Clay varve chronology in the Eastern Baltic area

Abstract

The clay varve chronologies of the Eastern Baltic and NW Russia are discussed, and an attempt is made on the basis of the revised Swedish Time Scale and direct correlation with the Swedish and Finnish clay varve chronologies, to date Markov's chronologies for the St. Petersburg area and southern Karelia via Sauramo's chronology for Finland. A mean annual rate of ice recession is used to overcome the distance of 100 km between the sites investigated by Sauramo and Markov. It is proposed that the area north of L. Onega was deglaciated approximately between 13,940 and 13,140 varve years BP, the Neva basin between 12,600 and 12,520 varve years BP and the Luga basin between 12,440 and 12,360 varve years BP. Accordingly, the Weichselian ice sheet would have retreated from the Pandivere/Neva ice marginal zone about 12,330 varve years BP. The weakness of some of the arguments used in correlating the chronologies for NW Russia means that the deglaciation chronology of the Eastern Baltic remains open for further discussion. Hang, T., 1997: Clay varve chronology in the Eastern Baltic area. GFF, Vol. 119 (Pt. 4, December), pp. 295–300. Stockholm. ISSN 1103–5897.