1 Aleksey Yu.Sidorchuk * Corresponding author:[email protected] European The and DOI-10.24057/2071-9388-2018-11-3-05-20 ,sediment source andsink. Environment, Sustainability, Vol.11, No3,p. 5-20 deposition, Late Glacialcatastrophic erosion event, EastEuropean iscloseto perspective. oneinthelong-term on thislowland territory Therefore, ratiofor intensive despite thefluvialsystems themodern deposition,delivery the area ofintensive erosion, withthedeepincisionofgulliesandriver channels. runoff,both scarce vegetation theentire surface andextremal fluvialsystems become of100-120thousandyears.fluvial systems theconditionsof occurwithafrequency In event. Suchevents ofcatastrophic erosion ofthesedimentsdeposited inthelowland formed theLate valleys Glacialcatastrophic during erosionvolume ofthenetdry on thefloodplains. The process ofaccumulationisfacilitated by theunfilled “negative” led to ahighrate oflateral sedimentinputanddepositionattheriverheadwaters and suspended sedimentsiscausedby accelerated soilerosion onthearableslopes, which oferoded isaccumulated material inthechannels.main part The recent depositionof to theseasisonlyafew percent transport ofthetotal Sediment type. erosion, andthe Walling 1996 1977; Meade 1976;Schumm systems are well investigated and (Gregory The erosion anddepositioninthe fluvial one ofthemaindenudationagents. layer of the lithosphere,the surface being from upperto lower reaches, with interact flows, generally directed by the gravity force 1977). 1955;Schumm These (Makkaveev ofmorphological evolution long history andancientwater flows,modern having (channels) withcatchments, formed by lineardepressionsor disconnected A fluvialsystem isthecascadeofconnected Citation Key Abstract Introduction Faculty ofGeography, Lomonosov State University, Moscow, Russia words fluvial sink : Aleksey Aleksey Yu. Sidorchuk (2018) The fluvialsystem ontheEastEuropean plain: . fluvialsystemThe onthe lowland modern EastEuropean Plain isofdepositional : ratio,The fluvialsystem, delivery recent accelerated erosion, sediment plain 1 system : sediment on appointed atDr ratio.low delivery canbe The boundary with ratio ishighand ofdepositionaltype, system canbeoferosive whendelivery type, ratioDr. catchment, i.e. delivery and the total eroded sediments within the atthe outlet of a fluvialsystem arriving theamountofsediments the ratiobetween the lowermost point iswell by described the fluvialsystem to deliver sediments to higher thansedimentload. of The ability oftheflow is capacity where transport through thefluvialsystem onlywhenand These sedimentscan be transported of different– particles size and weight. etc.). Erosion by water produces sediments

the =50% (Sidorchuk 2015). source East

The fluvial The

5 GES 03|2018 6 GEOGRAPHY scale usingslope lengthandinclination,are and Smith1978), calculated onthefield ofUSLE(Wischmeier values oftheLS factor distributions. asymmetrical The multiple the broad rangewithhighlynegatively in and lengths of river basin slopes vary covering anarea ofabout4.010 The East is a large lowland The rivers oftheEastEuropean Plain erosion.the naturalextremal about2-3thousandyearsperiod long, with lasted about300years, andtheLate-glacial by human-inducedaccelerated erosion, oferosion:periods theperiod, dominated highlycontrasting thesetwo plain during the fluvialsystems ontheEast European well asthesimilarities, intheprocesses of this paperisto show thedifferences, as is notwell investigated. The maingoalof on thelowlands, erosional ordepositional. ofthefluvialsystems thetype this period Volkov 1963;Sidorchuk 2003).However, for 1965; Hemisphere (Dury for theNorthern runoff,typical atleast by surface extremal The wascharacterized Late Glacialperiod 1984). system (Knighton morphology, ofthe represent the memory the fluvialsystems, together withchannel and non-alluvialsediments, deposited in geomorphological processes. The alluvial at thelowlands) isoneofthesignificant sediment sinkinthefluvialsystems (mostly ratioislower thanone, and global delivery any etal.Oost case, 2007).In themodern 19 10 annually to seasabout oceanandinternal globalfluvialsystemThe delivers modern GEOGRAPHY, more than0.13-0.14% long are not the mainrivers1900-2700km 250-300 m. Therefore, theinclinations of the plainhave maximumaltitudesofabout of these rivers onthemainwater-divide megaslopes.southern The headwaters of rivers: , , , drainits (Alayev etal. 1990). The largest European from 172.1 10 terrestrial area) isestimated inabroad range (about10% oftheglobal global farmland Annual soilerosion by water onlyfrom the of theglobal byrelief erosion. destruction and Farnsworth 2011). This isonlyapart 9 ton of sediment particles (Milliman (Milliman ton ofsediment particles ENVIRONMENT, 9 (Ito 2007)to 22.2 10 (Ito 0 . The inclinations . The SUSTAINABILITY 9 ton (van 6 km 2

