GLACIATIONS | Late Pleistocene Glaciations in Europe

Abstract

In recent decades, knowledge of the glacial history of the Last Pleistocene Glaciation in Eurasia has changed tremendously. According to recent investigations, a first major ice advance entered the Russian mainland as early as 80–100 ka ago, blocking all drainage and damming huge lakes in West Siberia and in European Russia. Drainage was diverted southward to the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. Whilst in the east this early Weichselian glaciation was the most extensive, so far no traces of this ice sheet have been found in the western regions. About 70 ka BP, a mid-Weichselian glaciation covered large parts of northern Russia and Siberia. Only the last, late Weichselian glaciation was restricted to the shelf areas of the Barents and Kara Sea and did not extend on to the Russian mainland. In the west, this was the most extensive Weichselian glaciation. In the Alps and in Britain, so far little evidence is found about the extent of the early Weichselian ice sheets.