Two researchers of the University of Bucharest, associate professor Ionuț Șandric, PhD, teaching staff at the Faculty of Geography, and professor Marius Stoica, PhD, teaching staff at the Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, were part of the team of specialists that discovered Parathethys, the biggest lake that ever existed on Earth.
The scientific study is the result of a collaboration between the University of Bucharest and the National Institute for Research and Development of Marine Geology and Geoecology – GeoEcoMar Romania, the University of Utrecht in Holland, the University of São Paulo in Brazil, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Germany.
The research team, coordinated by Dan Palcu, PhD – a specialist in paleomagnetism, geochronology and stratigraphy, affiliated to GeoEcoMar and the University of Utrecht – proved that approximately 11 million years ago, east to the Alps and continuing to the current-day territory of Kazakhstan, there was a body of water which covered 2,8 million km², with a volume that was 10 times bigger than the accumulated volumes of all freshwater and saltwater lakes that exist today.
The Parathethys Lake covered a large part of Romania’s territory and left behind impressive traces, such as the trovant sands in the Buzău Subcarpathians and Oltenia at the foot of the mountains, the limestones in Istrița, in Buzău, or the red cliffs in south Dobrogea.
The research was published in the Guinness Book of Records
The results of the study were published in June 2021 and were disseminated in the media worldwide due to the inclusion of the research on “the largest lake that ever existed on Earth” in the Book of Records. Along with the registering of the record in the publication, the article was included in the print editions of Guinness World Records, in over 40 languages.
In order to decipher the history of the megalake and draw the map of the largest lake in the history of the planet, the researchers used a technique called magnetostratigraphy – using magnetic polarity reversals recorded in rocks as an age measuring instrument. Moreover, in order to determine the size and volume of Paratethys, the researchers used digital paleogeographic reconstruction.
For a long time, it was believed that in this place there was a pre-historic sea, the Sarmatian Sea. Now we have clear evidence that, for approximately 5 million years, this sea became a lake – isolated from the ocean and full of animals unseen in other parts of the world. The lake covered a great part of Romania’s territory, except for mountain areas, and left behind spectacular traces, the coordinator of the research team explained.
The study is important as it offers not only a genesis and evolution of the lake, but also relevant information about its ecosystem, as well as “the reactions” and its transformation under the influence of climate change. Thus, exploring the cataclysms that this ancient megalake endured, we can prevent and/or elucidate the potential ecological crises triggered by the climate change our planet is currently going through. In addition to that, the researchers believe that the Black Sea contains and “reflects” many of the environmental characteristics of the Paratethys.
Our modern Black Sea mirrors many of the environmental characteristics of the ancient lake Paratethys. Vastly lacking life-sustaining oxygen, the Black Sea depths are rich in Hydrogen sulfide – a toxic gas for humans as well as for most species of animals. Moreover, the sediments of the Black Sea contain methane ice, an exceptionally powerful greenhouse gas, which could be released in the atmosphere as a response to global warming, thus creating environmental catastrophes, underlined Dan Palcu.
Other than the record accomplished – determining the huge proportions of the largest lake in the history of Earth, Paratethys, and of its evolution in time –, the results of the study could be important for the development of public policies in respect to ecology, global warming and managing potential ecological crises triggered by climate change.
More information about the research project that professors Ionuț Șandric and Marius Stoica participated in can be accessed here.
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