km of0.4-0.6km/ withadensity valleys dry system withinthestudyarea. The netof al. 1971). ofthefluvial This isonlythepart (422000 km basin long belongtoRiver theDon km (1360000 km long belong to the km Volga basin River 0.36 km/km megaslope oftheEastEuropean plainis onthesouthern length more than1km riversandstreamspermanent withthe ofthemodern The drainagedensity of 0.1-1.0(seeFig. 2002). 2.14inLitvin lessthan7with80%intherange typically River basin(504000km River longbelong to theDnieper 163467 km and the permanent watercourseand the permanent netwas slopes ofthevalleys,deep gulliesdissected ones,wider thanthe modern longand 2001, 2008). The riverchannels were then were 5-6timesgreater (Sidorchuk et al. ago, andthemaximumdischarges18 ka plain for theLate Glacialtimeabout16- was 2-4timesgreater ontheEastEuropean runoffreconstructed meanannualsurface (1965) andI. G. Dury Volkov (1963). The runoffand were by first described surface formed these episodesofhigh during large riversoftheLate Glacialtimewere 1995). (Vandenberghe The ice-sheets of deglaciation of the continental periods erosion occurred repeatedly during episodes of accelerated Climate-induced ofextremeerosion period The Late-glacial system evolution. offluvial and addressing itto thehistory thisphenomenon was thefirstdescribing (1878) and medianrivervalleys. Dokuchaev decrease. typical The sameeffect is for small widthincreasesthese two withbasinarea the flows inthesevalleys, andtheratioof is muchlarger valleys than the width of dry conditions.pristine The bottom widthof erosionthe modern here isnegligible inthe usually cover theirbottoms andslopes, so intensiveor after vegetation rain.Dense snowwater thaw mostlyduring period lengths of1-10 km. These systems drain (called “balka” or have typically “sukhodol”) erosion landscape(Fig. 1). valleys These dry 2 dominates thephysiography ofthe 2 : 150717 rivers totally 574414 2 2 ) and31954riverstotally ), 13012riverstotally 90416 2 ) (Domanitskiy et ) (Domanitskiy 03 (11)2018 points ofitslongitudinal profile H difference the upperandlower between depends on its length negative volume of a dry valley V valley negative volume ofadry number ofthevalleys. with known The can beestimated from volumes thevalley The “negative” valleys volume ofthesedry 61,100 km withanarea River) oftheDon of tributary For basin(the River example, theKhoper high. episode (2-3thousandyears) wasextremely erosion this geologically during rather short much denser. The volume ofthelinear the basinslopes. whichdissects a total lengthof27000km, length and form the erosion10 km net with thanapp. are springs) shorter permanent long. (someofthemwith valleys The dry of thestreams equalandmore than 10km consists with thetotal lengthof9000km) km. rivernet(267rivers The permanent of36,000 valleys flows anddry permanent led to therelationship: basin River Measurements in the Khoper Aleksey Yu.Sidorchuk 07/07/30 08:26:012J, central point lat. 51.5 F ig. 1. valley netat RiverThe basin. theKhoper dry ofSPOTThe part imageID 5119-246 2 hasarecent total lengthofthe (km) and the L (km) b 0 (km (km). (km). 3 ) o The N,lon.41.92 H units (km). lengths informulas (1)-(6)are in the same anddimensional.is empirical therefore all the lengthmore than1km. The formula (2) equal to thetotal with lengthofallvalleys a measure ofthestructure ofthenetwork, andthecoefficientMis network, the valley dimensionof D canbecalledthefractal approach. of thefractal terms The exponent informulaThe variables (2)correspond to the greater thanLasthefrequency: ΣLwiththelength the lengthsofvalleys Lasthemagnitude,valley andthesumof is convenient to usethelengthofdry (Fig.magnitude function –frequency 2).It This structureiswell by the described data onthestructureoffluvialnetwork. canbeestimated from the less than10km with the length valleys The numberof dry of 20to 85mwithameanvalueof45m. fluvial 0 vary in the Khoper River basin in the range River in the Khoper vary V b L = = 0.7 M system L o E(provided by MSUGeoportal) 1 H D 0 L 2 on

the East Europea (1) (2) ...

