ABSTRACT
The Caucasus is a large range of fold mountains, structurally continuous with the Crimean Mountains and the Mediterranean Alpine fold belt. It occupies the isthmus between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea (for location, see map in Russia and Ukraine entry). By both its structure and topography, the Caucasus is divided into three main regions: the Great Caucasus (or the Principal Caucasus Range), the Minor Caucasus, and the Kura-Rionsky depression that separates them. The formation of the large anticlinoriums of the Great Caucasus and Minor Caucasus, as well as of the intervening synclines and depressions, is attributed mainly to late Alpine folding. Since the end of the Pliocene, through the whole Pleistocene, differential uplift continued and caused the formation of the complex tectonic structure and mountainous relief.
