Stratigraphic evidence for a high marine shore-line during the Late Weichselian deglaciation on the Kullen Peninsula, southern Sweden

Mineral magnetic properties and the carbon content of a sediment sequence i n Lake Kullatorpssjon on the Kullen Peninsula in northwest Scania, southern Sweden, were investigated. Diatom and ostracod analyses were undertaken fo r palaeoecological reconstruction and a chronology was constructed from acc elerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating of terrestrial plant re mains and mosses. Five stratigraphical units were identified (units 1-5, fr om oldest to youngest). The two lowermost units consist of clay. The lowest clay unit (1) is strikingly black, 2 m thick and has magnetic properties d ominated by high concentrations of authigenic greigite (Fe3S4). In contrast , the overlying clay unit (2) is grey, 1.18 m thick and has magnetic proper ties dominated by low concentrations of detrital magnetite (Fe3O4). A major palaeoecological change is reflected in the diatom flora and ostracod faun a at the transition from unit 1 to unit 2. The sediment stratigraphy, geoch emical, mineral magnetic and palaeoecological analyses also point to a sign ificant change in depositional environment at this transition, which is pro posed to represent the isolation of Lake Kullatorpssjon from the Kattegat S ea. Earlier investigations have determined the marine limit to ca. 65 m a.s .l. on the Kullen Peninsula. The separate independent lines of evidence pre sented here, however, suggest that the Late Weichselian marine limit develo ped at 85-90 m a.s.l. at the deglaciation ca. 17 200 cal. yr BP (ca. 14 500 yr BP). This limit is ca. 25 m higher than assumed previously. Lake Kullat orpssjon formed ca. 1000 cal. yr later when the basin became isolated from the Kattegat Sea. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.