Abstract
Structural, geomorphological, and morphometric analyses of the Northwest and Central Caucasus (to the meridian of Elbrus) and adjacent areas of the foothills and the Black Sea basin supplemented by computer statistical processing of field fracturing measurements revealed the longitudinal and transverse zoning of the latest dislocations, which is inherited from previous evolution stages. The distribution of earthquakes is subordinate to the neotectonic zoning. It has been established that the cracks in the rocks of different ages determine the orientation of the modern erosion network. The lines of its elongation built using the LESSA software correlate with the field of tectonic stresses. Morphometric analysis showed a high degree of statistical correlation between the density of earthquakes and the magnitude of the vertical dissection of the relief and the rate of modern vertical movements, which makes it possible to recommend these parameters for forecasting seismicity.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Database of the State Geological Maps. http://webmapget.vsegei.ru/index.html. Cited April 2, 2020.
Filosofov, V.P., Kratkoe rukovodstvo po morfometricheskomu metodu poiskov tektonicheskikh struktur (Fundamentals of the Morphometric Method of Tectonic Structures Prospecting), Saratov: Saratov. Gos.Univ., 1960.
Kostenko, N.P. and Panina, L.V., The late orogenic structure of Ciscaucasia, Moscow Univ. Geol. Bull., 2001, no. 1, pp. 11–20.
Milanovskii, E.E., Noveishaya tektonika Kavkaza (Neotectonics of the Caucasus), Moscow: Nedra, 1968.
Nesmeyanov, S.A., Neostrukturnoe raionirovanie Severo-Zapadnogo Kavkaza (Operezhayushchie issledovaniya dlya inzhenernykh izyskanii) (Non-structural Zoning of the North-West Caucasus (Advanced Research for Engineering Survey)), Moscow: Nedra, 1992.
Nesmeyanov, S.A., Geomorfologicheskie aspekty paleoekologii gornogo paleolita (na primere Zapadnogo Kavkaza) (Geomorphological Aspects of Paleoecology of the Mountain Paleolithic (on the Example of Western Caucasus)), Moscow: Nauchn. Mir, 1999.
Nesmeyanov, S.A., Detailed morphostructural zoning and the modern sutures of the Greater Caucasus, in Problemy geomorfologii i geologii Kavkaza i Predkavkaz’ya. Mater. mezhd. soveshch. “Geomorfologiya gor i ravnin: vzaimosvyazi i vzaimodeistvie”. XXIV plenum geomorfol. Kom. RAN (Problems in Geomorphology and Geology of Caucasus and Cis-Caucasus. Proc. Int. Conf. “Geomorphology of Mountains and Plains: Interrelations and Interaction.” XXIV Sess. Geomorph. Com. Ross. Acad. Sci.), Krasnodar, 2001, pp. 72–78.
Ovsyuchenko, A.N., Seismotectonics and elements of neogeodynamics of the northwestern Caucasus based on the paleoseismological data, Cand. (Geol.-Mineral.) Dissertation, Moscow, 2006.
Popkov, V.I., Tectonics of the northwestern Caucasus, Izv. Otd. Nauk Zemle Prirodn. Resursov. Akad. Nauk Respubl. Bashkortostan. Geol., 2007, no. 11, pp. 13–18.
Rogozhin, E.A. and Ovsyuchenko, A.N., Seismic and geologic activity of tectonically faulted structures in the northern Caucasus, Phys. Solid Earth, 2005, vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 449–461.
Rogozhin, E.A., Ovsyuchenko, A.N., Lutikov, A.I., et al., Endogennye opasnosti Bol’shogo Kavkaza (Endogenous Hazards of. the Greater Caucasus), Moscow: Inst. Fiz. Zemli Ross. Akad. Nauk, 2014.
Zlatopolsky, A.A., Application software package of selection and analysis of linear elements in aerocosmic images, in Avtomatizirovannyi lineamentnyi analiz pri strukturno-geologicheskikh i metallogenicheskikh issledovaniyakh (Application of Automatic Lineament Analysis for Research in Structural Geology and Metallogeny), Moscow: Nedra, 1988, pp. 14–28.
Funding
This study was carried out within the framework of the research Development of methods for detailed seismic zoning and seismic microzoning (state registration no. 18-00-00342, included into the project no. 18-00-00344).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Additional information
Translated by M. Hannibal
About this article
Cite this article
Panina, V., Zaitsev, V.A., Agibalov, A.O. et al. The Latest Geodynamics of the Northwestern and Central Caucasus. Moscow Univ. Geol. Bull. 76, 109–120 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0145875221020071
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S0145875221020071