Some people know, and for some, maybe this is news, but: in the Black Sea, at a level of 50-100 meters from the surface, there is a giant layer of hydrogen sulfide. In some seas there is a similar, but not on such a scale. Yes, and the layer increases and at the same time rises to the surface.

It is because of this layer in the sea that the most small number inhabitants: under the layer is a dead zone. Where is this layer from? There are several equivalent hypotheses for this, but none of them falls short of a full-fledged theory. What will happen when hydrogen sulfide comes to the surface? Yes, there will be mass deaths.

Under the cut - a couple of articles on this topic, which I found the most interesting.

Danger lurks in seabed!

The Black Sea, shining under the rays of the warm southern sun - what could be more beautiful? Huge, alluring, clean, transparent and incredibly beautiful... Surely, these are the epithets that come to each of us at the mere thought of this sea - a source of inspiration for poets and a favorite vacation spot for many modern citizens. But few people know that at the bottom of the amazing sea with the proud name Chernoe, a mortal danger lurks - a lifeless abyss filled with poisonous, flammable, explosive gas with a disgusting smell of rotten eggs.

As a result of a large-scale oceanographic expedition carried out back in 1890, it was found that about 90% of the volume of the sea is filled with hydrogen sulfide and only 10% - clean water not contaminated with poisonous gas. In the lower layer of the sea, neither animals nor plants are able to survive, but only certain types bacteria. deadly dangerous gas fills a huge space, killing all life in its path. The entire volume of sea water is divided into two parts, surface water can reach the bottom of the sea only after hundreds of years. This property is unique, in the whole world there is not a single sea without a solid bottom.

The maximum depth of the Black Sea is just over two kilometers. The top layer of water where life is concentrated marine life, has a depth of only 100 meters, and in some places the thickness of the clear water layer barely reaches 50 meters. Under it is a liquid lens of "dead" water, periodically breaking out and showing its destructive essence. Major breakthroughs are quite rare, but each of them brings a lot of harm to marine life. According to experts, the explosion of all hydrogen sulfide can be compared to the meeting of the Earth with an asteroid with a mass half that of the Moon.

About the causes of the appearance of hydrogen sulfide

Disputes over the cause of the appearance of hydrogen sulfide at the bottom of the Black Sea have not subsided so far. The poisonous gas could have come from cracks in the seafloor, or it could have come from the specific action of bacteria. Without oxygen in the deep layers of the Black Sea, only anaerobic bacteria, which are involved in the decomposition of the remains of living organisms, can survive. As a result of this decomposition, hydrogen sulfide can be formed. According to another version, poisonous gas could be formed due to the specific communication of the sea with the oceans through the narrow Bosporus. A certain amount of water penetrates from the Mediterranean Sea into the Black Sea, turning it into a kind of sump, which has accumulated over many years a large number of hydrogen sulfide.

Even 10 years ago, the issue of poisonous gas was considered one of the top priorities in the Black Sea countries, but today the hydrogen sulfide threat seems to have been completely forgotten. However, this problem has not disappeared and is not going to disappear. But how real is the danger? Perhaps everything is not so scary and hydrogen sulfide, hidden in the depths of the seabed, will remain there forever, without disturbing anyone? And what forces can contribute to the explosion of a huge amount of poisonous gas? These questions can be answered by the following reasoning.

The first reason for a possible explosion

Imagine hypothetically that at the bottom Black Sea there was an explosion. Is it worth specifying what consequences will be experienced by marine organisms and inhabitants of coastal areas? At a minimum, the first ones will die, as a maximum - alas, both of them ... It sounds intimidating, but who needs to blow up the Black Sea? There are hardly any good reasons for this, even among the most notorious terrorists. But here is the time to remember what causes all the troubles on our planet? That's right - from human actions, often uncontrolled and irresponsible. One has only to wait for the moment when oil and gas companies will lay pipelines along the bottom of the Black Sea. The complexity of the repair and maintenance of such structures in an explosive environment will sooner or later lead to their failure and, as a result, to a large-scale explosion in the hydrogen sulfide layer. What happens next is easy to guess. The Black Sea region can become a zone of ecological disaster, dangerous for people's lives. Innocent people will pay for someone's rash actions and neglect of questions. environmental safety.

The second reason for a possible explosion

The cause of the explosion of hydrogen sulfide can be not only human irresponsibility, but also the vagaries of nature. The last such explosion occurred in 1927 during a strong earthquake in Yalta. Two months before the incident, a phenomenon occurred that surprised local residents - local fishermen noticed a strange wave of water and a small swell, as if boiling for unknown reasons. A few minutes later, the eyewitnesses were deafened by an underwater roar - it was a "preparatory" push coming from the depths of the sea.
Deep in the night On September 12, 1927, the Crimean peninsula experienced the full power of an eight-magnitude earthquake. The epicenter was located near Yalta, but many other Crimean cities also suffered, serious damage to buildings and communications was recorded, crops died in the fields, and collapses and landslides occurred in the mountains.

But the most incredible phenomena occurred at sea. Eyewitnesses testified that the perturbations of the earth's crust were accompanied by a disgusting stench and flashes directed from the surface of the sea surface to the heavens. Pillars of fire, shrouded in smoke, reached several hundred meters in height. The Black Sea was burning, the same smell of rotten eggs was in the air. Lightning discharges hit precisely those places where hydrogen sulfide was concentrated. There were many versions about the reasons for this phenomenon, according to one of them, it was poisonous gas on the seabed that became the source of the explosion.
If the Crimean earthquake happened in our time, when hydrogen sulfide is under a thin film of water, everything would turn into a global catastrophe. Experts who are seriously puzzled by this problem paint a sad picture: an explosion of hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea can lead to strong tectonic shifts and the release of a large amount of sulfuric acid into the atmosphere. acid rain, poisoned air, a series of earthquakes - that's what the population of coastal areas can expect.

The third reason for a possible explosion

Hydrogen sulfide can explode for another reason. Over time, the top layer can simply become thinner, especially since in Lately there is a constant tendency towards a slow but sure emaciation of the layer of pure water. According to scientists, in a few years the thickness of the protective layer will be no more than 15 meters. All the fault will be anthropogenic pollution of sea water, which occurs regularly. Already, in some places, the presence of hydrogen sulfide is recorded at such a depth, but experts assure that the poisonous gas does not come from the bottom of the sea at all, but from the surface of the earth. Hydrogen sulfide, formed from fertilizers that have fallen into the sea, disappears during autumn storms.

