Baltic Ice Lake levels and a LiDAR/DEM-based estimate of the glacio-isostatic uplift gradient of the Salpausselkä zone, SE Finland

Abstract

Glaciofluvial ice-contact deltas were mapped and altitudes of the highest shorelines defined in the eastern arc of the Salpausselkä zone, southern Finland, using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-based digital elevation models and GIS tools. Mapping of deltas and the highest shorelines in the Salpausselkä zone were undertaken in order to calculate and define the glacio-isostatic uplift palaeo-isobases, uplift gradients and equidistant diagrams (distance diagrams) for the Salpausselkä zone. The results indicate that the glacio-isostatic uplift palaeo-isobases were orientated NE-SW (50°-230°) and the uplift gradients for both the First and the Second Salpausselkä in the eastern arc, are virtually the same, namely 0.6 mkm-1. This suggests that both Salpausselkä ridge complexes, which were originally laid down in front of the Finnish Lake District Ice Lobe (FLDIL) in relatively shallow water, were deposited within a short time period during the Late Weichselian Younger Dryas Stadial. The results also suggest that the Baltic Ice Lake water level regressed 7.5 metres from Baltic Ice Lake level B I to level B III as the ice retreated in its eastern arc from the First to the Second Salpausselkä.

Deglaciation dynamics of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in the Salpausselkä zone, southern Finland

“…Furthermore, the Baltic Sea Ice Lobe terminated into much deeper water than the Finnish Lake District Lobe, which terminated partially on land (Lunkka et al . 2019). All these factors may have contributed to different ice lobe dynamics of these two ice lobes.…”