7 GEOGRAPHY 8 GEOGRAPHY in the Khoper River basiniscalculatedregion River intheKhoper volume the length of a dry valley (2L valley the length of a dry The regional M ofstreams: network long, ofstreams moreof thenetwork than1km the region area F used to keep dimension ofM(km used to keep Here thecoefficientais equal to1 andwas GEOGRAPHY, To valleys estimate thenumberofdry density K density In thisformula M In regional (2)inthedifferential function form: a to construct catchment area, itisnecessary a given range oflengthΔL for a certain (km km K(km and thedensity dimension thefractal obtained between of catchments, thelinear relationship was only foralimitedsufficient accuracy number dimensioncanbecalculated with the fractal km longandtheLate long.; streams Glacial km <10km 2–therelationship for therecent streams, 1–therelationship equalandlongerthanL.Key: for therecent streams ≥10 N ( M D L F j D ig. 2. The relationship between thestream lengthLandtotal lengthΣLofthe = = 1 j isregional dimension,L fractal ) of the dry valley network for network each valley V ofthedry aK L j = (km km (km 0 m 0.89 e j an F L ENVIRONMENT, j j = valuecanbecalculated with K M -2 ): j j (km isregional total length j ( 1 2 ) and the network ) andthenetwork D j ) -2 L 0 ) oftheentire + ΔL)/2.Since 0 1 m SUSTAINABILITY e D an D ). The total ). The streams <10 km long streams <10km L 0mean N ΔL j-th (3) (5) (4) in is stream netK The ofthe withsimilardensity Eq. 2-4was thenabout31km basin,according River erosion attheKhoper total “negative” volume oftheancientgully erosionalto themodern forms (Fig. 3). The werethey about30%deepercompared (Eremenko andPanin average 2011).In dry, were deepintensively eroded gullies ka agoallvalleys, thatare now runoff 16-18 surface ofextremal theperiod During by theformula along thetotal length oftheirchannels. runoffepisode surface thisextreme during The mainriverswere also over-deepened “negative” is 24 km valleys volume of the dry River,basin oftheKhoper thetotal recent for theentire the basinwith formulas (1-6).In wascalculated for eachregion1-10 km and withthelengths of valleys volume ofthedry of theRussianAcademy ofScience. The ofGeographyUSSR» compiledinthe Institute ofthe map «Erosion hazard intheterritory basinwere River identifiedonthe the Khoper V = L L = = 10 1 N j L and similar dry valley relief valley H andsimilardry V b 3 . 03 (11)2018 (6) 0 in 3 . in thenaturalconditions. highforextremely thelowland environment the East European plain (Fig. 4). Such rate is 2-6 shows thatabout7.5km Calculations withtheequation, similarto was app. 250 t km mean rate of gully and river-bed erosion about2000-3000years.relatively short, The The erosion episodeofextreme was plain (Sidorchuk et al. 2001). fortypical allriversonthe EastEuropean valley. River at theKhoper This process was Aleksey Yu.Sidorchuk lon. 42.32 F ig. 3. The ofPerepol’ye cross-section valley River basin,lat. (theKhoper 51.2 dry valley bed; 2 – the cut formed during the Late Glacial catastrophic surface runoff; valley bed;2–thecutformed duringtheLate runoff; catastrophic Glacial surface 3 – the Late-Glacial/Holocene sediments; 4–cores; 5– 3 –theLate-Glacial/Holocene o E),cored by theauthorandhiscolleagues 1–therecent in1997.Key: dry -2 a -1 at the central part of at the central part 3 were eroded The in the (Leonovin theCaspian Sea et al. 2002). age (socalledchocolate clays) wasdeposited volume sedimentsofthesimilar ofKhvalyn at theBlacksea(Bahretal. 2005). The large ago for 16-18ka was reported theperiod maximumofsedimentation rates distinct to therivermouthsandto theseas. The and withintheriverchannelswere delivered erosion. All sediments eroded on the slopes theeventclose to ofcatastrophic oneduring waspresumably these lowland territory ratioofthefluvialsystem on The delivery fluvial system on 14 C dates (AMS)

the East Europea o N, ...

9 GEOGRAPHY 10 GEOGRAPHY GEOGRAPHY, lower (Fig. 5). theHolocenewas deposition rate during BP. fromwithin theperiod 8to 14ka The shown inFig. 1inSidorchuk (2003)occurred estimated valley forRiver thecross-section maximum rate ofdepositionintheKhoper decrease andto sedimentdeposition. The capacity wide channelsledto atransport al. 2008). This decrease ofdischarges inthe beginning of the Holocene (Sidorchuk et and reached valuesatthe themodern withhigherandlowerperiods discharges) runoff generally decreased (with the surface After the episode of catastrophic erosion, European plain The depositionontheEast post-erosion F ig. 4.Annual rate oflinear erosion (tha runoff 16-18 ka ago,runoff 16-18 calculated from the “negative” valleys volume ofdry at the ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY Khoper River basin Khoper -1 a -1 ) duringtheevent ofcatastrophic surface significant decrease ofthisrate up to the beginning oftheprocess and with the that period, beingmore intensive atthe ratio for thisbasin)was20-25tkm delivery themodern on theslopes(taking ~13-14 ka. The average annualerosion rate was about13km River basin Khoper the fluvialsystem atthe filled. The total volume ofdepositionin 25-30% oftheir “negative” volume was was lesseffective: in average onlyabout ontheslopes) valleys the gullies(now dry formed (Sidorchuk 2003). The depositionin sediment input “inherited” floodplains were a highpotential for thelateral collecting this environment. with suchrivervalleys In highin A potential for depositionisstillvery 3 andthisprocess lasted 03 (11)2018 -2 during during surface slope (mm surface velocity (m s velocity Here plain for the lowland rivers of the East European (1951),whichwascalibratedof Zamarin sediments wascalculated withtheformula capacity of the flow in kg s oftheflow in capacity rate T(transport transport Sediment (R=0.85 for Wand0.6for d): atabout400 stations Hydrological Survey from themeasurements oftheRussian (not inundated floodplain) wasobtained the bankfull discharge channel widthW(m)anddepthdfor The additionalinformation aboutaveraged with 1,columnsmarked (1985) (Table “*”). and order were estimated by Rzhanitsin oftheriversdifferentcharacteristics size averaged hydrologic andmorphometric formed agraded channelnetwork. The ka agoslowly event runoff 16-18 surface East European thecatastrophic plainafter evolution ofthefluvialsystem onthe The longlasted naturalmorphological time ofintensive agriculture ontheselands. Aleksey Yu.Sidorchuk W d F T ig. 5.Rate ofdepositionintheLate channelsat Glacial thebottom oftheKhoper = = = 0.84 U isflow (ms velocity 3.5 0.2 Q Q Q bf 0. bf 0. 59 -1 bf 24 ). U River valley at (cross-section lat. 51.22 1. 5 -1 ), Q Sd bf

