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Concept
Weichselian glaciation
Summary
The Weichselian glaciation was the last glacial period and its associated glaciation in northern parts of Europe. In the Alpine region it corresponds to the Würm glaciation. It was characterized by a large ice sheet (the Fenno-Scandian ice sheet) that spread out from the Scandinavian Mountains and extended as far as the east coast of Schleswig-Holstein, northern Poland and Northwest Russia. This glaciation is also known as the Weichselian ice age (Weichsel-Eiszeit), Vistulian glaciation, Weichsel or, less commonly, the Weichsel glaciation, Weichselian cold period (Weichsel-Kaltzeit), Weichselian glacial (Weichsel-Glazial), Weichselian Stage or, rarely, the Weichselian complex (Weichsel-Komplex).
In Northern Europe it was the youngest of the glacials of the Pleistocene ice age. The preceding warm period in this region was the Eemian interglacial. The last cold period began about 115,000 years ago and ended 11,700 years ago. Its end corresponds with the end of the Pleistocene epoch and the start of the Holocene. The German geologist Konrad Keilhack (1858–1944) named it using the German name (Weichsel) of the Vistula ( Wisła) in present-day Poland.
In other regions Major Glacial 4 of the Pleistocene is given a local name. In the Alpine region it is the Würm glaciation, in Great Britain the Devensian glaciation, in Ireland the Midlandian glaciation and in North America, the Wisconsin glaciation.
The Fennoscandian Ice Sheet of the Weichselian glaciation most likely grew out of a mountain glaciation of small ice fields and ice caps in the Scandinavian Mountains. The initial glaciation of the Scandinavian Mountains would have been enabled by moisture coming from the Atlantic Ocean and the mountains high altitude. Perhaps the best modern analogues to this early glaciation are the ice fields of Andean Patagonia.
Since the proximity to the temperate North Atlantic typically precludes ice growth in Scandinavia, changes in the North Atlantic are thought to be required for glaciation to develop in Scandinavia.
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