The sedimentary sequence recovered from the Voka outcrops, northeastern Estonia: implications for late Pleistocene stratigraphy

New palaeoenvironmental and geological data, which may be integrated with the results from the neighbouring regions, were collected from two well-exposed continuous outcrops in the vicinity of Voka village, northeastern Estonia. These outcrops, situated in a klint depression – klint bay –, show an about 22 m thick stacked sequence of sandy to clayey subaqueous deposits. This succession of water-lain sediments documents the response to climate change during the late Pleistocene. On the basis of grain size characteristics, sedimentological structures, and luminescence chronostratigraphical data, the sequence is subdivided into two main units – A and B. Optical dating of 18 samples from the upper unit A shows that the unit is of middle Järva (= middle Weichselian) age (marine isotope stage (MIS) 3). Representative pollen spectra derived from 45 samples from the pollen-bearing part of unit A provide convincing evidence of noticeable changes in vegetation and climate in NE Estonia during the time period from 39 to 33 kyr BP, within which two intervals of severe climate and two relatively milder ones have been recognized. Preliminary data from the underlying unit B indicate that deposits of the last interglacial sensu lato and those of early pleniglacial age correlating with MIS 5 and MIS 4, respectively, occur here as well. Thus, the data obtained during the present study show unambiguously that in contrast with the expectations, the greater part of the late Pleistocene sequence is represented in the Voka section. No evidence was found for glacial activity during the late Pleistocene period predating the last glacial maximum. The use of the Voka event stratigraphy as a template facilitates search for correlative horizons in the neighbouring regions.