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MORPHOLOGY AND GENESIS OF GILGAI

https://doi.org/10.15356/0435-4281-2012-1-36-45

Abstract

Gilgai morphology, genesis, distribution and role in the landscape are described on the base of literature data and personal investigations. Gilgai is a specific type of microrelief, formed by slow uplift and intrusion of a subsoil material due to soil heaving resulted from alternating drying and wetting. In terms of genetic classification of landforms gilgai could be classified as hydrogenic microrelief, along with cryogenic, karst and suffosion microrelief. Gilgais may be identified and distinguished from other types of microrelief by the presence of slickensides – slip planes demonstrating the direction of the vertical and lateral shearing. Gilgai are mostly presented in tropical and subtropical regions, but were also found in Russia and the former USSR. 

About the Author

I. V. Kovda
Institute of Geography RAS, Moscow
Russian Federation


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Review

For citations:


Kovda I.V. MORPHOLOGY AND GENESIS OF GILGAI. Geomorfologiya. 2012;(1):36-45. https://doi.org/10.15356/0435-4281-2012-1-36-45

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