Mouth systems of large rivers of the arctic coast of Russia: typification, geomorphology and history of formation

Long-term expeditionary studies of the Faculty of Geography of Moscow State University in the estuarine areas of large rivers of the Arctic coast of Siberia (1969–1996) and joint work of Moscow State University and the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the estuaries of rivers in the European north of Russia (2013–2015) allowed to study the geomorphological structure, channel morphodynamics hydrological regime of river deltas, develop their morphogenetic classification and assess the intensity of delta formation processes. Based on the analysis of geological and geomorphological data, it was possible to establish that modern sedimentary and geomorphological estuarine systems, vast spaces of low-lying subaerial alluvial deltaic plains and a complex hydrographic network of deltaic streams formed on the Arctic coast of Russia in the final phase of stabilization of the postglacial ocean transgression, when the rivers were able to actively accumulate their sediments at river mouths. Over the past 5–7 thousand years, some rivers have managed to create an extensive hydrographic network, fi ll the valley bays and move 150–200 km into the open sea. Other rivers are just beginning to form terrestrial deltas and channel networks. During the evolutionary development of estuarine geomorphological and sedimentary systems, there is a natural complication of the geomorphological appearance of deltas from a simple alluvial ledge to a multi-arm polygenetic alluvial-delta plain and the potential possibility of transforming the discharge deltas into one of the varieties of protruding deltas on the open seashore is realized. The diversity of the structural and geological structure of the shelf, the features of fluctuations in the level of the marginal seas of the Polar Basin and the spatio-temporal variability of the erosion-accumulative capacity of rivers predetermined the diversity of morphogenetic types of mouth systems of the Arctic coast of Russia. The most common here are estuarine-delta and lagoon-delta systems of filling bays (Sev. Dvina, Pechora, Ob, Yenisei, Khatanga, Anabar, Yana, Indigirka, Kolyma, etc.). The Olenek and Lena rivers form protruding deltas on the open estuary seashore. Tidal estuaries are formed at the mouths of most of the small rivers on the coast of the European north of Russia, and blocked estuaries and lagoon systems are formed on the fl at accumulative coasts of the north of Siberia and Chukotka.

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