The Caucasus: One or Many? A View from the Region

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Akkieva
Keyword(s):  
Mountain Range ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
North West ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Greater Caucasus ◽  
The North ◽  
The Western Caucasus ◽  
Central Caucasus ◽  
Lesser Caucasus ◽  
Definition Of

For all its geographical, cultural and political uniqueness, the definition of the Caucasus as a region is problematic. Geographers, geologists, political scientists, anthropologists and historians—all have disagreements between themselves and each other about such issues as what constitutes its borders, and what are the features of both its homogeneity and heterogeneity. Often, the use by representatives of one discipline of the conclusions and terminology from other disciplines in order to substantiate their positions complicates the problem even further. In any case, in general geographical terms the Caucasus is the territory between the Black, Azov and Caspian Seas, extending from the Kuma-Manych depression in the north to Georgia's and Armenia's borders with Turkey, and Azerbaijan's borders with Iran in the south. In physical-geological terms the Caucasus is predominantly a mountainous region which is shaped by the trajectories of the two mountain ranges, namely the Greater and Lesser Caucasus. The trajectory of the Greater Caucasus represents a diagonal stretching from the north-west to the southeast, while the trajectory of the Lesser Caucasus forms an ellipsoidal bow. At the Suram Passage the Lesser and Greater Caucasus practically merge. The Caucasus mountain range is divided lengthwise into the western Caucasus which stretches to Elbrus; the central Caucasus, which is between the Elbrus and Kazbek mountains; and the eastern Caucasus, which is to the east of the Kazbek.

scholarly journals Геодинамика территории Азербайджана на основе данных GPS за 2017–2019 гг.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.E. Kazimov
Keyword(s):  
Mountain Range ◽  
Greater Caucasus ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Geodynamic Processes ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Temporal Modes ◽  
Lesser Caucasus ◽  
Comparison Of The Results ◽  
Gps Velocity Field

