Geomorphology of the upper Volga River valley: study history and state of the problem (Paper 1. The Valdai Hills)

During the XX – early XXIth century, researchers have collected a significant amount of materials on the geomorphological structure of the Volga River within the Valdai Upland. These materials are scattered, and generalizing works are sporadic and have an extremely overview character. Review of published and unpublished data made it possible to distinguish three stages of obtaining geomorphological information about the valley. During the pre-war stage of pioneering geological and geomorphological surveys, researchers received the first information about the valley structure and determined its main features. The second stage (post-war years) was the time of large-scale geological surveys and geological and geomorphological mapping. During this time a large amount of factual material was obtained. The third stage (end of the XX – beginning of the XXI centuries) is the time of generalization of the accumulated knowledge and the formulation of hypotheses about the river valley evolution. We found that until now there is no clear understanding of both, the number of terraces in the considered section of the Volga River valley, their altitude levels and spatial distribution. At the same time, a significant amount of available primary factual material makes it possible to consistently characterize the morphology of the Volga river valley within the Valdai Upland. We confirm the identification of two morphologically different parts of the valley within the Valdai Upland, upstream and downstream of town Selizharovo. The upstream section is characterized by a poorly developed valley, with shallow depth and a limited set of river terraces. The morpho-structure of the downstream section includes a floodplain and a staircase of three river terraces. The floodplain and the low (first) terrace of the Volga River are present throughout the area at 2.5–3.5 m and 5–7 m heights, respectively. Higher terraces (second and third) are expressed fragmentarily at heights of 10–12 m and 15–17 m. We believe that the surfaces higher than 17 m above the river’s edge are classified as river terraces by error. The lack of a clear understanding of the time of terrace formations (primarily high terraces) led to different views on the formation time of the Upper Volga valley. Assumptions are made about the Late Moscow, Early Valdai and Late Valdai age of the Upper Volga valley. It is about time to date river terraces of the Upper Volga valley and mov to the nest stage; reconstructions of the river valley evolution, based on numerical dating.

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