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Geomorphological evidence of catastrophic glacial floods has been discovered in many formerly glaciated areas of North America, in the mountains of Siberia and Central Asia, and in northern Europe. Within the area of the last Scandinavian Ice Sheet in the European Lowland a wide range of landforms related to glacial meltwater flows have been documented but no unequivocal evidence of cataclysmic glacial outburst floods exist. Here we discuss a landform signature of Late Weichselian glacial megafloods in the Suwałki Lakeland, north-eastern Poland. These landforms are oversized ice-marginal spillways, scabland-like features, expansion bars, megadunes, obstacle marks, and clusters of kettle holes. This unique glacial landscape was probably generated by at least two separate glacial megafloods (the older event ca 19 ka ago and the younger event shortly after ca 16 ka ago). Palaeohydraulic calculations based on the morphometric characteristics of the flood landforms suggest that one of those megafloods had water depth of at least 19 m and flow velocity of around 15–17 ms −1 . The flood flow regime was from subcritical to supercritical. The calculated maximum flood discharge range was between 0.5 × 10 6 and 2.2 × 10 6 m 3 s −1 with the most likely value of around 2 × 10 6 m 3 s −1 . These numbers place this megaflood among the largest glacial megafloods worldwide, with a possible impact on global climate through rapid release of large volumes of freshwater into the Atlantic Ocean following a transfer across the European Lowland through prominent ice-marginal meltwater spillways.

This study uses marine geophysical data, principally single-beam and high-resolution multibeam echo sounder bathymetry, combined with seismic sub-bottom profiles, and existing Quaternary geological information, to map the glacial geomorphology of a large area of seafloor (∼50,000 km2) on the continental shelf around northern Scotland, from west of Lewis to north of the Orkney Islands. Our new mapping reveals the detailed pattern of submarine glacial landforms, predominantly moraines, relating to ice sheets that covered Scotland and much of the continental shelf during the Late Weichselian glaciation and earlier in the Mid to Late Pleistocene. The reconstructed retreat pattern based on geomorphological evidence highlights the large number of different retreat stages and the asymmetric, non-uniform evolution of this ice sheet sector during Late Weichselian deglaciation. Time-equivalent ice-front reconstructions show that marine sectors of the ice sheet, such as the Minch, changed their geometry significantly, perhaps rapidly; whilst other sectors remained relatively unchanged and stable. We suggest that this behaviour, governed principally by bed topography/bathymetry and ice dynamics, led to reorganisation of the Late Weichselian ice sheet as it retreated back to two main ice centres: one in Western Scotland and the other over Orkney and Shetland. This retreat pattern suggests relatively early deglaciation of NW Lewis (ca. 25 ka BP) and the mountains of far NW Scotland – the latter possibly forming a substantial ice-free land corridor. Our reconstructions differ from most previous syntheses, but are strongly supported by the independently-mapped offshore Quaternary succession and key onshore dating constraints.

The Dubičiai glaciolacustrine basin was studied by means of geomorphological, lithological and cartographic methods in order to reconstruct water level changes during postglacial time. The formation of the basin and respective sedimentation processes began immediately after the deglaciation. Glaciolacustrine terraces in the Dubičiai basin formed during the Frankfurt (Grūda) Stage of the last glaciation, and during the Dryas–Allerød, Boreal and Subatlantic chronozones. Intense evolution of the basin took place at the end of the Late Pleistocene and in the Early Holocene. The greatest changes in the topography were due to thermokarst processes which began in the Allerød and continued until the Boreal. Climate became warm and moist at the beginning of the Preboreal and thus created good conditions for accumulation of gyttja, peat and freshwater lime. The latest stage in the development of the Dubičiai basin occurred in the 19th century. In 50 years the area of the basin decreased by 10 times: from 221 ha in 1850 to 20 ha in 1900. The last major change in the hydrographic network of the basin occurred in 1958–59 when an artificial drainage project was completed.

Aufbauend auf Arbeiten der letzten 10 Jahre wird ein Abriß der spätpleistozänen und holozänen Entwicklungsgeschichte des nördlichen Jütland gegeben. Neue, die Geschichte des Limfjord betreffende Informationen stützen sich auf zwei Untersuchungsbohrungen im Agger Isthmus. Sie zeigen im südwestlichen Teil des Limfjord eine Transgression während des Boreal und des frühen Atlantikum an, der eine ununterbrochene marine Sedimentation bis in die Eisenzeit, 2110 ± 70 v. h., folgt., research

We studied the water-level changes and palaeogeography of Late Weichselian proglacial lakes in eastern Estonia using the shoreline and sediment distribution proxies from the Saadjärve Drumlin Field area together with the geomorphological correlation and GIS-based palaeoreconstructions. Our results show that about 14.0-13.8 cal. kyr BP Glacial Lake Peipsi inundated large areas of the Saadjärve Drumlin Field, Emajõgi River valley and reached the Lake Võrtsjärv basin. In the Saadjärve Drumlin Field area this is reflected in the formation of the highest shoreline and the corresponding rather short period (up to 63 years) of varved clay accumulation. The highest shoreline determined in the Saadjärve Drumlin Field is correlated with the valley terraces in southeastern Estonia, which reflect the water level in Glacial Lake Peipsi and the proglacial lake in the Võrtsjärv basin. The study suggests settling of glacial varved clay in the deepest inter-drumlin basins at the critical (minimal) water depths of about 15-20 m. The proglacial conditions lasted in the Saadjärve Drumlin Field for about 150 years and were interrupted due to the isolation of the lakes from proglacial bodies of water in the Peipsi and Võrtsjärv basins after the formation of the second highest shoreline. In the bottom sediments this isolation is marked by the transition from the laminated sediments to the massive silt interval. The results show that about 14.0-13.8 cal. kyr BP the connection route between Glacial Lake Peipsi and proglacial Lake Strenči, northern Latvia, shifted from the Võhandu-Hargla valley to the Väike-Emajõgi valley and the strait between Glacial Lake Peipsi and large Lake Privalday in northwestern Russia was closed.