ИСТИНА

Abstract: The problem of snow avalanches changing the core relief of the area is receiving considerable attention nowadays. Snow avalanches destroy infrastructure, cause trouble to people and even transform the topography. Studying the problem of snow avalanches as landform makers allows to identify the features of especially dangerous avalanches and allows to predict the behavior of snow flow. To consider the various landforms made by snow avalanches, as well as cover the topic of conditions of occurrence of tarns, two articles on the topic and the results of field investigations carried out as part of the field practice in the Caucasus were used. Accumulative landforms (avalanche cones, shafts, hillocks) and denudation landforms (erosional incisions, denudation funnels, avalanche trays, avalanche ‘clearings’, tarns) were described. Articles ‘Geomorphology of snow avalanche impact landforms in the Southern Cordillera’ and ‘Avalanche tarns’ helped to better understand the mechanisms of tarn formation - the research of two groups of specialists revealed that the main conditions of tarn occurrence are variation in snow avalanche path topography, availability of unconsolidated debris in the impact area and snow avalanche impact pressures sufficient to excavate the available debris. The summarized data can be used for further research on the topic. Key words: snow avalanches, denudation landforms, accumulative landforms, tarns Reference: FITZHARRIS, B. B., and OWENS, I. F. 1984 ‘Avalanche tarns’, Journal of Glaciology 30, 308–312; JOHNSON, A.L., and SMITH, D.J. 2010 ‘Geomorphology of snow avalanche impact landforms in the southern Canadian Cordillera’, The Canadian Geographer 54 №1, 87-103.