The Veiki moraines in northern Sweden ‐ widespread evidence of an Early Weichselian deglaciation

Abstract

The Veikimoraines in northernmost Sweden display a very conspicuous distribution pattern, sharply demarcated to the east and successively decreasing to the south, west and north. The sharp demarcation to the east is thought to reflect the front of a stagnant ice sheet. The downwasting of this glacier was retarded by the insulation of a thick superglacial debris cover and subarctic vegetation invaded at least parts of the slowly collapsing ice. Radiocarbon datings of organic matter deposited in connection with the formation of the Veiki moraine, lithostratigraphical evidence and the relation to other glacial features prove the Veiki moraine landscape to date from the deg laciation of the first Weichselian ice sheet, i.e. the Peräpohjola Interstadial. The good preservation of the features implies that in extensive areas of northern sweden the Early Weichselian glacial landscape escaped significant erosion despite being overrun by two later glaciers. Previous interpretations of the Late Weichselian/Holocene deglaciation are largely based on an Early Weichselian deglaciation pattern.