The West Siberian Plain is an accumulative type and is one of the largest low-lying plains on the planet. Geographically, it belongs to the West Siberian Plate. On its territory are the regions of the Russian Federation and the northern part of Kazakhstan. The tectonic structure of the West Siberian Plain is ambiguous and diverse.
Tectonic structures of Russia
Russia is located in Eurasia, the largest continent on the planet, which includes two parts of the world - Europe and Asia. The tectonic structure of the Ural Mountains separates the cardinal points. The map provides an opportunity to visually see the geological structure of the country. Tectonic zoning divides the territory of Russia into such geological elements as platforms and folded areas. The geological structure is directly related to the topography of the surface. Tectonic structures and landforms depend on which region they belong to.
Within Russia, several geological areas are distinguished. The tectonic structures of Russia are represented by platforms, folded belts and mountain systems. On the territory of the country, almost all sites have undergone folding processes.
The main platforms within the country are the East European, Siberian, West Siberian, Pechora and Scythian. They, in turn, are divided into plateaus, lowlands and plains.
The Ural-Mongolian, Mediterranean and Pacific are involved in the structure of folded belts . Mountain systems in Russia - the Greater Caucasus, Altai, Western and Eastern Sayans, the Verkhoyansk Range, the Ural Mountains, Chersky Range, Sikhote-Alin. Can tell about how they were formed, a stratigraphic table.
The tectonic structure, the shape of the relief on the territory of Russia is very complex and diverse in terms of morphology, geomorphology, origin and orography.
Geological structure of Russia
The position of lithospheric plates that is observed today is the result of a complex long-term geological development. Within the lithosphere, large areas of land are distinguished, which differ from each other in different rock compositions, their occurrence, and geological processes. During geotectonic zoning, attention is paid to the degree of change in rocks, the composition of the rocks of the basement and sedimentary cover, and the intensity of movement of the foundation. The territory of Russia is divided into folded areas and areas of epiplatform activation. Geotectonic zoning covers all tectonic structures. The stratigraphy table contains data on the modern geotectonics of the territory of Russia.
Landforms are formed due to deep movements and external influences. A special role is played by the activity of rivers. In the process of their life river valleys and ravines are formed. The shape of the relief also forms glaciation. As a result of glacier activity, hills and ridges appear on the plains. Permafrost still affects the shape of the relief. The result of freezing and thawing of groundwater is the process of subsidence.
Siberian Precambrian platform is an ancient structure. In its central part there is a region of Karelian folding, in the west and south-west Baikal folding was formed. In the area of ββthe West Siberian and Siberian lowlands, Hercynian folding became widespread .
Relief of Western Siberia
The territory of Western Siberia stepwise plunges from south to north. The relief of the territory is represented by a wide variety of its forms and is complex in origin. One of the important criteria for the relief is the difference in absolute elevations. In the West Siberian Plain, the absolute difference is tens of meters.
The plain terrain and minor elevation changes are due to the small amplitude of the movement of the plates. On the periphery of the plain, the maximum amplitude of elevations reaches 100-150 meters. In the central and northern parts, the amplitude of lowering is 100-150 meters. The tectonic structure of the Central Siberian Plateau and the West Siberian Plain in the Late Cenozoic were in relative calm.
The geographical structure of the West Siberian Plain
Geographically, in the north, the plain borders on the Kara Sea, in the south, the border passes through the north of Kazakhstan and captures a small part of it, in the west it is controlled by the Ural Mountains, in the east - by the Central Siberian plateau. From north to south, the length of the plain is about 2500 km, the length from west to east varies from 800 to 1900 km. The plain area is about 3 million km 2 .
The relief of the plain is uniform, almost even; occasionally, the relief reaches 100 meters above sea level. In its western, southern and northern parts, the height can reach up to 300 meters. Lowering of the territory occurs from south to north. In general, the tectonic structure of the West Siberian Plain is reflected in the topography.
The main rivers flow through the plain territory - the Yenisei, Ob, Irtysh, there are lakes and swamps. The climate is continental.
Geological structure of the West Siberian Plain
The location of the West Siberian Plain is confined to the epigercin plate of the same name. The rocks of the basement are strongly located and belong to the Paleozoic time period. They are covered with a layer of marine and continental Mesozoic-Cenozoic deposits (sandstone, clay, etc.) with a thickness of more than 1000 meters. In the basins of the foundation, this power reaches up to 3000-4000 meters. In the southern part of the plain, the youngest - alluvial-lacustrine deposits are observed, in the northern part there are more mature - glacial-marine deposits.
The tectonic structure of the West Siberian Plain includes a foundation and cover.
The foundation of the slab has the form of a depression with steep sides from the east and northeast and gently sloping from the south and west. The foundation blocks date back to the Pre-Paleozoic, Baikal, Caledonian and Hercynian times. The foundation is divided into deep faults of different ages. The largest faults of submeridional strike are the East Trans-Ural and Omsk-Pur. A map of tectonic structures shows that the surface of the basement of the plate has an External instrument belt and an Internal region. The entire surface of the foundation is complicated by a system of ups and downs.
The cover is interbedded by coastal-continental and marine sediments with a thickness of 3000-4000 meters in the south and 7000-8000 meters in the north.
