Geology, geography and global energy

Scientific and Technical Journal

Emerging data on the conditions of the Karagiyn drainage basin

2013. №1, pp. 85-89

Popkov Vasiliy I. - D.Sc. in Geology and Mineralogy, Professor, Kuban State University, 149 Stavropolskaya st., Krasnodar, Russian Federation, 350040, geoskubsu@mail.ru.

The article speculates that the Karagiyn drainage basin is the most ambitious project in the Aral-Caspian region (depression). The depression, the critique adds, covers an area of more than 1,500 sq km and drops to a minimum level of -132 m below sea level. Subsequently, the paper refocuses its attention on geology, presenting previously unknown facts about the region’s features; these include the location of buried erosional incisions in the clay (from Oligocene-Lower Miocene period), tectonic strains and listric faults. At this stage, the study reveals the discovery of a clay diapir pit tens of meters wide hosting rocks and Maikop period clay objects. In addition to the diaper, there is a tectonic contact zone having a width of several meters. These facts, the document states, suggest that the formation of drainage basins in the early stages of their development could play a key role in seismotectonic processes and clay diapirism. Finally, the blueprint turns to the mud gryphons located in the deepest part of the Karagiyn depression.

Key words: seismotectonic dislocation,clay diapirism,erosion,depression

Read