ω (m - particle fall -particle 3 s based oncalibrated -1 -1 ) conditions ), -1 ) for fine S – flow (8) (7) The valley bottoms,valley covered withthegrass and bankfull discharge andflood thewide rainfallexceeds during in suchvalleys the at thelower sections. The usualdischarge bottoms, valley andonly atdry evident banksisrarely with thewell-defined intensiveafter rain. The stream channel the snow and thawonly during period oftheyear andare flooded the mainpart large. still very These bottoms valley are dry where post-erosion “negative” volume is valleys, The othersituationisfor thedry amount ofsediment. orders this were capableto transport capacity, therefore riversofallsizes and magnitude lower transport thanthecritical 1984). Mozzherin orders of This isone-two and (see tables2.11and2.15inDedkov the region wasabout4.4 - 17.0 t km steppe andsteppe zones ofsmallrivers sedimentyieldattheforest-pre-agriculture deposition inthechannelcanoccur. The period channel from theflood theslopesduring sedimentsupplytoshows the thecritical slopes. The columnofthe Table 1withT conditions of low rate soil erosion on the without significant depositioninthe all suspended sediments able to transport rivers at the East European Plain were system 1), (Table therefore the lowland increasesperiod alongtheaverage fluvial rate Tfor theflood The sedimenttransport fluvial 14 C dating t. When thisvalue isexceeded, then o N,lon.42.43 system on

the o E), East Europea -2 a ... Lc -1 r

11 GEOGRAPHY 12 GEOGRAPHY GEOGRAPHY, East European plainistheaccelerated soil processes in thefluvialsystems ofthe ofthemodern The maincharacteristic European plain The fluvialsystem modern oftheEast ago andwasnotrelated to humanactivity. ka runoff about5-6 precipitation andsurface erosion wascausedby someincrease of bottomsvalley (Panin etal. 2009). This linear ofthedry andinthelowervalleys parts were formed onthesteep slopesoftheriver oflinearerosion.by someactivation Gullies of theEastEuropean plainwascharacterised depositional processes inthefluvialsystem ofpredominantlyThe endofthislongperiod bottom valleys surfaces. dry eroded on the slopes, are deposited on the shrubs. Therefore, mostofthesediments, Table 1. The averaged hydrologic andmorphometriccharacteristics ofthepermanent slopes~Tt/F, ratio, –sedimentdelivery Dr E=T N* 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 flow velocity, T–suspendedsedimenttransport rate, T flood duration, S–channelslope, W–channelbankfullwidth,ddepth,Umean (N iswatercourse order, Lisriver length,F–basinarea, Q–meanmaximum discharge, t– 3810 2090 1140 16.9 620 338 190 104 km 9.3 5.1 2.8 1.5 0.8 57 31 L* 1590522.5 539682.3 181260.7 60559.2 20320.1 7205.0 2435.2 ENVIRONMENT, F km 825.0 275.6 92.5 31.6 10.7 3.6 1.2 0.4 watercourses (mostly, rivers) ontheEastEuropean Plain 2 40000 17800 Q* m 7950 3560 1590 28.2 2.51 12.6 1.12 710 316 141 5.6 0.5 63 s -1 3

