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The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolian peninsula (Turkey) and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects it to the Aegean Sea region of the Mediterranean. These waters separate eastern Europe and western Asia. The Black Sea also connects to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch. The Black Sea has an area of 436,400&_160;km² (168,495&_160;sq&_160;mi),[1] and a maximum depth of 2,200&_160;m (7,200&_160;ft).)[2] The Black Sea forms in an east-west trending elliptical depression which lies between Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.[3] It is constrained by the Pontic mountain range to the south, the Caucasus mountain range to the east and features a wide shelf to the north-west. The longest east-west extent is about 1175 km. Important cities along the coast include Constanta (306,000 with a metro of 550,000), Istanbul (11,372,613), Odessa (1,001,000), Mangalia (41,153), Burgas (229,250), Varna (357,752 with a metro of 416,000), Kherson (358,000), Sevastopol (379,200), Yalta (80,552), Kerch (158,165), Novorossiysk (281,400), Sochi (328,809), Sukhumi (43,700), Navodari (34,669), Poti (47,149), Batumi (121,806), Trabzon (275,137), Samsun (439,000) Ordu (190,143) and Zonguldak (104,276). The Black Sea has a positive water balance, which results in a net outflow of water 300km³ per year through the Bosphorus into the Aegean Sea (part of the Mediterranean Sea). Mediterranean water flows into the Black Sea as part of a 2-way hydrological exchange. The Black Sea outflow is less saline and cool, therefore floats over the warm, relatively more saline Mediterranean inflow. The Black Sea also receives river water from large Eurasian fluvial systems to the north of the Sea, of which the Don, Dnieper and Danube are the most significant.
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