The contemporary dynamics of the longitudinal profile of the middle Lena River
https://doi.org/10.1134/S258755661805014X
Abstract
The history of fluvial sedimentation in the middle Lena River valley in Central Yakutia in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene is revisited. It is shown that the alluvial cover of the Lena-Taatta interfluve was accumulating almost uninterruptedly throughout the Pleistocene, with incision events corresponding to major glacial epochs – Samarovo and Zyryan glaciations. The stages of incision and aggradation with the predominance of the latter alternated in the middle Lena River during the Holocene. Directed river incision is not typical for the middle Lena River neither in present nor in most periods of the Neopleistocene. The presupposed features of the modern incision are considered, and it is shown that such features are not manifested in the dynamics of the longitudinal profile and the structure of the bottom of the middle Lena River valley. The downward shift of the stage-discharge curve on the hydrological station of Tabaga, 40 km upstream from Yakutsk, is due to its enhancement by the Yakut Department of Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, but not because of hydro-morphological processes. Certain features of the structure of the riverbed and the valley of the middle Lena River, typical for the incising rivers, may be associated with modern cryogenic processes. In the process of syngenetic freezing of floodplain sediments, the certain floodplain levels can increase their relative elevation, which contributes to the floodplain consolidation. Floodplain levels can be formed due to differences in the lithology of sediments with different heaving potential. Riverside thermo-erosion associated with the thermal influence of river flow and the destructive action of the ice, erodes the frozen island front faster, than outside the permafrost area. As a result, the islands are displaced downstream, but in their upper part, there are sandbanks indicating the aggradation of sediments. Thus, there are no signs of the modern incision trend in the relief of the middle Lena River territory. Riverbed sections with predominance of local erosion and aggradation are alternated, which is primarily due to the hydraulic structure of the flow, as well as the influence of neotectonic movements.
About the Author
N. I. Tananaev
Melnikov Permafrost Institute, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk
Ugra Research Institute of Information Technologies, Khanty-Mansiysk
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
References
1. Alexeyev M.N. Antropogen Vostochnoi Azii: Stratigrafiya i korrelyatsiya [Anthropogene of the Eastern Asia: Stratigraphy and Correlation]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1978. 205 p.
2. Alexeyev M.N., Kuprina N.P., Medyantsev A.I., Khoreva I.M. Stratigrafiya i korrelyatsiya neogenovykh i chetvertichnykh otlozhenii severo-vostochnoi chasti Sibirskoi platformy i ee vostochnogo skladchatogo obramleniya [Stratigraphy and Correlation of Neogene and Quaternary Deposits of the North-eastern Part of Siberian Platform and its Eastern Folded Rim]. Moscow: Akad. Nauk. Publ., 1962. 127 p.
3. Baranov I.Ya., Baulin V.V. Influence of permanent freezing on the development of geomorphic levels. In Merzlotnye issledovaniya [Permafrost Studies]. Moscow: Moscow St. Univ., 1964, vol. 4, pp. 285–290. (In Russ.).
4. Berkovich K.M. Geograficheskii analiz antropogennykh izmenenii ruslovykh protsessov [Geographical Analysis of Human Impact on Channel Processes]. Moscow: GEOS Publ., 2001. 164 p.
5. Biske S.F. On the conditions of development of Quaternary terraces of the Lena River valley between Pokrovsk and Zhigansk. Tr. Instituta Geologii i Geofiziki SO RAN, 1964, vol. 8, pp. 5–40. (In Russ.).
6. Borsuk O.A., Chalov R.S. On the incision of the Lena River valley. Izv. Vsesoyuzn. Geogr. Obshchestva, 1973, no. 5, pp. 452–456. (In Russ.).
7. Ivanov M.S. Kriogennoe stroenie chetvertichnykh otlozhenii Leno-Aldanskoi vpadiny [Cryogenic Structure of Quaternary Deposits of the Lena-Aldan Depression]. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1984. 126 p.
8. Kamaletdinov V.A., Minyuk P.S. Structure and characteristics of deposits of the Bestyakh terrace. Byulleten’ Komissii po Izucheniyu Chetvertichnogo Perioda, 1991,vol. 60, pp. 68–78. (In Russ.).
9. Kolpakov V.V. Quaternary palaeogeography of the lower Lena River. Izv. Vyssh. Uchebn. Zaved., Ser. Geol. Razved., 1966, no. 5, pp. 41–48.(In Russ.).
