Zugl.: Warschau, Habil.-Schr., 2001. / Aus dem Poln. übers.

The purpose of this study is to find datable interstadial sediments in the core area of the LateWeicheslian ice sheet extent. Based on geomorphological evidence, three coring sites wereidentified close to the Ultevis plateau in Norrbotten, northern Sweden. Sediment coring wascarried out in two pre-Late Weichselian stream channels and in a sediment basin. Stratigraphyfrom one of the sites, a 100 meter wide meltwater channel, was chosen for further analysis. Thestudied core was 5,93 m long and ended in a lower till unit. The core contained silt and sandbelow an upper till unit, indicating presence of interstadial sediments in the stratigraphy. Thecore was subsampled for luminescence dating. Two samples from above the upper till unit andtwo samples from below this unit were chosen for initial luminescence measurements onfeldspar. These preliminary measurements indicate a significant difference in paleodosebetween the upper samples and the lower. The upper samples displayed relatively highpaleodoses, possibly representing pre-Late Weichselian ages. This could imply presence of twointerstadials in the stratigraphy. The lower samples exhibited significantly higher paleodosesthan the upper ones, possibly indicating early-Weichselian or even Saalian ages for the lowersamples.

Sveriges geomorfologi har till största del bildats under den senaste glaciationens erosion och depositions processer. Vid denna glaciations avsmältning rann smältvattnet bort från glaciären i isälvarna genom tunnlar under inlandsisen. Från dessa isälvar bildas åsar när materialet som transporterats med glaciären förs med i det turbulenta flödet i isälven innan det avsätts och bygger upp dessa långsträckta terrängformer. Isälvarnas position under inlandsisen bestäms av hydrauliska potentialen vilken bestämmer rörelseriktningen för vatten under glaciären. I vissa områden kommer den ha en lägre potential och andra en högre potential beroende på isens tjocklek och formen av den underliggande terrängen. Där den hydrauliska potentialen konvergerar kommer isälvar bildas av de stora mängder smältvatten som transporteras bort. Syftet med detta projekt var att bekräfta åsbildningen i Svealand genom att göra en modellering av den hydrauliska potentialen under inlandsisen i ArcGIS. Två modelleringsalgoritmer för flödesriktning kallade D8 och D-infinity, jämfördes också för att avföra vilken av dessa som bäst modellerar smältvattnets flödesvägar under inlandsisen. Tidsintervallen 11 000, 12 000 och 13 000 år sedan valdes för denna undersökning då inlandsisen då gick från att ligga strax söder om Svealand till mellersta Svealand. Mellan 11 000 och 10 000 år sedan avsmälte glaciären väldigt hastigt och retirerade till Kaledoniderna i norra Sverige och används därför ej i denna undersökning.   I ArcGIS beräknades hydropotentialen för de olika tidpunkterna varefter sänkor i rastret fylldes upp. Flödesriktningen och flödesackumulationen beräknades för både D8 och D-infinity. Från flödesackumulationen togs isälvarna fram genom en omklassning av rastret. För att avgöra vilken flödesriktningsalgoritm som modellerade smältvattnets flödesvägar under inlandsisen bäst användes ett verktyg som summerade antalet pixlar av isälvar som låg under polygoner över nutida åsar i Svealand. Från detta beräknades en procentskillnad mellan D8 och D-infinity för att avgöra vilken av dem som stämde bäst överens med de nutida åsarna. En karta för varje tidsintervall som undersöktes samanställdes med de modellerade isälvarna och de nutida åsarna i Svealand för att visuellt avgöra om det gick urskilja en kronologisk bildningsföljd av åsarna.  D-infinity beräknades modellera isälvarna upp till 2,5 procentenheter bättre än D8. Skillnaden mellan modelleringsalgoritmerna minskade i takt med att glaciärtäckningen av Svealand minskade. I kartorna som sammanställdes gick en viss kronologisk trend att se. Vissa åsar som när de låg långt från inlandsisens kant blev inte modellerade som isälvar förrän inlandsisens kant kom närmare dem. Vissa modellerade isälvar låg inte direkt på de nutida åsarna utan lite till sidan av dem vilket skulle kunna bero på att den rumsliga upplösningen som modelleringen gjordes i var för grov eller att fler faktorer behöver tas med i modelleringen. Till exempel skulle snävare tidsintervall kunnat användas i modelleringen för att bekräfta den kronologiska bildningsföljden av åsar. Transmissivitetens koppling till den hydrauliska potentialen och avståndet mellan isälvar hade möjligtvis också förbättrat modelleringen av isälvarnas rumsliga position. / Sweden's geomorphology has largely been formed during