea. Cetacean observations were conducted in the Ukrainian part of the north-western Black Sea waters in April 2017, onboard the research vessel "Auguste Piccard". All encountered cetaceans were photographed, and individual distinctiveness of dorsal fin images was used for their photo-identification. On 13 April 2017, four groups of up to four individuals of bottlenose dolphins were encountered in the same area at a distance of 61 km south of Odesa (34 km from the nearest coast). The depth at the observation site was about 20 m. The initially observed type of dolphins’ behavior was feeding. However, two groups changed their behavior and followed the vessel by 5–6 individuals for approximately 18 minutes. The joint group consisted of adults and one juvenile individual. Among the adults, there was one piebald specimen with white patches on its dorsal fin, peduncle, and tail fluke. The piebald dolphin was photographed and photo-identified. Our research has shown that piebald Black sea bottlenose dolphins occur not only in the coastal waters, but also in offshore waters of the north-western Black Sea. However, the frequency of such hypopigmentation in local populations remains unknown. Further intensive photo-identification and genetic sampling of local stocks of the Black Sea bottlenose dolphins are necessary for the assessment of their population genetic structure and its divergence.

Upper Quaternary water level history and sedimentation in the northwestern Black Sea

Изучение таксоцена Annelida (Polychaeta), эпибионтов брюхоногого моллюска — вселенца Rapana venosa, продолжает цикл по описанию состава консорции самого крупного брюхоногого моллюска черноморского бентоса. Консорция R. venosa до сих пор является мало исследованной и неучтённой компонентой в структуре биоценозов шельфа Чёрного моря. Цель данной работы — изучить комплекс полихет консорции R. venosa. Задачи этого этапа: составление списка таксонов Annelida (Polychaeta) — эпибионтов рапаны; изучение биогеографической и трофической структуры таксоцена; исследование экологических связей полихет с ядром консорции. Для изучения консортного сообщества рапаны были осуществлены сборы в семи районах северной части Чёрного моря: 1 — Мамайя, Румыния; 2 — северо-западная часть Чёрного моря, Крымский сектор; 3 — Севастополь; 4 — Алупка; 5 — Ялта — Алушта; 6 — Карадаг; 7 — Керченский пролив. Сбор R. venosa в прибрежной зоне до глубины 15 м проводили тотально с использованием легководолазного оборудования, в более глубоководной зоне (до 40 м) — дночерпателем «Океан-50» с борта НИС «Профессор Водяницкий». Каждый экземпляр (пробу) рапаны помещали в отдельный пластиковый пакет с указанием района, глубины и биотопа. Всего отобрано и проанализировано 2411 проб, из них 977 — скальной рапаны и 1434 — песчаной. Покрытие эпибионтами раковины R. venosa (интенсивность обрастания) оценивали в процентах от общей площади внешней поверхности раковины. Таксоцен Polychaeta консорции R. venosa включает 31 вид, представляющий 31 род 15 семейств 2 подклассов. Бόльшая часть видов (18) относится к Errantia, половину из них составляют представители семейств Nereididae и Syllidae. К Sedentaria относятся 13 видов; наибольшее их количество (4) принадлежит семейству Serpulidae. Таксоцен Polychaeta консорции рапаны представлен тремя биогеографическими группами: аборигенные виды средиземноморско-атлантического генезиса (84 %), эндемики Чёрного моря (10 %) и современные виды-вселенцы различного географического генезиса (6 %). На песчаной рапане обнаружен 31 вид полихет, а на скальной — только 5. Показатели развития фауны полихет значительно различаются по глубинам и районам исследований. Наиболее разнообразны полихеты в бухтах г. Севастополя (район № 3) на глубинах 2–10 м; максимальная глубина обнаружения полихет (40 м) соответствует наибольшей глубине отбора рапаны. Площадь покрытия раковины рапаны полихетами достигает 70 %, встречаемость в отдельных районах составляет до 95 %. Максимальное число видов, обнаруженных на отдельном экземпляре рапаны, — 8; в среднем на особях R. venosa отмечено 2–4 вида полихет. Таксономическое разнообразие и обилие Polychaeta определяют их значимость в консорции R. venosa. Благодаря инвазионному хищному моллюску R. venosa полихеты получают дополнительные возможности для распространения на шельфе Чёрного моря.

