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

Abstract

Abstract A regional water level curve for the northwestern Black Sea covering lowstands of the past 900 ka has been inferred from shelf terraces and coastal onlaps identified in seismic data. Corrections for sediment compaction, isostatic response to sediment load and thermal subsidence were included. A water level lowstand of −151 m was found for the last glaciation, ca 30 m lower than the global sea level stand at the Last Glacial Maximum. Water level could develop independently in the Black Sea due to its isolation from the global oceans when the water level of the Black Sea was lower than its outlet. In addition, a deepsea fan complex in the northwestern Black Sea was investigated by seismic reflection, showing that it can be divided into the Danube fan and the Dniepr fan (also fed by the rivers Dniestr and Southern Bug). Eight seismic sequences were distinguished in the northwestern Black Sea and their thicknesses and facies distributions mapped. The two lowermost sequences consist mainly of unchannelized mass transport deposits (slumps, slides, debris flows), while the six upper sequences with their typical channel–levee systems as well as overbank and mass transport deposits constitute the deepsea fan complex. Correlation of fan development with the regional water level curve yields an inferred age of ca 900 ka BP for the Danube fan; development of the Dniepr fan started probably about 100 ka later. Computed average sedimentation rates range between 1.19 and 2.19 m/ka for the Danube fan and between 1.07 and 2.03 m/ka for the Dniepr fan. The corresponding rates for sediment accumulation are 68–141 t/a and 41–82 t/a. Mean denudation rates in the drainage area are computed to be 0.027–0.105 mm/a and 0.017–0.127 mm/a, respectively.