UNESCO - IUGS - IGCP 521 - INQUA 501 WG12


Black Sea Interdisciplinary Research Collaboratory
UNESCO - IUGS - IGCP 521 - INQUA 501 WG12 Caspian-Black Sea-Mediterranean Corridor during the last 30 ky: sea level change and human adaptation The IGCP is a cooperative enterprise of UNESCO and the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and has been stimulating comparative studies in the Earth Sciences since 1972.

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	What Researchers are saying about the Black Sea Interdisciplinary Research Collaboratory
	“The Project has become one of the leading forums for exchange of ideas and new findings in the Black Sea Region. It fosters interdisciplinary collaboration among scientists interested in reconstructing the links between natural processes and ecosystems. The future work will focus on synthesizing the growing field databases and on exploring new proxies of climate change, sea-level history, coaastal evolution, and cultural and ecological adaptations to rapid environmental changes in the Black Sea-Mediterranean Corridor. ”
		Dr. Ilya Buynevich Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
	“Accumulated data in geography, biology and archaeology are enough to achieve a new stage in Black Sea history research.”
		Mr. Artemiy Danovskiy Institute of Archaeology (Russian Academy of Science)
	“It is necessary to predict global climate fluctuations.”
		Dr. Nikolay Esin The Southern Branch of the P.P.Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences
	“The IGCP 521 Project ''Black Sea-Mediterranean Corridor during last 30 ky: Sea level change and human adaptation'' with conveners Valentina Yanko-Hombach, Yucel Yilmaz, and Pavel Dolukhanov is of great importance as it will contribute for more extensive geological, palaeoecological and archaeological investigations of the Black Sea - Mediterranean - Caspian sea corridor.”
		Prof. Dr. Mariana Filipova-Marinova Varna Regional Museum of History Department of Natural History
	“Yes, I believe this project is very important for compiling the database on the area studied, for drawing new conlclusions resulting from inter-crossing of different scientific areas and for establishment of future collaboration between researchers. An exchange and improvement of methodology, a mutual verification of results obtained from different methodology are the other potentail benefits of this project.”
		Prof. Dr. Natalia Gerasimenko Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
	“Since the history of the Black Sea and the circum-Pontic region is so multifaceted, its study requires an interdisciplinary exchange of information, data and ideas for elaborating constructive approaches to an overall picture of geological events, human response to such events and of cultural drifts that were triggered by processes of transgression. From the standpoint of cultural history, human response to Black Sea events plays a pivotal role for the understanding of how regional cultures develop into the stage of high culture (civilization).”
		Dr. Harald Haarmann Institute of Archaeomythology (Vice President)
	“Because black sea and Caspian Sea are the most important area from resources of view and we have to know about them much more at the path of sustainable development.”
		Prof. Dr. Homayoun Khoshravan Water research Institute, Caspian Sea national research & study center
	“For Black Sea history and palaeocology”
		Prof. Dr. Eliso Kvavadze Georgian National Muzeum
	“Because of Interdisciplinary Approaches”
		Dr. Natalia Lemeshko State Hydrological Institute
	“Throughout the history of mankind, the Black Sea has been at the crossroad of Asian-European interactions, so it is important to know how the history of climate and sealevel change has influenced the growth of its cultures and economy. Unravelling of this history by the IGCP 521 multi-national team will provide data for the validation of global and regional computer models: giving us a clear view through the data clouds that have enshrouded the past isolated studies. The Black Sea is also important as a laboratory for study of the processes that lead to the formation of black shales - one of the World's most major petroleum resources. My work on the record of fossil algae will help explain the conditions required for black shale production - and to refining our understanding of the role of black shale formation in global carbon cycles.”
		Dr. Petra Mudie Geological Survey of Canada Atlantic Bedford Institute of Oceanography
	“I believe that this project should solve many unclear questions. Therefore I will accept participation in it.”
		Dr. Sc. Galyna Pashkevych Institute archaeology ASc of Ukraine
	“Detail data on the Black Sea-Mediterranean connections during the last 30 ky is very imortant for understanding the late Paleogene - Neogene history of the paleo-Mediterranean - Euxine-Caspian basins and their biogeographical interrelations and paleogeography.”
		Dr. Sc. Sergey Popov Paleontological Institute RAS
	“It's very important to clear understand the linkage between Black Sea-Mediterranean sea level changes and human adaptation during the last 30 ky.”
		Prof. Dr. Vladimir Pushkar International Diatom Research, AAAS, EMMM, Far East Geological Institute, Chief of Lab. Cenozoic stratigraphy Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences
	“The project is correlate data of all scientists and gives the chance to be well informed about researches in region”
		Dr. Tatyana Sapelko Institute of Limnology RAS
	“Complex investigations on the land and sea in the region ''Caspian-Black sea-Mediterranean" have given and will give interesting information about geoecology in this part of the Earth. Climatic conditions and health of people, energy and food resources are connected with our knowledges about past and present of these marine geological processes.”
		Dr. Liudmyla Smyrnova State Oceanarium of Ukraine
	“Understanding historical sea-level changes and their impact on recent and future situations.”
		Mr. Hans Trutnau Kinomics GmbH
