Evolution of the main geomorphological structure of the Holocene Kuban River delta

Abstract

In the recent epoch the Kuban River delta is characterized by little distributary with low zone of lagoons and flooded areas. This accumulative plain includes different types of mesorelief such as longshore bar, channel bank, liman, plavni and channel distributaries. There are three huge geomorphological types of Kuban delta: old, young deltas and Kuban-Taman region. The main differences between them are diverse geomorphological levels, evolution of marine and fluvial forms and incomplete geomorphological development. The relief of the Kuban delta is Holocene. The main factors of its formation were large-scale fluctuations of the Azov-Black Sea basin, the flow of water and sediment of the Kuban River and its distribution in area. In the history of the development of the modern relief of the Kuban delta, there are three stages (epochs). The first is the Bugaz stage of the Holocene transgression (9.5–7.9 ka), when the relief of the old delta was formed. In the second stage of the Holocene transgression (Vityazevskaya, Kalamitskaya, and Dzhemetyan stages), a transitional type of relief was formed in the area adjacent to the floods of the young delta and the old delta with the formation of large buried bars. In the third stage, the systems of modern estuaries and plavni were formed, separated from the sea by a modern coastal bar.