Current problems in the Quaternary geology of Central Crimea

Abstract

Two stages are distinguished in the study of Quaternary deposits in Crimea. At the first stage (from the late 19th century to the 1960s), the stratigraphic description of Quaternary strata was based on the allocation of terraced complexes (marine terraces in the coastal part and synchronous alluvial terraces in the continental part of the Crimean Peninsula). At the second stage, the description of Quaternary deposits was based on their climatostratigraphic classification, with the leading role of the loess-soil formation. The structure of the paleo-Dnieper and paleo-Dniester valleys was used as the basis for the stratigraphic subdivision of Quaternary deposits in Crimea. It is shown that the nonlinear reversible changes of the Black Sea level that took place in the Quaternary can break the rule that the lower the hypsometric level of a terrace is, the younger the terrace is.