THE SEA OF AZOV 477 



might have been expected from the high indices of plankton and benthos bio- 

 mass and from the abundant amounts of organic substances brought in by 

 the rivers {Table 196 and Fig. 225b). 



Table 196. Mean percentage of organic carbon in the sediments of different seas 

 Region Maximum and minimum Mean 



Sea of Azov 0-6 -2-9 1-63 



Barents Sea 015-312 1-28 



Northern Caspian 0-25-3-0 0-63 



Since large areas of the sea-bed of the Barents Sea, and especially of the 

 Northern Caspian, are occupied by sand, and that of the Sea of Azov by 

 muds, the data of Table 196 may be considered very close to one another. 



As has been revealed by the same author's examination of the salinity of 

 the soil solutions of the Sea of Azov, the salinity of this Sea and that of the 

 Gulf of Taganrog has increased during the last century. 



M. Fedosov (1955) characterizes the genetic composition of the bottom- 

 deposits of the Sea of Azov in the manner given in Table 197. 



Table 197 



Constituent Percentage 



Mineral river suspensions 45-5 



Organic substances of river suspensions 1 -4 



Precipitates of organic substances formed in the Sea 13-5 



Mineral and organic precipitates 6-3 



Eolian' deposits and products of the breakdown of the banks 33-3 



1000 



Nature of the shores 



As V. Zenkovitch (1958) has pointed out, all the coastal waters of the Sea of 

 Azov are exceptionally shallow ; this is connected with the small depth of the 

 Sea itself. The basin of the Sea, which receives the turbid waters of the Don 

 and Kuban rivers and of the products of the wash-out of loess shores, is 

 filled with mud, which rises to unusually shallow depths (of about 3 m). 



Quaternary loess and sand deposits stretch along the whole northern shore 

 of the Sea, the southern shore of the Gulf of Taganrog and the eastern shore 

 down to Primorsko-Akhtarsk. Shores made of such deposits are intensively 

 washed out and in some sectors this wash-out reaches a rate of 10 m/year. The 

 shores of the Kerch and Taman peninsulas are more resistant, since there are 

 some outcrops of hard Tertiary limestone. In the southeastern corner (Tem- 

 ryuk Bay) the wide delta of the Kuban river is cut off from the Sea by a long 

 sandy bar. The Kuban enters the Sea by three separate mouths. Along the 

 western coasts of the Sea stretches the shell-gravel sand bar — the Arabat 



