The procedure of assessment of water areas ecological state using pollution load index (PLI) was applied to elucidate the pollution status of the Sevastopol Bay. The index allows assessing the quality of environment on the ten-point scale from 1 to 10 i.e. from a severely contaminated water basin to nearly unpolluted one. The ecological status of the Sevastopol Bay was clarified, its partition and comparison with both a number of the European Bays and estuaries and the Australian estuary were accomplished using the PLI.

The results of hydrochemical and hydrobiological research in the narrow coastal area near Karadag (the Eastern Crimea) conducted during the summer and autumn 2004 are represented

Relying on the analysis of vertical distribution of phosphate and silicate as well as of vertical concentration gradients of these hydrochemical parameters above the mud volcano on the northwest Black Sea shelf the author came to a conclusion that mud volcanoes can be an endogenous source of silicate.

On the basis of optical observation data, concentration fields of total suspension and dissolved organic matter of the artificial origin in the bays of the Crimea were studied. The sources of the coastal waters pollution as well as the ways of pollutant spreading were found out.

The phenomena of saltish water paradox in amphibian geoecosystems of foreland, with a specific type of ecosystems characterized by low biodiversity and high biological productivity is considered.