Stratigraphy of the Upper Pleistocene<Holocene deposits of the Black and Azov seas

Abstract

The results of comparison of stratigraphic sections of Upper Pleistocene-Holocene sediments of the Black and Azov Seas, the main stratotypic areas: the Kerch Strait, the northwestern shelf of the Black Sea, the Azov Sea and its southern shores. It was established that in the post-Karangate time, as a result of fluctuations in the level of the World Ocean and the Ponto-Caspian basin connected with it through the Bosporus Strait, the character of sedimentation, and above all, the distribution in it of Mediterranean and Caspian mollusc complexes is the main criterion for the character of sedimentation and correlation of stratigraphic horizons. It has been established that the Kerch Strait presents a complex section formed by repeated alternation of marine and river sediments with their accompanying complex of mollusks, which served as the basis for the separation of such stratigraphic horizons as Surozh, Alan, Gorkan, Enikale. In other parts of marine areas similar or close to them types of sediments are called Kazantip in the Azov Sea and Tarhankut in the Karkinit Gulf of the northwestern shelf of the Black Sea. The stratigraphic correlation of different facies sediments in different parts of the shelf of the Black and Azov Seas requires further more detailed study of sedimentation conditions, with regard to the timing of the Caspian fauna representatives in the Upper Pleistocene-Holocene sediments of the Azov-Black Sea basin.