Deglaciation chronology of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet from the Lake Onega Basin to the Salpausselkä End Moraines

Abstract

Several long sediment cores (max. 12 m) from various parts (up to 150 km apart) of Lake Onega, Russian Karelia, have been studied for lithology, varve chronology and palaeomagnetism. The two longest varve records from the central basin contain 1300 varves. These indicate the length of the deglaciation period from these localities to the north of Lake Onega, where the drainage of glacial meltwaters was directed towards the White Sea and the deposition of varves in the Onega basin terminated. An estimate of the duration of deglaciation of the whole Onega basin is 1500 years. Natural remanent magnetization (NRM) is strong and stable in these sediments and accurately records changes in the Earth's magnetic field. A distinct change in the magnetic field, when the declination shifted from east to west by at least 60° in 350 varve years, is clearly identifiable in all cores. This palaeomagnetic feature was used for core to core correlation together with other variations in magnetic parameters and widely distributed lithological marker horizons. On the basis of the correlations between the cores and calibration of AMS radiocarbon dates from varves obtained from the northern archipelago of Lake Onega, the age of the westerly declination peak is dated to 13 090 cal. BP and accordingly the deglaciation of the Onega basin took place between 14 250 and 12 750±100 cal. BP. The westerly declination peak was also recognized earlier by Bakhmutov and Zagniy in the Helylä varved clay sequence near Sortavala on the northern shore of Lake Ladoga. Helylä is situated outside the Salpausselkä end moraines and the accumulation of varved clays continued there 1500 years after the declination peak, up until the drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake, which more or less coincides with the ice margin retreat from Salpausselkä II end moraine and the termination of the Younger Dryas event. The date thus arrived at for this event is 11 590±100 cal. BP, close to the recent results from Greenland ice cores and from varved lake sediments and tree rings from Central Europe. It is further suggested that the formation of the major Younger Dryas end moraines, the Finnish Salpausselkä I and Salpausselkä II and their correlatives in Russian Karelia, took place between 12 250 and 11 590 calendar years ago, clearly earlier than earlier estimated through correlation with the Swedish varve chronology.