Abstract

Investigations of morphodynamics of the Lower Volga River channel from the Volgograd City to the Astrakhan City, the Volga-Akhtuba floodplain watercourses and the main branches of the Volga River delta have been carried out by the Faculty of Geography (Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Fluvial Processes) of the Moscow State University (MSU) and the Oceanology Institute (Laboratory of the Bottom Sounding) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) from 1995 to 2002. Data obtained from seismoacoustic profiling, sonar scanning and echo-sounding of the river channel bed were coordinated by synchronous measurements of geographical position and time from the GPS system.

Keywords: channel bed sediments, alluvium, grain size of sediments, thickness of deposits, side-scan sonar survey, seismoacoustic profile