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UDC 552.5:552.3(571.5)

https://doi.org/10.26516/2541-9641.2026.1.7

EDN: NGEJIS

Contrasting Lithological Transitions from Pleistocene Fluvioglacial to Holocene Polygenetic Sediments on the Baltic Coast and in the South Baikal Basin

S.V. Rasskazov^1,2

¹Institute of the Earth's Crust SB RAS, Irkutsk, Russia

²Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk, Russia

Abstract. A section of contrasting Pleistocene and Holocene sediments exposed on the Baltic coast of the Curonian Spit in the Kaliningrad region of Russia is described. The lower (Pleistocene) part of the section contains fluvioglacial green "garbage" carbonate-clayey silts. Above lie silts, sands, and sandstones with peat lenses. The section is crowned by dune sands. The change from fluvioglacial clays by clastic deposits with peat lenses correlates with the initial (Early Holocene, 11–8 ka cal. BP) stage of the Baltic Sea formation after the melting of the Fennoscandian Shield ice sheet and the Middle Holocene (8.0–5.7 ka cal. BP) thermal maximum. The quartz sand layer means the transition to the relative cooling of the late Holocene. The bottom sediments of southern Lake Baikal and its coastal outcrops also exhibit contrasting lithological transitions from fluvioglacial layers to those of the polygenetic Holocene sedimentary complex. Pleistocene and Holocene sedimentary material from the Curonian Spit has a lower degree of weathering (enriched with quartz) as compared to the one from Lake Baikal, the Tunka Valley, and Eastern Sayan Mountains. This difference may reflect the harsh conditions of nival lithogenesis, which ensured the Pleistocene permafrost preparation of detrital dusty material for Holocene sedimentation in the Baltic, and the less severe conditions in Southern Siberia.

Keywords: Baltic Sea, Lake Baikal, Pleistocene, Holocene, glaciation, post-glaciation, sediments

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Rasskazov Sergey Vasilyevich,

Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, Professor,

664025, Irkutsk, Lenin st., 3,

Irkutsk State University, Faculty of Geology,

Head of the Department of Dynamic Geology,

664033, Irkutsk, Lermontov st., 128,

Institute of the Earth's Crust SB RAS,

Head of the Laboratory of Isotopy and Geochronology,

tel.: (3952) 51–16–59,

email: rassk@crust.irk.ru

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