the results obtained, in conjunction with these seismicity and the mechanisms of earthquakes, allow to determine the modern geodynamic situation of the studied region. The aim of the work was geodetic analysis and comparison of the results of GPS stations obtained for the period 2017-2019. on the territory of Azerbaijan. Methods. In the process of studying geodynamic processes using GPS technologies, two spatio-temporal modes are mainly used: a single redefinition of the initial coordinates of the points of geodetic networks and the displacement of the initial values of deformations. GPS data were processed using the GAMIT/GLOBK program. Results. One of the most pronounced features of the GPS velocity field is a decrease in the velocities of GPS stations (northern component of VN), perpendicular to the direction of expansion of the Greater Caucasus surface from south to north. The movement of the earth's surface to the north-north-east is interpreted as one of the reasons for this accumulation of stress.In addition, there is a tendency for horizontal movement in the Kura Depression and the Lesser Caucasus, which is reflected in the increase in velosity from west to east along the extension of the mountain range. It was determined that the earth's crust shortened at a velosity of ~ 5 mm / year in the Baku (Absheron peninsula). During 2019, on average, up to 8.4 mm per year in the north-northeast direction is observed for the territory of Azerbaijan. Separate velocities were also calculated for each station. Compared to 2018, it was determined that out of 24 GPS stations PQLG, XNQG, IMLG, QZXG, GANG, MNGG, FZLG, SATG, LKRG, LRKG and YRDG stations, the value of horizontal velocities increased by 0.5-7.0 mm/year, ZKTG, QBLG. At QSRG, ATGG, GDBG, AGDG, ALIG, JLVGG, GALG, GOBG and NDRG stations, the velocities values decreased by 0.5-3.1 mm/year. In 2019, the highest velocities were observed at Ganja, Mingachevir and Saatli stations. On average, velocities were 3.1-9.6 mm/year in the Greater Caucasus, 6.9-16.5 mm/year in the Kura Basin, 10.2-14.8 mm/year in the Talish area and on the Apsheron Peninsula. It varies between 3.6-4.8 mm/year. полученные результаты в совокупности с приведенной сейсмичностью и механизмами землетрясений позволяют определить современную геодинамическую ситуацию изучаемого региона. Целью работы являлся геодезический анализ и сравнение результатов GPS-станций, полученных за период 2017–2019 гг. на территории Азербайджана. Методы работы. В процессе изучения геодинамических процессов с использованием GPS технологий в основном применяются два пространственно-временных режима: однократное переопределение начальных координат точек геодезических сетей и смещение начальных значений деформаций. Данные GPS обрабатывали с помощью программы GAMIT/GLOBK. Результаты работы. Одной из наиболее ярко выраженных особенностей поля скорости GPS является уменьшение скоростей станций GPS (северный компонент VN), перпендикулярных направлению расширения поверхности Большого Кавказа с юга на север. Движение земной поверхности на север-северо-восток интерпретируется как одна из причин такого накопления напряжения. Кроме того, существует тенденция горизонтального движения в Курской впадине и на Малом Кавказе, что отражается в увеличение скорости с запада на восток по продолжению горного хребта. Было установлено, что земная кора сокращалась со скоростью ~ 5 мм/год в Баку (Апшеронский полуостров). В течение 2019 года в среднем по территории Азербайджана наблюдается до 8,4 мм в год в северо-северо-восточном направлении. Отдельные скорости были также рассчитаны для каждой станции. По сравнению с 2018 годом было определено, что из 24 GPS станций PQLG, XNQG, IMLG, QZXG, GANG, MNGG, FZLG, SATG, LKRG, LRKG и YRDG, значение горизонтальных скоростей увеличилось на 0,5–7,0 мм/год, ZKTG, QBLG. На станциях QSRG, ATGG, GDBG, AGDG, ALIG, JLVGG, GALG, GOBG и NDRG значения скоростей снизились на 0,5–3,1 мм/год. В 2019 году самые высокие скорости наблюдались на станциях Гянджа, Мингячевир и Саатлы. В среднем скорости составляли 3,1–9,6 мм/год на Большом Кавказе, 6,9–16,5 мм/год в бассейне Куры, 10,2–14,8 мм/год в Талышском районе и на Апшеронском полуострове. Колебания находятся в пределах 3,6–4,8 мм/год.

On the History of the Anglo-Russian Confrontation in the Western Caucasus

2021 ◽  
pp. 66-72
Author(s):  
Zalina V. Sosranova ◽  
Zalina M. Basieva
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Western Caucasus ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
European Continent ◽  
North West ◽  
The Western Caucasus ◽  
Xix Century

The article examines the scale and methods of the anti-Russian military-political activity of British emissaries in the Western Caucasus in the first half of the 19th century. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that for the first time in the work the intelligence activity of British “traveling” agents in the Western Caucasus is subjected to a special study, as an independent, gaining strength way of fighting in international contradictions for the Caucasus. The relevance of the topic of the proposed article seems to us indisputable due to the incompleteness of international rivalry and the eternal Eastern question. Russian Empire in the late 20s — early 30s XIX century. took possession of all legal rights to the North-West Caucasus and outlets to the Black Sea. With its confident military successes and new territorial accessions, Russia threw a serious challenge to the European powers, and especially England, the dominant power on the European continent at that time. One of the most important tasks of England is to nullify all the achievements of Russia in Turkey and prevent its consolidation in the territory of the Western Caucasus. England, adhering to the favorite method of “raking in the heat with someone else’s hands”, and in Circassia is testing its effectiveness. Since the 30s. XIX century. Numerous British agents flooded the Caucasus, turning the Circassians against Russia. The Black Sea coast of the Caucasus has become a place of uninterrupted supply of weapons to the mountaineers. As a result of the work, the author comes to the conclusion that the sources considered in the work can represent a scientific basis for confirming the involvement of Britain in anti-Russian agitation in the Western Caucasus. The uninterrupted supply of weapons to the highlanders organized by British agents helped to maintain military tension and a fighting spirit in Circassia.

