RELICT VALLEY (SPILLWAY) ON THE VITIM AND NERCHA WATERSHED (EAST TRANSBAIKALIA)

F. I. Enikeev

doi:10.15356/0435-4281-2015-2-71-77

RELICT VALLEY (SPILLWAY) ON THE VITIM AND NERCHA WATERSHED (EAST TRANSBAIKALIA)

F. I. Enikeev

https://doi.org/10.15356/0435-4281-2015-2-71-77

Abstract

The existence of the relict spillway connecting Age Vitim basin with the Nercha river valley in the Pleistocene Ice is reasoned. The spillway was formed by the runoff from the ice-dam lake in the Vitim River valley over the continental divide. Ice-dam reservoirs were formed in the Taz, Muruktinsk, and Sartan glacial epochs with the levels of 900, 880, and 860 m respectively. Formation of the terraces of the Vitim with the relative heights up to 50 m, 10-12 m, and 6-7 m took place in the Shirtinskoye, Kazantsevskoye, and Karghinskoye interglacials respectively. Runoff from dam lake into the Nercha valley increased its catchment area from 27 600 km2 to 201 600 km2. Multiple increase of the runoff resulted in the development of new longitudinal profiles of the river valley and in the formation of the erosion terraces during each glaciation.

Sedimentation analysis, chronological, and palynological methods were used.

Keywords

spillway, Vitim basin, dammed lake, lake level, river terrace

About the Author

F. I. Enikeev

Institute of Natural Resources, Ecology and Cryology SB RAS, Chita
Russian Federation

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Review

For citations:

Enikeev F.I. RELICT VALLEY (SPILLWAY) ON THE VITIM AND NERCHA WATERSHED (EAST TRANSBAIKALIA). Geomorfologiya. 2015;(2):71-77. https://doi.org/10.15356/0435-4281-2015-2-71-77