Man is an integral part of nature. She can be favorable, friendly to us. We drink water, breathe air, get heat and food from the environment. This is the source of our life.
But our planet can not only give its wealth to people, but also bring destruction, troubles and hardships. Earthquakes, fires and floods, tornadoes and volcanic eruptions kill many people. A natural disaster in the Black Sea could be hydrogen sulfide. There is a lot of it in these waters.
The Black Sea neighborhood can cause tragedy for many people. What are the options for the development of events, as well as how to avoid them, scientists find out. It is interesting to know about their opinion to every resident of our country and the whole world.
What is hydrogen sulfide?
Without going into chemical formulas, you should consider what properties hydrogen sulfide has. It is a colorless gas characterized by a stable combination of sulfur and hydrogen. It is destroyed only at temperatures above 500 ºС.
It is toxic to all living organisms. Only some types of bacteria survive in this environment. Gas is known for its peculiar smell of eggs that are rotten. No flora and fauna is present in the water in which hydrogen sulfide is dissolved. The waters of the Black Sea contain it in huge quantities. The hydrogen sulfide zone is simply impressively huge.
It was discovered back in 1890 by N.I. Andrusov. True, in those days it was not yet known exactly what quantities it contained in these waters. Researchers lowered metal objects to different depths. In hydrogen sulfide water indicators are covered with a black sulfide layer. Therefore, there is an assumption that this sea got its name precisely because of this feature of its waters.
Features of the Black Sea
Some people have a question: where does hydrogen sulfide come from in the Black Sea? But it should be noted that this is not an exclusive feature of the presented reservoir. Researchers find this gas in so many seas and lakes around the world. It accumulates in natural layers due to the absence of oxygen at great depths.
Organic remains, sinking to the bottom, do not oxidize, but rot. This contributes to the formation of toxic gas. In the Black Sea, it is dissolved in 90% of the water mass. Moreover, the bedding is uneven. Off the coast, it begins at a depth of 300 m, and in the center it is already found at the level of 100 m. But in some areas of the Black Sea, the layer of pure water is even less.
There is another theory of the origin of hydrogen sulfide. Some scientists claim that it is formed due to the tectonic activity of volcanoes acting at the bottom. But adherents of biological theory are still more.
Water movement
In the process of mixing the water masses are processed, hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea changes its shape. The reasons why it nevertheless accumulates are in different levels of salinity of the water. The layers mix very weakly, since the sea does not have sufficient communication with the ocean.
Only two narrow straits facilitate the process of water exchange. The Bosphorus Strait connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles Strait - with the Mediterranean. The closeness of the reservoir leads to the fact that the Black Sea has a salinity of only 16-18 ppm. Ocean masses are characterized by this indicator at the level of 34-38 ppm.
The Sea of Marmara acts as a mediator between these two systems. Its salinity is 26 ppm. The water of Marmara flows into the Black Sea and sinks to the bottom (since it is heavier). The difference in temperature, density and salinity of the layers leads to the fact that they mix very slowly. Therefore, hydrogen sulfide accumulates in the natural masses.
Ecological catastrophy
Hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea has become the subject of close attention of scientists for a number of reasons. The environmental situation here has deteriorated significantly in recent decades. Mass discharge of waste of various origins led to the death of many species of algae, plankton. They began to settle at the bottom faster. Scientists also found that in 2003 a colony of red algae was completely destroyed. This representative of the flora produced about 2 million cubic meters. m of oxygen per year. This restrained the growth of hydrogen sulfide.
Nowadays, the main competitor of toxic gas simply does not exist. Therefore, environmentalists are alarmed by the current situation. While it does not threaten our safety, but over time, a gas bubble may exit to the surface.
Upon contact with hydrogen sulfide, an explosion occurs. It destroys all life in the radius of defeat. No ecosystem can resist human activities. This brings a possible disaster closer.
Explosion at sea
There are sad incidents in history when the waters of the sea blazed with fire. The first recorded case occurred in 1927, 25 kilometers from Yalta. At this time, the city was destroyed by a powerful earthquake of eight points.
