REGULARITIES OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF QUATERNARY SANDS OF DIFFERENT GENESIS ON THE TERRITORY OF RUSSIA

Abstract

Sands are widespread in the upper part of the geological section and are an important study subject in engineering geology. They lie at the base of surface facility, serve as a reservoir of underground objects and actively used as a building material. One of the important scientific and practical tasks facing geological engineers is the study of the regularities of sands distribution by area and geological section. It is especially relevant for the vast territory of our country, but there is currently no generalizing regional engineering-geological summary on sandy soils of all Russia. The article presents a schematic map of the distribution of sands of the Quaternary of various genesis, which fully covers the territory of the country and is compiled taking into account the latest results of geological plotting and mapping. The regularities of the distribution of sandy soils on the territory of Russia as a whole and within separate regions are described: young and ancient platforms of the European part (Timan-Pechora, Scythian and East-European); the ancient Siberian platform; young West-Siberian, Yano-Kolyma and Zeya-Bureya plates; orogenes of the European part, Siberia and the Far East; Baikal rift zone, as well as on the shelves of numerous seas washing the shores of Russia. The distribution of sands on the area and the section is discussed, their association with different genetic complexes of Quaternary deposits and certain elements of the relief. The Quaternary age sands that are developed within the engineering-geological zone of joint distribution of permafrost and thawed rocks and zone of practically continuous distribution of permafrost are described in the cryolithozone, which covers more than half of the country’s territory.