scholarly journals Before the Celts: Cosmology, Landscape and Folklore in Neolithic Northwest Iberia

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-45
Author(s):  
Fabio Silva
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
The West ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Celtic Studies ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Northwest Iberia

This paper applies a combined landscape and skyscape archaeology methodology to the study of megalithic passage graves in the North-west of the Iberian Peninsula, in an attempt to glimpse the cosmology of these Neolithic Iberians. The reconstructed narrative is found to be supported also by a toponym for a local mountain range and associated folklore, providing an interesting methodology that might be applied in future Celtic studies. The paper uses this data to comment on the ‘Celticization from the West’ hypothesis that posits Celticism originated in the European Atlantic façade during the Bronze Age. If this is the case, then the Megalithic phenomenon that was widespread along the Atlantic façade would have immediately preceded the first Celts.

scholarly journals Estimation of long-term Ph changes in lakes of the Caucasus using a bioindication method based on diatomaceous analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. V. Razumovskii ◽  
V. L. Razumovskii
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Western Caucasus ◽  
Small Lakes ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Ph Values ◽  
Long Term Changes ◽  
The Western Caucasus ◽  
Central Caucasus ◽  
Hydrological Parameter

To analyze processes that may lead to long-term changes in pH, lake sediments from five small lakes in the Western and Central Caucasus were studied according to diatomaceous complexes from sediment cores. A proprietary principle of hydrological parameter unification was used to reconstruct numerical pH values. In isotopic dating experiments, a series of numerical pH values for 2000–130 years were generated for the lakes. These data indicate an absence of noticeable changes in pH in the lakes of the Western Caucasus and alkalization processes in the lakes of the Central Caucasus.

The Making of the Himalaya, Karakoram, and Tibetan Plateau

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Searle
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Indian Plate ◽  
North West ◽  
Geological Interpretation ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
The Road ◽  
The North ◽  
On The Road ◽  
The Himalaya

My quest to figure out how the great mountain ranges of Asia, the Himalaya, Karakoram, and Tibetan Plateau were formed has thus far lasted over thirty years from my first glimpse of those wonderful snowy mountains of the Kulu Himalaya in India, peering out of that swaying Indian bus on the road to Manali. It has taken me on a journey from the Hindu Kush and Pamir Ranges along the North-West Frontier of Pakistan with Afghanistan through the Karakoram and along the Himalaya across India, Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan and, of course, the great high plateau of Tibet. During the latter decade I have extended these studies eastwards throughout South East Asia and followed the Indian plate boundary all the way east to the Andaman Islands, Sumatra, and Java in Indonesia. There were, of course, numerous geologists who had ventured into the great ranges over the previous hundred years or more and whose findings are scattered throughout the archives of the Survey of India. These were largely descriptive and provided invaluable ground-truth for the surge in models that were proposed to explain the Himalaya and Tibet. When I first started working in the Himalaya there were very few field constraints and only a handful of pioneering geologists had actually made any geological maps. The notable few included Rashid Khan Tahirkheli in Kohistan, D. N. Wadia in parts of the Indian Himalaya, Ardito Desio in the Karakoram, Augusto Gansser in India and Bhutan, Pierre Bordet in Makalu, Michel Colchen, Patrick LeFort, and Arnaud Pêcher in central Nepal. Maps are the starting point for any geological interpretation and mapping should always remain the most important building block for geology. I was extremely lucky that about the time I started working in the Himalaya enormous advances in almost all aspects of geology were happening at a rapid pace. It was the perfect time to start a large project trying to work out all the various geological processes that were in play in forming the great mountain ranges of Asia. Satellite technology suddenly opened up a whole new picture of the Earth from the early Landsat images to the new Google Earth images.

