Marine Ecological Geography

In the early 1980s, being in Kiev at the representative technical council debated the problem on expediency and possible consequences of construction of the Dnieper-Bug hydraulic center, I had occasion to explain performers of the work, specialists of the large planning institute, what expected the Black Sea in case of realization of another “project of the century”. I diluted with enthusiasm on tens of thousands of dead fish, increasing volumes of fetid municipal sewage runoffs, saprobic water reservoirs, and many other possible consequences of construction of another dam on the Dnieper. Despite all my emotions, there was no tears in the room. The reaction of audience on information was more than calm. The discussion was closed with traditional question: “How much is your nature?”. This meant the sum of compensation for doing damage to nature.

Owing to efforts of the classics of modern natural science, during the history of its development the qualitative model of the outside world was formed. So, V.I. Vernadsky laid the basis for the doctrine about living matter and marine geochemistry (Vernadsky 1923, 1934), A.P. Vinogradov started to study a chemical composition of microorganisms (Vinogradov 1935), N.M. Knipovich was the pioneer of fishery research of the seas and brackish waters (Knipovich 1938), S.V. Bruevich developed the analytical methods of marine hydrochemical investigations and formulated the fundamentals of hydrochemistry, biohydrochemistry, and chemical dynamics of the seas (Bruevich 1933, 1978), L.A. Zenkevich studied fauna and bioproductivity of sea waters (Zenkevich 1947), A.B. Skopintsev started the investigations of nutrients and organic matter in water reservoirs and streams (Skopintsev 1950), G.G. Vinberg considered the problems of biological productivity formation in the seas (Vinberg 1960).

According to present ideas about the history of our planet, 400 million years ago the fourth in succession of Monogaea (2.6 billion years ago), Megagaea (1.8 billion years ago.) and Mesogaea–Rodinia (1 billion л.н.) supercontinent Pangaea (from the Greek meaning “all land”), or Wegener’s Land, has split into two near the equator. As a result, two continents were formed: Gondwana included Africa, Hindustan, Antarctica, Australia and the South America, in the south, and the Northern continent which initially represented the underwater margin (shelf) of Pangaea. About 280 million year ago, having risen above the sea surface, it formed Laurasia separated from Gondwana by the ancient Tethys Ocean (Sorokhtin and Ushakov 2002).

In September, 1973 the expedition of the Odessa Branch of Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas (OdO INBYUM) has found for the first time mass kill of benthic organisms between mouths of the Kiliya arm of the Danube and Dniester estuary on the area of 3,500 km² with depths from 10 to 20 m (Salsky 1977). The number of dead hydrobionts during this period reached 500 thousand tons. Thus, in the Zhebriyansk bay adjoining the Danube, near the coast there was a large concentration of half dead passive bottom fish. Since then the similar events which were named “suffocation”, during the summer—autumn period (from June to September) after offshore storms (under northerlies) are repeated from 4 to 10 times, being accompanied with “outbursts” of waters with unusual claybank color and hydrogen sulfide smell to the surface in the coastal zone (Fashchuk 1981). Near-bottom water, fishing gears, devices and ground lifted in the same time from the sea bottom on the open shelf sites at large distance from the coast have the similar smell

The northwestern shelf (NWSH) is not only the most productive region of the Black Sea. At the end of the XX century this aquatory became an arena of intensive economic activities. Among a variety of its forms the development of marine gas fields by Ukraine is ecologically the most actual.

From ancient times the ocean was the major source of food for mankind. Throughout many millennia of existence of our civilization its biological resources were considered as the inexhaustible. In the seventeenth century Dutch scientist–lawyer Hugo Grotius by working on principles of economic development of the World Ocean fondly believed that “the sea cannot be exhausted neither owing to sailing, nor owing to fishing, that is any of ways with which it can be used.” However, soon the world was convinced of an inconsistency of this concept of ocean as “RES COMMUNIS”—things belonging to all. Having killed fur seal stocks in the span of just a few years, in 1911 the heads of leading powers—the USA, Russia, Japan and Great Britain (Canada)—have entered into the first agreement in the history of a marine law on protection of ocean resources.

In Chap. 2 of the monograph, the calculated trajectories of oil product slick in the Kerch Strait under the influence of different wind situations and prevailing currents in case of the hypothetical 1500 t oil spill in consequence of the tanker wreck were shown as an illustration of the prognostic marine ecological maps. By a twist of fate, on November 11, 2007 during the extreme storm in the strait the tanker Volgoneft-139 which stood at the anchorage broke in two, and more than 1000 t of fuel oil came into the sea de facto. We made the analysis of this accident on the basis of geographic ecological research and prognostic calculations by hydrodynamic model of oil spill SPILLMOD

In the middle of the 3rd century BC the Greek mathematician, philosopher, and poet Eratosthenes of Syene (circa 276–194 BC) suggested to use five latitudinal zones on the maps and was the first, who named geography as “geography”. According to his calculations, the circumference of the Earth made about 25,000 miles (24,860 miles by present data). The hot zone occupied 48° of latitude on the Earth, and the 24° to the north and to the south of the equator was designated as a “tropic line”. The cold zones occupied on 24° from the poles, being confined by the “northern and southern polar circles”, and the temperate areas were located between the tropics and polar circles. For these achievements he is deservedly considered as “the father of geography” but few people know that the jealous contemporaries of Eratosthenes gave him another two contemptuous, in their opinion, nicknames, “Beta” and “Pentatlos” (Pentatlonist). By the first nickname the professional snobs indicated his minor role in many fields of science, including mathematics. The second expressed their irritation concerning a variety of his nonmathematical interests and breadth of knowledge which were over the head of the narrowly focused specialists. But in fact, by these nicknames the ancient “well-wishers” unwillingly and being unsuspicious of this, only emphasized the unique features of direction in thinking of the ingenious geographer of all ages.