Map of Quaternary formations of Ukraine in scale 1:2,500,000

Abstract

The article announces a new map of Quaternary formations on the territory of Ukraine on the scale 1:2,500,000. It considers the prerequisites for the preparation of this map and summarises more than a century of historical research and mapping of the Quaternary formations on the territory of Ukraine. Due to the continuity of scientific research, an extremely developed theoretical and methodological basis of both research and mapping of Quaternary formations has been formed in the country. This is also due to the extraordinary diversity of the geological structure of the Quaternary cover, due to the presence of two mountain systems, lowland areas (including within them several deflections and two crystalline foundations), as well as due to the presence of two seas (including the continental shelf, slope and deep-water zone). A very wide spectrum of facies and formations is also listed (including a thick loess-soil cover, facies of two glaciers of different ages, alluvia, estuary, marine shelf, deep-water and etc.). Attention is focused on two important problems of mapping Quaternary cover. The first is related to new views on the origin of the subaerial cover. The significance of the new (geo-eolian) factor is disclosed, which determined both the thickness and lithological properties of the strata of each paleogeographic stage (of climatoliths) of each separate section, and the stratigraphic structure of the loess-soil cover. Spatial patterns of the structure of the subaerial cover are briefly described, in particular, the mosaic division into areas with a homogeneous stratigraphic structure (type-sections), due to the corresponding geo-eolian mode (sequence). The second problem concerns the ways of visualization of the geological structure of Quaternary sediments on the map. Two principles of reflection of the Quaternary cover are considered, and the disadvantages and advantages of each of them are indicated. Promising ways to map the Quaternary subaerial cover on the basis of ideas about its mosaic structure are proposed. A solution to the problem of various principles of visualization of the Quaternary cover is recommended involving compilation of «multi-visual» maps based on their interactive reissuing (re-design) with modern geographic information systems in accordance with various principles of visualization of the structure of the Quaternary. It has been proposed to use the above scientific approaches in the mapping of the Quaternary deposits of Europe and the World, and also to take into account the geo-eolian factor in the studies of the subaerial cover.