Morphostructural control of geological hazards within middle Dnieper area

Abstract

Summary Geologic studies in the Middle Dnieper basin and adjacent areas have shown that the geological hazardous processes (slides, falls, topples, erosion) there are largely localized along faults that formed during long-continued uplift concurrent with tectonic activity in the Ukrainian Shield during Neogene-Quaternary period. The evolution of different-scale and different-genetic morphostructures of the right bank of the Middle Dnieper Basin has been analyzed on the basis of complex structural-morphometric analysis, remote sensing data and spatial GIS modeling. The analysis of the created structural-morphometric models has allowed to determine the features of morphogenesis and tectogenesis during the Neogene-Quaternary period. Regional and local structures are characterized and the amplitudes of the newest and present movements of the earth’s crust are determined. The type of movements, their spatial occurrence within the Kyiv, Obukhiv and Kaniv-Trakhtemir blocks are characterized. The role of glaciation impact on the formation of relief and tectonic structures is characterized. The close relationship between structural and tectonic processes and the development of geological hazazrds has been determined. This data identifies the regional pattern of natural hazards zones, the causal relation of tectonic movement on denudation and resultant cummulative impacts of landsliding, changes in landforms and cummulative human interface.