The results of investigation of the bottom sediments sampled in the Balaklava Bay in February and June, 2015 are represented. The grain-size distribution, and the organic carbon (Corg) and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) content have been studied. Noticeable change in the fractions' content that took place in course of the last 10 years is revealed. To a greater extent it is referred to the sand or gravel material, its quantitative characteristics and the features of its spatial distribution. As for the silt material in the Balaklava Bay sediments, its content, according to all the samples, grew, on the whole, from 58 to 66 %. The changes in the organic carbon abundance that took place in the bottom sediments in 2005-2015 were comparatively analyzed both for the Balaklava Bay and other water areas of the Heraklion Peninsula. A general tendency of the organic matter abundance to decrease in the bottom sediments of the bay was noted; it is treated as a result of some alteration in the anthropogenic pressure. The organic carbon mean concentration in the Balaklava Bay bottom sediments is two to three times lower than that in the other bays of the region which were subjected to permanent anthropogenic pressure. However, pollution of the Balaklava Bay with the untreated municipal, storm and industrial sewages leads to formation of the local bottom zones where the sediments are saturated with organic matter (Corg> 2.5 %). Such phenomena can exert a negative impact on the state of the marine environment ecology including, in particular, structural deviations in the macrozoobenthos community. Further decrease of the organic matter abundance is possible only in case the pollution basic sources are either completely removed or, at least, their influence is reduced. Such a condition is indispensable due to its extreme importance for implementing the state plan to turn the Balaklava Bay into a recreational area and a yacht marina.

Purpose. The work is aimed at estimating the organic carbon abundance in the bottom sediments of the littoral zone in connection with the state of macrozoobenthos in the Sevastopol region coastal waters with different levels of the anthropogenic pressure (by the example of the Laspi Bay). Methods and Results. The samples were taken in the dynamically active coastal-shelf zone (up to the depths ~ 20 m) of the Laspi Bay in September, 2017. Two samples were taken during the 103rd cruise of R/V "Professor Vodyanitsky" (September, 2018). The geochemical composition of bottom sediments was investigated. The bottom sediments of natural humidity were analyzed in accordance with the requirements of the regulatory documents. In the sediments containing the aleurite fraction in the central part of the Laspi Bay (station 4), the organic carbon content (Сorg) increased its natural course up to 0.46 %, but did not exceed its maximum values characteristic of the similar lithological sediments in the shallow-water part of the Crimea Southern Coast (1.14 %). In the deep part of the bay occupied with the aleurite-pelitic silt, the Сorg content exceeded 2 %. Absence of the Сorg accumulation within the depths under study is conditioned primarily by the grain-size composition of the bottom sediments, the hydrodynamic factor and the morphometric features of this coastal site. Presence of a small portion of the aleurite-pelitic fraction in the bottom sediments also does not promote the organic carbon accumulation. Thus, spatial distribution of the carbon organic and inorganic forms is conditioned by the features of the matters’ lateral migration, which, in its turn, is governed by dependence of the bottom sediments’ chemical and dispersion structure upon the environmental morphodynamic conditions. Conclusions. The littoral sediments were found to be characterized by a low organic content (Сorg = 0.16 %) not exceeding the geochemical background values of the surface bottom sediments in the Black Sea shelf zones. At present, the organic matter accumulation is determined by the features of the environmental morphodynamic conditions (transition of fine particles to the deep zones) and by the dispersed composition of the bottom sediments.

The hydrochemical parameters' characteristics of the river Chernaya and some its tributaries are represented based on the results of the observations in 2006-2010. The changes both of water hardness and the level of its contamination with the mineral nitrogen compounds (nitrates, nitrites and ammonium ions) are shown. The results of the investigations testify to rather noticeable anthropogenic effect (increasing at low norm of water content) upon the water chemical composition. The retrospective analysis shows that in the extreme cases mineralization, hardness, calcium and nutrient content levels in the river waters significantly exceed the hygiene and sanitary standards for drinking water. The river Chernaya waters (before the water supplying point) are constantly contaminated with the nutrients and organic matter brought by the tribute Baidarka and the slope drainage waters. Consistency of quality of the flood and low runoff waters inflowing the river Chernaya to the normative standards is assessed. Though water hardness exceeds the standards only in the extreme cases, the present trend towards growth of the river Chernaya water mineralization and contamination with organic matter and nutrients requires systemic solving of environmental problems.

The hydrochemical parameters' characteristics of the river Chernaya and some its tributaries are represented based on the results of the observations in 2006-2010. The changes both of water hardness and the level of its contamination with the mineral nitrogen compounds (nitrates, nitrites and ammonium ions) are shown. The results of the investigations testify to rather noticeable anthropogenic effect (increasing at low norm of water content) upon the water chemical composition. The retrospective analysis shows that in the extreme cases mineralization, hardness, calcium and nutrient content levels in the river waters significantly exceed the hygiene and sanitary standards for drinking water. The river Chernaya waters (before the water supplying point) are constantly contaminated with the nutrients and organic matter brought by the tribute Baidarka and the slope drainage waters. Consistency of quality of the flood and low runoff waters inflowing the river Chernaya to the normative standards is assessed. Though water hardness exceeds the standards only in the extreme cases, the present trend towards growth of the river Chernaya water mineralization and contamination with organic matter and nutrients requires systemic solving of environmental problems.