10. Korzhuev S.S. Geomorfologiya doliny srednei Leny i prilegayushchikh raionov [Geomorphology of the Middle Lena River Valley and Adjacent Regions]. Moscow: Acad. Nauk Publ., 1959. 150 p.
11. Lungersgauzen G.F. Stratigraphy of the Cenosoic deposits of the middle and lower Lena River and its delta. In Soveshchanie po razrabotke stratigraficheskikh skhem JaASSR [Workshop on the Development of the Stratigraphic Division of the Yakutian ASSR]. Leningrad: VSEGEI Publ., 1961, pp. 178–182. (In Russ.).
12. Puminov A.P. On the history of the river valleys of the lower sections of the Lena and Olenek Rivers. Tr. NIIGA, 1960, vol. 114(14), pp. 163–172. (In Russ.).
13. Ruslovoi rezhim srednei i nizhnei Leny [Fluvial Regime of the Middle and Lower Lena River]. Chalov R.S., Ed. Moscow: VINITI Publ., Dep. 2227–76, 1976. 178 p.
14. Spektor V.V., Bakulina N.T., Spektor V.B. Landforms and age of the Lena River alluvial cover at the ‘Yakut Robbery’. Geomorphology RAS, 2008, no. 1, pp. 87–94. (In Russ.).
15. Spektor V.V., Spektor V.B., Bakulina N.T., Parfenov M.I. The role of glaciers in the transformation of landforms of the Lena–Amga plain in Pleistocene and Holocene. Nauka i Obrazovaniye, 2015, no. 1, pp. 42–49. (In Russ.).
16. Strelkov S.A. Sever Sibiri [The North of Siberia]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1965. 336 p.
17. Ufimtsev G.F., Schetnikov A.A. The rivers had flowed from Baikal. Priroda, 2006, no. 6, pp. 49–54. (In Russ.).
18. Chalov R.S. Ruslovedeniye: geografiya, teoriya, praktika [River Channel Studies: Geography, Theory, Practices]. Moscow: LKI Publ., 2008. 606 p.
19. Chalov R.S., Zavadsky A.S., Ruleva S.N., Kirik O.M., Prokop’yev V.P., Androsov I.M., Sakharov A.I. Morphology, deformations and temporary modifications of the Lena River channel and its influence on the Yakutsk economic infrastructure. Geomorphology RAS, 2016, no. 3, pp. 22–35. (In Russ.). DOI:10.15356/0435-4281-2016-3-22-35.
20. Chalov R.S., Kirik O.M. The transgressive and regressive movements of theislands and island clusters in the braided riverbeds at the wide floodplains. Geomorphology RAS, 2015, no. 2, pp. 16–27. (In Russ.). DOI:10.15356/0435-4281-2015-2-16-27.
21. Costard F., Gautier E., Fedorov A., Konstantinov P., Dupeyrat L. An assessment of the erosion potential of the fluvial thermal process during ice breakups of the Lena River (Siberia). Permafrost and Periglac. Process., 2014, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 162–171. DOI:10.0002/ppp.1812.
22. Tananaev N.I. Hydrological and sedimentary control over fluvial thermal erosion, the Lena River, Central Yakutia. Geomorphology RAS, 2016, vol. 253, pp. 524–533. (In Russ.). DOI:10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.11.009.
23. Tananaev N., Makarieva O., Lebedeva L. Trends in annual and extreme flows in the Lena River basin, Northern Eurasia. Geophys. Res. Lett., 2016, vol. 43, pp. 10764–10772. DOI: 10.1002/2016GL070796.
24. Waters M.R., Forman S.L., Pierson J.M. Late Quaternary geology and geochronology of Diring Yuriakh, an Early Paleolithic site in Central Siberia. Quaternary Res., 1999, no. 51, pp. 195–211.
- Incision episodes in the middle Lena River valley correspond to the Samarovo (Saalian) and Zyryan (Weichselian) glaciations.
- Channel incision was not typical for the middle Lena River valley in the Holocene.
- Some incision features in the valley relief result from contemporary cryogenic processes.
Review
For citations:
Tananaev N.I. The contemporary dynamics of the longitudinal profile of the middle Lena River. Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk. Seriya Geograficheskaya. 2018;(5):46-54. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.1134/S258755661805014X
Views:
505
Email this article 
