HISTORY OF THE CHANNEL SYSTEMS REORGANIZATION OF THE KAMA-KELTMA LOWLAND IN THE LATE PLEISTOCENE – HOLOCENE

The analysis of the actual data on the age and stages of the channel systems formation in the Kama-Keltma lowland was based on the altitudinal differentiation of different stages of the relief and the results of radiocarbon dating of organics from the channel and floodplain facies. Late Pleistocene lake terrace is the highest level in the Upper Kama depression and Keltma hollow. The research into the geomorphological structure and age of deposited materials, with a particular focus on separate elements of the Kama-Keltma lowland erosive and accumulative relief, indicates the existence of six stages of the channel systems formation (reorganization). The first stage (end of the Kalinin stadial) is the Chepets hollow formation. The hollow was preserved after large-scale changes in the bottom relief of the Upper Kama depression. The second stage (Mologa-Sheksna interstadial) is the first Kama terrace formation. The third stage (Ostashkov stadial, 20-18 ka) is the period of the runoff hollow formation (including the ‘large terrace hollow’), which actively dissected the surface of aeolian landforms. The fourth stage (LGM, 18-10 ka) is the formation of the macromeanders of the South Keltma, Pilva, and Timsher, as well as the multi-arm channel of the Kama during alternating periods of relatively short-term warming and cooling. The fifth stage is the wide Kama floodplain formation in the Preboreal – Subboreal, represented by segmental generations. The sixth stage (modern) is characterized by the ‘straightening’ of the Kama channel – the formation of a relatively straight channel throughout the Kama-Keltma lowland.