The Black Sea turned red. Extremely rare phenomenon on the Romanian coast

The Black Sea turned red at Olimp, a rare phenomenon in our area. The researchers took samples, but until they have enough data to draw a conclusion, they say an iron-rich clay could be the cause. Another hypothesis would be the appearance of algae of c

A portion of a few meters, on the shore, in the area of ​​the Olimp resort, was colored red. The waves of rust caught the attention of people walking on the beach.

Tourist: “I also took pictures.

Reporter: “Have you seen the red sea before?” – “Not”.

Reporter: “Was it on a large surface?”

Tourist: “Yes, this whole corner here.”

The phenomenon was also visible last week, when it covered the entire bay.

To find out what colored the sea, the researchers of the National Institute of Marine Research and Development in Constanța took samples from the water. The first hypothesis is a reddish clay.

Gheorghe Petcu, researcher Marine Development Institute “Grigore Antipas”: “Apparently there are some large pieces of clay in the water that have broken down a little bit. I notice that some machinery has been walked around here and the soil has probably been raked.”

No excavations were made in the area to widen the beach, but there are construction works, which could have brought the clay to the surface.

Another option would be the appearance of red algae. In large quantities, they could change the color of the water. Here they don’t appear very often and are formed when the waters are warm and rich in nutrients. Although toxic to marine life, they do not affect humans.

Adrian Bîlbă, biologist: “There are red algae that can be toxic, but there are no biotic conditions right now for algal population explosions because we don’t have the temperature. There’s not enough sun either.”

A similar phenomenon occurred in the Black Sea a few years ago, in Crimea.