20 September 2026
(Tiligul Estuary. PHOTO: www.golos.com.ua)
The northwestern Black Sea region is rich in natural treasures. It is here, where the endless steppe meets the sea, that the Tiligul Estuary stretches out—a body of water with a character all its own, separating the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions. This unique site is the focus of the latest installment of our regular local history column, “The Amazing South.”
The Tiligul Estuary is located on the administrative border between the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions. The estuary serves as a natural water boundary between the Berezivka and Odesa districts on one side and the Mykolaiv district on the other.
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Tiligul Estuary. PHOTO: nikvesti.com
On the southern side, the estuary’s waters are completely separated from the Black Sea by a massive natural sand-and-shell spit approximately 7 kilometers long and 2 to 4 kilometers wide. This barrier prevents the free exchange of water, transforming the estuary into a semi-enclosed ecosystem. The current ecological and hydrological connection to the sea is not static: it is artificially maintained by the “Liman–Sea” connecting channel, which disrupts the integrity of the bar.
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The channel connecting the estuary to the sea. PHOTO: thumb.wikimedia.org
The Tiligul coastline has a distinctive geomorphological structure. It consists of numerous spits that form unique shallow bays, a sandbar, and high, steep cliffs.
The western shore of the body of water is predominantly high, steep, and dissected by deep ravines and gullies, creating specific conditions for the formation of local microclimatic zones. The eastern shore, on the other hand, is gentler, gradually transitioning into the endless steppe expanses of the Black Sea region.
The formation of the Tiligul Estuary’s current geographical features is the result of large-scale and long-term geological and climatic processes that took place thousands of years ago. In the distant past, a wide, full-flowing river valley existed where the saltwater body now lies. It was here that the lower course of the ancient Tiligul River flowed, carrying its fresh waters from the Podillia Upland to the Black Sea and forming its estuary here.
Everything changed as a result of the so-called New Black Sea transgression—a global process of rising water levels in the Black Sea. Tectonic movements of the Earth’s crust, combined with the melting of glaciers, caused seawater to rapidly encroach on the land, flooding the coastal lowlands. The mouth of the Tiligul River turned into an open sea bay.
The next stage involved the formation of a barrier between the sea and the body of water. This occurred over millennia under the influence of coastal ocean currents, constant surf, and the deposition of fine river quartz sand and crushed shell rock. Around the 18th–19th centuries, this process reached its peak—the sandbar finally closed, cutting off the former bay from the Black Sea and transforming it into a classic enclosed estuary.
The name “Tiligul” has deep etymological roots linked to the presence of Turkic peoples in this region. It derives from the phrase “Deli Göl,” which translates from Turkish and Nogai as “Crazy (Mad) Lake.” This body of water did not receive such a harsh name by accident. The local topography of the shores and the lake’s exposure to steppe winds create specific aerodynamic conditions: the wind here can instantly change direction and strength, triggering sudden, unpredictable, and dangerous storms with high, steep waves, which in ancient times caused no small amount of trouble for fishermen and travelers.
Among the numerous estuaries of the Southern Region, the Tiligul holds a special place due to its physical characteristics. The Tiligul Estuary has officially been recognized as the deepest estuary in the entire Northwestern Black Sea region.
The total length of the body of water is about 60 kilometers. The width of the estuary varies in different sections: in the narrowest parts, it can be slightly less than 1 kilometer, while in the middle and southern, wider sections, it reaches 4–4.5 kilometers.
The estuary’s water surface area is dynamic and fluctuates between 150 and 170 square kilometers. These fluctuations depend on climatic conditions, the rate of evaporation, and the volume of seawater fed through the artificial channel.
The average depth of the estuary ranges from 3 to 5 meters, which is typical for such bodies of water. The main feature of the Tiligula is the presence of deep bottom depressions in its central part. The maximum recorded depth of this saltwater body reaches 21 meters.
Historically, the Tiligul Estuary was distinguished by the highest water transparency among all Black Sea-type bodies of water. Thanks to the absence of large industrial cities along the coast, agricultural enterprises, and specific natural filtration, water clarity reached 7–8 meters during certain seasons. Although this figure has decreased somewhat in recent years due to algal blooms, the estuary is still considered one of the cleanest large bodies of water in Ukraine.
Due to an acute shortage of freshwater inflow and high evaporation rates over a large area (especially during the hot summer months), the hydrochemical composition of the estuary’s waters has undergone radical changes.
An important feature of the Tiligul water body is its abnormal salinity. While in the mid-20th century this indicator for the estuary ranged between 11 and 12 promille (for comparison, the salinity of the Black Sea is 17–18 promille), during the period of most critical shallowing in the early 21st century, the salinity of the brine in the northern parts of the body of water exceeded 50–54 promille. With such levels, approaching those of the Dead Sea, the estuary’s waters are completely unsuitable for the survival of most typical aquatic species.
