The Black Sea is full of mysteries and interesting facts! Using remote-controlled vehicles, researchers found more than 40 ancient sunken ships in great condition underwater. There's a theory called "The Black Sea Deluge Hypothesis," which suggests the Black Sea was once a big freshwater lake that flooded quickly, in just 1-3 years. Beneath the sea, there’s a vast network of tunnels that might connect Romania and Turkey, with chisel marks showing they were man-made, but no one knows who made them. Plus, the Black Sea has two layers of water: a habitable freshwater layer on top and a deep, salty layer below where only bacteria and microorganisms live.
00:00Hey now, get ready to dive into the Sea of Mysteries, also known as the Black Sea.
00:07It is the largest inland body of water in the world, bigger than the entire state of California.
00:13It has dozens of lost ships and some secret underwater tunnels.
00:18And some people believe it's an ancient 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.
00:30The salty water comes from the Mediterranean, and fresh water comes from rivers.
00:36Ten of the largest rivers in Europe flow into the Black Sea.
00:39It receives more fresh water from the rivers and rainfall than it loses from evaporation.
00:45The extra water flows through the Bosphorus into the Marmara Sea.
00:50There are two flows going through the Straits.
00:52The upper flow leaves the Black Sea and takes surface water out of it.
00:56The bottom flow carries salt water from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.
01:00That'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 not fit for life.
01:18Only certain bacteria can survive in these conditions.
01:22Although there's no air deep down in the Black Sea, the upper layer is home to around 750 species of photoplankton.
01:32Eggs and larvae, fish, and invertebrates chill in coastal regions.
01:35There are also 180 fish species in the Black Sea, and some of them are valuable, such 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 tides.
01:51So the sea is always calm, quiet, and serene on the surface.
01:55But it has one surprise feature, an underwater river.
02:00It's a current of salty water flowing through the Bosphorus Strait and along the seabed.
02:05This amazing discovery was made by scientists from the University of Leeds and was announced in 2010.
02:11It's the first undersea river of its kind ever found.
02:14The river forms because salty water from the Mediterranean Sea spills through the Bosphorus Strait 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.
02:31The 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 rose after the last ice age.
02:45And they ran across over 40 previously unknown shipwrecks as a complete bonus.
02:52Researchers used two remotely operated vehicles to explore the seafloor and the wrecks.
02:56Thanks to it, we have a video and detailed 3D images of the ships that were stitched together from thousands of high-resolution photos.
03:05According to the New York Times, some of the standout discoveries among the 44 ships found include a medieval training vessel from the 13th or 14th century.
03:15Expedition members nicknamed another ship from the Ottoman Empire the Flower of the Black Sea for its beautiful petal carvings.
03:23The team also noticed unusual details on other ships, like coiled ropes, chisel marks, rudders, and other carvings.
03:31So far, they haven't announced any plans to excavate the shipwrecks.
03:35But the ships might be filled with historical treasures, like books, parchments, and documents.
03:40It's worth a try to rescue them.
03:42The most extraordinary discovery in the Black Sea is what archaeologists believe to be the world's oldest intact shipwreck.
03:50It 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 benches all still in place, over a mile beneath the surface.
04:04Researchers believe the ship was a trading vessel, like those depicted on ancient Greek pottery, such as the Siren Vase in the British Museum.
04:14This vase, or vase, dating from the same period, shows a vessel carrying Odysseus past the Sirens.
04:21The team took a small piece for carbon dating, and the results confirmed it as the oldest intact shipwreck known to humankind.
04:28The fact that it's so elaborate and well-preserved deserves a standing ovation for shipbuilders of the ancient world.
04:35Without microbes, worms, or other creatures to eat away the wrecks, it's no wonder the ships are in almost perfect condition.
04:43If the Titanic had sunk in these waters, we would have found it in a much better state now, not being eaten by nasty underwater microorganisms.
04:52Now, there's an interesting theory called the Black Sea Deluge Hypothesis, which suggests a huge flood happened around 7,500 years ago.
05:03Two geologists in the 1990s suggested that at the end of the last ice age, when the Earth's climate was heating up, ice sheets were melting and sea levels were rising.
05:13The Black Sea was a much smaller freshwater lake.
05:17It was separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a natural dam at the Bosphorus Strait.
05:23As global sea levels rose, the Mediterranean overflowed into the Black Sea Basin.
05:29They suggest the sea level rose by 6 inches every day, flooded coastal settlements, and changed the environment for good.
05:37Samples from the Black Sea floor show a sudden shift from freshwater to marine species around that time,
05:42which means there was a rapid influx of saltwater.
05:47Underwater 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 Europe, Asia, and Africa.
06:04They also say this flood could be the terrible flood from the story of Noah's Ark.
06:08Critics of the Deluge theory say the evidence isn't as straightforward as it seems.
06:15Some think the transition from freshwater to saltwater in the Black Sea was more gradual than one sudden flood.
06:22They're also debating if people left the settlements before they went underwater or as a result.
06:27An old chronicle that's been around for about a century says there were two underground tunnels starting in what is now Romania and Bulgaria and stretching all the way under the Black Sea to Turkey.
06:40Back in the day, peasants used these tunnels to move their flocks of sheep to the Ottoman Empire and countries on the Asia Minor Peninsula.
06:49Who built these tunnels and why they run under the sea is a complete mystery.
06:54At some point, the entrances to these tunnels were sealed off for national security and were under tight guard.
07:01The security forces knew all about these massive tunnels and kept them off limits.
07:05In the 1980s, a group of people working on the Danube-Black Sea Canal accidentally found another entrance to these mysterious tunnels.
07:14This one was in a cemetery in a town of Romania.
07:18Canal workers used it to regularly cross over into Bulgaria.
07:22One more cool thing about these two tunnels is that some people think they were built thousands of years ago.
07:27If you ever try to dig a tunnel under the sea, you'll know how tricky it is even now with all the tech we have.
07:34So if the tunnels are really that old, whoever built them was super advanced for their time.
07:41Now, there's an urban legend that says that the Black Sea has its own version of the Bermuda Triangle.
07:47Fishers describe some wild whirlpool that appears out of nowhere and drags entire flocks of bird ships and even small islands under the sea.
07:56And once, things got even wilder with a ship that vanished under weird conditions in 1944.
08:02It was during daylight, and some black fog with green flashing sparkles suddenly surrounded the vessel.
08:09No one has ever seen it since, and no one knows for sure if the story is true.
08:14But it sure adds a spooky touch to the mysteries of the Black Sea.
08:18That's it for today.
08:21So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
08:26Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.
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