The aim of this project is to initiate a river sampling program in the USSR, specifically on the rivers draining into the Black Sea. This initiative has been made possible by recent events in both the US and the USSR and will involve close collaboration with scientists at the Institute of Biology of the South Seas in Sevastopol with exchanges of samples, data and personnel. The aim is to expand the data base for studies of the global geochemical cycle and, in particular, to investigate the influence of the Soviet rivers on the chemistry of the Black Sea.