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Consequences of the estuary’s shallowing and rising salinity. PHOTO: odessa-life.od.ua
After the canal was opened and the estuary was filled with seawater, the salinity leveled off somewhat and today averages around 30–35 promille. This is nearly twice the average salinity of the open Black Sea. In fact, the water in the Tiligul now has a salinity level comparable to that of the world’s oceans.
Chemically, the water in the Tiligul is chloride-sodium with very high levels of sulfates, magnesium, and calcium. The water is rich in dissolved trace elements, among which bromine, iodine, boron, and boric acid are of particular balneological importance. This concentration of minerals makes the estuary’s brine a potent therapeutic agent capable of exerting a pronounced therapeutic effect on the human body.
The main treasure hidden beneath the salt water of the estuary is its therapeutic mud. According to the results of numerous physicochemical and medical-biological studies, significant reserves of sulfide-silt therapeutic mud (peloids) lie at the bottom of the Tiligul Estuary, with a total volume of approximately 15 million cubic meters. In terms of their chemical composition, hydrogen sulfide content, colloidal iron complex, and organic biostimulants, Tiligul peloids surpass the well-known therapeutic muds of the Kuyalnik Estuary and Lakes Saki and Tambukan in certain parameters.
Local peloids have pronounced therapeutic properties:
Mud therapy at Tiligul is indicated for a wide range of conditions: diseases of the musculoskeletal system (arthritis, osteoarthritis, osteochondrosis, consequences of severe injuries), diseases of the central and peripheral nervous systems (radiculitis, neuritis), dermatological problems (psoriasis, eczema), and chronic gynecological and urological conditions.
The lands surrounding the Tiligul Estuary have a rich history of settlement dating back thousands of years. Thanks to a unique combination of natural factors—the shelter provided by the estuary from open-sea storms, an abundance of fish, proximity to navigable rivers, and the availability of pastures—Prytiligul has always attracted various peoples.
Archaeological excavations conducted along the estuary’s shores prove that the first human settlements appeared here as early as the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages (2nd–1st millennia BCE). But the region’s true heyday came during the Great Greek Colonization in the 6th–3rd centuries BCE. On the estuary’s coast, scholars have uncovered the remains of more than a dozen ancient Greek settlements. They were part of the chora—the agricultural district of the ancient polis of Olbia, whose center was located nearby, on the shore of the Bug Estuary. The ancient inhabitants engaged in growing grain crops, viticulture, and active trade with the indigenous peoples of the steppe.
Later, in the first centuries CE, the territory of Prytiligul became the scene of the Great Migration. Warlike nomadic tribes of Scythians and Sarmatians ruled here, as evidenced by the numerous burial mounds found on the plateau surrounding the estuary.
During the Middle Ages, the banks of the Tiligul hosted hordes of Pechenegs and Polovtsians, and later came under the influence of the Golden Horde. After its collapse, these lands were under the control of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire. The Nogai Tatars (in particular, the Yedisan Horde) roamed here, using the steppes near the Tiligul for large-scale cattle drives. It was during this period that the estuary functioned as one of the region’s natural salt production sites—salt from here was transported by chumaks throughout Eastern Europe.
In the 18th century, following the end of the Russo-Turkish Wars, the Ottoman Empire lost control of the area between the Southern Bug and Dniester rivers. A period of intensive colonization of the region began. The Russian imperial government began distributing vast tracts of land in the Prityligul region to Cossack leaders, nobles, and foreign colonists. German and Bulgarian settlements sprang up in the surrounding areas, as well as villages of Ukrainian peasant settlers.
The main environmental problem facing the Tiligul Estuary is a shortage of fresh water and disruption of the natural water cycle due to siltation and the drying up of tributaries. The Tiligul River has zero outflow, which means the estuary loses millions of cubic meters of water every year.
Due to the lack of fresh water and high temperatures, salinity is rising, leading to algal blooms and posing a threat to biodiversity. Illegal sand mining in the area where the estuary connects to the sea is destroying the shoreline. Pollution from stormwater runoff from fields carries pesticides and fertilizers into the Tiligul’s waters.
The war in Ukraine has caused significant stress to the ecosystems of the Southern Black Sea region. Hostilities and the region’s proximity to the zone of active conflict pose risks of water pollution, risks of drifting mines and fires in coastal areas, which destroy protected landscapes and lead to the loss of the estuary’s biodiversity.
On the shores of the Tiligul Estuary in the Mykolaiv region lie nature conservation areas—the “Tiligul” Regional Landscape Park and the “Lower Tiligul Estuary” ornithological reserve of local significance. We’ll discuss them in more detail next time.
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A tourist complex on the banks of the Tiligul. PHOTO: tour.tic.in.ua
The estuary’s coastline is also used for recreation and outdoor activities. Recreational areas have been developed here, and sailing competitions are held on the water.
Interesting Facts
Юлія Сичова