A. Yu. Sergeev, D. V. Ryabchuk, O. A. Kovaleva, L. M. Budanov, V. A. Zhamoida, I. A. Neevin, D. V. Gerasimov

Geological structure and geological development history of the Narva-Luga Klint Bay in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene

Abstract. The paper presents results of geological, geomorphological, and geoarchaeological studies in the Narva-Luga Klint Bay (the Narva Bay coast, the Baltic Sea) in 2011–2022. Detailed geological and geophysical studies using ground-penetrating radar profiling, handle drilling, outcrop exploration, grain size analysis, and optically stimulated luminescence identified the previously unknown accumulative landform — Kuzemkino palaeospit. Analysis of the obtained field and laboratory materials and the digital relief model revealed that the identified accumulative form is a remnant of a fluvioglacial delta formed during the Pandivere glacier retreat. In the Holocene, the fluvioglacial delta sediments reworking by the waters of the Ancylus Lake and Littorina Sea led to form the largest coastal barrier form in the region — the Kudruküla palaeospit as well as a large lagoon system. In the period after the Littorina transgression maximum, ancient man began to actively populate the accumulative landform Kuzemkino palaeospit, as evidenced by the discovery of long-term Neolithic sites there.

Keywords: Late Pleistocene — Holocene, Baltic Sea, Kuzemkino palaeospit, fluvioglacial delta, optically stimulated luminescence dating, geoarchaeology, ground-penetrating radar