days 21.5 17.5 10.1 2.08 7.2 4.7 90 70 52 40 29 with “*”are afterRzhanitsin(1985) t* SUSTAINABILITY 2 2 2 2 0.0000495 0.000031 0.000079 0.000129 S* m 0.00002 0.00021 0.00036 0.00063 0.00114 0.00216 0.0042 0.0089 0.0492 0.134 0.02 -1 Lcr /Dr –critical/Dr erosion onriver basinslopes. Columns 1847.8 1146.0 712.3 171.3 106.2 443.4 275.6 W m 66.0 41.0 25.5 15.9 6.1 9.8 3.8 2.4 East European Plain (2.2 10 mega-slopeofthe river basinsofthesouthern volume of accelerated erosion on slopes in the ton onabout1.4310 on 9.9%itisintherange10.0–20.0 tha with themaximumof25tha 0.5–2.0 tha The average erosion rate isabout6.2tha period ofintensiveperiod agriculture (the last300- is more than20.0tha 7.2% ofthearablelandannual erosion rate less than0.5tha of thearableland, theannualrate oferosion is t ha conditions (see, for example, Fig. 6)is880 10 washed outintherecent human-influenced 2002), of fine (siltandclay) sediments (Litvin headwaters. The calculated annual amount of theseeroded sedimentsintherivernet erosion ontheslopesandrapiddeposition -1 ; on12.6%itisintherange5.0–10.0 tha 10.7 d m Lcr 8.8 7.3 6.0 4.9 4.1 3.3 2.8 2.3 1.9 1.0 1.5 1.3 0.9 0.7 –critical sedimentlateral inputfrom - 1; on23.5%itisintherange2.0–5.0 U m 1.8 1.5 1.3 1.2 1.0 0.9 2.0 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.3 s -1 -1 104920.6 ; on24.1%itisintherange 42906.4 kg s T kg 17900 7490 3160 1330 23.0 11.0 570 250 111 5.5 2.9 1.6 51 -1 6 km . In total.. In thecalculated -1 2 ofarableland. TLcr 6 ha km 4.8 3.6 4.4 4.3 3.9 3.4 5.1 2.6 2.5 2.2 2.6 1.3 1.8 4.2 7.1 -1 . Onover 22.7% -1 t 03 (11)2018 2 ) during the ) during 0.04 0.11 0.03 0.04 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.13 0.16 0.20 0.39 0.25 0.31 0.48 0.61 Dr -1 ; andon 134.7 178.4 33.8 99.9 77.3 56.7 40.5 20.2 15.4 11.0 12.1 ha 7.1 5.3 6.0 9.0 E t -1 -1 -1 6 ; , were formed (Sidorchuk and Golosov2003). 1861, when~ 24% ofnow existing gullies theagricultural reform1860-1910 after of formation reached its maximumintheyears intensive agriculture. The rate of gullies were of formed theperiod mainlyduring Golosov 2003). to gullysystems. There are about110 on the material East European Plain is related source oferodedThe secondimportant 400 years) is about 76 10 of 3.5 10 with alengthover 70mand atotal volume Aleksey Yu.Sidorchuk F ig. 6. The fragment lossmapoftheEastEuropean oftheSoil ,2002)for Plain (Litvin the DonRiver basin. The starsshow positionsofgauging stations, usedonF 9 m 3 (Litvin et al. (Litvin 2003). These gullies 9 ton (Sidorchuk and 6 gullies The it decreases withbasinarea Fkm (Golosov etal. 1991). Usuallyinthelowlands ratio Dr calculation ofthe sediment delivery basinsallows River the Dnieper andDon basins withhydrological stationsat Volga, rate sediment transport calculated slopeerosion E andmeasured flows ofdifferent size. of Thecomparison are delivered from theslopesto thewater washed awaySediments dueto soilerosion fluvial D r = T E system aF b on

the East T for 343 river Europea 2 : ig. 7 (9) ...

