The SE sector of the Middle Weichselian Eurasian Ice Sheet was much smaller than assumed

Abstract

a b s t r a c tQuaternary climatic and glacial history must be known in order to understand future environments. Reconstructions of the last Weichselian glacial cycle 117,000e11,700 years (kyr) ago propose that S Finland, adjacent Russia and the Baltic countries in the SE sector of the Eurasian Ice Sheet (EIS), were glaciated during the Middle Weichselian time [marine isotope stage (MIS) 4, 71e57 kyr ago] and that this glaciation was preceded in S Finland by an Early Weichselian interstadial (MIS 5c, 105e93 kyr ago) with pine forest. We apply glacial sequence stratigraphy to isolated Late Pleistocene onshore outcrop sections and show, that these events did not take place. The one Late Weichselian glaciation (MIS 2, 29e11 kyr ago) was preceded in S Finland by a nearly 90 kyr non-glacial period, featuring tundra with permafrost and probably birch forest. Our new Middle Weichselian paleoenvironmental scenario revises the configuration and hydrology of the S part of EIS and gives new setting for the evolution of Scandinavian biota. If future development during the coming glacial cycle proves to be similar, the high-level nuclear waste stored in the bedrock of SW Finland should be located deeper than currently planned, i.e. below any possible future permafrost.

The Thórólfsfell tuya, South Iceland – A new type of basaltic glaciovolcano

“…11.7 ka) glacial period (e.g. Skilling, 2009;Räsänen et al, 2015;Turney et al, 2017;Moles et al, 2018). As rhyolite accounts for c.11% of erupted Icelandic magma, there is now extensive documentation of the products of silicic eruptions into both thick ice sheets and the thinner ice of stratovolcanoes (e.g.…”

Phylogeography and population history of the least weasel (Mustela nivalis) in the Palearctic based on multilocus analysis

“…Cluster If, only found in the Northern Urals, has the highest intra‐cluster diversity. The tMRCA of this cluster was dated approximately 100 kyBP, close to MIS (marine isotope stage) 5c (105–93 kyBP, Räsänen, Huitti, Bhattarai, Harvey, & Huttunen, ). The population might then represent a relict that survived the glacial period, and the Ural region would have been one of the cryptic refugia for the species.…”

Interpretation of the anomalous groundwater chemistry and 234U/238U activity ratio disequilibrium in the northern part of the baltic region

“…The latest publications indicate that in southern Finland, the Middle Weichselian glaciation and the interstadial did not occur before LGM in Finland, indicating that permafrost could have easily penetrated >450 metres depth b.s.l. [79]. Therefore, the single LGM glaciation evidence during the Weichselian time in the EH is substantial [80].…”