The Role of Neotectonics in Landscape Formation in What Is Now the Divnogorie Nature Park (Southern East European Plain)

Abstract:

The Divnogorie Nature Park is in the basin of the middle Don River. Tectonically, it sits on the Ostrogozhskoye Neotectonic Uplift, a recent extension of the northern wing of the Voronezh Anteclise of the Russian Platform. The neotectonic uplift amplitude of this structure is estimated at more than 200 m. A structural geomorphological study of the area has shown that the Ostrogozhskoye Uplift is an actively growing structure. This is clearly demonstrated by the following: dramatic changes in the flow direction of the rivers Don and Tikhaya Sosna, forced to bypass the growing upland; instances of damming up, which created numerous oxbow lakes and led to waterlogging in floodplains; increase in the density of the erosion grid on the upland; fall of the groundwater table (Romanovskaya, 2015). Uplifting has intensified erosion and slope wash processes, forming numerous canyon-shaped ravines, very steep slopes (>60º) and interconnected bastion-like relief forms.

Superimposed on the geology of the area, neotectonic movements and erosion have led to the formation of a peculiar relief (chalk outliers), microclimate and ecosystem (petrophytic steppe). Surrounded by protections in the form of steep slopes and water courses, this area is a natural fortress which has favored human habitation since the Late Paleolithic Age. In a location in the Tikhaya Sosna river basin, gully erosion has exposed a large accumulation of ancient horse (Equus caballus) bones. Now this location (50.9649ºN, 39.3031ºE) is known as the Upper Paleolithic (13.5-14 kaBP) multi-level archaeological site Divnogorie-9. About 8,000 horse bones and 65 human-made stone artifacts have been discovered here in Late Pleistocene diluvial-alluvial-colluvial deposits (Kuznetsova, 2014). The mass die-off of wild horses and their reburial at the site are most probably the result of landscape and geological impact of massive temporary water flows that will be addressed in some detail in the actual presentation of the study.