Sedimentologic successions and chronology of the late Pleistocene deposits on the southern Kola Peninsula, northern Europe

Abstract Late Pleistocene deposits in the southern Kola Peninsula, adjacent to the White Sea, evidence the complex alternation between marine transgressions and glacial expansions in northern Europe during successive late Pleistocene warm and cold stages. According to lithostratigraphic and chronological data from key sections, southern Kola Peninsula underwent two phases of the Boreal marine transgression during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5; marine environments, encompassing the very end of MIS 4 and almost the entirety of MIS 3, were also recognized. Age determinations using electron spin resonance (ESR) and infrared optically stimulated luminescence (IR-OSL) techniques reveal marine sediments with ages ranging from 138–128 ka to 72.4 ± 5.6 ka in the Varzuga, Chavanga, Chapoma 1 and 2, and Bolshaya Kumzhevaya sections, indicating initial and second phases of the Boreal transgression. The presence of marine deposits with ages ranging from ca. 59 ka to 37 ka in the Chavanga, Kamenka, Chapoma 2, and Bolshaya Kumzhevaya sections also suggests an accumulation stage in the marine environment. The research material from the studied sections provides evidence of a short glacier expansion into coastal areas of the White Sea during early MIS 4 and a continuous glaciation from the late MIS 3 and throughout MIS 2.