Principal epochs and stages in the Kura depression evolution (within the limits of Azerbaijan)

Abstract

At the neotectonic stage the Kura depression evolution proceeded along the same trends as before, against the background of general differentiated downwarping; the leading factor were changes in the regional base level due to the Caspian regressions and transgressions. No drastic changes in topography ha.ve been recorded, though a progressive complication in chronological and spatial pattern can be traced. The relief reaches maximum complicity in the Holocene and at the recent stages. Most important stages in the paleogeomorphic evolution of the Kula depression and adjacent areas of the Caucasus are as follows; the Early Pliocene (the age of the productive member formation); the Late Pliocene (Akchagylian); the end of the Eopleistocene (Apsheronian); the Holocene, when principal features of topography were modeled.