Chapu ́ Rnikovsky beam - a beam on the border of the Volgograd urban district and the Svetloyarsky district of the Volgograd region . A beam cuts through the slope of the Ergenin Upland [1] . The mouth goes to the Sarpinsky lowland . The catchment area is 15.7 km² [2] .
| Chapurnikovskaya beam | |
|---|---|
| Specifications | |
| Depth | up to 50 m |
| Width | more than 1 km |
| Location | |
| A country |
|
| The subject of the Russian Federation | Volgograd region |
| Mountain system | Ergeni |
The beam cuts through the ergeninsky sands ( Neogene ) and captures the top of the underlying Maykop clay ( Paleogene ). In geological terms, the Chapurnikovskaya beam is an ancient Quaternary formation. The age of the beam is confirmed by the high power of alluvium and the presence of terraces ; well-defined terraces are found in many places, their width reaches 40 meters. The transverse profile of the beam is gentle with wide slopes, the depth of cut reaches 50 meters, and the width is more than a kilometer [1] .
In Chapurnikovskaya beam there is the largest oak grove in the southeast of the European territory of Russia. The total forest area is 166 hectares [2] . In the XIX century, the woody vegetation of the beam consisted mainly of birch bark and oak , large specimens of which reached the age of more than 150 years and had 250-350 centimeters in girth. Of the other species, aspen , pear , apple , squat elm were found . In the undergrowth, Tatar maple , spindle tree , buckthorn , hawthorn , dog rose , and turn were noted. Alder, bird cherry, elderberry, and willow grew in the swampy part of the beam. However, from the middle of the 20th century, the degradation of the forest began [2] .
The reasons that led to the death of trees and the reduction in forest area: cutting down trees during the war years and beyond; overgrazing; unauthorized landfills covering large areas; the construction of pioneer camps in the postwar years; drilling wells that lower the level of groundwater, etc. [2] .