Ways to solve the problem

Experts say that the tragedy can be avoided, it is enough to act competently and in a coordinated manner for the benefit of the Black Sea. Scientists are not sitting idle - they already have some developments in stock, the main idea of ​​​​which is to use the Black Sea hydrogen sulfide as a fuel, because the poisonous gas releases a huge amount of heat during combustion. Sounds tempting, but how do you extract hydrogen sulfide from the seafloor? According to a group of scientists from Kherson, this is not difficult to do: it is enough to lower a strong pipe to a depth of about 80 meters and raise water through it once. Due to the pressure difference, a fountain is formed, consisting of gas and water. Simply put, an effect similar to opening a bottle of champagne will occur. In 1990, the authors of the idea made an experiment proving the possibility of such a fountain to work for a long period until hydrogen sulfide comes out.
Another method has also been developed for lifting hydrogen sulfide to the sea surface. Scientists have proposed to put on pipes fresh water less dense than sea water. Several of these pipes, creating the effect of artificial aeration, would stop the spread of hydrogen sulfide and gradually completely eliminate it. Such manipulations are already being effectively carried out for cleaning aquariums and small ponds.

Similar developments, like many others in countries former Union, have remained unclaimed. People who have the opportunity to solve the problem turn a blind eye to it. I would like to hope that such self-confidence will not lead to sad consequences, and the Black Sea will remain for us as clean, transparent and incredibly fabulously beautiful.

When in my distant childhood I read a poem by K.I. Chukovsky's "Confusion", I was most surprised by the pictures of the burning sea. It seemed like something really incredible, absurd. However, recently I learned that the sea can really catch fire, and the facts of its ignition are already known to history.

So, in 1927, when there was a major earthquake in the Crimea, fires in the Black Sea were recorded near Evpatoria and Sevastopol. However, then the fire at sea was caused by the release of methane - natural gas, the release of which from the bowels was provoked by an earthquake. The spectacle was amazing. Of course, this news was not advertised, but when journalists got their hands on information about those events in the 90s of the 20th century, the newspapers burst into sensationalism. The explosion in popularity of these articles was caused not so much by a methane release as by a distortion of facts: the newspapers wrote about the fire not of methane, but of hydrogen sulfide, after which it was concluded that a global catastrophe was possible.

There was something to be desperate about. Hydrogen sulfide, as you know, is a fairly stable combination of hydrogen and sulfur (decomposes only at a temperature of 500 degrees), a colorless poisonous gas with a pungent smell of rotten eggs. The hydrogen sulfide zone in the Black Sea was discovered in 1890 by N.I. Andrusov. Already then guessed about the large quantities of deposits of this gas. So, if you lower a metal load on a rope into the depths, then it will return completely black due to deposits of sulfites on it - salts that hydrogen sulfide forms with metals. (One of the hypotheses says that the Black Sea owes its name to this phenomenon).

However, at the beginning of the 20th century, it turned out that there is not just a lot of hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea, but a lot - below a depth of 150-200 m, a continuous hydrogen sulfide zone begins. It is distributed, however, unevenly: near the coast, its upper boundary reaches 300 m, while in the center, hydrogen sulfide approaches a depth of about 100 m. Total hydrogen sulfide dissolved in the Black Sea reaches 90%, so that all life is concentrated in a small surface layer, and there is no deep-sea fauna in the Black Sea.

Hydrogen sulfide is not some unique property only the Black Sea, it is found in soft remains at the bottom of all seas. The accumulation of this gas is due to the fact that oxygen practically does not penetrate into the water column and the processes of decay of organic residues prevail over oxidative processes. Sometimes hydrogen sulfide zones can form quite extensive accumulations. So, for example, the rift zone, discovered in 1977 in the zone of the underwater ridge Pacific Ocean, south of the Galapagos Islands, also contains hydrogen sulfide in large quantities; there are hydrogen sulfide zones in some deep closed bays.

One of the theories of the origin of hydrogen sulfide (the so-called "geological theory") suggests that hydrogen sulfide is released during underwater volcanic activity, and it can enter the seas through tectonic faults in the earth's crust. Hydrogen sulfide lakes in Kamchatka can serve as proof of this theory. Another theory - biological - says that we owe the production of hydrogen sulfide to bacteria, which, processing organic remains that have fallen to the bottom of the sea, form a substance from soil salts (sulphates), which, when combined with sea water, forms hydrogen sulfide.

However, one should not think that hydrogen sulfide is stored in the seas as Chemical substance in a warehouse, sealed in boxes. The sea is a constantly working biochemical laboratory. Thanks to the work of bacteria, plants and animals, some elements in the sea are constantly transformed into others. Ecological chains are formed in which a balance is maintained that determines the integrity of the entire structure. Bacteria play a huge role in the decomposition of organic remains into forms consumed by plants. Some bacteria can live without oxygen and light (anaerobic bacteria), others need sunlight, others recycle organic compounds using both light and oxygen. Getting into different layers of the sea, organic matter enters the corresponding cycle of its processing and, ultimately, the cycle closes - the system returns to its original state.

Therefore, when the layers of the sea move (mixing), hydrogen sulfide is gradually converted into other compounds. In the Black Sea, water is mixed very weakly. The reason for this is the sharp changes in salinity, separating sea water, as in a glass of cocktail, into separate layers. main reason the appearance of such layers is the insufficient connection of the sea with the ocean. The Black Sea is connected to it by two narrow straits - the Bosphorus, leading to the Sea of ​​Marmara, and the Dardanelles, which maintains contact with a fairly salty mediterranean sea. Such isolation leads to the fact that the salinity of the Black Sea does not exceed 16-18 ppm (a value equal to the salt content in human blood), while the salinity of normal ocean water should be in the range of 33-38 ppm (the Sea of ​​Marmara, having an intermediate salinity of about 26 ppm, acts as a kind of buffer that prevents the highly saline waters of the Mediterranean from flowing directly into the Black Sea). Salt water from the Sea of ​​Marmara, as a heavier one, when meeting with the waters of the Black Sea, sinks to the bottom and enters its lower layers in the form of an undercurrent. In the boundary layer region, not only abrupt change salinity - "halocline", but also a sharp change in water density - "pinocline" and temperature - "thermocline" (deeper, denser layers of water always have a constant temperature - 8-9 degrees above zero). Such heterogeneous layers make our sea cocktail a real layered cake, and, of course, it becomes very difficult to “mix” it. So, in order for water from the surface of the water to reach the bottom of the sea, hundreds of years are needed. All these factors lead to the fact that hydrogen sulfide, constantly accumulating in the depths of the Black Sea, gradually formed a vast lifeless zone.

