The Manifestation of Salt Dome Tectonics in the Shallow Northern Part of the Caspian Sea

Pyotr Ivanovich Bukharitsin* and Ilya Vladimirovich Golovachev

In the autumn of 2025, near the island of Chistaya Banka (the Russian sector of the Northern Caspian Sea, coordinates: N: 45.20396; E: 048.13528), Astrakhan fishermen came across a strange sandbar, which consisted not of the usual mixture of sand, silt, and broken mollusk shells, but of crushed stone, as it turned out later, marl. They marked the coordinates of the location, took photos and videos of their discovery, and submitted a sample of the stone to the Astrakhan Regional Branch of the Russian Geographical Society. The first inspection of the sample confirmed the initial assumption that it was marl (a sedimentary rock that is intermediate between clay and limestone. Marl has been formed over millions of years from the particles of clay, limestone, sand, and mineral carbonate residues. However, this rock is not durable and can be easily transformed by geological, climatic, and erosive processes. The unexpected discovery aroused interest, as none of the previously published sources (scientific articles, maps, and diagrams of the bottom sediments in the shallow northern part of the Caspian Sea) mentioned the occurrence of sedimentary rocks at the surface. The bottom of the central parts of the area is subject to wave action, which is the main relief-forming factor here, and is mainly responsible for the distribution of sedimentary material over the bottom. Sea ice can also have a direct mechanical, thermal, and physical-chemical effect on the bottom and coast. Among these effects, the most dangerous is exaration, which is the destructive mechanical effect of ice on the ground, caused by the dynamics of the ice cover, ice crevasses, and ice floes, which are influenced by hydrometeorological factors and the topography of the coastal zone. The presence of salt domes in the Northern Caspian Sea has an impact not only on ice formation processes. It also manifests itself in the hydrological and hydrobiological characteristics of the waters in these areas of the sea, which is of both scientific and practical interest. Unfortunately, these areas of the sea are difficult to access for expeditionary research, both from the sea and from the shore, so it is too early to draw definitive conclusions.

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Published on: Oct 13, 2026 Pages: 24-27

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/ams.000053
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