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Abstract: The grain-size and chemical composition of the bottom sediments and their diatom assemblages from the northern Baltic Sea is discussed. Characteristic layers are distinguished based on the lithostratgraphy and sediment core correlation, which reflect the transition from the lacustrine to marine sedimentation settings during the initial Holocene. Sediment cores demonstrate lateral variations in the sedimentation patterns during the marine (Yoldia Sea), the lacustrine (Ancylus Lake), and the subsequent marine (Littorina Sea) stages: first two stages were characterized by the clay deposition, while the latter one featured accumulation of silty-clayey and clayey muds in bottom depressions. Sea-level fluctuations and corresponding environmental changes are recorded in microlaminated sequences, in particular, sapropelic muds.

Abstract: As is less toxic than Hg, Cd, Pb, Se, Zn, and Cu. The As clarke for clays and shales is 10 ppm. Our samples of bottom sediments from Kurshskii Bay were determined to contain from 15 to 26 ppm As and up to 34 ppm As in the vicinity of the Neman River mouth. Elevated As concentrations (50–114 ppm) were detected in four columns of subsurface bottom sediments (at depths of 10–65 cm) from the Vistula Lagoon. Elevated As concentrations (50–180 ppm) were also found in a few surface samples of sand from the Gdansk Deep near oil platform D-6. These sediments are either partly contaminated with anthropogenic As or contain Fe sulfides and glauconite, which can concentrate As and contain its elevated concentrations. The As concentration in columns of bottom sediments from the Gulf of Finland were at the natural background level (throughout the columns) typical of the area (9–34 ppm). We repeatedly detected very high As concentrations (up to 227 ppm As) in pelitic ooze from Bornholm Deep, in the vicinity of the sunken vessel with chemical weapons. The sources of elevated As concentrations in the Baltic Sea are the following: (1) chemical weapon (CW) material buried in the floor of the Baltic Sea; (2) As-bearing pesticides, agricultural mineral fertilizers, and burned coal and other fuels; (3) kerogen-bearing Ordovician rocks exposed on the bottom; and (4) As-rich Fe sulfides brought to the area together with construction sand and gravel. This mixture was used in paper production and for the construction of hydraulic engineering facilities in the Vistula Lagoon in the early 20th century and later caused the so-called lagoon disease.

Geological and seismic profiling data (more than 25000 km of seismic profiles and about 1000 sediment sampling stations) collected during the last 30 yr by research vessels of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences are summarized. Seismic records are directly correlated with sediment cores. The distribution map (scale 1 : 500000) of Quaternary lithofacial complexes corresponding to certain stages of the Baltic Sea evolution is compiled. The following four complexes are distinguished (from the base to the top): (I) moraine, with maximum thicknesses 60 and 170 m in valleys and ridges respectively: (II) varved clay of periglacial basins and from the Baltic Ice Lake (BIL), up to 25 m thick in depressions; (III) lacustrinemarine homogeneous clay with a thickness up to 4–8 m in depressions; (IV) marine sediments (mud, aleurite, coarse-grained deposits) accumulated in environments with intense bottom currents activity (thickness 2–4 m in the Gotland Basin, 4–6 m in the Gdansk Basin, and 10–20 m in fans and prodeltas). The Quaternary sequence is cut through by inherited valleys, where the thickest Holocene sediments are noted. Today, these valleys serve as routes of sediment transport to slope bases and central parts of basins. Outblows of deep gas (through faults and fractures) and diagenetic gas (from sediments) to the bottom surface also occur in the valleys. Sedimentation rates are higher in the Gdansk Basin (up to 100–120 cm/ka). Thick sand, aleurite, and mud bodies are accumulated here (about 15–20 m in the Visla River prodelta). The sedimentation rate is slower in the Gotland Basin (up to 50–60 cm/ka), where thin (2–4 m) sections of more fine-grained mud occur

Zusammenfassung Die geologischen Untersuchungen der Sierra Leone Erhebung (Sierra Leone Rise (SLR)) lieferten seismische, petrographische und sedimentologische Daten der sowjetischen Expedition von R/V »Professor Shtokman«. Neue Ergebnisse über das Bodenrelief und die Struktur der Sierra Leone Erhebung werden in den Figs. 1–7 dargestellt. Detailgenaue Beschreibungen der Dredgeproben von Trachyandesiten, Trachyten, Trachyt-Tuffen, Trachybasalten und deren Tuffe, sowie ihre chemische Zusammensetzung (Tab. 2) erlauben, in Kombination mit der seismischen Struktur des SLR, Annahmen in Bezug auf ihr Alter und ihre Herkunft zu machen.