ABSTRACT
It is well known that the Quaternary glaciations were preceded by a long period of the Early Pleistocene in which cold stages alternated with warm stages but no major ice sheets developed in lowland areas. In north-eastern Europe this period is only poorly represented. Near to the centre of the glaciations, in Finnish Lapland, glacial erosion was relatively moderate and in some areas the Quaternary tills overlie easily eroded, deeply weathered bedrock. Deposits from the last interglacial have been identified in numerous places throughout North-East Europe. Even in central Lapland, Finland, 37 sites have been found where organic deposits from the last interglacial have survived subsequent overriding by the Weichselian ice sheet. At the southern margin of the Saalian (Dnieper) ice sheet in the Ukraine, there are rich assemblages of both large-scale and minor glaciotectonic deformations, including the Kanev Hills.