Central Siberian Plateau
The Central Siberian Plateau is located in the north of Eurasia. It is located between the West Siberian Plain in the west, the Central Yakut Plain in the east, the North Siberian Lowland in the north, Baikal, Transbaikalia and the Eastern Sayans in the south.
The tectonic structure of the Central Siberian Plateau is confined to the Siberian Platform. The composition of its sedimentary rocks corresponds to the Paleozoic and Mesozoic periods. The characteristic rocks for it are reservoir intrusions, which consist of traps and basalt covers.
The relief of the plateau consists of wide plateaus and ridges, at the same time there are valleys with steep slopes. The average elevation height in the relief is 500-700 meters, but there are parts of the plateau where the absolute elevation rises above 1000 meters, such sections include the Yenisei Ridge and the Angara-Lena Plateau. The Putorana Plateau belongs to one of the highest sections of the territory; its height is 1701 meters above sea level.
Middle ridge
The main watershed ridge of Kamchatka is the Middle Ridge. The tectonic structure represents a mountain range consisting of systems of peaks and passes. The ridge extends from north to south and its length is 1200 km. A large number of passes are concentrated in its northern part, the central part represents large distances between the peaks, in the south there is a strong dissection of the massif, and the asymmetry of the slopes characterize the Sredinny Range. The tectonic structure is reflected in the relief. It consists of volcanoes, lava plateaus, mountain ranges, glacier peaks.
The ridge is complicated by lower-order structures, the most striking of them are the Malkinsky, Kozyrevsky, Bystrinsky ranges.
The highest point belongs to the Ichinskaya hill and is 3621 meters. Some volcanoes, such as Khuvkhoytun, Alnai, Sishel, Ostray Sopka, exceed the mark of 2500 meters.
Ural mountains
The Ural Mountains is a mountain system located between the East European and West Siberian plains. Its length is more than 2000 km, the width varies from 40 to 150 km.
The tectonic structure of the Ural Mountains belongs to the ancient folded system. In the Paleozoic there was a geosynclinal and the sea splashed. Starting from the Paleozoic, the formation of the Ural mountain system takes place. The main folds occurred during the Hercynian period.
Intense folding took place on the eastern slope of the Urals, which was accompanied by deep faults and the release of intrusions, the dimensions of which reached about 120 km in length and 60 km in width. The folds here are squeezed, overturned, complicated by overthrusts.
On the western slope, folding was less intense. The folds are simple, without thrust. No intrusions.
Pressure from the east was created by the tectonic structure - the Russian platform, the foundation of which prevented the formation of folding. Gradually, folded mountains appeared on the site of the Ural geosynclinal.
In tectonic terms, the entire Urals is a complex complex of anticlinoria and synclinoria, separated by deep faults.
The relief of the Urals is asymmetric from east to west. The eastern slope drops steeply toward the West Siberian Plain. A gentle western slope smoothly passes into the East European Plain. Asymmetry caused the tectonic structure of the West Siberian Plain.
Baltic shield
The Baltic shield belongs to the north-west of the East European platform, is the largest protrusion of its foundation and is elevated above sea level. In the northwest, the border passes with the folded structures of Caledonia-Scandinavia. In the south and southeast, shield rocks are submerged under the cover of sedimentary rocks of the East European Plate.
Geographically, the shield is attached to the southeastern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, to the Kola Peninsula and Karelia.
Three segments of different age participate in the structure of the shield - South Scandinavian (western), Central and Kola-Karelian (eastern). The South Scandinavian sector is tied to the south of Sweden and Norway. The Murmansk block stands out in its composition.
The central sector is located in Finland and Sweden. It includes the Central Kola block and is located in the central part of the Kola Peninsula.
The Kola-Karelian sector is located in Russia. It belongs to the most ancient formation structures. Several tectonic elements are distinguished in the structure of the Kola-Karelian sector: Murmansk, Central Kola, Belomorsky, Karelian, they are separated by deep faults.
Kola Peninsula
The Kola Peninsula is tectonically attached to the northeastern part of the Baltic Crystal Shield, composed of rocks of ancient origin - granites and gneisses.
The relief of the peninsula adopted the features of the crystalline shield and reflects traces of faults and cracks. The appearance of the peninsula was influenced by glaciers that smoothed the tops of the mountains.
The peninsula is divided into western and eastern parts by the nature of the relief. The relief of the eastern part is not as complicated as the western. The mountains of the Kola Peninsula have the shape of pillars - on the tops of the mountains are flat plateaus with steep slopes, and lowlands are located below. Plateaus are cut by deep valleys and gorges. In the western part are the Lovozero tundra and the Khibiny, the tectonic structure of the latter refers to the mountains.
Khibiny
Geographically, the Khibiny are attributed to the central part of the Kola Peninsula and represent a large mountain range. The geological age of the massif exceeds 350 million years. Mountain Khibiny is a tectonic structure, which is an intrusive body (solidified magma) complex in structure and composition. From a geological point of view, intrusion is not a spilled volcano. The massif continues to rise and now, over the year, the change is 1-2 cm. More than 500 types of minerals are found in the intrusive massif.
Not a single glacier was found in the Khibiny, but traces of ancient ice are found. The tops of the massif are plateau-like, slopes are steep with a large number of snowfields, avalanche activity is active, and many mountain lakes. Khibines are relatively low mountains. The highest elevation above sea level belongs to Mount Yudychvumchorr and corresponds to 1200.6 m.