But it was remembered by the affected inhabitants also for the terrible fire that swept the vast expanses of water. People then had no idea why the Black Sea was burning. Hydrogen sulfide, the explosion of which was caused by tectonic activity, came to the surface. But such cases may recur.
Hydrogen sulfide, coming to the surface, is in contact with air. This leads to an explosion. He can destroy entire cities.
The first possible explosion factor
An explosion that can take the lives of thousands, millions of people and all living organisms in the affected area can occur with a high degree of probability. And that's why. In the Black Sea, hydrogen sulfide is not processed, accumulating under an ever-decreasing thickness of clean water. Humanity is irresponsible to this problem. Instead of using toxic gas processing technologies, we discharge waste into the water. The process of decay is aggravated.
Telephone, oil and gas pipelines pass along the bottom of the Black Sea. They are damaged, fires occur. This could cause an explosion. Therefore, human activity can be considered the first factor in a possible disaster.
Second cause of the explosion
Natural disasters can also trigger an explosion. Tectonic activity in this area is not uncommon. Hydrogen sulfide at the bottom of the Black Sea may be disturbed by an earthquake or volcanic eruption. Scientists say that if today the same disaster happened as in September 1927, the explosion would be so strong that a huge number of people would die. Further, a huge amount of sulfur would enter the atmosphere. Acid rains would do a lot of harm.
A thin layer of clean water is getting smaller. Especially close is hydrogen sulfide coming to the surface in the southeast of the Black Sea. During tectonic rock shifts in this area, a terrible catastrophe is possible. But today, an explosion is possible in any area.
The third cause of the disaster
Thinning of a clean layer of seawater can lead to spontaneous release of a poisonous gas bubble from the bowels. Where in the Black Sea so much hydrogen sulfide, no wonder. The main factors of environmental degradation were considered earlier.
Scientists say: if all of the hydrogen sulfide resting at the bottom rises to the surface, the explosion will be comparable to the impact of an asteroid the size of half the moon. This would be a global catastrophe, forever changing the face of our planet.
In some areas, poisonous gas approaches the surface at a distance of 15 m. Scientists say that at this level hydrogen sulfide disappears itself in the process of autumn storms. But this trend is still alarming. Over time, the situation, unfortunately, only worsens. From time to time, a huge amount of dead fish, caught in a hydrogen sulfide cloud, is nailed to the shores. Plankton and algae also die. This is a formidable warning to humanity about an impending disaster.
Similar disasters
Poisonous gas is found in many reservoirs of the world. This is far from the unique phenomenon that characterizes the bottom of the Black Sea. Hydrogen sulfide has already shown its destructive power to people. Information on such misfortunes can be drawn from history.
For example, in Cameroon, in a village on the shores of Lake Nyos, the entire population died due to the rise of gas to the surface. The people who were caught in disaster were found through the time by the guests of the village. This misfortune claimed the lives of 1746 people in 1986.
Six years before these events in Peru, fishermen going out to sea returned without a catch. Their ships were black due to the oxide film. People were starving because a large population of fish died.
In 1983, for unknown reasons, the water of the Dead Sea darkened. It was as if it was turned upside down, and hydrogen sulfide from the bottom rose to the surface. If such a process occurred on the Black Sea, all life in the surrounding areas would die as a result of an explosion or poisoning by toxic fumes.
Real situation today
In the Black Sea, hydrogen sulfide is constantly making itself felt. Upwells (ascending currents) raise gases to the surface. They are not uncommon in the Crimean, Caucasian regions. Near Odessa, there are frequent cases of mass death of fish that fell into the hydrogen sulfide cloud.
A very dangerous situation is when such emissions occur in a thunderstorm. Lightning that has fallen into a large outbreak provokes a fire. The smell of rotten eggs, which people feel, indicates an excess of the permissible concentration of toxic substance in the air.
This can lead to poisoning and even death. Therefore, the deterioration of the environmental situation should be noticed by us. It is necessary to take measures to reduce the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the waters of the Black Sea.
