Wartime Geomorphological Damage and Geodiversity Loss in Ukraine
Publisher: Conflict and Environment Observatory
Author(s): Rob Watson and Stella Shekhunova
Date: 2025
Topics: Governance, Land, Weapons, Waste, and Pollution
Countries: Russian Federation, Ukraine
Since 2014, huge swathes of Ukraine’s geological heritage have been affected by fighting or militarily occupied, in many places causing irreversible damage to Ukraine’s landscapes. In this piece, CEOBS’ Rob Watson and Stella Shekhunova of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine examine the nature and extent of this loss of geodiversity.
The living and non-living natural world are intrinsically connected. Geodiversity is the variability of geological formations, landforms and soils and, while it is the foundation of biological life, it receives far less attention.
Ukraine is rich in geodiversity, with geological strata spanning over three billion years of Earth history. The rocks of the Ukrainian Shield are the oldest in Europe and also host several meteorite impact structures. Sedimentary rocks in the lower Dniester basin deposited around 600 million years ago contain important examples of soft-bodied organisms, which were the precursor to the ‘Cambrian Explosion’ of life on Earth.
Alongside variation in rock composition, multiple phases of tectonic rifting, subsidence and uplift have created distinct geological zones in Ukraine. These include the largely low-lying areas of the Dnipro-Donets basin, which formed more than 300 million years ago and feature several large rock salt domes. The neighbouring Donbas region has a history of geological extraction and industry, being a rich source of coal and gypsum alongside other natural resources. These deposits are also highly fossil-rich and contain important information about ancient climates. There are also many upland regions, including the eastern part of the Carpathian mountains, near the border with Romania, and the mountains of sedimentary rocks along the southern coast of the also-occupied Crimean peninsula. Both ranges formed when the eastern European Alps collided with Turkey around 50 million years ago.