Water-level changes and palarogeography of proglacial lakes in eastern Estonia: synthesis of data from the Saadjärve Drumlin Field area

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.