Unfortunately, huge quantities of fertilizers and untreated sewage have been dumped into the sea lately, causing a glut. growth medium Black Sea. This was the reason for the rapid flowering of phytoplankton and the decrease in water transparency. The insufficiency of solar energy supply, necessary for the respiration of plants, led to the mass death of algae, and, along with them, of many living beings. Underwater forests gave way to thickets of primitive, fast-growing sea grass (filamentous and lamellar algae). Organic remains, not processed by bacteria, fall to the seabed in countless quantities. There is a mass death of flora and fauna.

In 2003, a unique accumulation of the red algae phyllophora (Zernov's phyllophora field), with an area of ​​11 thousand square meters, was completely destroyed. km., which occupied almost the entire part of the northwestern shelf of the Black Sea. This "green belt" of the sea produced about 2 million cubic meters. m of oxygen per day and, of course, with its destruction, the kingdom of hydrogen sulfide has lost one of its main competitors in the struggle for natural resources - oxygen that oxidizes it.

The high rate of death of algae and sea grass, the mass death of living beings, the decrease in the level of oxygen in the water - all these factors inexorably lead to the accumulation of a huge amount of decaying residues in the depths of the Black Sea and to an increase in the amount of hydrogen sulfide in the water.

So far, we are not afraid of hydrogen sulfide, since in order for the gas bubble to come to the surface, its concentration is needed, which is 1000 times higher than the existing level. However, you should not relax. Too many factors speed up this process. Among them: the construction of breakwaters that reduce the rate of water circulation, work to deepen the seabed, laying oil pipelines, discharging fertilizers and sewage into the sea, and mining. Human activity is of such magnitude that no ecosystem can withstand it. What threatens us?

Studying the archaeological layers, scientists have discovered amazing fact almost instantaneous disappearance of the vast majority of life forms in the Permian period. One of the theories explaining such a catastrophe states that the massive death of fauna and flora was due to an explosion of a poisonous gas, presumably hydrogen sulfide, which could have been formed both due to numerous eruptions of underwater volcanoes, and as a result of the activity of hydrogen sulfide-producing bacteria. Research by Lee Kamp from the University of Pennsylvania, USA, showed that a decrease in the concentration of oxygen in the sea provokes an increased reproduction of bacteria that produce hydrogen sulfide. When a critical concentration is reached, this process can lead to the release of toxic gas into the atmosphere. Of course, it is too early to talk about any specific conclusions, the dynamics of changes in hydrogen sulfide levels is not exactly clear yet (it may take about 10 years to conduct a comprehensive analysis), but one cannot but feel a hidden threat in the facts presented. Nature has always been too patient with us. Can we expect salvation from her this time too?

4. Well, about hydrogen sulfide as a source of energy, one more thing:

The advantages of hydrogen as a fuel over gasoline are summarized as follows:

Inexhaustibility. The total mass of hydrogen atoms is 1% of the total mass of the Earth;
Environmental friendliness. When burned, hydrogen turns into water and returns to the Earth's cycle. The greenhouse effect is not enhanced, there are no emissions of harmful substances during combustion;
The weight calorific value of hydrogen is 2.8 times higher than that of gasoline;
The ignition energy is 15 times lower than that of gasoline, the flame radiation during combustion is 10 times less.
It would be possible to store the resulting hydrogen with the help of an energy storage substance. This topic is well developed in theory. There are many different EAVs. Such a substance (for example, wood) is created (emerges) under the influence of energy (solar), and then, as a result of oxidation (combustion), it gives off this energy (heat). Another example of such a substance is silicon. Only, unlike wood, it can be restored from oxide (the so-called "Varshavsky-Chudakov cycle").

So, according to scientists, there is a real opportunity to extract and accumulate hydrogen from the Black Sea hydrogen sulfide with its subsequent use in the energy sector. True, the energy system of the country is completely unprepared to take advantage of this opportunity at the current stage. Meanwhile, the situation with conventional fuels is becoming increasingly threatening. Hydrogen could become an alternative to gasoline.

And some more numbers. One ton of hydrogen sulfide contains 58 kg of hydrogen. When burning 58 kg of hydrogen, the same amount of energy is released as when burning 222 liters of gasoline. The Black Sea contains at least a billion tons of hydrogen sulfide, which is equivalent to 222 billion liters of gasoline.

5 . Well, a little history and, again, some theories,

The information in the articles is repeated in places, I just chose the most interesting of them.

Black Sea. It would seem so familiar and absolutely safe. Nothing like this. In its waters, not only poisonous marine life awaits you, but there is a more serious threat - suffocating poisonous fumes.

Dead zone

Not everyone knows that 90% of the Black Sea waters are saturated with hydrogen sulfide. This discovery was made back in 1890 by the Russian geologist Nikolai Andrusov. In some places, the hydrogen sulfide layer is located at a distance of 50 meters from the sea surface, and it constantly continues to strive upward. Periodically, a liquid lens of "dead" water approaches very close to the surface layers, which has a detrimental effect on the inhabitants of the underwater world.

However, there is still life in the hydrogen sulfide cloud, although in the absence of oxygen, only some species can exist here. sea ​​worms and anaerobic bacteria involved in the decomposition of the remains of living organisms.

Hydrogen sulfide in water is not a unique phenomenon; it is also found in other seas and oceans. But given that the Black Sea is actually isolated from the World Ocean by the shallow Bosphorus and there is practically no normal water exchange, the concentration of hydrogen sulfide here is off scale.

Sometimes, as a result of storms, hydrogen sulfide vapors break out, and then in the gas outlet zone there is a specific smell of rotten eggs. This is extremely dangerous. If a large amount of hydrogen sulfide comes into contact with air, an explosion can occur. According to experts, the explosion of all hydrogen sulfide contained in the Black Sea can be compared with the consequences of the fall of an asteroid weighing half the mass of the moon.

But something like that already happened. In the dead of night September 12, 1927 Crimean peninsula experienced the full power of an 8-magnitude earthquake. The epicenter lay 25 kilometers south of Yalta, giant landslides were recorded, almost the entire crop died, many buildings were destroyed.

