The role of the Semiluky-Lipetsky Fault in the recent structure of the eastern slope of the Voronezh uplift

Abstract

One of the discontinuous faults in the south of the East European Platform — the Semiluki-Lipetsk fault along the border of the Voronezh newest uplift and the Oka-Don trough. Detailed studies using the methods of engineering-geological, geophysical, geodesic, geochemical, structural-geomorphological, etc., accompanied by drilling and field studies, allowed us to determine the type of discontinuity as a extension with the participation of right-strike-slip (dextral shear) stresses. It is associated with fracturing of bedrock and Quaternary sediments, landslides and falls, including large gravitational-tectonic massifs, surface and underground karst, suffusion, and pull-apart depressions. In general, these processes and phenomena affect the geological stability of the site of the nuclear power plant, causing the development of negative processes. The reasons for the extension conditions in the Semiluki-Lipetsk fault zone are considered from two positions — the influence of pressure from the south from the Alpine orogen of the Caucasus and the connection with intra-platform deep processes that cause the extension the earth’s crust under the Oka-Don trough.