Considerations on the Black Sea salinity palaeo-budget during the late Pleistocene

The present study attempts to estimate the time of infilling of the Black Sea with Mediterranean water du ring the Late Pleistocene, using a hydraulic evaluation of saline water inflow through the Bosporus strait. This approach differs from previous research on the palaeo-hydrologic evolution of the Black Sea, research mainly confined to the salinity and water volume conservation. The author analyses two instances when the Black Sea levei was low. For these two instances, the time necessary for filling of the Black Sea with Mediterranean water and the changes of salinity and of water-level compared to the Marmara Sea levei are computed. The computation takes into consideration the present-day morphometry of the Black Sea and of the Bosporus strait, as well as similar to present-day climatic conditions (fresh water river discharge, precipitations and evaporations). The proposed model simulates the Black Sea infilling process and the changes of the average salinity. According to this model, the present sea-level and water salinity have been reached în thousands of years.