A Turkish scientist and geologist, Osman Bektaş, spoke in a recent interview with btv about the looming dangers facing communities along the Black Sea coast. Bektaş asserts that the sea’s decline cannot be stopped or reversed and highlights the role of global warming in altering its natural structure.
According to Bektaş, the Black Sea comprises three distinct layers. He describes a bottom layer saturated with toxic gases, a middle interlayer where temperatures stay around eight degrees Celsius, and an upper region rich in oxygen that sustains fish and a wide range of marine life. The geologist notes that this middle protective layer has begun to thin as a result of rising temperatures and changing ocean currents driven by climate change.
Bektaş warns that the lower, gas-rich layer is likely to mix with the upper oxygenated layer in the future, creating a serious threat for coastal inhabitants. He believes this process is already underway and, from his perspective, cannot be adequately corrected if current trends persist.
The discussion echoes findings from a 2016 international study conducted by teams from Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the United States. The researchers spent about six decades investigating the Black Sea and arrived at a stark conclusion: if global warming continues and regional nations fail to reduce industrial waste released into the Black Sea basin rivers, the sea could become completely inhospitable within a matter of decades. The study warned that the Black Sea could resemble the ancient Pontus Euxinus in a grim sense of the term, not as a historical reference but as a warning about future livability for coastal ecosystems and human populations alike.