The Baltic Shield: the shape of the relief, the tectonic structure and minerals

The Baltic Shield is the oldest addikkalsky powerful folded area in the Alps. Throughout the entire period of its existence, it steadily rises above sea level. The Baltic shield is prone to erosion. They reveal deep zones in the granite-gneiss belt of the earth's crust.

Location of the shield

A massive ledge seizes part of the northwestern expanses of the East European platform. With it the structures of Caledonia-Scandinavia adjoin. They pushed over the crystalline rocks of the folded region.

Karelia, Finland, Sweden, the Kola Peninsula covers the Baltic Shield. A large ledge runs along the Murmansk and Leningrad regions. It employs almost the entire Scandinavian Peninsula.

Forms of relief

Under the influence of glaciations the relief of the shield was formed. Many reservoirs here are framed by winding coasts. They, crashing into the land, form multiple bays and islands. The northern part of the folded uplift is formed from ancient crystalline schists and igneous rocks. The structures all over the surface. They are only in some places covered with weakly cloaks of quaternary deposits.

The crystalline Baltic shield was not covered by sea waters from the Lower Paleozoic era, which caused destruction. Crumpled folds with a complex structure acquired excessive hardness and brittleness. Therefore, when the earth's crust was fluctuating, cracks appeared in it, becoming places of fracture. The rocks fell apart, forming massive blocks.

Relief of the Russian platform

Glaciers, slipping from the slopes of the Scandinavian mountains, destroyed the crystalline basement, carrying the loosened rocks beyond the boundaries of the Russian platform. Soft structures, accumulating, formed moraine deposits.

The melting glacier for a long time vigorously furrowed the Baltic Shield. The shape of the relief on the ledge acquired accumulative outlines. In the folded area there appeared oases, drumlins and so on.

Relief of the Karelo-Kola block

The Kola Peninsula and Karelia are made up of rocks that practically do not yield to erosion. They are impenetrable to water. Although the local rivers are characterized by abundant surface runoff, they could not develop valleys. River channels are cluttered here with rapids and waterfalls. Water, flooding numerous depressions, formed on the folded rise of the lake.

The relief in this part of the shield is not homogeneous. In the west of the Kola Peninsula, a mountain belt stretches, between the ridges of which there are large depressions. Over the Khibiny and Lovozersky tundra, the highest peaks of the mountains rise.

The eastern side of the peninsula is occupied by a weakly hilly plateau, overhanging the waters of the Bagrets Sea. This small hill merges with the lowlands that framed the White Sea.

In the Karelia region, the Baltic Shield possesses characteristic landscapes. The shape of the relief of the folded region in this place is denudation-tectonic. The earth's crust here is severely dissected. The hollows along which the swamps and the lake are scattered alternate with rocky ridges and hills.

Near to Finland, the Maaneselkian Upland spread out. Its surface is excessively dissected. In the folded uplift, glacial, accumulative and exaggerated configurations are everywhere noted. The Baltic shield is covered with sheep's foreheads, large boulders, omissions, valleys and moraine ridges.

Geological structure

The folded elevation is divided into three geo-segments: Karelo-Kola, Svekofen and Sveko-Norwegian. In Russia, there is almost entirely the Karelian-Kola region and the southeast territories of the Svekofen block.

The geological structure of the Karelian-Kola segment is not the same as in the White Sea region, characterized by extensive developed Proterozoic formations. This is due to three reasons: belonging to different blocks of geosyncline, historical development, differing depth of erosion slices. The Karelo-Kola segment, in contrast to the White Sea block, is much lowered.

A common feature of the tectonic structure of the segments lies in the northwestern stretch of the regions. Complexes formed by rocks and folds, only occasionally allow themselves to deviate in the meridian or latitudinal direction.

Complexes and folds, fan-shaped to the southeast, converge in the north-west. Minerals are genetically interconnected with ancient magmatic and metamorphic rocks that formed the Baltic Shield. The tectonic structure along the boundaries of the segments is represented by regional deep faults.

Under the control of the splits is the location of Precambrian intrusive complexes and their metallogeny. The rocks are grouped into belts extending to the north-west. They are parallel to the common sites of Precambrian geostructures.

Place of Birth

The Baltic Shield is rich in deposits. The minerals here were distributed around the belts. Particular attention is focused on three of them. Copper-nickel ores are hidden in the Flower belt of the Kola Peninsula. The structure of the Wind Belt spreading through the Karelian and Arkhangelsk lands is actively studied. In the Karelo-Kola segment, a belt with ferruginous quartzites, kyanite schists and various pegmatites is of interest. The accumulation of rocks regulates lithologic-stratigraphic and structural-tectonic aspects.