13 GEOGRAPHY 14 GEOGRAPHY the critical amountofsediment T the critical theconditionsofaccelerated soilerosionIn (Resources… 1973),a=0.23,b=0.32(Fig. 7). values were measured atsmallcatchments example, for basin,where River theDon T the broad rangeatdifferentriver basins. For in The exponentbandthecoefficientavary GEOGRAPHY, East European Plain (the Middle Oka, the East European Oka, Plain (theMiddle Measurements in different regions of the canbesilted. length 50-60km 25 t/haeven medium-size riverwiththe and attheareas withsoilerosion rate of average annualsoilerosion rate (6.2t/ha), depositional sinks in the condition of canbe streams withthelength3-10km according to Table 1,thepermanent capacity.than flow transport Therefore, watercourses amountofsedimentismore more value, thancritical thedelivered to the T erosionthe critical rate on the slopes E= class. The last column in the Table 1 shows belongto valleys this high enough.Alldry if lateral sedimentinputfrom thebasinis potentially vulnerable to sedimentation 1).Suchflows (Table are less than10km decreases alongtheflows withlengthsof rate) equal to thespecifictransport floods withoutdeposition(i.e. theamount can bedelivered from theslopesduring 1 at F F Basin. DataBasin. water from: 1–gauging stations budgetstation at (N Nizhne-Devitskaya Lcr ig. ratio 7.Changes ofthe sediment delivery Dr /Dr ig. 6);and2–gauging stations at Dubovskaya hydro-meteorological station (N 2 . If the actual erosion the actual on the slopes is . If at F ENVIRONMENT, ig.Medvetitsa 6);3–pondsinfillinBuzuluk and river basins SUSTAINABILITY Lcr , which 60% of76 10 3 to 38mm a withintherange intensive agriculture vary mean aggradation rates for of the period and periods (LangbeinandLeopold,and periods 1964). in form ofwaves ofdifferent amplitudes erosion, therefore occur sedimenttransport deposition inthechannelsaccompanies This process isnotcontinuous: sediment mineral matter, delivered to theoceans. isoneofthemainsources of It transport. by dissolution,erosion andsediment lowering fluvial system isthelandsurface ofthe global function The maingeomorphic systems (Sidorchuk 1995). wassequestered inthefluvial main part to the sea, while its matter was transported show thatonly3-6%oferodedconstruction rivers for before theperiod large reservoirs measurements inthedeltasofmajor 2). long(Table lessthan100km valleys The longandabout90%ofitinthe 25 km Plain wasdeposited lessthan inthevalleys mega-slopeofthe EastEuropeansouthern of 5-40 km withbasinareas valleys the bottom ofdry ofsedimentsat show thatthethickness and Stavropol’the River Region) Upper andLower theLower Don, Volga, Discussion alongtherivers oftheDon River 2 ranges from 1.0 to 2.8 m. The 9 ton oferoded onthe material and -1 (Golosov etal. 1991).About conclusion 03 (11)2018 by G. Dury (1965) andI. by G. Dury Volkov (1963). the globalphenomenon firstdescribed runoffis Late Glacialevent ofhighsurface waves ofclimate change causedthem. The periods, becauseGlacial-Interglacial-Glacial European plain. These waves have long fortypical the fluvial system ontheEast The waves oferosion anddeposition are deposition waves. andtheamplitudesoferosion-the periods cover are the mainfactors, which determine slopes. Water flow regimen and vegetation lateral sediment input from the basin rate changealongtheflow and/orhigh sink atthereaches withanegative transport subsidence. The fluvialsystem isasediment detachment and particle particle between at thereaches withpositive balance The fluvialsystem isasediment source Aleksey Yu.Sidorchuk Table 2.Depositionofsediments, eroded from slopesintheriver valleys lessthan100 rivers 100 km long;D rivers 100km E (F –basinarea; E–recent mean(forthewholeriver basin)accelerated erosion rate ontheslopes; Don upper Severskiy upperSeverskiy Don agr Don lower Severskiy Donets lowerDon Severskiy – amountoferosion duringtheperiodofintensive agriculture; Dr without Vishera Kama Dnepr upperPripyat’ Dnepr lower Pripyat’ Volga lower Kama Severskiy Donets Severskiy Volga upperOka The riverbasin Verluga Vishera Pripyat’ Vyatka Desna Total Sura Oka agr 10 9 – the amount of deposition in the valleys less than 100 km longduring –theamountofdepositioninvalleys lessthan100km km longontheEastEuropeankm Plain 2218275 129000 224000 204800 142000 245000 114300 257000 154700 265200 106000 31200 39400 67500 88900 53025 96250 F km the agricultural period) 2 The E tha to 800-1000 t km on thelowlands were oferosional type (PageRivers etal. 2009).Allfluvial systems than therecent andDarling Murrambidgee Plain wasformed by much larger rivers Feeney , theRiverine 1995).In regionand theGulfofMexico (Leigh and 2008), Atlantic Coastal Plain (Leigh 2006) etal. (Arbogast America ofNorth of thefluvial relief took placeontheGreat 1995). Glacial (Starkel The sameevolution were theLate during over-deepened headwaters ofagreat numberofstreams territory. In West andCentral the accelerated erosionmodern from thesame European Plain (seeFig. 4). That is closethe were 200-400tkm usually on theslopesandinrivervalleys buttherates oftheerosion about 2-3ka, The durationofthiserosion episodewas fluvial 2.50 1.30 2.80 0.90 0.40 0.90 2.40 1.80 2.10 1.90 1.30 3.60 1.20 1.30 2.20 2.10 -1 a -1 system E agr 75.8 6.1 4.7 6.7 1.3 0.2 0.9 3.1 5.6 3.7 5.3 8.4 0.6 5.2 11 10 9 4 100 on -2 – the delivery ratio –thedelivery forthe 9 -2 t a a

-1 the -1 in the central East and often reached andoften Dr 0.10 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.08 0.30 0.08 0.04 0.07 0.05 0.20 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.07 East 100 Europea D agr 66.5 10.2 5.5 3.3 4.7 0.9 0.1 0.8 2.2 5.4 3.4 8.6 4.2 3.8 8.0 0.6 4.9 10 9 t ...

