Abstract

Existing data were critically analyzed and compared with the results of geological, geomorphological and palaeohydrological studies obtained by the present authors. We conclude that glacioeustatic processes played a major role in relative sea level changes on most coasts of area. In the White Sea, the decreasing trend in relative sea level is well illustrated in the Kola Peninsula and in Karelia subjected to glacioisostatic emergence. A drastic sea level fall from plus 15 to minus 25 m occurred with the drainage of glacial lakes in the eastern White Sea (12.5-9.5 ka BP). The White Sea histories changed drastically in the early Holocene or in the beginning if the middle Holocene (9.5-7.5 ka BP) due to the intrusion of water from the Barents sea. During this period, the White Sea developed under the strong influence of retreating glaciation, formation of “ice shelves” and “dead ice” blocks, as well as glacioisostatic and related processes.

A fluctuating pattern of sea-level changes was established in the White Sea after the drainage of proglacial lakes and intrusion of ocean waters in the end of the early Holocene (nearly 8.5-8.2 ka BP). Major periods of sea level rise are dated in the White Sea from the late Boreal-early Atlantic (8.5-7.5 ka BP), late Atlantic (6.5-5.2 ka BP), middle Subboreal (4.5-4 ka BP) and middle Subatlantic (1.8-1.5 ka BP). Fluctuations of relative sea level during the middle and late Holocene were possibly on the order of several meters (from plus 3-5 m to minus 2-3 m). Palaeohydrological analysis does not indicate that intensive sea level fluctuations were present in the White Sea during the middle and late Holocene.

Keywords: transgression, regression, palaeohydrology, Pleistocene, Holocene, White Sea.