Glacial relief of the central part of the Kola Region

Abstract

Improvement in quality of digital elevation models and satellite images of the Earth’s surface led to a tendency to interpret them without sufficient confirmation by geological research methods. At the same time, the geological data is critical for the interpretation of genesis of accumulative glacial landforms and regional landscape reconstruction during the last glaciation. The article provides a classification and geologic structure of the glacial relief of one of the key areas in the Kola region. New data were obtained using morphometric analysis of relief, geological, structural analysis of glacial landforms, petrographic analysis of coarse glacial deposits, and the study of lake sediments. Two bands of glacial accumulative relief were identified in the study area. The first band forms a parallel ridge relief on the southern slope of the Lovozero Tundra. It represents the formations of a lateral moraine formed at the edge of a glacier moving from the west to the east along the slope. Also a hummocky-ridge relief along the slopes of the Lovozero, Panskie, and Fedorova Tundras that consist of terminal moraines is included in this band. The moraines are composed of dislocated limno- and fluvioglacial deposits, dump and ablative moraines. The second band is formed by three subparallel chains of ridge-hummocky relief. They include folded and imbricated-thrust glaciotectonically deformed deposits. Fluvioglacial deposits are developed on the distal slope of the outer chain. Both bands of glacial relief are associated with formation of marginal landforms during two stages of glacial retreats. Analysis of deglaciation models of the last ice sheet in the Kola and adjacent regions and data on the position of known marginal glacial formations made it possible to compare the stages with the final episodes of the Luga (Karelian) and Neva (Syamozero) Stages. The information obtained reveals more details about the stages of development of the last ice sheet and the deglaciation pattern of the Kola region in the Late Glacial.