British scientists found a huge river flowing under the Black Sea bottom while exploring this sea by small submarines.
3D image of the river in the bottom of the Black Sea (Photo: Leeds University)
Telegraph said, experts from the University of Leeds, England used a small remote-controlled submarine to learn the Black Sea bottom. They detected a separate flow at the bottom. This flow has banks and meandering sections like terrestrial rivers.
The river, currently unnamed, is formed by saltwater flowing from the Mediterranean Sea into the Black Sea through the Bosphorus. Due to the heavier (because of higher salinity), water from the Mediterranean Sea sinks to the bottom of the Black Sea. During the flow it creates an incision with a depth of about 35 m and a width of approximately 1,000 m.
"This is the first time we have demonstrated the existence of the seabed and directly measured its flow , " said Dr. Dan Parsons, an expert at the Department of Earth and Environment at Leeds University. expression.
According to Parsons, water in the river is heavier and carries a lot of sediment.
The length of the river is about 60 km. The flow ends because the river meets the edge of the continental shelf and the river water merges into the sea. Dr. Parsons found that the river in the Black Sea is flowing at a rate of about 6.4 km / h and its flow is 22,000 m3 / second - 350 times the Thames and 10 times the Rhine.
If the Black Sea river lies on land, experts from Leeds University say it will be the sixth largest flow river in the world.
'Flat areas on the seabed are like barren deserts in the water world, but the river below the sea can carry the necessary nutrients for the creatures in those deserts. That means it plays a very important role for the sea, like the blood vessels in the living organism , "Parsons explained.