Biogeochemical Transformations of Inorganic Nutrients in the Mixing Zone between the Danube River and the North-western Black Sea

The ichthyofauna of the Black Sea is comparatively poor and includes about 200 species (Boltacev 2003). The gobiid fishes (Actinopterygii: Gobiidae) are a large group of approximated by 28 species inhabiting coastal habitats of the Black Sea (Miller 1986, Smirnov 1986, Rass 1993). Five Black-Sea gobiid species are important commercially (Smirnov 1986) and they have also been targeted by anglers. In the north-western Black Sea (NWBS), gobiids can be found in different salinities ranging from fresh water (0.5‰ salinity off the Dniester River mouth) to full-salinity sea water (30‰–35‰ in the Tuzly group of lagoons). These fish make up two groups according to their origin: 1) Ponto-Caspian relict species that are endemics of the Sarmatic and Pontic basins; typical representatives of this group are: Mesogobius batrachocephalus (Pallas, 1811); ACTA ICHTHYOLOGICA ET PISCATORIA (2005) 35 (2): 103–110

Water Constituents in the North-western Black Sea from Optical Remote Sensing and In situ Data

There are two porpoise stocks in the northern Black Sea: the north-western (Odessa Gulf) and northeastern (Crimean and Caucasian waters); in addition, another stock is in the Sea of Azov. The Azov porpoises are distinct in their body size and biology. This research was conducted on the skulls of stranded sexually mature porpoises from the north-eastern Black Sea, north-western Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. In the north-eastern Black Sea samples, both present-day and old-time, the sexual dimorphism of the skull size was not significant, whereas in the Sea of Azov the females were significantly larger than males. The Azov skulls were strongly different from those from the Black Sea: they were larger, proportionally wider and had the wider rostra; also, there was no significant chronological variation within the Black Sea. The Azov and Black Sea samples were classified with the 100 % success with four variables. The northwestern Black Sea skulls were somewhat intermediate in their characteristics between the Azov and northeastern Black Sea samples, but they were classify ed together with other Black Sea specimens. The difference between the Azov and Black Sea skulls was greater than between many North Atlantic populations, despite the extreme geographical proximity of the two stocks. The low variation within the Black Sea supports the earlier conclusions on the lack of genetic variation: all the Black Sea stocks are expected to be genetically similar sub-populations, whereas the Azov and Marmara stocks possibly represent the genetically distant populations. The porpoises from the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov equally show the traits which characterize the subspecies Phocoena phocoena relicta, but the Black Sea porpoises appear to be more paedomorphic in terms of ontogenetic trajectories.

Preface Introduction Victor R. Baker List of contributors. General 1. Oxic, suboxic, and anoxic conditions in the Black Sea James W. Murray, Keith Stewart, Steven Kassakian, Marta Krynytzky, and Doug DiJulio 2. Molluscan paleoecology in the reconstruction of coastal changes Daniela Basso and Cesare Corselli 3. Climate modeling results for the Circum-Pontic Region from the late Pleistocene to the mid-Holocene Alexander V. Kislov and Pavel M. Toropov Principal Flood Scenarios 4. Status of the Black Sea flood hypothesis William B.F. Ryan 5. The Marmara Sea Gateway since ~16 ky BP: non-catastrophic causes of paleoceanographic events in the Black Sea at 8.4 and 7.15 ky BP Richard N. Hiscott, Ali E. Aksu, Peta J. Mudie, Michael A. Kaminski, Teofilo Abrajano, Dogan Yasar, and Andre Rochon 6. The late glacial great flood in the Ponto-Caspian basin Andrei L. Chepalyga 7. Controversy over Noah's Flood in the Black Sea: geological and foraminiferal evidence from the shelf Valentina V. Yanko-Hombach Research in the Northern Sector 8. On the post-glacial changes in the level of the Black Sea Pavel N. Kuprin and Valentin M. Sorokin 9. The post-glacial transgression of the Black Sea Valery I. Shmuratko 10. Climate dynamics, sea-level change, and shoreline migration in the Ukrainian sector of the Circum-Pontic Region Yuri Shuisky 11. The Middle Paleolithic and early Upper Paleolithic in the northern Black Sea region Viktor P. Chabai 12. Environment, sea-level changes, and human migrations in the northern Pontic area during late Pleistocene and Holocene times Pavel M. Dolukhanov and Konstantin K. Shilik 13. HoloceneMediterranization of the southern Crimean vegetation: paleoecological records, regional climate change, and possible non-climatic influences Carlos E. Cordova 14. Pontic-Caspian Mesolithic and Early Neolithic societies at the time of the Black Sea flood: a small audience and small effects David W. Anthony 15. Fluctuations in the level of the Black Sea and Mesolithic settlement of the northern Pontic area Vladimir N. Stanko Research in the Western Sector 16. The northwestern Black Sea: climatic and sea-level changes in the Late Quaternary Nicolae Panin and Irina Popescu 17. Sea-level fluctuations and coastline migration in the northwestern Black Sea area over the last 18 ky based on high-resolution lithological-genetic analysis of sediment architecture Evgeny G. Konikov 18 Water-level fluctuations in the Black Sea since the Last Glacial Maximum Gilles Lericolais, Irina Popescu, Francois Guichard, Speranta-Maria Popescu, and Laurence Manolakakis 19. Archaeological and paleontological evidence of climate dynamics, sea-level change, and coastline migration in the Bulgarian sector of the Circum-Pontic Region Mariana Filipova-Marinova 20. Dendrochronology of submerged Bulgarian sites Peter I. Kuniholm, Maryanne W. Newton, and Bernd Kromer 21. The Neolithization of the north Pontic area and the Balkans in the context of the Black Sea floods Valentin Dergachev and Pavel M. Dolukhanov 22. Holocene changes in the level of the Black Sea: consequences at a human scale Douglass W. Bailey Research in the Southern Sector 23. Morphotectonic development of the southern Black Sea region and the Bosphorus channel Yucel Yilmaz 24. Sea-level changes modified the Quaternary coastlines in the Marmara region,