As eyewitnesses testified, earth's surface accompanied by a disgusting stench and flashes, soaring from the surface of the sea to the sky. Pillars of fire, shrouded in smoke, reached several hundred meters in height. So the Black Sea burned. Most scientists have no doubt that hydrogen sulfide was to blame.

Experts are seriously puzzled by the problem of hydrogen sulfide accumulating in the surface layers of the Black Sea. Any tectonic shift can lead to the release of a huge amount of toxic substances, and then the consequences can be much more serious than during the Crimean earthquake.

Oceanologist Alexander Gorodnitsky is convinced that such a threat is quite real: "The Black Sea is a seismically active region, there are earthquakes that provoke the release of gas hydrates - accumulations of methane and other combustible gases compressed under high pressure."

In an unfavorable scenario, tons of concentrated sulfuric acid will enter the atmosphere: thousands of people will die from suffocation, millions will have to move away from the coast, but even there they will be overtaken by hydrogen sulfide, spilling acid rain.

A few years ago, a hydrogen sulfide release was recorded at the Koblevo resort in the Nikolaev region (Ukraine). At that time, more than 100 tons of dead fish turned out to be on the shore. Engineer Gennady Bugrin, who participated in the aftermath of the disaster, warns that such an emergency could happen again at any time and on a larger scale.

Toxic water

The situation with the ecological situation in the waters of the Black Sea is no better, primarily because of the constantly incoming waste from the Danube, Prut and Dnieper. Industrial enterprises and municipal services without a twinge of conscience pour tons of production and human waste into rivers, which leads to the gradual extinction of many species of flora and fauna of the Black Sea coastal waters. In Russia, the most polluted maritime zone is located in the area of ​​the ports of Novorossiysk and Taman.

Together with river water, pesticides, heavy metals, phosphorus, nitrogen enter the Black Sea, as a result of which phytoplankton rapidly reproduces and the water begins to bloom. And this leads to the destruction of bottom microorganisms, which in turn causes hypoxia and the subsequent death of many inhabitants of the seabed - squid, mussels, oysters, young sturgeon, crabs. According to environmentalists, the kill area sometimes exceeds 40 thousand square meters. km.

Of course, all this does not pass without a trace for a person. Head of the department of extreme natural phenomena And man-made disasters YUNC candidate biological sciences Oleg Stepanyan warns and reminds that the Black Sea is not a pool with filtered water and you need to choose the right places for swimming, because often even on city beaches you can see how sewage from nearby cafes and eateries is poured into the sea.

And although, according to Stepanyan, special services they monitor the cleanliness of the beaches, the bacterial situation on them, it is important to be vigilant. Especially dangerous in such cases are sandy and pebbly beaches of large resort towns, where the process of self-purification of water is slowed down.

Deputy Coordinator public organization"Environmental Watch for North Caucasus» Dmitry Shevchenko notes that there are so polluted areas in the Black Sea, for example, in the Gelendzhik or Anapa bays that it is simply risky for health to enter the water.

Today constant problem for the Black Sea was the massive development of green filamentous and lamellar algae, including the so-called sea lettuce (Ulva). Eating such algae is fraught with serious poisoning, since they grow in places overcrowded organic matter coming through wastewater.

Doctors also warn about possible harm for the body of mussels and rapans caught in the large port waters of Novorossiysk, Tuapse, Sevastopol. Mussels actively filter poisoned sea water, and rapans are predators that eat them. But if, nevertheless, someone decides to feast on Black Sea delicacies, then one should pay attention to the color of their meat. Light yellow or pinkish indicates, most likely, its suitability for eating, but blue, black or just very bright indicates that the molluscs have accumulated heavy metals, oil hydrocarbons and other toxicants.

Dangerous inhabitants

In the waters of the Black Sea, of course, there are not as many poisonous inhabitants as in tropical seas, but still, extreme caution must be exercised here. First of all, we are talking about large jellyfish with a diameter exceeding 30 centimeters. In no case should they be touched, as you can get burned from stinging cells. A "kiss" of such a jellyfish in the throat or chest area can cause respiratory paralysis or heart failure.

In the sandy shallow waters of the Anapa bank, in the area from the village of Volna to the village of Blagoveshchensky, a stingray is often found, the poisonous spike of which can pierce even a thick rubber coating and inflict a very sensitive wound, followed by swelling of the damaged part of the body.

A small scorpion fish is also a serious danger, or, as it is also called, sea ​​ruff. She mainly hunts among the rocks, and hypothetically, she can be stepped on. A prick of its poisonous thorns will be very painful and it will take several weeks to heal the wound.

The sea dragon, although it does not look intimidating, carries no less of a threat than a stingray or scorpionfish. Poison glands are located on its first dorsal fin. Fishermen or divers sometimes inadvertently grab a thorn, and as a result, excruciating sharp pains in the wound area and a feverish state, accompanied by a rise in temperature. In this case, it will not be possible to do without a doctor.

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All sailing directions and atlases indicate that the average depth of the Black Sea is 1300 meters. From the surface of the water to the bottom of the sea basin, indeed, on average, almost one and a half kilometers, but what we used to consider the sea has a depth that is several times less, about 100 meters. Below lurked a lifeless and deadly poisonous abyss. This discovery was made by a Russian oceanographic expedition in 1890.

Soundings have shown that the sea is almost entirely filled with dissolved hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous gas with the smell of rotten eggs. In the center of the sea, the hydrogen sulfide zone approaches the surface by about 50 meters; closer to the shores, the depth from where the dead zone begins increases to 300 meters. In this sense, the Black Sea is unique, it is the only one in the world without a solid bottom.

A liquid convex lens of dead water underlies a thin upper layer, where all sea ​​life. The underlying lens breathes, swells, breaking through to the surface from time to time due to driving winds. Major breakthroughs are less common, the last one occurred during the Yalta earthquake of 1928, when even far from the sea there was a strong smell of rotten eggs and thunder lightning flashed on the sea horizon, leaving burning pillars in the sky (H2S hydrogen sulfide is a combustible and explosive poisonous gas).

