The structure and relief of the bedrock sequence in the Gotland-Hiiumaa area, northern Baltic Sea

Paleozoic rocks structure versus Cenozoic cuesta relief along the Baltic Shield–East European Platform transect

“…Sim i lar stress orien ta tion and tim ing es ti ma tions are based on their dom i nat ing north east erly trend and dis lo cated Early Pa leo zoic rocks in NE Es to nia. This is in spite of the fact that sev eral LZD point towards synsedimentary move ments from much ear lier stages than the prime of the Cal edo nian Orog eny at the Si lu rian-De vonian tran si tion (Puura et al, 1996;Puura and Vaher, 1997;Tuuling and Flodén, 2001). Thus, thick ness/lithological anal y sis of the plat form cover in di cate clearly that many of these blind base ment faults were ac tive prior to the Cal edo nian Orog eny.…”

“…How ever, accord ing to synsedimentary in di ca tions in the plat form cover, the Vihterpalu LZD was ac tive in Early Cam brian times (Puura and Suuroja, 1984;Tuuling and Flodén 2001: fig. 9).…”

“…How ever, at ti tude vari a tions in the Pa leo zoic se quence oc cur be cause of the so-called lin ear zones of dis tur bances (LZD) that di vide the 100-500 m thick plat form ve neer struc tur ally into sep a rate blocks (Puura and Vaher, 1997;Tuuling and Flodén, 2001). Hav ing the roots in base ment faults, these usu ally 1-4 km wide and 20-60 km long flex ural bends in the plat form cover with oc ca sional small faults, folds and heavily frac tured/crushed rocks in duce dis cern ible struc ture con tour dis place ments (Figs.…”

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

“…2-4 m/km) surface of Proterozoic (1.8-1.93 Ga) crystalline rocks (Puura et al, 1999;Bogdanova et al, 2008;Kirs et al, 2009). Conforming to the underlying crystalline basement, the recumbent bedrock layers from NW of Russia close to the Swedish east coast have about the same attitude (Tuuling, 1988;Tuuling and Flodén, 2001). This, slightly southwards-tilted latest Precambrian-Early Palaeozoic sequence is defined structurally as the Baltic Homocline (Fig.…”

“…The outline of the bedrock relief on the southern slope of the Fennoscandian Shield is the result of erosional processes in operation largely before and during the Pleistocene glaciations (Tavast and Raukas, 1982;Tuuling and Flodén, 2001). Due to the homoclinal and lithologically contrasting bedrock layers, the cuesta elements, carved largely by east-westerly streams that developed traverse to the southern slope of the Baltic Shield during the Fennoscandian uplift in the Cenozoic, dominate along its upper surface.…”