Morphometric characteristics and ruggedness of the bottom topography in the north part of the Black Sea

Abstract

On the basis of the data array of detailed echosounding surveys carried out from the research vessels of the Marine Hydrophysical Institute of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences and other institutions and the corresponding cartographic materials, we perform the numerical analyses of the morphometric characteristics of the bottom topography of the northwest shelf of the Black Sea and the underwater margin of the Crimea. We reveal the specific features of the main types of morphological structures and analyze the values of the bottom slopes and the vertical and horizontal ruggednesses of the bottom. The ruggedness of the bottom has a low-frequency character reflecting a noticeable smoothness of the topography. The large regional structures of the surrounding land represented by the East-European platform and the Crimean-Caucasian orogen directly affect the formation of topography in the analyzed region. The agreement between the contemporary digital data arrays on the bottom topography and the data of echosounding surveys in the Black Sea is estimated.