The Darss Sill, hydrographic threshold in the southwestern Baltic: Late Quaternary geology and recent sediment dynamics

Abstract

About 73% of the water exchange between the Baltic and the North Seas is via the Darss Sill. Joint Danish and German marine geological investigations, including shallow seismic surveys and sediment sampling, have been carried out in the Darss Sill area between 1989 and 1991. Results from these studies and unpublished archive data from the Institute of Baltic Sea Research, Warnemünde, are presented. These show that the entire Quaternary sedimentary sequence in most of the area is at least 40 m thick. A zone of glacial till outcropping between Denmark and Germany belongs to the Late Weichselian ice marginal line G (“Velgaster Staffel”). The formation of this line caused the damming of a pre-existing (sub)glacial meltwater discharge system. At the beginning of the Baltic Ice Lake formation, a deep and presently buried channel incised in this ice marginal line was part of a (glacio)fluvial drainage system with discharge towards the northeast, i.e. into the Baltic Ice Lake. During the Baltic Ice Lake transgression damming of the Darss Sill occurred due to accumulation of sandy sediments within this channel. On the other hand, the recent Kadet Channel was only occasionally overflown during the Baltic Ice Lake highstand maximum, which was 18 m BSL (below present sea level) in the Darss Sill area. The main erosion and deepening of the Kadet Channel began during the Ancylus Lake highstand maximum. At present, sediment transport on the Darss Sill is governed by northeasterly inflow of saline bottom waters in the entire area from the Kadet Channel to the German coast. Baltic outflow affects the seabed at shallower depth in the Danish sector. Large-scale current-induced bedforms in the area include, amongst others, sandwaves with a height of 5 m. Changes of the bedforms observed indicate a maximum bottom flow speed of 70–100 cm s −1, both for inflow and for outflow.