Greater Caucasus Greater Caucasus Greater Caucasus (, Бөјүк Гафгаз, بيوک قافقاز; , "Didi K’avk’asioni"; , "Bolshoy Kavkaz", sometimes translated as "Caucasus Major", "Big Caucasus" or "Large Caucasus") is the major mountain range of the Caucasus Mountains. The range stretches for about from west-northwest to east-southeast, between the Taman Peninsula of the Black Sea to the Absheron Peninsula of the Caspian Sea: from the Western Caucasus in the vicinity of Sochi on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea and reaching nearly to Baku on the Caspian. The range is traditionally separated into three parts: In the wetter Western Caucasus, the mountains are
Black Sea joins the world ocean. When this hydrological link is not present, the Black Sea is an endorheic basin, operating independently of the global ocean system, like the Caspian Sea for example. Currently the Black Sea water level is relatively high, thus water is being exchanged with the Mediterranean. The Turkish Straits connect the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea, and comprise the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Black Sea as follows: Current names of the sea are usually equivalents of the English name "Black Sea", including these given