Geomorphology of the Upper Volga River valley: study history and state of the problem (paper 2. The Upper Volga Lowland)

Work with published and stock materials on the geomorphology of the Volga River valley within the Upper Volga Lowland made it possible to divide the history of research into three stages. The first stage includes the works of the 1930s–1960s, in which researchers present the results of geomorphological observations in different parts of the valley and offer the first versions of the valley’s evolution. We separate the results of largescale geological surveys of the 1950s–1980s into a separate stage – the time of obtaining detailed geological information about the valley’s structure. Since the end of the second half of the twentieth century, a gradual transition has been made to the third stage of research – the compilation of generalizations, the correlation of available materials, and the formulation of the main hypotheses about the Volga River valley evolution within the Upper Volga Lowland. We established that by the beginning of the XXI century there was no common understanding of either the morphology or the age of the Volga River valley in the Upper Volga Lowland. Nevertheless, based on a significant amount of factual material, we suggest our view of the river valley geomorphological structure. The Volga River valley in the Upper Volga Lowland has a floodplain and a staircase of three terraces. The floodplain should include the surfaces of narrow fragments along the channel up to 6 m high above the shoreline before flooding. The low (first) terrace is expressed at an altitude of 8–10 m above the shoreline. The middle (second) terrace has an extremely uneven downstream height: we refer to it levels from 10 to 15 m above the Volga River’s edge before flooding. We suggest that a wide terrace at a height of 15–17 m above the Volga River’s edge is the highest one, the third above the floodplain. The features of the geological structure of higher terrace-like surfaces do not allow them to be considered as terraces above the floodplain. We attribute them to the interfluve complex. There is also no single idea regarding the age of the Volga River valley within the Upper Volga Lowland – the beginning of its formation is attributed to the Late Moscow, and to the Early Valdai, and the Late Valdai (LGM). None of the known reconstructions have been supported by numerical dating of the terrace alluvium. To understand the features of the development of the Volga River valley needs a convincing chronological justification.

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