Late Neopleistocene–Holocene Paleogeography and Neotectonics of the White Sea Coasts in the Eastern Fennoscandian (Baltic) Shield (Kola-Karelian Russia)

Using lithological, geochronological, paleontological, geomorphological data, as well as modeling reconstructions according to the isolated basin method, the Late Neopleistocene-Holocene events were identified, which consistently manifested themselves in the White Sea coastal areas within the Fennoscandian (Baltic) Shield. These events are: the Mikulinian Boreal marine transgression, characterized by at least two phases; a short-term expansion of the Early Valdaian glacier to the coastal Kola Peninsula; the Middle Valdaian marine transgression and regression; short-lived marine environments and a huge glacier expansion in the Late Valdaian; the formation of proglacial freshwater reservoirs salinized during a glacio-eustatic marine influx in the Alleröd during the Late Glacial marine transgression; a marine regression started in the early Holocene because of the dome-shaped glacio-isostatic rebound and uneven tectonic uplift, which was interrupted by the early-middle Holocene marine transgression. Currently, the coastal line is regressing as a result of glacio-isostatic and neotectonic uplift of the earth’s crust on the Kola Peninsula, but over the past 4000 years, only neotectonic uplift has been manifested within the Karelsky Coast. Powerful earthquakes occurred in the studied areas, induced by the relaxation of the earth’s crust after the glacial load and more attracted to the Kandalaksha Bay area, which is the most tectonically active area in the eastern Baltic Shield.