Until now, there are disputes about the source of hydrogen sulfide in the depths of the Black Sea. Some consider the reduction of sulfates by sulfate-reducing bacteria during the decomposition of dead organic matter as the main source. Others adhere to the hydrothermal hypothesis, i.e. hydrogen sulfide inflows from cracks in the seabed. However, there are no contradictions here, apparently, both reasons are at work. The Black Sea is arranged in such a way that its water exchange with the Mediterranean Sea goes through the shallow Bosphorus threshold. The Black Sea water, desalinated by river runoff, and therefore lighter, goes into the Sea of ​​​​Marmara and further, and towards it, more precisely under it, through the Bosphorus threshold into the depths of the Black Sea, saltier and heavier Mediterranean water rolls down. It turns out something like a giant sump, in the depths of which hydrogen sulfide has gradually accumulated over the past six to seven thousand years.

Today, this dead layer makes up over 90 percent of the volume of the sea. In the 20th century, as a result of sea pollution with organic anthropogenic matter, the boundary of the hydrogen sulfide zone rose from the depth by 25-50 meters. Simply put, oxygen from the upper thin layer of the sea does not have time to oxidize the hydrogen sulfide that supports it from below. Ten years ago, this problem was considered one of the priorities in the countries of the Black Sea region. Hydrogen sulfide is a highly toxic and explosive substance. Poisoning occurs at a concentration of 0.05 to 0.07 mg/m3. The maximum permissible concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the air of populated areas is 0.008 mg/m3. According to a number of experts and scientists, a charge equivalent to Hiroshima is enough to detonate hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea. At the same time, the consequences of the catastrophe will be comparable to those if an asteroid with a mass 2 times less than the mass of the Moon crashed into our Earth.

Total hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea is more than 20 thousand cubic kilometers. Now the problem has been forgotten due to unclear circumstances. True, this problem has not disappeared. In the early 1950s, an upwelling current (upwelling) brought a hydrogen sulfide cloud to the surface in Walvis Bay (Namibia). Up to a hundred and fifty miles inland, the smell of hydrogen sulfide was felt, the walls of houses darkened. The smell of rotten eggs already means exceeding the MPC (maximum permissible concentration). In fact, the inhabitants of South West Africa survived then a "soft" gas attack. In the Black Sea, a gas attack could be much more severe. Suppose someone comes up with the idea of ​​mixing the sea, or at least part of it. Unfortunately, this is technically feasible. In the relatively shallow northwestern part of the sea, somewhere halfway between Sevastopol and Constanta, you can conduct an underwater nuclear explosion relatively low power. On the shore, it will be noticed only by instruments. But after a few hours there, on the shore, they will smell rotten eggs. Under the most favorable set of circumstances, in a day, two-thirds of the sea will turn into a fraternal cemetery of marine organisms. In case of unfavorable conditions, coastal cemeteries will also turn into fraternal cemeteries. settlements where non-marine organisms live. In the previous two phrases, the evaluative adjectives “prosperous” and “unfavorable” can be interchanged, this is from what position to look.

If from the position of a person or a group of people who set themselves the goal of paralyzing the peoples of half a dozen countries at once with horror, then it is necessary to change. However, the greed of the oil and gas companies is worse than any Ben with his Frankincense. Feeling that the end of the era of hydrocarbon raw materials is very close, and is measured in a couple of decades, after which the era of total stagnation will come, and the complete decline of the raw materials economy, businessmen from the state in agony and in desperation threw pipes to hell high pressure for a fuel pipeline right along the bottom of the Black Sea. Greater obscurantism was hard to expect. This is such a one-time weekend construction, which cannot be repaired and prevented in the conditions of explosive hydrogen sulfide. Everyone still remembers the Adler-Novosibirsk passenger train, which burned down completely due to a fuel line failure. You don't have to be an expert chemist or physicist to understand what will happen if a fuel line breaks in the deep layers of hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea. No comments.

Thousands of businessmen who make resort money on the exploitation of the Black Sea do not suspect that their business will soon end, and the Black Sea coast will turn from a resort zone into an ecological disaster zone dangerous for human habitation. This is especially true of the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, where, according to scientists, a large amount of hydrogen sulfide is most likely to be released into the atmosphere. Twenty years ago, having familiarized themselves with the calculations of scientists on the Black Sea, scientists built a graph of the decrease in the surface layer of water from 1890 to 2020. The continuation of the graph curve reached 15 meters of layer thickness by 2010. And it was already noted near the Caucasus in 2007. This was even reported on May 30, 2007 on the radio in Sochi. There were also reports of mass deaths of dolphins in the Black Sea. And the local people themselves felt a certain dead spirit from the sea. In the area of ​​New Athos, the sea is already different than it was 20-30 years ago, in the afternoon the water is muddy, yellow, dead fish and even dead animals.

Many businessmen realized the whole pointlessness of their ideas of participation in investing in the resort business on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. No one thinks about the fact that a catastrophe is coming, and it is not far off, but very close. Many local residents feel that the 2014 Olympics will be held as a farewell of an unreasonable person to the Black Sea. Millions of people living on Black Sea coast will be forced to move away from the coast because of the danger of dying as a result of suffocation from hydrogen sulfide and lack of oxygen in the air. And before this total flight of residents from resort cities, mass diseases of residents of the coastal zone may begin with deaths. The end of the Black Sea resorts will come! This will be a worthy retribution of people for their admiration for the power of the Golden Calf, for their contempt for nature, for their ignorance of environmental safety issues. Indeed, with a reasonable approach to business, it is possible to turn the threatening troubles to the benefit of the economy and energy.

The water of the Black Sea contains silver and gold. If we extract all the silver in the water of the Black Sea, then this would amount to approximately 540 thousand tons. If all the gold was extracted, it would amount to approximately 270 thousand tons. Methods for extracting gold and silver from the waters of the Black Sea have long been developed. The very first primitive installations were based on ion exchangers, special ion-exchange resins that are capable of attaching ions of substances dissolved in water to themselves. But only Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania extract silver and gold from the waters of the Black Sea in an industrial way, using their own special technologies.