Roof of the World: Tibet, Pamirs

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Searle
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Tien Shan ◽  
Palm Tree ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
North West ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
The North ◽  
The World

The Tibetan Plateau is by far the largest region of high elevation, averaging just above 5,000 metres above sea level, and the thickest crust, between 70 and 90 kilometres thick, anywhere in the world. This huge plateau region is very flat—lying in the internally drained parts of the Chang Tang in north and central Tibet, but in parts of the externally drained eastern Tibet, three or four mountain ranges larger and higher than the Alps rise above the frozen plateau. Some of the world’s largest and longest mountain ranges border the plateau, the ‘flaming mountains’ of the Tien Shan along the north-west, the Kun Lun along the north, the Longmen Shan in the east, and of course the mighty Himalaya forming the southern border of the plateau. The great trans-Himalayan mountain ranges of the Pamir and Karakoram are geologically part of the Asian plate and western Tibet but, as we have noted before, unlike Tibet, these ranges have incredibly high relief with 7- and 8-kilometre-high mountains and deeply eroded rivers and glacial valleys. The western part of the Tibetan Plateau is the highest, driest, and wildest area of Tibet. Here there is almost no rainfall and rivers that carry run-off from the bordering mountain ranges simply evaporate into saltpans or disappear underground. Rivers draining the Kun Lun flow north into the Takla Makan Desert, forming seasonal marshlands in the wet season and a dusty desert when the rivers run dry. The discovery of fossil tropical leaves, palm tree trunks, and even bones from miniature Miocene horses suggest that the climate may have been wetter in the past, but this is also dependent on the rise of the plateau. Exactly when Tibet rose to its present elevation is a matter of great debate. Nowadays the Indian Ocean monsoon winds sweep moisture-laden air over the Indian sub-continent during the summer months (late June–September). All the moisture is dumped as the summer monsoon, the torrential rains that sweep across India from south-east to north-west.

From depth to surface: how deep-earth processes and active tectonics shape the landscape in Pamir and Hindu Kush

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Crosetto ◽  
Sabrina Metzger ◽  
Dirk Scherler ◽  
Onno Oncken
Keyword(s):  
Active Faults ◽  
Indian Plate ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
Eurasian Plate ◽  
North West ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
The North ◽  
Lateral Extrusion ◽  
Hindu Kush ◽  
Thrust System

<p>The Pamir and Hindu Kush are located at the western tip of the India-Asia collision zone. Approximately a third of the northward motion of India’s western syntax is mostly accommodated by continental-scale underthrusting of the Indian plate beneath Asia. On its way northwards the arcuate, convex Pamir mountain range acts as a rigid indenter penetrating the weaker Eurasian plate, while lateral extrusion occurs to the west in the Tajik Depression.</p><p>Intense present-day shallow seismicity indicates active deformation along the northern and north-western semi-arid margin of the Pamir, where over the last century several M>6 and three M>7 crustal earthquakes, including a recent M6.4 event in 2016, were recorded. Earthquakes are distributed in the proximity of three main fault systems: the Pamir thrust system to the north, and the Darvaz fault and Vakhsh thrust system to the north-west. The pronounced topographic expression of these lithospheric faults is associated to a deeply incised landscape, which was profoundly shaped by past widespread glaciations. The transient evolution of the landscape following deglaciation is observed in the dynamic river network, characterised by intense fluvial incision and changes in the fluvial connectivity of the drainage system.</p><p>At depth, recent seismic tomography studies suggest delamination, stretching and tearing of the Asian slab beneath SW Pamir, and slab break-off underneath Hindu Kush. Slab break-off episodes are known to result in stress surges in the overlying lithosphere, potentially causing deformation and uplift.</p><p>In this complex system characterised by an important interplay between tectonics, climate and surface processes, we use qualitative and quantitative analyses of the topography and of the drainage systems evolution, inclusive of numerical tools, in order to define what is –and has been- the role played by the main lithospheric active faults of this area. In addition, we aim at identifying how landscape and surface dynamics respond, temporally and spatially, to processes, such as slab tearing/break-off, occurring at depth.</p>

scholarly journals Этнография Кавказа и культурное наследие Великого Шелкового пути

