A COMPARATIVE INTENSITY OF EXOGENIC GEOMORPHIC PROCESSES IN THE CAUCASUS AND TIEN SHAN

Abstract

The Caucasus and the Tien Shan are taken as an example to make a quantitative comparison of the intensity of the main exogenic processes in young mountain regions. The mud streams are most active, according to the volume of debris cones, as they surpass by one order the accumulation of mountain rivers with normal water regimes (with the exeption of delta debris cones of large waterways). The immense intensity is also characteristic of the abrasion and ablation of glaciers. According to the data by G. K. Gabrielyan on the rate of denudation of the Armenian volcanic upland and the Caucasus- as a whole, which have been obtained by the estimation of solid and chemical runoffs of rivers, the intensity of exogenic processes is one order behind that of the present tectonic movements.