Detailed geological and geophysical investigations of the underwater topography of Lake Baikal, based on single-channel high-resolution seismic profiling and bathymetric survey using an ELAC SeaBeam 1050 multibeam echosounder, as well as the data obtained during diving of MIR deep-sea manned underwater submersibles determined the morphological characteristics of the Posolsky Bank and Kukuy Griva elevations suggesting that their elevated parts represent fragments of the once common delta surface of the Selenga River. The current relief of these structures resulted from the joint activity of tectonic and underwater erosive processes. Sediments at the base of the slope of the Kukuy Griva are likely to be no older than 1.8 Ma.
The locations and orientations of more than 1000 late Quaternary subglacial and ice-marginal landforms, including streamlined sedimentary bed forms, glacitectonic hill-hole pairs, meltwater channels, and eskers, were mapped from blocks of multibeam data (area of 4861 km2) in the little-known Russian Barents Sea. Between Sentralbanken and Admiralty Bank, at ~75°N, there is evidence for southward ice flow. Ice-flow indicators between Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya show northeast flow into the head of St. Anna Trough. There is also evidence of southeast flow off the bank to the south of Franz Josef Land, and of flow convergence with northeast-flowing ice in Sedov Trough. Northeast flow of ice between Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land suggests that the latter archipelago was not overrun by ice flowing north from the Barents Sea and, therefore, that a subsidiary ice dome was likely on Franz Josef Land. A major ice divide was also present at ~76°N –77°N in the Russian Barents Sea.
The Central basin of Lake Baikal is intersected by the NorthEast South West oriented escarpment named the «Gydratny Fault zone». This laterally extensive structure runs subparallel to the NorthWestern shore of the lake. The Gydratny Fault zone has been investigated using geophysical techniques during 6 years of research in the framework of international expeditions of the Class@Baikal project. The acquired seismic data provided details of the structure of the upper part of the sedimentary section revealing a system of previously unknown faults. A new tectonic scheme of the SouthWestern deep-water part of the Central basin is presented. The Gydratny fault is accompanied by a system of numerous synthetic and antithetic normal faults that form a wide and extended faulted zone. These structures are unevenly distributed, and include modern and active faults as well as features buried under undeformed sedimentary units with different thickness. This parameter is used to constrain the patterns observed in several zones of the study area. The difference in the characteristics of faults and their manifestations on seismic data can be explained by complex and uneven distribution of active tectonic and sedimentary processes.
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