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.A. Dmitriev
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Caspian Sea ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Regional Culture ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
The Caspian Sea ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Greater Caucasus ◽  
The North

В статье исследуется связь объектной зоны этнографической науки, народной традиционной культуры и историко-культурного наследия как формы современной актуализации культуры прошлого. В качестве модели этнографического изучения культурного наследия рассматриваются последствия для региональной культуры народов Северного Кавказа деятельности местной трассы Великого шелкового пути самой крупной евразийской трассы эпохи Древности и Средневековья. Основой подхода является представление региональных участков трасс великих путей Евразии как культургеоценозов, сложение культурного наследия в которых имеет как местные корни, так и последствия их включения в большой культургеоценоз Великого шелкового пути. В пределах региональной культуры народов Северного Кавказа такими культургеоценозами признаются части ареалов шелководства и шелкоткачества на Кавказе и крупные ареалы высокогорья (область башенных памятников Большого Кавказа) и предгорий Северного Кавказа (районы, входившие в социально-политическое пространство Великой Черкесии).The article discusses the relationship between folk traditional culture and historical and cultural heritage as a form of contemporary actualization of the culture of the past. The results of the activities of the local route of the Great Silk Road for the regional culture of the peoples of the North Caucasus are regarded as a model for an ethnographic study of cultural heritage. The basis of the approach is the presentation of regional sections of the routes of the great roads of Eurasia as culture geocenoses. The formation of cultural heritage in such culture geocenoses has both local roots and consequences of their inclusion in the large culture geocenosis of the Great Silk Road. Within the regional culture of the peoples of the North Caucasus such geocenoses are parts of the silkgrowing and silkweaving areas of the Caucasus, large areas of high mountains (the area of handicraft sites of mountainous Dagestan and the area of tower monuments of the Greater Caucasus) and the foothills of the North Caucasus (areas included in the sociopolitical space of Great Circassia). Sericulture in the northern part of the Caucasus was the occupation of the population of the forested foothills of the Greater Caucasus, but at the end of the 19th century the population of West Adyg and Abkhaz lands were excluded from this occupation. From the Caspian Sea to Kabarda, inclusive, the craft of weaving womens shawls with silk threads was spread. Printed fabrics and patterned textile materials came to the North Caucasus from the South Caucasian urban centers mainly located near the Caspian Sea. At the same time, part of the population of the region of the NorthEastern Caucasus steadily specialized in the production of silkworm eggs. The internal roads of Dagestan associated with the route of the Great Silk Road have played a historic role in the promotion of stimulating cultural impulses into the economic life of the highlanders. This may explain the concentration of settlements in mountainous Dagestan, whose population specialized in various types of artistic craft. Indirect evidence of the involvement of internal Dagestan in the channels of distribution and accumulation of samples of imported silk in the Caucasus is the socalled phenomenon Kaytag embroidery. The formation of the area of North Caucasian towers is associated with climatic and political changes in the region, characteristic of the final period of its inclusion in the section of the Great Silk Road. The article makes an assumption about the dependence of the genesis of the socioeconomic specifics of Great Circassia on the need to preserve the previous trade relations in the era that followed the cessation of the functioning of the Great Silk Road in the Caucasus.

scholarly journals STAGES OF MINERALIZATION AND LOCALIZATION FACTORS OF THE AGYURT GOLD-COPPER-MOLYBDENUM DEPOSIT (LESSER CAUCASUS, AZERBAIJAN)

2020 ◽  
pp. 96-101
Author(s):  
U. Kerimli
Keyword(s):  
Decisive Role ◽  
Texture Features ◽  
North West ◽  
Gold Telluride ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Molybdenum Deposit ◽  
Tectonic Zones ◽  
Lesser Caucasus ◽  
Mo Content

