Organic Matter and Grain-Size Distribution of the Modern Bottom Sediments in the Balaklava Bay (the Black Sea)

N. A. Orekhova1, ✉, E. I. Ovsyany1, K. I. Gurov1, M. A. Popov2

1 Marine Hydrophysical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russian Federation

2 Kovalevsky Institute of Marine Biological Researches, Russian Academy of Sciences, Sevastopol, Russian Federation

✉ e-mail: natalia.orekhova@mhi-ras.ru

Abstract

The results of investigation of the bottom sediments sampled in the Balaklava Bay in February and June, 2015 are represented. The grain-size distribution, and the organic carbon (Corg) and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) content have been studied. Noticeable change in the fractions’ content that took place in course of the last 10 years is revealed. To a greater extent it is referred to the sand or gravel material, its quantitative characteristics and the features of its spatial distribution. As for the silt material in the Balaklava Bay sediments, its content, according to all the samples, grew, on the whole, from 58 to 66 %. The changes in the organic carbon abundance that took place in the bottom sediments in 2005–2015 were comparatively analyzed both for the Balaklava Bay and other water areas of the Heraklion Peninsula. A general tendency of the organic matter abundance to decrease in the bottom sediments of the bay was noted; it is treated as a result of some alteration in the anthropogenic pressure. The organic carbon mean concentration in the Balaklava Bay bottom sediments is two to three times lower than that in the other bays of the region which were subjected to permanent anthropogenic pressure. However, pollution of the Balaklava Bay with the untreated municipal, storm and industrial sewages leads to formation of the local bottom zones where the sediments are saturated with organic matter (Corg> 2.5 %). Such phenomena can exert a negative impact on the state of the marine environment ecology including, in particular, structural deviations in the macrozoobenthos community. Further decrease of the organic matter abundance is possible only in case the pollution basic sources are either completely removed or, at least, their influence is reduced. Such a condition is indispensable due to its extreme importance for implementing the state plan to turn the Balaklava Bay into a recreational area and a yacht marina.

Keywords

Balaklava Bay, bottom sediments, grain size, organic carbon, inorganic carbonate content

Acknowledgements

The study is carried out within the framework of the state task on the theme No. 0827-2018-0004 “Complex interdisciplinary investigations of the oceanologic processes conditioning functioning and evolution of the Black and Azov seas’ ecosystems of the coastal zones” (code “Coastal investigations”), RFBR projects No. 18-45-920007 “Geochemistry of the contaminating substances of the Balaklava Bay bottom sediments (the Black Sea) and No. 18-45-920008 “Estimating influence of the organic matter accumulation in the bottom sediments upon the change of the Red-Ox conditions in the bays of the Sevastopol region”.

Original russian text

Original Russian Text © The Authors, 2018, published in MORSKOY GIDROFIZICHESKIY ZHURNAL, Vol. 34, Iss. 6, pp. 523–533 (2018)

For citation

Orekhova, N.A., Ovsyany, E.I., Gurov, K.I. and Popov, M.A., 2018. Organic matter and grain-size distribution of the modern bottom sediments in the Balaklava Bay (the Black Sea). Physical Oceanography, 25(6), pp. 479-488. doi: 10.22449/1573-160X-2018-6-479-488

DOI

10.22449/1573-160X-2018-6-479-488

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