Development History and Quaternary Deposits of the White Sea Basin

Abstract

The Late Pleistocene and Holocene history of the White Sea Basin is a key to the paleogeography of Northwestern Russia. The chapter describes successively the history of the study of Quaternary sediments in the White Sea, the existing views on the time, and features of the development of the modern sea basin. A seismic-acoustic profiling and lithostratigraphic analysis of selected cores were used to divide the Quaternary cover. Geophysical data made it possible to characterize its three-member structure: glacial, glacial-marine, and marine facies. Lithological and micropaleontological data were used to justify the age of seismic-acoustic units, as well as to characterize facies of the seabed deposits. Analysis of seismic and lithostratigraphic data characterized the major stages of the White Sea Basin history, which began about 14,000 years ago after the onset of the terrain deglaciation. The change of the sedimentation regime occurred about 11,000 years ago. As a result of the penetration of seawater through the Gorlo Strait, glacial-marine basins appeared in the White Sea Basin. In the boreal time of the Holocene (about 9,000 years ago), the marine regime was finally established in all White Sea. A schematic of the Late Pleistocene glacial flow distribution is attached to the chapter. We assume that the Late Pleistocene glaciers did not come in stages from the west but also from the northeast over Kanin Peninsula. New data add details to the Holocene sedimentation history and establish the onset of marine environment on Kola Peninsula, in Karelia, and in the Arkhangelsk region. Recent seismic-acoustic surveys and multichannel high-frequency tools expanded our knowledge of geological bodies and their stratigraphic position in the inner glacial basin. New dating of drill cores and recent geophysical data added quantitative criteria to the Quaternary history.