15 GEOGRAPHY 16 GEOGRAPHY depositional type. depositional type. oftheirlengthwere of the mainpart sequestration, thefluvialsystems along ofsignificant sediment were theterritory glacial catastrophic erosion. Lowlands all lowlands, whichwere affected by late- (Sidorchuk 2003). forThe same istypical river channelsare alsowidespread there with theremnants ofthelarge periglacial the rivermouths. “Inherited” floodplains most ofthesesedimentsdidnotreached was nothigh(about20-25tkm slopes ofthecentralEastEuropean Plain system. The average erosion rate onthe eroded “negative” volume of the fluvial sediment depositionoccurinthehuge runoffdecreased and erosion thesurface episodeofcatastrophic After thisshort the lowland fluvialsystems isclose to one. ratioin spite delivery ofthis thelong-term 2003)andin (Vandenberghe of 100-120ka of catastrophic erosion have aperiodicity deposited sediments. events These short and wereof cleanedofasignificant part GEOGRAPHY. conditions was~17±30tkm inpristine America of Europe and North lowland river basins in theforest-steppe the meanspecificsedimentyieldinsmall According (1984), andMozzherin to Dedkov sediment input. accompanied by thehighrate ofthelateral accelerated soilerosion onthearableland, East European Plain wasrefreshed by the This depositioninthefluvial systems onthe can lastthousandsofyears. 2016). The durationofsediment deposition the western European lowlands (Larsenetal. for sediments. forThe samewasreported gullies)remain thesinks former late-glacial (the valleys ofdry plain adensenetwork systems. ontheEastEuropean Nevertheless, erosion andsedimentationinthefluvial between formation equilibrium ofanew caused by deposition,slowly ledto the The morphological changesinthechannels, ENVIRONMENT. SUSTAINABILITY -2 -2 . The mean . The ayear), but 4.4±3.1 and~100±40tkm steppe zone, the differenceeven is greater: Environment andHumanimpact.” SystemsErosion–Channel underChanging Evolution and “The Transformation of by theprogramThis study wassupported 2005). ago for exampleattheBlacksea(Bahretal. forrates 16-18ka wasreported theperiod maximumofsedimentation and distinct sediments were delivered to theseabasins, and channelsintheriver valleys. These the deepincisionofgulliesonslopes, was thearea ofintensive erosion, with runoff. Therefore, the whole fluvial system scarce vegetation andby surface extreme of catastrophic erosion wascausedbothby the riverlength. event The Late Glacialshort the depositionrate rapidlydecreases along ratio decreases withthebasinarea (Eq. 9), andsmallrivers. valleys As thedelivery dry area ofdepositioneroded soilisthenetof protection by vegetation cover. The main used for agriculture, becauseoftheir low of theaccelerated erosion are theslopes oftheerosionextent cut. The mainarea accelerated and Late Glacialerosion is the The maindifference themodern between the Late Glacialerosion event. on thewidefloodplains, “inherited” from reaches ofthelowland fluvialsystems and sediments isconcentrated intheupper 76 10 agriculture (thelast300-400years) is about used for agriculture is~88±29tkm intheforest-steppeof thesametype areas specific sedimentyieldfromriver thebasins 10 mega-slope oftheEastEuropean Plain (2.2 on slopesintheriverbasinsofsouthern calculated volume ofaccelerated erosion accelerated erosion onthebare slopes. The and is mainlytheresult ofhumanactivity A cknowledgments 6 km 9 ton. depositionofthese The modern 2 ) during the period ofintensive theperiod ) during -2 , respectively. This, 03 (11)2018 -2 . In the . In

