Importance of Sedimentary Processes in Environmental Changes: Lower River Danube — Danube Delta — Western Black Sea System

Abstract

Draining a territory almost twice the Black Sea area, the Danube River is the most important sediment supplier of this marine basin. Presently the Danube River determines the sedimentation on the northwestern Black Sea shelf area. The Danube influence extends down to the deep sea floor. In turn the Black Sea strictly controls the sedimentation of the Danube material through the sea level variations. Danube Delta is acting as a regulator of the sediment transfer between the Danube River and the Black Sea. The three factors -river, delta and marine basin- make up a well-established geosystem. Our present interest will concentrate on the sedimentary cycle including the Romanian Carpathians source area, the Lower Danube transport agent and the western Black Sea accumulation basin (Fig. 1).