Study Area

Abstract

The chapter provides an overview of the study area that includes the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, and adjacent northern Caucasus. The Black Sea considered as the easternmost of the seas of the Atlantic Ocean basin by itself is the largest meromictic basin in the world, with an area. The basin was formed in the Mesozoic as a back-arc structure above the northward subducting Tethyan oceanic lithosphere and is surrounded by Alpide fold belts. In terms of crustal structure, the megadepression comprises (1) the western and eastern deep basins separated from each other by the Andrusov Ridge and (2) a number of tectonic structures that also surround the basins on each side. The Kerch and Taman peninsulas’ region lies at the junction of Crimean and Caucasian folding. It is potentially an oil- and gas-bearing region with a complex multitiered geological structure. The region is characterized by (1) the widest development of discontinuous tectonics of different levels that vary from deep and regional faults to small dislocations, (2) the presence of some folding systems in the upper structural floor, and (3) the widespread development of diapirism. The North Caucasus or Ciscaucasia is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Sea of Azov and Black Sea on the west and the Caspian Sea on the east.