Revised limit of the Saalian ice sheet in central Europe

Abstract

Geological investigations in the southern part of the Polish-Belarusian cross-border area were focused on correlation of main Middle Pleistocene stratigraphic units and on extent of the ice sheet of the Saalian Glaciation. Determination of regional stratotype horizons, establishing new key sites and sections of regional significance for Central Europe were based mostly on vegetation and paleoclimate changes recorded in glacial and interglacial lake deposits. Results of stratigraphical investigations abolished a predominant palaeogeographic image on ice sheet limits in this area. The Saalian maximum ice sheet limit was similar or even less extensive than during the subordinate Warta Stadial. Most of the area between the Middle Vistula in Poland and the Middle Dnieper in Belarus and the Ukraine was ice-free during this glaciation. On the other hand, immense glacial lobes during Saalian in the Middle Vistula and the Middle Dnieper valleys have not advanced presumably in the same time and were fed by ice moving from different parts of Scandinavia. Diversified Pleistocene tectonic uplifting in the area influenced much dynamics of the penultimate ice sheet in this part of Europe.