the recent glaciation erosion deposition processes of recent glaciation. During the deglaciation, the meltwater ran away from the glacier in the channel ice streams through tunnels under the ice sheet from which eskers were formed. The position of the glaciers in the ice sheet is determined by the hydraulic potential, which determines the direction of movement of water below the glacier. In some areas, it will have a lower potential and others a higher potential depending on the thickness of the ice and the shape of the underlying terrain. In places where the hydraulic potential converges, ice rivers will be formed by the large amounts of melt water transported away. The purpose of this project was to confirm the esker formation in Svealand by modelling the hydraulic potential during the glaciation in ArcGIS. Two flow direction modelling algorithms, D8 and D-infinity, were also compared to determine which of these best models the meltwater flow paths under the ice sheet. The years 11,000, 12,000 and 13,000 years ago were chosen for this study as the ice sheet then went from lying just south of Svealand to central Svealand. Between 11,000 and 10,000 years ago, the glacier melted very rapidly and retreated to the Caledonids in northern Sweden and is therefore not used in this study. In ArcGIS, the hydraulic potential for the different time intervals was calculated, after which sinks in the grid were filled up, the flow direction and the flow accumulation were calculated for both D8 and D-infinity. From the flow accumulation, the channel ice streams were generated by a reclassification of the grid. To determine which flow direction algorithm best modelled the meltwater flow paths under the ice sheet, a tool was used that summed the number of pixels of channel ice stream that were below polygons over current eskers in Svealand. From this, a percentage between D8 and D-infinity was calculated to determine which of them best matched the current eskers. A map for each assessed year was compiled with the modelled channel ice streams, ice sheet edge and the current eskers in Svealand to visually determine whether a chronological sequence of the eskers could be discerned. D-infinity was estimated to model the channel ice streams up to 2.5 percentage points better than D8. The difference between the modelling algorithms decreased as the glacier coverage of Svealand decreased. In the maps that were compiled, a chronological trend could be inferred to a certain point. Some eskers that, when they were far from the edge of the ice sheet, were not modelled as channel ice streams until the edge of the ice sheet were much closer to them. The modelling could be improved by increasing the resolution in which the modelling was made as it might have been too coarse or that more factors need to be included in the modelling. For example, narrower time intervals could be used in the modelling to confirm the chronological sequence of ridges. The connection between the transmissivity and the hydraulic potential and the distance between ice rivers may have also improved the modelling of the spatial position of the ice rivers.

The aim of this study was to map and date glacial flutings with ice flows deviating from the predominating northwesterly ice flow direction in the southern part of Norrbotten County in northern Sweden, and also to investigate if parts of the glacial landscape are older than previously thought. The traditional view is that most landforms in the area were formed during the late Weichselian (W3). Analysis of the new high resolution elevation model (2 m grid) derived from laser scanning was performed after treating the data with a hillshade tool in ArcMap to reveal terrain features such as flutings. The analysis resulted in a map showing four main groups of deviating ice flows (N-S, NO-SV, SO-NV and S-N) and several westerly ice flows. The majority of flutings with deviating ice flows were found in low terrain. This, together with studies suggesting a cold based late Weichselian ice sheet in Norrbotten, implies an old age of the deviating ice flows. The deviating ice flows are interpreted to originate from the first early Weichselian (W1), or predate the onset of the Weichselian glaciation. Some NV-SO flutings were located in high terrain, which implies a younger age relative to the low terrain flutings. They represent the youngest ice flow found in the area, possibly from the second early Weichselian (W2). The new elevation model clearly offers new possibilities for studying small scale landforms and shows that the traditional view of the Weichselian glaciation in northern Swedish needs to be reconsidered.