Transformation and Dynamics of Structural-genetic Features of the Landscapes of the Caspian Coast Plains (on the Example of the Salyan, South-east Shirvan and Lankaran Plains)

Abstract

The study is centred on a comparative analysis of the distribution areas and structural-genetic features of the landscapes of the coastal plains over the period of the last transgressions and regressions of the Caspian Sea level, which makes it possible to predict the process of transformation of geosystems in the future, depending on further changes in sea level. Global climate change, especially climate warming, has accelerated the sharp decline in the level of the Caspian Sea in recent years. In the course of the study, the main factors influencing the dynamics and functioning of natural processes and the development of landscapes of the coastal territory were identified: 1. sea level fluctuations; 2. neotectonic processes; 3. anthropogenic transformations. Depending on the degree of influence of the Caspian Sea, the following groups of landscapes are distinguished: 1. fundamentally changed; 2. landscapes subject to different levels of flooding. The following main typical flooded landscapes were studied: strongly, moderately, and slightly flooded landscapes.