Regressive periods of the Great Caspian

Abstract

The Late Pliocene–Quaternary Great Caspian, in addition to the positive transgressive rhythmics shows regressions of different scales: balakhanskaya, domashkinskaya, tyurkyanskaya, venedskaya, chelekenskaya, chernoyarskaya, atel’skaya, enotaevskaya, mangyshlakskaya, and izerbashzkaya. In these periods, large-scale natural phenomena took place on the Caspian shelf, coasts, and adjacent inundated territories, including sea level drop, drying of a part of seabed, and change of landscapes and the sedimentation character. The neaped water area showed changes in water salt composition and temperature regime, along with a change in faunistic complexes. Different hierarchic state of sea level and different correlation with climate events on the surrounding territories was shown to take place during the regression with predominance of warm (interglacial) periods among them.