The Late Pleistocene history of the Pechora Sea

More reliable reconstructions of the Late Quaternary glacial history of the Pechora Sea haue been carried out due to new radiocarbon datings. The bulk of evidence favors the view that complete deglaciation of the Pechora Sea occurred in the middle Valdai epoch, about 35-40 ka. After a short interstadial period with normal marine conditions, sea-level fall gave rise to establishment of continental environments. In the late Valdai, the Novaya Zemlya ice sheet occupied only the northernmost Pechora Sea and did not reach the Pechora Lowland. In the course of the subsequent Holocene transgression, the shelf was abraded. Modern lithodynamic conditions in the Pechora Sea determine accumulation of sandy-silty deposits.