Quaternary river terraces as indicators of the Northwestern Caucasus active tectonics

The Northwestern Caucasus has been developing at the periphery of the collision zone of the Scythian Plate and Georgian Massif. Study of the Quaternary terraces of the largest mountain rivers, flowing across the folded ridges and depressions, is one of the main sources for the estimation of the uplift rate of active tectonic structures. Remote sensing, field geodesy, tectonophysics, palaeontological and archaeological studies, as well as the correlation of river terraces with known and well-dated marine terraces, have provided new data on the age of river terraces. These data have made it possible to estimate the age of tectonic deformation and the uplift rate of active folded and faulted structures. These deformations are directly expressed in the topography of the area, and continue to evolve under conditions of contemporary lateral compression predominating in the Northwestern Caucasus. The field data provide evidence of the beginning of deformation and uplift, which started at the end of the Middle Pleistocene and later accelerated during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene time.