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This project is dedicated to the fundamental problems of the Late Quaternary geology of the Baltic sphere: temporal extent and palaeoenvironmental structure of the Last Ice Age, interregional correlation of the events recognised with those recorded in different environments and localities. The exposures examined during the previous pilot project (2003-2004) at the Voka site, Northern Estonia, seem to be a unique archive of natural palaeoenvironmental changes which occured there and left behind many sequences with a well preserved Late Pleistocene record in both waterlain and terrestrial environments. The importance of these sedimentary sequences is great indeed since they hold the key to palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of the Last Ice Age identified by many international projects as a major goal for future Quaternary geological research. The palaeoenvironmental development of the study area during the past-Eemian age is still unclear in many aspects but its resolution can be achieved by a multidisciplinary study of the stratigraphic sequences of the new Early-Middle Weichselian section at the Voka site. The proposed project concerns the most critical - chronostratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental - aspects of the Last Ice Age in Estonia. To begin solving of the existing problems it is important at the present stage: a) to elucidate the extent, timing and palaeoenvironmental structure of the Last Ice Age in Estonia; b) to perform reconstruction of the dynamics of palaeoenvironmental changes in Northern Estonia; c) to correlate the data obtained with the data known from deep-sea, ice-core and continental records; d) to ascertain stratigraphical position of the Karuküla deposits; e) to reveal the border marking the transition between Last Interglacial s. lato (OIS 5) and Last Ice Age (OIS 4); f) to elucidate the real age of some controversial palaeoenvironmental events in Estonia and the Baltic region. The expected result of the project is fundamentally new palaeoenvironmental information that can be particularly important for a further extension of the studies and for better understanding of the Last Ice Age palaeoenvironmental system in the Baltic sphere. The results obtained may have a significant impact on the reconstruction of the palaeoclimatic system in Estonia as well as in the whole Baltic region because for the first time in the history of Estonian Quaternary research the integrated large-scale palyno-chronostratigraphic investigations will be carried out to establish the Late Pleistocene geochronology and palaeoenvironmental changes well beyond the limits of radiocarbon. |