The Fennoscandian uplift and late cenozoic geodynamics: geological evidence

Abstract

The history of the recording and interpretation of the Fennoscandian uplift illustrates the main history of Earth sciences because the results obtained had (and still have) immediate impact of the interpretation of a large number of fundamental problems in Earth sciences. Thanks to a paper of De Geer in 1888, the glacial isostatic origin was established. Fennoscandia became the classic area of glacial isostasy, and its sea level records were used for geophysical calculations of the properties and dynamics of the mantle and crust. The varve dated sea level curve of Liden (1938) from the center of uplift provided an exceptionally well dated record. With the radiocarbon method, the records of shorelines and shorelevel displacement curves were drastically improved providing a totally new basis for the understanding of the geodynamics of the Fennoscandian uplift and for the geophysical interpretation of the data obtained. This is especially true in combination with the repeated levelling data obtained during the last decades for Finland and Sweden.