The article considers the stages of mineralization of the Agyurt gold-copper-molybdenum deposit of the Lesser Caucasus. The following mineralization stages were established at the field: 1) quartz-molybdenum; 2) quartz-pyrite-chalcopyrite with gold; 3) quartz-carbonate-sphalerite; 4) quartz-carbonate. Gold ore bodies are mainly composed of aggregates of the second stage of mineralization, which is productive. Its mineral substance is represented by three paragenetic associations: 1) quartz-pyrite; 2) calcite-chalcopyrite-marcasite; 3) gold-telluride-bismuth. Chemical analyzes of pyrites, bismuthin, tellurium bismuthite are given. It has been found that native gold is found in the form of small, simple forms of gold in grains of early pyrite. In veins of chalcopyrite and grains of pyrite, it is usually confined to the marginal parts. The largest amount of gold is in close intergrowth with tellurium-bismuth minerals. It was found that the ore deposition environment (mineral composition, chemistry and structural and texture features of the host rocks) played a decisive role for various types of mineralization. It is established that, in the plan, the Agyurt deposit is localized in the contour of a rock block elongated in the northwest (submeridional) direction, bounded by tectonic zones from the north-north-west and north-east, which also bear a certain imprint of the formation of the structural plan of the ore field with near latitudinal strike of tectonic elements. These structures are most tectonically prepared for the localization of gold-copper-molybdenum mineralization (updated in the pre-ore stages and most permeable for hydrothermal structures), and were the main ore-supplying and ore-locating structural elements. The ore zones represented by hydrothermal-metasomatic formations, as well as quartz veins piercing them and numerous veinlets and sometimes mineralized dykes, are controlled by the Main Ordubad longitudinal (280°∠70–80°NE) and Agyurt-Misdag transverse (40–50°∠70° NE) with discontinuous violations and adjoin the hanging side (northeast flank) of the first. The combination of structural and petrogenetic factors not only predetermined the formation of deposits of the Agyurt type, but also determined the horizontal and vertical zonation of mineralization: an increase in the Mo content and a decrease in Cu with depth are established. The same pattern is observed in the horizontal direction: as you move away from the intrusive massif and the ore-removing channel, there is a transition from Cu-Mo-mineralization to copper and then polymetallic, i.e. the role of Cu increases, then Pb and Zn. The horizontal zoning in Agyurt is expressed in an increase in Au content and the total amount of sulfides with distance from the Main Ordubad Fault, and vertical shows an increase in Au content and decreases in Ag with depth.

scholarly journals Folding Structure of the South Slope of the Great Caucasus in Crossing the Gorge of the River Ksani

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Т.В. Гиоргобиани ◽  
Д.П. Закарая
Keyword(s):  
Field Studies ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Greater Caucasus ◽  
The North ◽  
Large Structures ◽  
Folded Structure ◽  
South Slope ◽  
Small Shear

