This Sea Is the Most Mysterious in the World

Bright Side

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.  Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

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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