Development of Early Soviet Ideas About Cryoplanation Terrace Genesis

Keywords: cryoplanation, cryosphere, geomorphology, landscape evolution, periglacial, Soviet science
Session Type: Virtual Poster Abstract
Day: Saturday
Session Start / End Time: 2/26/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/26/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 37

Abstract

Cryoplanation terraces (CTs) are underrepresented in the world's geomorphological
literature. This area of investigation appears to have been forgotten in contemporary Russian-
language geomorphological and periglacial literature. The heyday of this topic was the period
extending from the 1930s to the 1980s and is associated with the names Obruchev, Boch,
Krasnov, Bashenina, Sukhodrovskiy, Chaiko, and others who conducted field studies of these
relief elements and incorporated them into process-oriented development theory. A primary
source of early information are the papers of S.V. Obruchev, who described CTs in detail in
his work in Chukotka and summarized both his own field materials and the accumulated
experience of other scientists.
Theories of terrace appearance can be divided into two main categories. The first and
more archaic of these considers CTs as relics of past epochs associated with severe climatic
regimes. These interpretations were usually
qualitative and not supported with substantial field data. Scientists attributed the formation of
terraces to rivers, glaciers, and desert processes. The second category involved detailed field
studies and is associated with Boch and Krasnov and Obruchev. These studies
involved ideas closer to the modern point of view typified in a 1969 monograph by the Czech
geographer J. Demek, who worked closely with Soviet scientists. This viewpoint holds that
terraces can be formed under contemporary climatic and geomorphic conditions, and should
simply be divided into active and non-active groupings. The last major
Russian-language study of cryoplanation landforms was a 1985 review monograph by M.
Chaiko.