В статье рассмотрена складчатая структура Большого Кавказа в пересечении ущелья р. Ксани, которая все еще недостаточно изучена. Вместе с тем исследование складчатости Большого Кавказа имеет решающее значение для выяснения условий формирования современной складчатой структуры региона. Цель работы. Установление важных особенностей складчатости Большого Кавказа необходимых для выявления причин и механизмов образования его структуры, представляющих еще не до конца решенную проблему. Методика исследований заключалась в весьма детальной зарисовке складчатости региона вдоль ущелья р. Ксани в масштабе 1:1000, что позволяло фиксировать все особенности изучаемой структуры. Составленный при полевых исследованиях разрез был уменьшен до 1:50000 масштаба. Полученный геолого-структурный профиль достаточно полно и точно отражает основные черты структурного строения региона. Результаты. В изученном разрезе установлен ряд новых важных особенностей складчатой структуры, сложенной из мезозойско-кайнозойских толщ. Выяснена многопорядковость и разновозрастность складчатых структур и их субширотное простирание. Структуры первого порядка являются более ранними складками и представлены асимметричными наклоненными на юг сильно сжатыми складками, шириной 1–3 км. Более поздние складки высоких порядков, осложняющие крупные структуры, тоже тесно сжаты, асимметричны и характеризуются падением осей складок на север. Размер их колеблется в широких пределах − от 0.5 м до нескольких десятков метров. Субширотная ориентировка складчатости указывает на то, что она сформировалась в другой обстановке деформации, чем основная северо-западная структура Большого Кавказа. Обсуждение результатов и выводы. Установленный характер складчатости свидетельствует о различном генезисе структур в процессе двухэтапной разноплановой деформации региона. Выяснено, что на первом доверхнеорогенном этапе дислокации (юра-средний миоцен) Кавказ испытал северо-восточное тангенциальное сжатие, вызванное придвиганием и прижатием Черноморско-Закавказского микроконтинента к Большому Кавказу. В результате в регионе была сформирована основная линейная складчатая структура северо-западного простирания, крупные региональные разломы и слоевой кливаж. На втором позднеорогенном этапе деформации (поздний миоцен-антропоген) складчатая структура Большого Кавказа испытывала косое субмеридиональное горизонтальное сжатие. Установлено, что причиной деформации явилось долготное придвигание Ксанского шоля, блока микроконтинента и его внедрение в складчатую структуру Большого Кавказа. Эти дислокации способствовали возникновению в регионе наложенной на раннюю структуру поздней малой складчатости, мелких разрывов скалывания и секущего кливажа субширотного направления. Сделан вывод, что в указанных условиях, разными механизмами дислокации была образована современная сложная складчатая структура южного склона Большого Кавказа в пересечении ущелья р. Ксани в альпийском цикле тектогенеза региона The article considers the folded structure of the Greater Caucasus at the intersection of the gorge of the river Ksani, who is still not well understood. At the same time, the study of the folding of the Greater Caucasus has crucial significance for the determination of the conditions of formation of the modern folded structure of the region. Aim. The establishment of important features of the Greater Caucasus folding essential for identification of the reason and mechanisms of its structure formation, which are not yet fully resolved problem. The research methodology was a very detailed sketching of the folding of the region along the river Ksani gorge in a scale of 1:1000, which allowed to record all the features of the studied structure. The section compiled during field studies was reduced to 1:50 000 scale. The resulting geological and structural profile sufficiently fully and accurately reflects the main features of the structural constructionof the region. Results. In the studied section, a number of new important features of the folded structure of its Mesozoic-Cenozoic strata are established. First of all is revealed, it should be noted that the fold structures are multi-order and of different ages and of sublatitudinal strike. The first-order structures are earlier folds and are represented by asymmetric southwardly declined highly compressed 1-3 km wide folds. Complicating later large structures folds of higher orders are also tightly compressed, asymmetric with the axes dipping to the north. Their sizes vary widely - from 0.5 m to several tens of meters. The sublatitudinal strike of the folding indicates that it formed in a different deformation environment than the main northwestern structure of the Greater Caucasus. Discussion of the results and conclusions. Established character of folding indicates a different genesis of the structures during the two-stage diverse deformation of the region. It was found that at the first suprahorogenic stage of dislocation (Jurassic-Middle Miocene), the Caucasus experienced northeast tangential contraction caused by the pulling and pressing of the Black Sea-Transcaucasian microcontinent to the Greater Caucasus. As a result, the main linear folded structure of the northwestern strike, large regional faults, and layered cleavage were formed in the region. At the second latehorogenic stage of deformation (Late Miocene-Anthropogene), the folded structure of the Greater Caucasus experienced oblique submeridional horizontal compression. It is established that the cause of the deformation was the longitudinal movement of the Ksani schol, a block of the microcontinent and its emplacement into the folded structure of the Greater Caucasus. These dislocations in the region contribute generation of the late low folding superimposed on the early structure, small shear faults, and crosscuting cleavage of the sub-latitudinal direction. It is concluded that, under indicated conditions, by different dislocation mechanisms was formed the modern complex folded structure of the southern slope of the Greater Caucasus at the intersection of the river Ksani gorge during the alpine cycle of regional tectogenesis

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