Geologicheskii Vestnik

The territory of the Toratau geopark is located inside of the Eurasian continent, remote from the direct infl uence of seas and oceans, and a continental type of climate has developed here. The relief began to form from the Mesozoic, but acquired a modern look over the past 3 million years as a result of the interaction of the latest tectonic movements, the geological substrate and the temperate climate, which determines and directs exogenous processes. Structurally, the southeastern outskirts of the East European platform, the Fore-Uralian trough and the Urals are distinguished on the territory. The macroforms of the relief corresponds to large structural elements — eastern spurs of the extensively denudated Bugulma-Belebey Upland with fl at tops, wide Kama-Belaya erosion-accumulating plain and low mountain ranges of the western slope of the Southern Urals. Typical medium-sized relief forms, represented by solitary mountains, rocky cliffs, river valleys and lake basins, supplemented by relief microforms — ravines, terraces, karst relief forms (funnels and caves) — create an unique coloring of the territory located on the eastern edge of Europe.

European Plain, Southern Fore-Urals, Southern Urals, Bugulma-Belebey Upland, KamaBelaya Plain, relief

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