Geology, geography and global energy

Scientific and Technical Journal

Baer hillocks and their origins

2017. №4, pp. 139-149

Golovachev I.V. - C.Sc. in Geography, Astrakhan State University, 16 Tatishcev st., Astrakhan, Russian Federation, 414025, bask_speleo@mail.ru

In the vast expanses of the Northern Caspian, there are surprising positive forms of relief - the Baer hillocks. They violate the natural monotony of the Caspian desert and semidesert landscapes, appreciably standing out against the background of the surrounding lowland relief. Peculiar, long-stretched "loamy" ridges. Sometimes they alternate with cross-mountain slides flooded with water, forming a unique in the world ilmen-ridge landscape. For the first time these hillocks were described by Academician K.M. Baer, and he also made an assumption about how they formed. Already for more than a century and a half of researchers continues to stir the about the formation of the Baer hillocks. There are many hypotheses from the most absurd to the most original. But the question is still open. The article gives a characterization of the Baer hillocks, provides a review and analysis of the main existing hypotheses of their origin.

Key words: формы рельефа, бугры Бэра, грядовые возвышенности, ильменно-бугровой ландшафт, дельта реки Волга, бугровая толща, морские отложения, эоловые процессы, морские трансгрессии и регрессии, Прикаспийская низменность, Северный Прикаспий, relief forms, Baer hill

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