Stages of recent volcanism and problems of their correlation with landscape formation in the central Caucasus

Abstract

The article presents a first comparison of the isotopic ages of Pliocene–Quaternary volcanic rocks of the Greater Caucasus with the time of creation of various forms of the modern relief. The latter are associated with lava flows and volcanic centers identified from the study of neotectonic movements, geomorphology, and glacial stages. It is demonstrated that the results of chronological subdivision of lava flows using geomorphological and neotectonic methods, in comparison with the isotopic data, generally agree with each other in this area and ensure more reliable dating of glaciation epochs in the Greater Caucasus. Despite the overall similarity of the data, some contradictions have been revealed and possible causes are considered.