Neogene-Eopleistocene shelly limestones in the North Caucasus and Ciscaucasia regions

Abstract

In the North Caucasus and Ciscaucasia, seven distribution zones of Middle-Upper Miocene, Pliocene, and Eopleistocene shell-detrital limestones are defined: Lower Don, Tsimlyansk-Manych, Western Ciscaucasia, Western Caucasus, Central Ciscaucasia, Kabarda-Chechen, and Eastern Dagestan. The shell-detrital limestones are present among sandy-clayey sediments in the form of intercalations of variable thickness traceable over different distances (up to a few kilometers). The maximum thicknesses of such limestones are characteristic of the Neogene sections in the northwestern pericline of the Greater Caucasus: Taman-Adagum area, where their distribution comprises the stratigraphic interval from the Chokrakian to early Cimmerian regional stages (approximately 10 m.y. long). Their most spacious distribution area is confined to the Central Ciscaucasia zone. The shell-detrital limestones in the Neogene sections mark shallowwater shelf areas (ancient coastal bars, banks, and shoals) with intermittently forming environments favorable for accumulation of significant volumes of shelly detritus. In such paleogeographic settings, the sediments were subjected to repeated erosion with subsequent formation of limestones. Now, they represent building material widely used in the region for different purposes.