Besh Barmag Mountain outflow of meltwater from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, rather than a direct incursion of sea water into the Black Sea as a result of global sea level rise. Estimates of the increase in Caspian Sea level height are between + 20 and 30 meters. Besh Barmag Mountain Besh Barmag () literally translated as "Five Finger", is in Siazan District of Azerbaijan, not far from the Caspian Sea. It rises to above the sea level overlooking the Baku-Quba Highway. The mountain is a solid rock and is one of the most famous mountains in the Caucasus, known for
Black Sea deluge hypothesis Sea basin. This hypothesis concerns the occurrence of the last inflow and the primary point of controversy is whether the event was gradual or catastrophic. In 1997, William Ryan, Walter Pitman and their colleagues published their hypothesis that a massive flooding of the Black Sea occurred about 5600 BC through the Bosphorus. Before that date, glacial meltwater had turned the Black and Caspian Seas into vast freshwater lakes draining into the Aegean Sea. As glaciers retreated, some of the rivers emptying into the Black Sea declined in volume and changed course to drain into the North Sea. The levels of