Development of the Vychegda-Vyatka-Kama drainage basin and changes in the outflow directions related to the Late-Glacial morphological conditions (North-Eastern European Russia)

Abstract

The paper describes the features of the drainage system development in the upper Kama basin. Two buried river valleys were identified within the Kama-Pechora-Vychegda watershed. The upper courses of the Kama, the Vychegda, the Pechora and their tributaries likely belonged either to the White Sea basin, or the Caspian Basin. The southern direction of the outflow corresponded to the location of the palaeovalleys of the Pra-Kolva and the Pra-Vishera. The northern direction corresponded to the location of ancient hollows in the present valleys of the tributaries of the Kama. It is believed that the upper Kama was connected with the Vychegda basin. The geological structure of the palaeovalley has recorded a long period of joint development of the hydrosystems of the Kama and the Vyatka. The basins were divided only in the Late Neo-Pleistocene. The rivers regenerated in the Middle and Late Neo-Pleistocene after the lakes had flowed into the Kolva-Vishera basin in the east and into the Pra-Vyatka basin in the west.