Ice stream behaviour and deglaciation of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in the Kuittijärvi area, Russian Karelia

Abstract

Glacial landforms of the Lake Kuittijärvi area, Russian Karelia, which covers an area of more than 7000 km2 , were studied in detail using aerial photography and satellite imagery methods and on-site field observations. This was done to reconstruct a detailed history of Scandinavian ice sheet behaviour in the Lake Kuittijärvi area. The results indicate that the Lake Tuoppajärvi sub-ice stream (TIS) that formed the northern part of the Kuusamo-White Sea ice stream and the Lake Kuittijärvi sub-ice stream (KIS), which was part of the Northern Karelian ice stream, operated in the area during the last deglaciation. Subglacially formed lineation patterns associated with other indicative landforms such as end moraines and esker ridges indicate a clear age relationship between the ice streams’ activity and that the KIS was active after the linear landforms were created by the TIS. It is estimated that deglaciation of the TIS from the Kalevala end moraine to the Lake Pääjärvi end moraine took place between ca. 11 300 – 10 900 calendar years ago. It seems that the terminus of the KIS marker by the Kalevala end moraine was also formed around 11 300 calendar years ago but the KIS remained active longer than the TIS. Both of these sub-ice streams terminated into a glacial lake that was part of a larger White Sea Basin ice lake.

Keywords

• glacial geology
• glacial features
• drumlins
• eskers
• ice-marginal features
• ice streams
• deglaciation
• Holocene
• Kuittijärvi
• Republic of Karelia
• Russian Federation