Geomorphology and evolution of river valleys during the late glacial time and the Holocene in the Southern Baltic region

Abstract

A scheme of early stages of the valley network formation is developed and substantiated for the marginal area of the last ice sheet. Principal Pleistocene cycles of alluviation are identified in the southern Baltic region, and different types of the river bed profiles are distinguished. Fluvial terraces and sediments are described. River valleys are subdivided into three groups: glacial-stadial, glacial stadial-phasial and glacial-phasial ones. If the valley network development is elucidated in the Southern Baltic and adjacent areas, it will help to understand trends in the valleys formation in other regions of the Northern Hemisphere.