Black Sea Royalty-Free Stock Image

The Black Sea is a sea in Southeastern Europe. It is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosphorus Strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the Strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean Sea region of the Mediterranean. These waters separate eastern Europe and western Asia. The Black Sea is also connected to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch. The Black Sea has an area of 436,400 km2 (168,500 sq mi) (not including the Sea of Azov),[1] a maximum depth of 2,212 m (7,257 ft),[2] and a volume of 547,000 km3 (131,000 cu mi).[3] The Black Sea forms in an east-west trending elliptical depression which lies between Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.[4] It is constrained by the Pontic Mountains to the south and by the Caucasus Mountains to the east, and features a wide shelf to the northwest. The longest east-west extent is about 1,175 km (730 mi).