Portal:THESEUS/Varna spit

Varna coastal region is situated between cape Ekrene and cape Galata (Fig. 11). It includes the firth area with two navigable lakes – Varna Lake and Beloslav Lake. Varna – Beloslav – Devnya is the largest transportharbor agglomeration in Bulgaria covering a total area of 150 km2. Varna Lake is separated from Varna Bay by a wide sandy spit, truncated with two navigable channels.

The artificial island formed between the two channels represents the highly developed industrial zone of Varna. With the exception for port facilities, it includes several plants, dockyard and a large number of SMEs. A heat and power plant, providing energy for Varna city and adjacent industrial complex, is situated on the Northern side of the Varna Lake. In the Western part of the lake system (Beloslav Lake) an extension of the Port Varna (ferry boats) and a complex of chemical plants are located. The Port of Varna is the largest Bulgarian port handling over 8 million tons of cargoes per year. It is a multi-purpose port with modern facilities and specialized quays. It handles grain, containers, chemicals and general cargoes, including liquids. The open-air storage area is 240 800 m² and warehouses – 77 500 m². Varna bay and lake system represent low-laying territories and are susceptible to flooding. The coast along the Varna littoral is mainly of erosive type (33.5 %), followed by coasts with technogenical load (25.8 %), non-flooding accumulative coasts (22.3 %), accumulative coasts usually flooded during storm events (13.9 %) and finally erosive-accumulative coasts (4.5 %). Taking into account that 51.9 % of the coast is directly affected by the wave induced erosion, the Varna coast generally belongs to the erosive type. The key processes that make the area vulnerable to erosion can be divided to offshore (about 40% are under the direct wave impact) and inland (non-homogeneous Sarmat rock complex, consisting of limestone, sandstone, marl, clay and unconsolidated sands; and ground waters flowing in-between the marl and clay layers and permeating into the coastal slope) components. The maximum rate of wave induced erosion varies from 0.30 m/yr in the Varna bay area to 3.40 m/yr in the northern part port of the study site.