Svytoch A.A. 

M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, E-mail: palaeo@geogr.msu

The present article addresses the Late Pliocene history of the Greater Caspian Basins: the system of pools that existed in lieu of the present-day Caspian Sea and the lowlands that surrounded it. The transgressive history of the Caspian was preceded by the long term regressive Balakhany Stage characterised by active accumulation of continental sediments and the deep incision of the river valleys linked to the low level of the Caspian troughs. The Akchaghil Time that replaced it was the greatest and longest transgressive epoch; the transgression covered a vast area from the Middle Volga Region to the piedmonts of Alborz, with the sea level reaching 100 m abs alt, and with the diverse lithofacial composition of deposits characterised by the endemic mollusc fauna. Approximately 1.8 Ma BP, after a minor regression caused by the discontinuation of the marine water inflow, the Akchaghil Basin was replaced with the Absheron Sea. That was a landlocked brackish basin of the smaller dimensions with the lower (60–80 m abs. alt.) level but the as diverse facial composition of deposits and the sharply distinct mollusc complexes. Termination of the Absheron transgression occurred at the very end of the Late Pliocene and coincided with the considerable climatic cooling when the first glaciers emerged in the northern part of the Russian Plain.

Keywords: the Greater Caspian, Balakhany, Akchaghil, Absheron, development history