THE EARTHS CRUST DEFORMATION ON THE PERIP HERY OF THE BAIKAL DESTRUCTION ZONE

The Baikal destruction zone is understood as part of the Baikal mobile belt where faulting occurs, followed by a complex of destruction-acco mpanying process, including seismic ones. Analysis of geological and s tructural data on Western and Southern Prebaikalia shows that in the c entral parts of the destruction zone tearing strains actively develope d under both ancient compression and recent extension of the Earth's c rust, while the peripheral faulting completely manifested itself only under compression. To clear up details of the strain process, the inne r structure of compression near Irkutsk were mapped in a special way, and a conclusion was made about its similarity to the peripheral struc tures of mobile belts of the world. In all cases, the process-governin g conditions were the subhorizontal compression and vertical inhomogen eity of the substrate under strain; as a result of their interaction, stress appeared in the sedimentary unit by interlayer sliding, leading to a series of layer-by-layer detachments and an intralayer flow with the formation of fine folds, pseudoboudins, and other plastic structu ral forms.