Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainlands of Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Öresund, the Great Belt and the Little Belt. Kattegat then continues in the Skagerrak into the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The Baltic Sea is linked to the White Sea by the White Sea Canal and directly to the North Sea by the Kiel Canal.

Prehistory

The Baltic Sea is a very young sea, formed by the last ice age. As the ice receded to north, the following stages of the Baltic formed:

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• Baltic Ice Lake 13000 BC
• Yoldian Sea 10300 BC
• Ancylus Lake 9500 BC
• Mastogloia Sea 8500 BC
• Littorina Sea 7500 BC
• Post-Littorina Sea 4000 BC - current

As the ground rose after being pressed down by the ice, the Baltic Sea switched between being a sea and a lake, or something in between, and it was variously connected to the North Sea-Atlantic either through the straits of Denmark or at what are now the large lakes of Sweden, and the White Sea-Arctic Sea. Many of the stages are named after certain marine animals (like the Littorina mollusc) that are clear markers of changing water temperatures and salinity.

Related Topics:
North Sea - Atlantic - Denmark - Sweden - White Sea - Arctic Sea - Littorina - Mollusc

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The Baltic Sea somewhat resembles a riverbed, with two tributaries (the Gulf of Finland and Gulf of Bothnia). From geological surveys it has become apparent that there indeed was a river in the area in the Pleistocene: the Eridanos.

Related Topics:
River - Gulf of Finland - Gulf of Bothnia - Geological - Pleistocene - Eridanos

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Due to the Post-glacial rebound, the ground is still rising after having been released from the weight of the Weichsel glaciation, especially around the Gulf of Bothnia: at places the ground is rising by almost one metre per century, which means that the shore can gain dozens and in some shallow places hundreds of meters in a human lifetime.

Related Topics:
Post-glacial rebound - Weichsel glaciation

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