Establishment of “Zernov’s Phyllophora field” marine reserve: Protection and restoration of a unique ecosystem

Man induced change in community control in the north-western Black Sea: The top-down bottom-up balance

Two new fish species were recorded while monitoring the fish fauna of Sukhyi Lyman (or Sukhyi Estuary), an estuary in the northwestern Black Sea (Ukraine) close to the marine port of Chornomorsk. A single pumpkinseed, Lepomis gibbosus (Linnaeus, 1758), was observed in May 1999, followed by numerous observations in May 2021, while a single peacock blenny, Salaria pavo (Risso, 1810), was photographed during snorkeling observations in September 2021. The estuary is a known hub for invasive alien species and other neobionts due to the presence of the marine port. The new population of pumpkinseed, a North American invasive species, in the estuary represents the next stage in the species’ ongoing expansion along the Ukrainian Black Sea coast. Likewise, the appearance of the peacock blenny represents the latest stage in the “Mediterranization” of the Black Sea, a process that has been ongoing over the last several thousand years.

Danube River Sediment Input and its Interaction with the North-western Black Sea

The processes of development and transformation zones of the wind upwelling in the north-western Black Sea and off the coast of Crimea in the warm season (May-October) are analyzed on the basis of many years data on wind field and the water surface temperature, satellite observations and results of numerical simulation. The presence of seven of the upwelling zones is confirmed, each of which is characterized by a specific spatial-temporal variability of the surface temperature of the water. Coastal upwelling accompanied by lowering the temperature by more than 5 .C in 12 hours most often is observed in the north-western Black Sea (on average 3–4 cases per warm season). Off the southern coast of Crimea upwelling of this type is observed 1–2 times per season. The greatest number of upwellings is recorded in June. Over the past 30 years due to the weakening of the wind, the total number of cases of the wind upwelling in the northwestern part of the Black Sea decreased by about 23%, and in the south-western coast of the Crimea is almost three times. In principle, this favors the development of recreational infrastructure in the region. However, reducing the frequency of occurrence of upwelling is accompanied by a significant increase in temperature of the surface layer in the warm season that leads to an aggravation of the vertical density gradients in the upper layer of the sea and can cause eutrophication of coastal surface waters and near-bottom hypoxia. A rare case of lowering the temperature, covering the entire north-western part of the Black Sea and the coastal areas of the Crimea was analyzed. This example shows that in some areas the horizontal advection (not upwelling) can serve as the main reason for the sharp drop in temperature of the upper layer of the coastal part of the sea.

Purpose . Waters of the North-Western part of the Black Sea (NWBS) receiving the discharges from three large rivers (255,7 km3 per year) differ from the waters of the Black Sea in their unique physical and chemical characteristics. In this context one of the most important tasks is assessment of the large rivers’ discharge impacts on the estuarine areas of the Black Sea. The objective of the work has been to reveal the variability of physical and chemical characteristics of marine water near the Zmiinyi Island under impact of the Danube discharge and wind conditions in 2004-2013. Materials & Methods . Results of meteorological (wind speed and direction, air temperature), hydrological and hydrochemical observations and measurements (temperature, transparency, salinity, density and relative oxygen content, pH value) performed in the island coastal waters in 2004-2013 have been used as the source data. Statistical and correlation analysis performed for the three sectors of wind direction in the Zmiinyi Island area (“Danube”, “NWBS” (north-western Black Sea) and “Black Sea”) have been used as a basic research tools. Results. Many-years trends in the changes of the main physicochemical characteristics of marine waters near the Zmiinyi Island have been analysed. For the period May-December 2004-2013 the tendency of average monthly water temperature values decreasing has been identified, as well as the tendency of increasing of average monthly values of sea level, transparency, salinity, pH, concentration of and saturation with dissolved oxygen. Quantitative confirmation of significant influence of the Danube discharge on salinity, transparency and water level near the Zmiinyi Island has been received. For the period May-December 2004-2013, increasing repeatability of wind directions was revealed for the sector “Danube” and decreasing repeatability for the sector “NWBS”. No significant trends have been established for repeatability of the “Black Sea” sector. Division of datasets into wind sectors enabled us to establish certain regularities in the hydrological and hydrochemical regime of marine water in the Zmiinyi Island area. In particular, closer connections of salinity, transparency and relative oxygen content with wind speed were identified for the sectors “Danube and “NWBS” and insignificant connections for the “Black Sea” sector. Closer connections of pH, oxygen concentration and air temperature were revealed with the speed of wind from the sectors “Danube” and “Black Sea” and less significant connections for the “NWBS” sector.