It is known that at a depth below 50 meters, the deep layers of the Black Sea are a colossal storehouse of hydrogen sulfide (about a billion tons). Hydrogen sulfide is a combustible gas that, when burned, gives a corresponding amount of heat. In other words, it is a fuel that can and should be used. During the combustion of hydrogen sulfide according to the reaction: 2H2S + 3O2 \u003d 2H2O + 2SO2, heat is released in an amount of about 268 kcal (with an excess of oxygen). Compare with the amount of heat released during the combustion of hydrogen in oxygen according to the reaction: H2 + 1/2 O2 > H2O (about 68.4 kcal/mol is released). Since sulfur dioxide (a harmful product) is formed in the first reaction, it is of course better to use hydrogen as a fuel in the composition of hydrogen sulfide, which can be obtained by heating hydrogen sulfide according to the reaction:
H2S H2+S3

For the decomposition of hydrogen sulfide, its slight heating is required. Reaction (3) will also make it possible to obtain sulfur from the Black Sea water. If we carry out reactions for the combustion of hydrogen sulfide in atmospheric oxygen:
2H2S + 3O2 \u003d 2H2O + 2SO2,
then by burning the resulting sulfur dioxide:
SO2+? O2 = SO3

then by the interaction of three sulfur oxides with water:
SO3 + H2O = H2SO4,

then, as you know, we can get sulfuric acid with the associated production of heat in the appropriate amount. In the production of sulfuric acid, about 194 kcal / mol is released. Thus, either hydrogen and sulfur or sulfuric acid can be obtained from the water of the Black Sea with the associated production of heat in the appropriate amount. It remains only to extract hydrogen sulfide from the deep layers of the sea. This is confusing at first.

One of the scientific developments proceeds from the fact that in order to lift the deep layers of sea water saturated with hydrogen sulfide, it is not at all necessary to expend energy on pumping it. According to this scientific development, it is proposed to lower a pipe with strong walls to a depth of up to 80 meters and once raise water from a depth through it in order to obtain a gas-water fountain in the pipe due to the difference in the hydrostatic pressure of water in the sea at the level of the lower cut of the channel and the pressure of the gas-water mixture at that the same level inside the channel (recall that every 10 meters the pressure in the sea rises by one atmosphere). This is an analogy with a bottle of champagne. By opening the bottle, we lower the pressure in it, because of which the gas begins to be released in the form of bubbles, and so intensely that the bubbles, as they rise, push the champagne in front of them. Pumping out the first time a column of water from the pipe - this will just be the opening of the cork.

It is reported that a group of scientists from Kherson conducted a ground experiment back in 1990, confirming the operation of such a fountain until hydrogen sulfide in the sea runs out. The full-scale marine experiment also ended successfully. Very case in point When the existence of life is under threat, the planet is saved by a bunch of lone heroes, who, in addition, are hindered by the government and everything around. And where is the whole state potential, with its scientific power, computers, programs, being asked at this time?

Skeptics can easily check the data on their fingers by sailing further into the sea and lowering a thick hose with a load on the end into the water. It is not only recommended to smoke at this time, so that it does not work out, as in Chukovsky's poems. Many probably remember the words of Korney Chukovsky's poem: "And the chanterelles took matches, went to the blue sea, lit the blue sea." But few people know that children's poems by Korney Chukovsky are very carefully studied by astrologers: as in the quatrains of Michel Nostradamus, these poems contain a lot of interesting predictions. Leonid Utyosov helped with geo-referencing of the "place of arson": "The bluest in the world is my Black Sea!" Until recently, this sea was practically the only place of rest for the inhabitants of the whole country - the USSR. Even the great strategist, Ostap Bender, marked himself there in search of twelve chairs. And he did not pay for the small with his life in Yalta at the time of the famous Crimean earthquake of 1928. By " coincidence", at the time of the earthquake there was a thunderstorm. Lightning struck anywhere. Including in the sea. And suddenly something completely unexpected happened: columns of flame began to break out of the water to a height of 500-800 meters. Here are such matches and chanterelles. Chemists know two type of hydrogen sulfide oxidation reaction: H2S + O = H2O + S;
H2S + 4O + to = H2SO4.

As a result of the first reaction, free sulfur and water are formed. The second type of H2S oxidation reaction proceeds explosively during the initial thermal shock. As a result, sulfuric acid is formed. It was the second course of the H2S oxidation reaction that was observed by the inhabitants of Yalta during the earthquake in 1928. Seismic tremors stirred deep-sea hydrogen sulfide to the surface. The electrical conductivity of an aqueous solution of H2S is higher than that of pure sea water. Therefore, electric lightning discharges most often fell into areas of hydrogen sulfide raised from the depth. However, a significant layer of pure surface water quenched the chain reaction. By the beginning of the 20th century, the upper inhabited water layer in the Black Sea was 200 meters. Thoughtless technogenic activity has led to a sharp reduction in this layer. Currently, in some places its thickness does not exceed 10-15 meters. During a severe storm, hydrogen sulfide rises to the surface, and vacationers can smell a characteristic smell.

At the beginning of the century, the Don River supplied up to 36 km3 of fresh water to the Azov-Black Sea basin. By the beginning of the 1980s, this volume had decreased to 19 km3: the metallurgical industry, irrigation facilities, field irrigation, and city water pipes. Entering the Volgodonsk nuclear power plant took another 4 km3 of water. A similar situation occurred during the years of industrialization in other rivers of the basin. As a result of the thinning of the surface inhabited water layer, there has been a sharp reduction in biological organisms in the Black Sea. So, for example, in the 50s, the number of dolphins reached 8 million individuals. Nowadays, meeting dolphins in the Black Sea has become a rarity. Fans of underwater sports sadly observe only the remnants of miserable vegetation and rare flocks of fish, rapans have disappeared. Few people think, for example, that all marine souvenirs sold along the Black Sea coast (decorative shells, mollusks, starfish, corals, etc.) have nothing to do with the Black Sea. Traders bring these goods from other seas and oceans. And in the Black Sea, even mussels have almost disappeared. Since ancient times, sturgeon, horse mackerel, mackerel, and bonito, harvested since ancient times, disappeared back in the 1990s as a commercial species.

» — sea ​​of ​​hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea. By the way, this phenomenon makes the Black Sea double by the sea, one inside the other. So to say, nested seas 🙂 Such nested seas are rare in nature. And the enclosed sea of ​​hydrogen sulfide is not found at all, except in the Black Sea.

The sea of ​​hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea lies for a reason and does not touch anyone. If that were the case, then it would be quite possible that no one would ever know about it. But the sea of ​​hydrogen sulfide periodically manifests itself - and not everyone likes this manifestation. So, imagine a picture - you are relaxing in a resort. And you decide to get up early in the morning, look at the sea dawn. You dress up, go to the sea - and see something unimaginable! The entire coast is covered with fish, jellyfish, some kind of generally unseen animals. It's scary to approach. Corpses, corpses... And the smell of decay in the air.

