NEW DATA ON POSTGLACIAL SEISMIC DISLOCATIONS IN THE FENNOSCANDIAN SHIELD-RUSIAN PLATE CONTACT ZONE, PUDOZH DISTRICT, KARELIA, RUSSIA

Like the entire Fennoscandian Shield, Karelia is a low-seismicity region. Fenoscandia displays numerous geological evidence of the Holocene natural disasters, which followed the last ice sheet degradation. Holocene paleoseismic dislocations have been revealed in some parts of Karelia. However, none of them have been found in southeastern Karelia – the junction zone between the Fennoscandian Shield and the Russian Plate. The 2023 field studies near Kubovo village, Pudozh District, Republic of Karelia, have revealed for the first time three local paleoseismic dislocations. The fault zone in which these study objects are located was previously assumed to be active prior to the Proterozoic. The available paleoseismic records disprove this assumption and provide evidence on the Holocene activation of these faults. These studies led to the conclusion that, after the glacial retreat and the removal of the glacial load, the study area experienced an earthquake of no less than VIII intensity degrees on the MSK-64 scale, which produced local paleoseismodisocations generating seismotectonic, seismogravitational, and shaking-induced deformations. The radiocarbon date obtained from the organic layer of the reservoir in the immediate vicinity of the paleoseismodislations suggests that they were formed no earlier than 11350±230 years ago.

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