The Euxine abyssal plain is a

physiographic province physiographic province is a geographic region with a characteristic geomorphology, and often specific subsurface rock type or structural elements. The continents are subdivided into various physiographic provinces, each having a specific characte ...

of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

, an

abyssal plain An abyssal plain is an underwater plain on the deep ocean floor, usually found at depths between . Lying generally between the foot of a continental rise and a mid-ocean ridge, abyssal plains cover more than 50% of the Earth's surface. They ...

in its central parts. Its name comes from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

name ''Euxeinos Pontos'' () of the Black Sea. The principal

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

s leading down to the plain are the Crimean Escarpment in the north, the Caucasus Escarpment in the northeast, the Canik (or East Pontic) Escarpment in the southeast, and the Küre (or West Pontic) Escarpment in the southwest. It represents 12.2% of the Black Sea area with a very gentle gradient of 1:1,000. A small part of the abyssal plain is split off by the Danubian fan, a relict

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to Semi-arid climate, semiar ...

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

. "International Seminar on Nuclear War and Planetary Emergencies
p. 146
!-- a first best ref; probably must be replaced by a more specialized one --> Its depth ranges between 2,000 and 2,200 m, with a maximum depth of 2,212 m south of

Yalta Yalta (: ) is a resort town, resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...

on the

Crimean Peninsula Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrai ...

. "Remote Sensing of the European Seas" (2008)
p. 17
/ref>

References

{{Reflist Landforms of the Black Sea Abyssal plains