But if you sit by the shore, look at this miracle, you will notice that the marine inhabitants on the shore occasionally move, twitch. And if you look even longer, you can see that they are gradually shifting back to the sea. And by eight or nine o'clock, when most of the vacationers go to the sea, the coast is already empty and no longer resembles a worldwide catastrophe.

What happened? There was a rather rare, but usual thing for the Black Sea - a small release of hydrogen sulfide. The smell of which you may have smelled.

Due to the fact that the upper layer of the Black Sea water is weakly mixed with the lower one, oxygen rarely reaches the sea bottom. And where there is no oxygen, decay begins there. One of the results of decay is the release hydrogen sulfide.

Well, since the upper, fresher layer of water rarely mixes with the lower, more salty one, this poisonous gas accumulates at the bottom of the Black Sea in huge quantities. And occasionally, when its amount exceeds conceivable limits, it comes out in the form of huge bubbles.

As the bubble passes through the upper, inhabited layer of the Black Sea, it poisons fish, jellyfish and other living creatures. And in an unconscious state they are taken ashore by the sea. Well, then, when they leave on land, the fish and shrimps run back to the sea.

Measurements showed that in the center of the Black Sea, the hydrogen sulfide zone approaches the surface by about 50 meters, closer to the coast, the depth from which the hydrogen sulfide sea begins increases to 300 meters. As we have already said, in this sense the Black Sea is unique, it the only sea in the world without a hard bottom.

Curious readers may ask: "Why does the gas, which is lighter than water, not immediately float up?" But this is who just belongs to the section "". Scientists believe that the pressure of the upper layers of water is to blame - 200 meters of water is no joke. And if at least part of this water disappeared, the Black Sea would boil from the hydrogen sulfide released in the form of gas.

Why do hydrogen sulfide emissions occur from the depths? For two reasons - an excessive increase in the content of this poison and underwater earthquakes. A small displacement of the earth's crust is enough, and the shock wave raises a huge gas bubble from the bottom of the sea. So, during the Crimean earthquake of 1927 in Yalta, residents watched the sea burn - hydrogen sulfide, which rose from below, interacted with the air and flared up.

Although, according to other sources, it was not hydrogen sulfide, but methane. And the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in water is so low that it cannot form gas bubbles, boil and poison animals. So it seems that there are no hydrogen sulfide bubbles ...

But it is up to scientists to determine what will happen if hydrogen sulfide decides to rise to the surface. We just need to know that there is not a single recorded case when hydrogen sulfide from the bottom of the Black Sea led to the death of people. Or even simple poisoning.

By the way, there is another question that has not yet been solved: “Why is it suddenly that there is a sea of ​​hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea, but there is no sea of ​​hydrogen sulfide in other seas and oceans?” In fact, there are still disputes about the source of hydrogen sulfide in the depths of the Black Sea. Some consider the reduction of sulfates by sulfate-reducing bacteria during the decomposition of dead organic matter as the main source.

Although in this case another logical question arises: “Where in the Black Sea so many organic matter? To which there is no answer yet. But there is an interesting assumption: for example, one of the hypotheses for the emergence of the Black Sea says that 7500 years ago it was deepest freshwater lake on earth, the level was lower than the modern one by more than a hundred meters. At the end ice age The level of the oceans rose and the Isthmus of the Bosphorus was broken. A total of 100 thousand km² were flooded (the most fertile lands, already cultivated people). The flooding of these vast lands may have become the prototype of the myth of the Flood. The emergence of the Black Sea, according to this hypothesis, was presumably accompanied by mass death of the entire freshwater living world of the lake (the same organics), the decomposition product of which - hydrogen sulfide - reaches high concentrations at the bottom of the sea

Other scientists adhere to the hydrothermal hypothesis, that is, the supply of hydrogen sulfide from cracks in the seabed as a result of volcanic activity. But even this version of the development of events does not explain why only the Black Sea was awarded such an honor - to be a double sea.

Partially, this distribution can be explained by the fact that the Black Sea is arranged in such a way that its water exchange with the Mediterranean Sea goes through the shallow Bosporus Threshold. The Black Sea water, desalinated by river runoff, and therefore lighter, goes into the Sea of ​​​​Marmara and further, and towards it, or rather under it, through the Bosphorus threshold into the depths of the Black Sea, saltier and heavier Mediterranean water rolls down. It turns out something like a giant sump, in the depths of which hydrogen sulfide has gradually accumulated over the past six to seven thousand years.

Thus, the average concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea is 5.73 mg/l at a depth of 1240 m, and the approximate amount of hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea is 3.1 billion tons. Some Research recent years allow us to speak of the Black Sea as a giant reservoir of not only hydrogen sulfide, but also methane, most likely also released during the activity of microorganisms, as well as from the bottom of the sea

By the way, this hydrogen sulfide can not only harm or threaten. It can significantly help by improving the energy sector of the Black Sea countries. So, since hydrogen sulfide is a combustible gas, it can be burned - and due to this, energy can be obtained. Perhaps, economically, this is not very justified (although when there are thousands of tons of free fuel ...), but at the same time with an environmental result, this procedure could well help Ukraine with its lack of gas.

In order to clarify, one more detail needs to be clarified: when reading the article, it may seem that at the depth of the Black Sea there is not a solution of hydrogen sulfide in water, but a huge bubble of pure hydrogen sulfide gas, which, for unknown reasons, cannot float to the surface on its own and can explode ... In fact, things are simple there hydrosulphuric acid solution, i.e. there just mineral water. The same as in many hydrogen sulfide mineral springs that hit the surface and at the same time do not explode anything around.

So, as you can see, there are many opinions on this matter.

But, nevertheless, the sea of ​​hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea is a mystery that has not yet been solved. But it shows up from time to time.

Based on materials http://voda.blox.ua/2008/07/Zagadka-Chernogo-morya.html

Not so long ago, at a conference in Sochi dedicated to the study of the marine area, scientists announced that the content of hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea had increased by 1.5 times. At the same time, according to their observations, the oxygen content in the water is declining rapidly. This trend is worrying and unsettling.

There are cases when hydrogen sulfide accumulated in the water column as a result of external factors (tectonic activity, volcanic eruption) caused fires, explosions and mass poisoning. Although there are ways by which you can avoid a disaster, remove hydrogen sulfide from the bottom of the sea in advance and put it into the service of people. The correspondent of the NGS understood everything.

