Relative sea-level changes and development of the Hiiumaa Island, Estonia, during the Holocene

Abstract

1 Tallinn Uni ver sity of Tech nol ogy, In sti tute of Ge ol ogy, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Es to nia Vassiljev, J., Saarse, L., Grudzinska, I., Heinsalu, A., 2015. Rel a tive sea level changes and de vel op ment of the Hiiumaa Island, Es to nia, dur ing the Ho lo cene. Geo log i cal Quar terly, 59 (3): 517-530, doi: 10.7306/gq.1227Three sed i ment cores (Loopsoo, Tihu, Prassi) from Hiiumaa Is land (Es to nia) were in ves ti gated us ing di a toms, lithological prox ies, mag netic sus cep ti bil ity, geo chron ol ogi cal dates and in cor po rated with the pre vi ously stud ied Káivasoo site, aim ing to re con struct the de vel op ment of the is land and shore line changes dur ing the Litorina Sea and the Limnea Sea. The high est level of the Litorina Sea shore line near Káivasoo is at 27.6 m a.s.l., and it oc curred dur ing the Ini tial Litorina Sea. Within the Litorina Sea trans gres sion, 7800 cal yr BP, rel a tive sea level reached 24.9 m a.s.l. at Káivasoo, 24.1 m a.s.l. at Loopsoo, 23.6 m a.s.l. at Tihu, and 21.5 m a.s.l. at Prassi. Káivasoo be came iso lated from the sea about 8500 cal yr BP, Loopsoo between 7100 and 6800 cal yr BP, Tihu around 4800 cal yr BP, and Prassi about 2500 cal yr BP. Pres ently gained data from Hiiumaa Is land con firm that the Litorina Sea re gressed con sis tently dur ing the last 8000 years due to pro gres sively de clin ing iso static re bound. The pres ent study is also il lus trated by 3-di men sional palaeogeographic maps of the Hiiumaa Is land devel op ment.

Cyclicity in ridge patterns on the prograding coasts of Estonia

“…B) beach ridge plain is mostly composed of sand (Vassiljev et al . ), which is consistent with the very gentle coastal slope (Table ) and low‐energy forcing conditions. Each ~32‐year (main) cycle leads to ~20–40 m shoreline distancing and only a ~0.2–0.5 m high ridge.…”

“…parts of theÕngu-M€ anspe-Haldi study site ( Fig. 1B) emerged about 5 ka ago (Vassiljev et al 2015), the surface area of the island was approximately 260 km 2 already (~26% of the present). The retreating ice sheet produced a large amount of morainic and glacifluvial sediment, which became the primary source of various accretional landforms.…”

“…Because of relatively sparse human population, the ridged landscape is mostly covered by forest. Behind the crests of the oldest ridges at 14.5 m height, a relict basin of the Tihu lagoon (formed 6 ka BP, closed 5 ka BP, now filled with peat and a small lake) is located (Vassiljev et al 2015). In the seaward section, a single 3-4 m high dune with a base height at 4 m is located.…”

The Baltic Klint beneath the central Baltic Sea and its comparison with the North Estonian Klint

“…8 ka BP (Berglund et al, 2005;Andrén et al 2011;Ojala et al, 2013). Thus, only during the last 8000 year, when northwestern Estonia was subject to a progressively declining glacioisostatic uplift (Vassiljev et al, 2015). The gradually from the sea disclosed NEK has been steadily extended westwards.…”

Holocene relative shore level changes and Stone Age hunter‐gatherers in Hiiumaa Island, eastern Baltic Sea

“…This is the first part of Hiiumaa that emerged from the Baltic Sea around 11 ka BP (Kessel & Raukas 1967; Hang & Kokovkin 1999; Vassiljev et al . 2015). Thus, coastal formations and a former lagoon at Kõpu Peninsula are of special interest in the current study to clarify the shore displacement history of the area and its relationships with early human settlements.…”