	“The Caspian-Black Sea-Mediterranean Corridor (Corridor) is an integrated oceanographic system defined here as the large geographical area covering the Caspian Sea-Manych-Kerch Gateway (Manych Valley, the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait) that lies to the east of the Black Sea, the Black Sea, the Marmara Gateway (the Bosphorus Strait, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles), the Aegean Sea, the Eastern Mediterranean and their coasts. At the Late Pleistocene the Corridor was connected to the Caspian Sea via Manych Gateway. Today, the Corridor is of strategic importance not only for all coastal countries but also for at least 17 other countries sharing a drainage basin that is one-third the size of the European continent. The Corridor acts as a paleoenvironmental amplifier and as a sensitive recorder for climatic events where sea level variations and coastline migration are especially pronounced due to its geographical location and semi-isolation from the open ocean. It also provides a linkage between the marine and continental realms. Over the past 30 ky, the Corridor underwent a complicated history, which remains hotly debated. Lately, this region has spurred a tremendous international interest as a possible place where the biblical story of the Great Flood originated, encouraging a new round of controversial research on the hydrological regime in connecting straits, transition from a lacustrine to a marine environment, an influence of the Black Sea outflow on deposition of the Eastern Mediterranean sapropels as well as past/present/future adaptation of humans to environmental change. Over the past 30 ky, the Caspian-Black Sea-Mediterranean Corridor underwent a complicated history, which remains hotly debated. Although thirty years have passed since the first IGCP coastal project in this region, studies continued of the 30 ky timespan and evolution of the Corridor as a single entity despite the vast amount of geological and archaeological data that have already been collected. These data remain as a pile of individual pieces of a large puzzle waiting to be assembled by the joint efforts of the global sea-level community. IGCP 521 project (2005-2009) goes hand-on-hand with INQUA 0501 project Caspian-Black Sea-Mediterranean Corridor during the last 30 ky: Sea level change and human adaptive strategies (2005-2010). The common goal, collective objectives, and added value of the IGCP 521-INQUA 0501 project is to fill this gap by bringing the relevant but diverse research groups together to provide cross-disciplinary and cross-regional correlation of geological, geochemical, geophysical, paleontological, archaeological, and historical records in various settings of the Corridor in order to evaluate the influence of sea-level change and coastline migration on human adaptation during the last 30 ky. To reach this goal, the work has been organized into three dimensions: geological, archaeological, and mathematical modeling. Twelve Working Groups are working in close relationship to each other and are likely to generate useful results. This work will result in fundamental new knowledge regarding the driving mechanisms that influence human adaptation in the region that became known as the cradle of civilisation, a subject of great interest to the Quaternary, earth, marine, environmental and social sciences. Its strong applied component will be directly relevant to coastal managers in regard to the environmental risk assessment and sustainable development of the Corridor under Global Climate Change anticipated to take full effevt in this century. The work is arranged in three dimensions: geological, archaeological and mathematical modelling. The geological dimension will include sediment-fingerprints of vertical sea level fluctuations and lateral coastline change, which result in the coastal zone from external (e.g., climate change and active tectonics) and internal (mainly the coastal sedimentary budget) forces. The archaeological dimension will include human fingerprints (e.g., archaeological artefacts, faunistic remains from cultural layers). Both dimensions are addressed through integration of existing data, hypothesis testing and model building. Particular attention will be given to the synthesis of the plethora of non-English literature published in local languages, stored in the archives and largely unknown or ignored in the West. The mathematical dimension will include GIS-added mathematical modelling of human dynamics behind past/future sea level change in the Corridor that can be meaningfully compared with global sea level fluctuations. In respect to theoretical sciences, the project will enhance our knowledge on linear and non-linear geological processes and concepts through correlative studies of a wide range of sites through the Corridor. It will also provide a better understanding of the influence of global climate change and/or active tectonics on regional sea level fluctuations, coastline evolution, transformation from lacustrine to marine environment, eco- and sedimentary system (including deposition of sapropels) as well as Prehistory and History adaptation of Anatomically Modern Humans. In respect to applied sciences, the project will improve standards of research methods and techniques (e.g., the quantitative modelling of crises with the detailed identification of environmental factors involved and their behaviour). It will also enable us to delineate the main areas of natural risk (e.g., inundation, erosion, flooding) required for the proper environmental management. As one of the main project achievements, a complete database on bibliography, radiocarbon assays, archaeological sites and artefacts will be assembled for the entire Corridor and linked to the sea level changes. In respect to benefit to society, the project will increase our understanding of the different factors influencing the environment in order to improve human living conditions and wise management of the Earth as a human habitat. It will also allow better prediction of future sea level changes and its social, economic and political impact in order to provide practical recommendations for the areas of high environmental risk. The project will bring together multidisciplinary scientists from all over the world and enhance the West-East scientific dialogue through joint research work, meetings and publications providing societal background for collaboration. The project is strongly interdisciplinary. It involves collaboration between marine and terrestrial geologists, palaeoceangraphers, archaeologists, and applied mathematicians who will study the Corridor as a single entity by bypassing disciplinary, geographical, national and linguistic barriers. As such, it meets the aims of the IGCP in several ways: - It promotes our knowledge and concepts on geological processes through correlating studies completed at a wide range of sites throughout the Corridor - It enhances our understanding of the links between environmental change and human adaptation. As such, our project contributes to an improvement in human living conditions, especially for those at risk from coastal flooding, promoting the wise use of the Earth as a human habitat - It correlates the results obtained in various laboratories by old and modern technologies in order to improve research standards, methods and techniques of carrying out research The development and dissemination of best practice will be achieved through annual Plenary Meetings associated with field work in the countries bordering the Corridor (e.g., Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Romania, and Bulgaria), publications in per-reviewed literature as well as the collective monograph Black Sea-Mediterranean Corridor Perils: Past, Present and Future.”
		Prof. Dr. Valentina Yanko-Hombach President, Avalon-Institute of Applied Science, Canada. Director of Scientific and Educational Center of Geoarchaeology, Marine and Environmental Geology Odessa National University, Ukraine


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