Serious warning

Even 10 years ago, the issue of poisonous gas was considered one of the priorities in the Black Sea countries, but today the hydrogen sulfide threat seems to have been completely forgotten. However, this problem has not disappeared and is not going to disappear. But how real is the danger? Perhaps everything is not so scary, and hydrogen sulfide, hidden in the depths of the seabed, will remain there forever, without disturbing anyone?

Conference dedicated to the study of the Black Sea with the participation of experts from the State Oceanographic Institute. N.N. Zubov, the Marine Hydrophysical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which is the world's leader in ocean research, and other leading scientific institutions, made us wary. The director of the Marine Hydrophysical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in his report emphasized that in recent decades there has been a positive trend in terms of pollution of the entire Black Sea. Along with this, the content of hydrogen sulfide increases at depth, while the content of oxygen decreases.

– In the deep layers of water (we are talking about a depth of a thousand meters), the content of hydrogen sulfide over the past 10-15 years has increased by 1.5 times,- said the director of the Marine Hydrophysical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergei Konovalov, - gradually, slowly, but surely, hydrogen sulfide rises in the water column.

At the same time, experts recorded a decrease in the oxygen content in the bottom layer of the Black Sea. These reasons, according to scientists, are influenced by two factors - warming, which leads to a decrease in the solubility of oxygen, and the anthropogenic factor, which is associated with the intake more organic carbon (due to effluents that need to be properly treated).

- Tomorrow there will be no catastrophe, in such large marine systems it is not necessary to talk about any problems on a one-year scale,– continued Sergei Konovalov, - but if you do not think about it, then, relatively speaking, the next generation will have to disentangle the problem for a very long time.

In fact, the stated problem is very serious. There are many examples in history when various causes (including earthquakes, which are not uncommon in our region) contributed to the release of poisonous gas from the seabed. Everything was accompanied by explosions, fire and death not only of marine life, but also of the local population.

Scientists call the insufficient number of hydrometeorological stations in Sochi, which determine the quality of coastal waters, a significant problem. And this is a financial problem. Experts are sure that it is necessary to finance the modernization.

Examples from history

Meanwhile, all this can be very dangerous. Hydrogen sulfide in the Black Sea has not in vain become the subject of close attention of scientists for a number of reasons. The ecological situation has indeed deteriorated significantly in recent decades. Scientists said that the massive discharge of waste of various origins led to the death of many species of algae and plankton. They began to sink to the bottom faster. The scientists also found that in 2003 the colony of red algae was completely destroyed. This representative of the flora produced about 2 million cubic meters of oxygen per year. And this held back the growth of hydrogen sulfide. Now the main competitor of poisonous gas simply does not exist. Therefore, environmentalists are worried about the current situation.

So far, it does not threaten our safety, but over time, a gas bubble may come to the surface. And as we know from the school chemistry course, when hydrogen sulfide comes into contact with air, an explosion occurs that destroys all life within the radius of destruction. There are facts when there were whole ecological disasters due to the fault of the exploded hydrogen sulfide, which accumulated in the water column. A large-scale case was reliably recorded when deadly gases came to the surface. This happened in 1927 during the Crimean earthquake (its epicenter was in the sea only 25 km from Yalta), when due to fluctuations in the earth's surface, the balance between the layers was disturbed and the gas cloud escaped. This earthquake claimed many lives and practically destroyed the city. But not only that it was remembered by the residents who survived the tragedy.

At a time when the city was shaking from monstrous tremors, the sea blazed with bright flames. It was not ships or port facilities that were on fire - it was the water itself that was on fire. Monstrous Phenomenon for a long time were kept secret. Hydrogen sulfide also exploded in Cameroon, in a village on the shores of Lake Nyos, while the entire population died due to the rise of gas to the surface (1,746 people died almost simultaneously). The events in Peru and the Dead Sea became less bloody. In Peru in 1980, ships going out into the ocean to fish came back black and almost empty.

Instead of algae, tons of dead fish poisoned by hydrogen sulfide floated in coastal waters. In 1983 waters of the dead the seas suddenly changed from blue to black. The sea seemed to be turned upside down, and waters saturated with hydrogen sulfide came to the surface. This incident was recorded by an American satellite, which was making a revolution around the Earth.

As these examples show, there is no need to joke with the accumulated hydrogen sulfide and, accordingly, the increase in its concentration. All this sooner or later can lead to an ecological catastrophe. However, as they say, it is better not to wait for the weather by the sea, when poisonous gas will explode to the surface, but to try to prevent a tragedy. Scientists offer here a set of measures.

The Black Sea has a very interesting structure. The fact is that the water column in it is divided into several layers that do not mix with each other.
The thin surface layer of the sea is fresher, it is rich in oxygen and organic matter. It is here that all the diversity of the Black Sea fauna is concentrated.
But from a depth of one hundred meters there is a decrease in the amount of dissolved oxygen, and already from 200 meters the Black Sea is a toxic hydrogen sulfide environment.

Better prevention than cure...

Of course, there will be no catastrophe tomorrow, scientists reassure. But work to reduce the discharge of untreated wastewater into the sea, optimize economic activity with an eye to the state of the ecosystem of the region, to activate Scientific research seabed - we must do this today, otherwise the next generation will have to deal with problems for a long time.

And you can also proceed directly to the introduction of technology for the processing of poisonous gas. There are scientific developments that propose the use of gas as a fuel. To do this, it is necessary to lower the pipe to a depth and periodically raise water to the surface. It will be like opening a bottle of champagne. Sea water, mixing with gas, will seethe. Hydrogen sulfide will be extracted from this stream and used for economic purposes. When burned, the gas releases a large amount of heat.

Another idea is to carry out aeration. To do this, fresh water is pumped into deep pipes. It has a lower density and will contribute to the mixing of marine layers. This method has been successfully used in aquariums. When using water from wells in private homes, it is sometimes necessary to purify it from hydrogen sulfide. In this case, aeration is also successfully applied. Which way to choose is not for us to decide. The main thing is to work on a solution environmental problem. The problem cannot be ignored. If not taken right steps now, over time, a global catastrophe may occur.

Scientists say that if all the hydrogen sulfide resting on the bottom rises to the surface, the explosion will be comparable to the impact of an asteroid the size of half the moon. And this will forever change the face of our planet.