Black Sea–Caspian Steppe The Manych Depression is not much more than 65 feet above sea level and the area around Astrakhan and part of Kalmykia is below sea level. Rivers: Through the center runs the northwest-tending Kuma-Manych Depression. This was once a strait connecting the Black and Caspian Seas and is now marked by the Manych River which is basically a chain of lakes. It will probably be the route of the Eurasia Canal if that great engineering work is ever built. In the south the rivers that flow north from the Caucasus are caught by the west-flowing Kuban River and the east-flowing
Danube–Black Sea Canal Danube-Black Sea Canal. Danube–Black Sea Canal The Danube–Black Sea Canal () is a navigable canal in Romania, which runs from Cernavodă, on the Danube river, to Constanța (southern arm, the main branch), and to Năvodari (northern arm), on the Black Sea. Administrated from Agigea, it is an important part of the European canal system that links the North Sea (through the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal) to the Black Sea. The main branch of the canal, with a length of , which connects the Port of Cernavodă with the Port of Constanța, was built between 1976–1984, while the north branch, known as the