Transformation of local glacial depressions according to geological and electrical resistivity tomography data, Borisoglebsk Upland, Central East European Plain

Late Pleistocene transformation of European glacial landscapes is often narrowed down to the impact of postglacial linear erosion. Yet in the marginal zone of MIS 6 glaciation extensive watersheds were protractedly affected by the postglacial flattening in periglacial and interglacial conditions. Local sediment sinks such as kettle holes and dry valleys infilled throughout the postglacial stage can serve not only as records of paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic changes but also for assessing the scales of watershed denudation and landscape transformation since the last glacial cover degradation. We attempted to use electrical resistivity tomography for paleogeomorphological survey of a local flat-bottomed depression studied by conventional lithological and stratigraphic approaches in a series of geological exposures and cores. The obtained series of electrotomography profiles showed a contrasting picture of the relatively higher-resistive glacial base embedded with low-resistive lenses 3–25 m thick atop. The latter were correlated with the postglacial loamy deposits of colluvial and lacustrine origin that infilled the lows of initial glacial topography. It was revealed that the depression has a particularly complex inner structure embodying at least two buried kettle holes divided by a glacial ridge almost buried under the postglacial infill. They functioned as separate basins during much of the Late Pleistocene and probably merged only at its final stages due to considerable sedimentary infill of the kettles. Electrotomography cross-sections also showed a quite variable bottom relief of each kettle with significantly steeper slopes than the modern sides of the depression. 8 geological and 4 electrotomography facies were distinguished, with their correspondence to each other discussed and compared to the geophysical findings of similar geomorphic objects in analogue regions of Central and Eastern Europe. Thus, electrical resistivity tomography prospecting proved to be useful for detecting the postglacial loamy infills of initial lows of the glacial topography and can be further employed to better understand the actual scales of the postglacial redeposition and landscape modeling during the last 130 ka.

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