Polesskaya saddle

The Polesskaya (Pinsk) saddle is a large positive tectonic structure of the East European platform in the south-west of Belarus .

It delimits the Podlasko-Brest depression in the west and the Pripyat trough in the east. In the north and south it connects with the Belarusian Anteclise and the Ukrainian Shield , separating them with a lowered foundation surface. Has a mild submeridian distribution. The length of the saddle is 150 km., The width is up to 135 km.

The depth of the crystalline basement is 300-500 m below sea level. The eastern slope is steeper than the western. The foundation is complicated by regional faults of the northeastern direction of Stokhodsky-Mogilevsky and Vyzhovsky-Minsk. They are crossed by smaller faults — shifts of mainly sub-latitudinal and northwestern directions. Sreneriphean, Vendian, Cretaceous, Paleogene-Neogene and Quaternary sediments comprise a platform cover up to 650 m thick. The formation of the Polesie saddle began in the Early Paleozoic due to the development of the Podlaska-Brest depression , the eastern slope was outlined in the Late Devonian, when the Pripyat trough was formed .