Formation of the largest lakes in the North-Eastern Europe at the eastern periphery of the Baltic Crystalline Shield

Since 2014, the joint research team from the Institute of Earth Sciences, Northern Water Problems Institute KRC RAS, the Science Park of Moscow State University, as well as FSBI “VNIIOkeangeologia”, and Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia has begun a study of Quaternary deposits of Onega and Ladoga Lakes, the largest Russian lakes located on the eastern periphery of the Baltic crystalline shield. Using large volume of data collected in previous studies, and new data obtained by multichannel seismoacoustic profiling and heavy gravity corers, as well as new methods for core analysis the main attention was paid to the geological development of these lakes in the Late Pleistocene-Holocene. The study of the lake Quaternary deposits makes it possible to accurately understand the dynamics of the Scandinavian Ice Shield retreat from the North-Western territory of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the major influence of the glaciers on the lakes formation during its degradation makes it possible to draw regional paleogeographic correlations, starting from the Baltic and ending with the White Sea. The history of the lake basins formation is also of considerable interest, given that there are practically no Phanerozoic deposits. The geological section of the lakes is represented by both Archean-Proterozoic and Quaternary formations.

The article discusses the analysis of new data obtained using multichannel seismoacoustic profiling and long sediment cores (Lake Onega), results of mathematical modeling of cycles of lake basins development (glacial, glacial-lake, lacustrine), and their correlation with the paleogeographic development of the White Sea.

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