Review of the Salpausselkä ice‐marginal formations in Finland

ABSTRACT Extensive Salpausselkä ice‐marginal formations were deposited in southern and eastern Finland during the Weichselian deglaciation. These comprise three major ridges (I, II, and III Salpausselkäs) and their eastern counterparts (Tuupovaara, Koitere, and Pielisjärvi), together forming laterally continuous ice‐marginal formations extending approximately 650 km, with a total mapped length of 1530 km. Among the largest ice‐marginal deposits globally, the Salpausselkäs consist mainly of glaciofluvial sand and gravel, locally interbedded with till. They include ice‐contact deltas, subaqueous fans, sandurs, moraine slabs and ridges, and shoreline deposits, with depositional architecture strongly controlled by ice‐lobe dynamics, meltwater discharge, proglacial water depth, and bedrock topography. In this review, we synthesize the current understanding of the chronology, composition, and depositional environments of the Salpausselkäs, drawing together a substantial body of literature accumulated over the decades, including numerous studies published only in the Finnish language. Uncertainties related to their deposition, as well as topics requiring further investigation, are also discussed.