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Palaeogeographic Model for the SW Estonian Coastal Zone of the Baltic Sea

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The Baltic Sea Basin

Part of the book series: Central and Eastern European Development Studies (CEEDES) ((CEEDES))

Abstract

The authors combined geological, geodetic and archaeological shore displacement evidence to create a temporal and spatial water-level change model for the SW Estonian coast of the Baltic Sea since 13,300 cal. years BP. The Baltic Sea shoreline database for Estonian territory was used for the modelling work and contained about 1,200 sites from the Baltic Ice Lake, Ancylus Lake and Littorina Sea stages. This database was combined with a shore displacement curve from the Pärnu area (in SW Estonia) and with geodetic relative sea-level data for the last century. The curve was reconstructed on the basis of palaeocoastline elevations and radiocarbon-dated peat and soil sequences and ecofacts from archaeological sites recording three regressive phases of the past Baltic Sea, interrupted by Ancylus Lake and Littorina Sea transgressions with magnitudes of 12 and 10 m, respectively. A water-level change model was applied together with a digital terrain model in order to reconstruct coastline change in the region and to examine the relationships between coastline change and displacement of the Stone Age human settlements that moved in connection with transgressions and regressions on the shifting coastline of the Baltic Sea.

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Acknowledgements

The authors express their thanks to Mrs. Annika Veske and Mrs. Evelin Lumi for help in digitalizing the elevation and sediment thickness data and to Alexander Harding for checking the language. We also thank Dr. Antoon Kuijpers and an anonymous reviewer for their comments and suggestions to improve the manuscript. This multidisciplinary study was primarily supported by Estonian Science Foundation Grant “Development of the Baltic Sea Coastline Through Time: Palaeoreconstructions and Predictions for Future”. The research was also financed by Estonian target-funding projects SF0180150s08, SF0180048s08 and SF0332710s06, Estonian Science Foundation Grants no 7375, 6736 and 7029 and by the European Union through the Center of Excellence in Cultural Theory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Tartu, 51014, Tartu, Estonia

    Alar Rosentau, Raivo Aunap & Tiit Hang

  2. Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

    Alar Rosentau

  3. Institute of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology, 19086, Tallinn, Estonia

    Siim Veski, Jüri Vassiljev, Leili Saarse & Atko Heinsalu

  4. Institute of History and Archaeology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

    Aivar Kriiska

  5. Department of Physics, Tallinn University of Technology, 19086, Tallinn, Estonia

    Tõnis Oja

Authors
  1. Alar Rosentau
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  2. Siim Veski
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  3. Aivar Kriiska
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  4. Raivo Aunap
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  9. Tõnis Oja
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Correspondence to Alar Rosentau .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. Ostseeforschung Warnemünde, Universität Rostock, Seestr. 15, Rostock, 18119, Mecklenburg-Vorpomm., Germany

    Jan Harff

  2. Dept. Geology, University of Lund, Sölvegatan 13, Lund, 223 62, Sweden

    Svante Björck

  3. Wirtschaft und Technologie, Bundesministerium für, Scharnhorststr. 34-37, Berlin, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Peer Hoth

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Rosentau, A. et al. (2011). Palaeogeographic Model for the SW Estonian Coastal Zone of the Baltic Sea. In: Harff, J., Björck, S., Hoth, P. (eds) The Baltic Sea Basin. Central and Eastern European Development Studies (CEEDES). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17220-5_8

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