Abstract
The main stages in the development of the Pechora Sea are discussed. It is established that, during the high sea level stand corresponding to the warmest epoch of the Mikulino Interglacial, the Pechora Sea represented a more spacious, as compared with its present-day size, basin owing to the flooded valleys of river lower reaches. No sea in its present-day configuration existed during the last (Valdai) glaciation. At that time, the sea could have occupied only a narrow area along the southern coast of Novaya Zemlya, where marine sedimentation was in progress during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. During the glaciation and postglacial time, the dried bottom of the former Pechora Sea accumulated large volumes of sand that are now concentrated largely in the accretion structures along its southern coast. In the current century, changes will occur mainly in the coastal zone of the Russkii Zavorot Peninsula, Pesyakov Island, the Varandei Settlement area, and the Medynskii Zavorot Peninsula, where a shoreline retreat for a distance of 0.5 km is expected.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
N. A. Aibulatov, N. N. Dunaev, S. L. Nikiforov, et al., Geoecology of the Shelf and Coasts of the Seas of Russia (GEOS, Moscow, 2000) [in Russian].
F. E. Are, Thermal Abrasion of Sea Shores (Nauka, Moscow, 1980) [in Russian].
E. N. Bylinskii, Influence of Glacioisostasy on the Evolution of the Earth’s Topography in the Pleistocene (Nats. Geofizichesk. Komitet RAN, Moscow, 1996) [in Russian].
I. G. Veinbergs, V. Ya. Stelle, A. S. Savvaitov, and I. Ya. Yakubovskaya, “Late Quaternary Evolution History of the statistics of the Pechora Sea,” in Correlation of Paleogeographic Events. Continent-Shelf-Ocean (Mosk. Gos. Univ., Moscow, 1995), pp. 106–112 [in Russian].
A. S. Ionin, Yu. A. Pavlidis, and M. G. Yurkevich, “Morfogenetic Classification of Topographic Features on the Shelf of the World Ocean,” in Recent Sedimentation Processes on the Shelves of the World Ocean (Nauka, Moscow, 1990), pp. 24–50 [in Russian].
P. A. Kaplin and A. O. Selivanov, Level Changes in the Seas of Russia and Evolution of the Coasts: Past, Present, and Future (GEOS, Moscow, 1999) [in Russian].
I. O. Leont’ev, “Modeling the Evolution of the Coasts in the Russian Arctic,” Okeanologiya 44(3), 457–468 (2004) [Oceanology 44 (3), 428–438 (2004)].
I. O. Leont’ev, Yu. A. Pavlidis, and F. A. Shcherbakov, “Coastal Terraces, Recent Morphology, and Forecast of the Evolution of the Northeastern Part of the White Sea,” Okeanologiya 44(2), 296–304 (2004) [Oceanology 44 (2), 274–281 (2004)].
V. P. Mel’nikov and V. I. Spesivtsev, Engineering-Geological and Geocryological Conditions on the Shelf of the Barents and Kara Seas (Nauka, Novosibirsk, 1995) [in Russian].
V. N. Novikov and E. V. Fedorova, “Coast Destruction in the Southeastern Part of the Barents Sea,” Vestn. Mosk. Univ., Ser. 5. No. 1, 72–79 (1989).
S. A. Ogorodov, “Morphodynamical Zonation of the Coastal Area of the Pechora Sea,” Geomorfologiya, No. 1, 72–79 (2003).
S. A. Ogorodov, “Morpholithodynamics of the Coastal Zone of the Varandei Region of the Pechora Sea Under the Conditions of Technogenous Stress,” Geoekologiya, No. 3, 273–278 (2004).
Yu. A. Pavlidis, “Possible Sea Level Changes at the Beginning of the Third Millennium,” Okeanologiya 43(3), 441–446 (2003) [Oceanology 43 (3), 417–422 (2003)].
Yu. A. Pavlidis, N. N. Dunaev, S. L. Nikiforov, and A. V. Artem’ev, “Underwater Terraces of the Pechora Sea,” Okeanologiya 42(6), 894–901 (2002) [Oceanology 42 (6), 91–99 (2002)].
Yu. A. Pavlidis, A. S. Ionin, F. A. Shcherbakov, et al., Arctic Shelf (GEOS, Moscow, 1998) [in Russian].
Yu. A. Pavlidis, Yu. A. Bogdanov, O. V. Levchenko, et al., “New Data on the Natural Environment of the Barents Sea at the End of the Valdai Glaciation,” Okeanologiya 45(1), 92–106 (2005) [Oceanology 45 (1), 85–98 (2005)].
Pechora Sea. Experimence of System Studies (“More”, Moscow, 2003) [in Russian].
E. A. Romankevich and A. A. Vetrov, Carbon Cycling in the Arctic Seas of Russia (Nauka, Moscow, 2001) [in Russian].
Yu. G. Samoilovich, L. Ya. Kagan, and L. V. Ivanova, Quaternary Sediments of the Barents Sea (KNTs RAN, Apatity, 1993) [in Russian].
O. V. Suzdal’skii and I. V. Kulikov, “Landscape-Lithodynamical Schematic of Pechora Bay,” in Issues of Mapping Coastal Shallow-Water Zones of the Barents and White Seas (Nedra, St. Petersburg, 1997), pp. 72–83 [in Russian].
G. A. Tarasov, I. A. Pogodina, V. B. Khasankaev, et al., Processes of Sedimentation on Glacial Shelves (KNTs RAN, Apatity, 2000) [in Russian].
Tectonic Map of the Barents Sea and the Northern Part of European Russia (Institut litosfery RAN, Moscow, 1996) [in Russian].
ACIA, Impacts of Warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (University Press, Cambridge, 2002).
S. L. Forman, O. Ingolfsson, V. Gataulin, et al., “Late Quaternary Stratigraphy of Marresale, Yamal Peninsula, Russia: New Constraints on the Footprint of the Eurasian Ice Sheet,” Geology 27, 807–810 (1999).
S. Nikiforov, Yu. Pavlidis, and V. Rahold, “Morphogenetic Classification of the Arctic Coastal Seabed,” Berichte zur Polar und Meeresforschung. Reports on Polar and Marine Research. Arctic Coastal Dynamics, Bremerhaven, FRG. AWI, No. 443, 89–92 (2003).
S. Nikiforov, Yu. Pavlidis, V. Rachold, et al., “Morphogenetic Classification of the Arctic Coastal Zone,” Geo-Marine Letters 25(2), 89–97 (2005).
Yu. A. Pavlidis, N. N. Dunaev, and S. L. Nikiforov, “Sediment Sequence of the Southern Novaya Zemlya Trough (Pechora Sea), Its Facial and Stratigraphic Interpretation,” Berichte zur Polar und Meeresforschung. Bremerhaven, FRG. AWI 261, 127 (2005).
L. Polyak, V. Gataulin, O. Okuneva, and V. Stelle, “New Constrains on the Limits of the Barents-Kara Ice Sheet During the Last Glacial Maximum Based on Borehole Stratigraphy from the Pechora Sea,” Geology 28(7), 611–614 (2000).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © Yu.A. Pavlidis, S.L. Nikiforov, S.A. Ogorodov, G.A. Tarasov, 2007, published in Okeanologiya, 2007, Vol. 47, No. 6, pp. 927–939.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pavlidis, Y.A., Nikiforov, S.L., Ogorodov, S.A. et al. The Pechora Sea: Past, recent, and future. Oceanology 47, 865–876 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437007060112
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437007060112