Deglaciation pattern indicated by the ice-margin formations in Northern Karelia, eastern Finland

A map has been reconstructed representing the large-scale glacial and glaciofluvial morphology of Northern Karelia and the adjacent area of Soviet Karelia. Observations have been made on the directions of glacial striae and on the distribution of sub-aquatic and supra-aquatic terrain in order to obtain a consistent picture of the course of deglaciation in the area and the factors affecting it. The map indicates that the behaviour of the glacier during the deglaciation was largely governed by the distribution of sub-aquatic and supra-aquatic areas. The marginal zone of the ice sheet was divided into two large lobes in this area. The Finnish Lake District Lobe terminated mostly in water, giving rise to massive glaciofluvial accumulations, while the North Karelian Lobe flowed on the land above the highest shore levels, pushing up several more or less discontinuous narrow end-moraine ridges. Relatively large glaciofluvial deposits were also formed in the supra-aquatic area in places where the ice margin terminated in a local ice-dammed lake. It is evident that the Salpausselkä I and II end-moraines extend as continuous formations only to the zone where the former ice margin rose onto dry land during the deglaciation phase. The spatial and temporal differences in the glacial dynamics and differing depositional environments gave rise to the complex glacial morphology of Northern Karelia.