Abstract
The geology of Georgia is complicated, but very interesting. The mountain region of the Caucasus is marked by relief mobility and is widely affected not only by unidirectional regional and local block tectonic movements but also by the seismic oscillation of the earth’s crust and magmatic processes. Earthquakes have long been noted on the territory of the Caucasian region which is one of the most dangerous seismic regions in world. The territory of Georgia, on the whole, is situated in a magnitude 7 zone, and its mountainous regions are situated in a magnitude 8–9 zone. At present we are facing a period of sharp seismic activity that threatens the country with new cataclysms. More than 25 % of housing resources of large cities in Georgia, where more than 80 % of population is concentrated, are under emergency conditions. As a result of strong earthquakes, block landslides, grandiose mudflows (including glacial), and glacier drifts, lakes are occasionally formed in mountainous rivers. Some of these lakes have existed for a long time, but the life span of a majority of them varies from several days to several months. This chapter provides a short description of Georgia’s geological features.
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Bondyrev, I., Davitashvili, Z., Singh, V. (2015). Geology. In: The Geography of Georgia. World Regional Geography Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05413-1_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05413-1_7
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