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17 GEOGRAPHY 18 GEOGRAPHY GEOGRAPHY. Hydrological Processes 17(16),pp. 3347-3358. ofintensive oferosion theperiod agriculture. andsedimentationduring II: thehistory Sidorchuk A.Yu andGolosov V.N. (2003).Erosion andsedimentationontheRussian Plain, environmental changeontheEastEuropean Plain. Glob. Planet. Change28,pp. 303–318. Sidorchuk O., A.,Borisova Panin A. (2001).Fluvial response to theLate Valdai/Holocene 1, pp. 14-21(inRussian). systems.Sidorchuk budgetintheerosion-depositional A.(2015).Sediment Geomorfologiya, Change, 39(1-2),pp. 13-29. Sidorchuk A.(2003).Floodplain memories. GlobalandPlanetary sedimentation:Inherited Russian). vol. silting. 1,Moscow, nauk, In: pp.Trudy 74-83(in vodokhozyaystvennykh Akademii Sidorchuk A. Yu. (1995).Erosion andaccumulationonthe RussianPlain andsmallriver S. A. (1977). Schumm The fluvialsystem. New John York, &Sons,Wiley 338 p. Leningrad (inRussian). Rzhanitsin N.A.(1985).Channel-Forming Processes intheRivers. Gidrometeoizdat, Leningrad, V. 8(inRussian). Resources oftheSurface Waters Region. Gidrometeoizdat, River intheUSSR(1973).Don 91. Pleistocene gulliesintheProtva river basin,centralRussia. Geomorphology, v. 108,pp. 71– development ofHoloceneand (2009). Long-term Belyaev V. R. Fuzeina J. N., Panin A. V., 56,19-33. Sciences paleochannels, Australia. southeastern ofEarth Australian Journal PlainPage evolution ofRiverine J., Kemp andNansonG.C.(2009). Late K.J., Quaternary Synthesis. Press, University Cambridge Cambridge. J.D.Milliman Discharge andFarnsworth (2011).River to the Coastal AGlobal Ocean: K.L. 85. Sea-Level andCoastal Subsidence. Academic Rise Kluwer Publishing, Dordrecht, pp. 63– J.D., –sedimentinputsto Milliman R.H.(1996).River majordeltas.Meade In: HaqB.U. (Eds.), 346 p. (inRussian) N. I. (1955). Moscow,The Channel and ErosionMakkaveev River in its Basin. Akademizdat: Processes 17(16),pp. 3335-3346. processes. 1:Contemporary Hydrological sedimentation ontheRussianPlain, part L.F.,Litvin Zorina Ye.F., Sidorchuk A.Yu, A.V., Chernov Golosov V.N. (2003).Erosion and (Publ), (inRussian) Moscow L.F.Litvin (2002).Geography ofsoilerosion inagricultural landsinRussia.Akademkniga 748–751. Sciences, v. Earth transgression 386,pp. Khvalyn of theearly Doklady oftheCaspian Sea. A.,andChalieF.Jelinowska agedataonsedimentsofthetransgressive (2002).New phase Leonov Yu.G., Lavrushin Yu.A., Antipov M.P., Spiridonova Ye.A., Kuzmin Ya.V., JullE.J.T., S., Burr ENVIRONMENT. SUSTAINABILITY 03 (11)2018 Received 30 onOctober Aleksey Yu.Sidorchuk Zamarin E.A. (1951). Open flow transport capacity. E.A.(1951).Openflow Stroyizdat,Zamarin transport Moscow (inRussian). ANSSSR151(3),648-651(inRussian). Doklady . ofthe part flow ofsouthern Volkov inthevalleys ofpowerful I.A.(1963).Remnants Western agricultural soilerosion Science, cycle, 318,626–629. ontheglobalcarbon C.,GiraldezJ. G.,Kosmas Heckrath V., daSilvaJ. R.M.,andMerckx R.(2007). of The impact Van Quine K., Oost T. S.,Six J., Harden A.,Govers Gryze J.W., G.,De G.W., J. Ritchie C.,McCarty 22,pp. Reviews, Science 2053–2060. ideas. Quaternary of fluvial systemVandenberghe development;evolution an of J. (2003). Climate forcing Palaeoclimate Research 14,pp. 1-9. Holocene.Lateglacial andearly G.Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart-Jena-NY. Paläoklimaforschung/ Frenzelperspectives. In: B. (Ed.), the and climatic change during European river activity Vandenberghe J. andfuture (1995).Postglacial andclimate: state oftheart riveractivity 537. Washington D.C.: U.S. Agric. Dept. Wischmeier W. H.andSmithD. D. (1978).Predicting rainfallerosion losses. Agric. Handbook V.R. (Eds.), GlobalContinental Palaeohydrology. Wiley, Chichester, pp. 233-258. L.(1995).Palaeohydrology Starkel L.,Baker Starkel K.J., ofthetemperate zone. Gregory In: pp. 386-396. theLate GlacialandHolocene. plainsduring on theNorth-Eurasian Water Resources 35(4), Sidorchuk A. Yu., Panin runoff A.V., changesinsurface O.K. Borisova (2008).Climate-induced th , 2017 The fluvial system Accepted onJuly31 on

the East Europea st , 2018 ...

19 GEOGRAPHY 20 GEOGRAPHY GEOGRAPHY, A uthors ENVIRONMENT, transport anddepositioninthefluvialsystem. transport andusedthemodelsofsoilerosion,Developed gully erosion, of ofabruptclimatethe RussianPlain changes. theperiod during Holocene. theriverflow andsedimentyieldat Reconstructed system dueto theLate climate Glacialandthe changeduring morphological andpalaeohydrological changesinthefluvial Zealand. inNew Investigatedorganic transport the carbon Yamal peninsula,mechanicsoferosion processes andofthe Australia atthe andSwaziland, erosion andthermo-erosion the lower Terek River. Conducted analysisofgullyerosion in (Kirgiziya), theAlabuga River (Nigeria), ), River on the Niger Pur, (Taz, of thewestern Siberia andeastern ’, Enisey, Yana, palaeogeographical investigations intheriversandriverdeltas Performed field works, hydrological. geomorphological and 1971, Candidate ofScience, 1992. ofScience, 1975,Doctor State University, Diploma(Hons)inGeography/Geomorphology, Aleksey Sidorchuk 1March 1949.Educated wasborn inMoscow SUSTAINABILITY 03 (11)2018