00:008. Now get ready to dive into the Sea of Mysteries, also known as the Black Sea. It is the largest
00:08inland body of water in the world, bigger than the entire state of California. It has
00:13dozens of lost ships and some secret underwater tunnels. And some people believe it's an
00:20ancient quarry that was mined out in six stages.
00:24The Black Sea has distinct vertical layers that don't mix, with higher and lower salinity.
00:31The salty water comes from the Mediterranean, and fresh water comes from rivers. Ten of
00:36the largest rivers in Europe flow into the Black Sea. It receives more fresh water from
00:41the rivers and rainfall than it loses from evaporation.
00:45The extra water flows through the Bosphorus into the Marmara Sea. There are two flows
00:51going through the straits. The upper flow leaves the Black Sea and takes surface water
00:55out of it. The bottom flow carries salt water from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.
01:01That's why the upper layers of the Black Sea are less dense than its saltier lower layers.
01:06The oxygen that comes from the atmosphere and photosynthesis stays in the surface layers.
01:11Everything deeper than about 300 feet in the middle and up to 500 feet near the edge is
01:17not fit for life. Only certain bacteria can survive in these conditions.
01:23Although there's no air deep down in the Black Sea, the upper layer is home to around
01:28750 species of photoplankton. Eggs and larvae of fish and invertebrates chill in coastal
01:35regions. There are also 180 fish species in the Black Sea, and some of them are valuable,
01:42such as horse mackerel, spiny dogfish, and sprat.
01:46The water level in the Black Sea is always the same because there are no high or low
01:51tides, so the sea is always calm, quiet, and serene on the surface.
01:56But it has one surprise feature – an underwater river. It's a current of salty water flowing
02:02through the Bosphorus Strait and along the seabed.
02:05This amazing discovery was made by scientists from the University of Leeds and was announced
02:09in 2010. It's the first undersea river of its kind ever found.
02:15The river forms because salty water from the Mediterranean Sea spills through the Bosphorus
02:20Strait into the Black Sea, where the water is much less salty.
02:25The no-air zone of the sea is an ideal conservation chamber for what's hiding on its bottom.
02:32The Black Sea is like a treasure trove for shipwrecks, and we discovered it by accident.
02:38Some maritime archaeologists were studying sea levels to see how quickly the water levels
02:42rose after the last ice age. And they ran across over 40 previously unknown shipwrecks
02:49as a complete bonus.
02:52Researchers used two remotely operated vehicles to explore the seafloor and the wrecks. Thanks
02:57to it, we have a video and detailed 3D images of the ships that were stitched together from
03:02thousands of high-resolution photos.
03:05According to the New York Times, some of the standout discoveries among the 44 ships found
03:10include a medieval training vessel from the 13th or 14th century.
03:16Expedition members nicknamed another ship from the Ottoman Empire the Flower of the
03:20Black Sea for its beautiful petal carvings. The team also noticed unusual details on other
03:26ships, like coiled ropes, chisel marks, rudders, and other carvings.
03:31So far, they haven't announced any plans to excavate the shipwrecks. But the ships
03:36might be filled with historical treasures, like books, parchments, and documents. It's
03:41worth a try to rescue them.
03:44The most extraordinary discovery in the Black Sea is what archaeologists believe to be the
03:48world's oldest intact shipwreck. It has been lying undisturbed for over 2,400 years.
03:55This ancient Greek vessel, 75 feet long, was found with its mast, rudders, and rowing
04:01benches all still in place, over a mile beneath the surface. Researchers believe the ship
04:07was a trading vessel like those depicted on ancient Greek pottery, such as the siren vase
04:12in the British Museum. This vase, or vase, dating from the same period, shows a vessel
04:18carrying Odysseus past the sirens. The team took a small piece for carbon dating, and
04:24the results confirmed it as the oldest intact shipwreck known to humankind. The fact that
04:29it's so elaborate and well-preserved deserves a standing ovation for shipbuilders of the
04:34ancient world. Without microbes, worms, or other creatures to eat away the wrecks, it's
04:40no wonder the ships are in almost perfect condition. If the Titanic had sunk in these
04:45waters, we would've found it in a much better state now, not being eaten by nasty underwater
04:51microorganisms.
04:52Now, there's an interesting theory called the Black Sea Deluge Hypothesis, which suggests
04:59a huge flood happened around 7,500 years ago. Two geologists in the 1990s suggested that
05:06at the end of the last ice age, when the Earth's climate was heating up, ice sheets were melting
05:12and sea levels were rising. The Black Sea was a much smaller freshwater lake. It was
05:18separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a natural dam at the Bosphorus Strait. As global
05:23sea levels rose, the Mediterranean overflowed into the Black Sea basin. They suggest the
05:30sea level rose by 6 inches every day, flooded coastal settlements, and changed the environment
05:36for good. Samples from the Black Sea floor show a sudden shift from freshwater to marine
05:41species around that time, which means there was a rapid influx of saltwater.
05:47Other surveys have also found what looked like the old shorelines and human-made structures.
05:53So, people were living in areas now submerged by the Black Sea.
05:57Plus, the timing of this flood matches up with known patterns of human migration into
06:03Europe, Asia, and Africa. They also say this flood could be the terrible flood from the
06:07story of Noah's Ark.
06:10Critics of the deluge theory say the evidence isn't as straightforward as it seems. Some
06:15think the transition from freshwater to saltwater in the Black Sea was more gradual than one
06:21sudden flood. They're also debating if people left the settlements before they went underwater
06:26or as a result.
06:29An old chronicle that's been around for about a century says there were two underground
06:34tunnels starting in what is now Romania and Bulgaria and stretching all the way under
06:39the Black Sea to Turkey. Back in the day, peasants used these tunnels to move their
06:44flocks of sheep to the Ottoman Empire and countries on the Asia Minor Peninsula.
06:50Who built these tunnels and why they run under the sea is a complete mystery. At some point,
06:55the entrances to these tunnels were sealed off for national security and were under tight
07:00guard. The security forces knew all about these massive tunnels and kept them off-limits.
07:06In the 1980s, a group of people working on the Danube Black Sea Canal accidentally found
07:12another entrance to these mysterious tunnels. This one was in a cemetery in a town of Romania.
07:18Canal workers used it to regularly cross over into Bulgaria. One more cool thing about these
07:23two tunnels is that some people think they were built thousands of years ago. If you
07:28ever try to dig a tunnel under the sea, you'll know how tricky it is even now with all the
07:33tech we have. So if the tunnels are really that old, whoever built them was super advanced
07:39for their time.
07:41There's an urban legend that says that the Black Sea has its own version of the Bermuda
07:46Triangle. Fishers describes some wild whirlpool that appears out of nowhere and drags entire
07:52flocks of birds, ships, and even small islands under the sea. And once, things got even wilder
07:58with a ship that vanished under weird conditions in 1944. It was during daylight, and some
08:05black fog with green flashing sparkles suddenly surrounded the vessel. No one has ever seen
08:10it since, and no one knows for sure if the story is true. But it sure adds a spooky touch
08:16to the mysteries of the Black Sea.
08:19That's it for today! So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like
08:25and share it with your friends! Or if you want more, just click on these videos and
08:29stay on the Bright Side!
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