The main stages in the development of the Pechora Sea are discussed. It is established that, during the high sea level stand corresponding to the warmest epoch of the Mikulino Interglacial, the...

First results of the multidisciplinary expedition onboard the R/V Akademik Nikolaj Strakhov in the Barents Sea in August–September 2018 are presented. Hydrophysical sounding has been carried out on 41 stations, sampling of bottom sediments has been done using both grab and gravity corer. As a result of the geophysical investigations, areas with manifestations of current dangerous natural processes are identified. Four seismic bottom stations have been installed in the Pechora Sea.

The Pechora Sea is optimally located for studying the coalescence of a glacial and periglacial continental shelf zone in the high Arctic. Here, we present data acquired during cruises of the RV Akademik Nikolaj Strakhov in 2018–2021, revealing the distribution of submarine glacial landforms in the central part of the Pechora shelf area. Based on moraines and the distribution of glacial lineations, the extent of the ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is proposed. The crests of the moraine ridges and the slopes of their sides express a variation in morphology, and the ridges combine into irregular complexes. The moraines are primarily composed of coarse cobble-sized material with an addition of coarse sand and other sedimentary fractions. The mapped glacial landforms clearly indicate that an ice sheet extended over the area, while the Pechora basin, at the same time, was comprised of lowland characterized by a cryogenic subaerial landscape. Based on the result from this study, the extent and ice-flow pattern of the Barents-Kara Ice Sheet during the LGM were determined.

—The results of recent geological and geophysical expeditions indicate the activation of hazardous natural phenomena associated with ice gouging and representing a geohazard for almost all...