On geodynamic nature of geomorphic cycles

Abstract

Deformations of the continental lithosphere are considered in connection with the World Ocean level fluctuations. Geodynamic crises - such as plates' disruptions or collisions - influence stresses in the lithosphere. The tectonic-eustatic curve is in close correlation with those changes. Sea level drops at the periods of the plates rearrangement during the geodynamic crises correspond to (quick uplift of the land» (W.M. Davis) and are accompanied by progeny. At the same time drainage network down cutting proceeds on global scale. Several independent methods provided evidences for global peneplain (more than 250 m above the sea level on the average in the Late Cretaceous - Paleogene. A notion of the limiting base level is introduced, that is a theoretical sea level towards which the real level tends under condition of total degradation of endogenic and exogenic relief-forming processes. The difference between the real and limiting base level is an important indicator of the state of global relief.