Geological history of the Baltic. Volume 1. Cyclical processes / Геологическая история Балтийского моря. Том 1. Циклические процессы

The book presents the geological evolution of the Baltic Sea area from the late Pleistocene, throughout the Holocene up to the modern times. A very detailed evolution of the Baltic Sea has been presented for the area of the Polish basin. Calculated by the author on the basis of geological research, the climatic cycle of the Earth allows better understanding of climatic changes and associated geological processes in the last 20,000 years on the area of the northern Poland and the Baltic Sea Basin. 
It should be noted that the current research on the evolution of the Baltic area, including the South Baltic region directly related to the Polish Baltic bottom and the Polish coast, which developed mainly under the influence of the great post-glacial transgression of the Baltic, did not solve the very complex issues related to this problem in a satisfactory manner. This was a fundamental inspiration for further research, detailed studies, many analyzes of source materials and the results obtained by the present author associated with connected to the transgression of the Baltic Sea over the last 9,000 years. Especially the matter related to the determination of the old sea levels, as it has been on the Polish coast, is still an open question and there are a lot of discrepancies around it. 
In Chapter 1, the present author provides an introduction to the book and discusses the geographic location of the Baltic Sea Basin, paying attention to the fact that the Baltic Sea is a typical inland sea. The division of the Baltic Sea into minor morpho-bathymetric units is demonstrated here, pointing to the bathymetric variability of the water body. Issues related to tides, salinity and climatic conditions are also presented in this chapter. The author draws attention to the great geological diversity of the Baltic Sea coasts, which are built of various materials of different ages. The chapter also provides a short history of scientific research on the Baltic Sea, with particular emphasis on geological studies conducted from the 19th century to the present day. The broadly understood geological research concerns the evolution of the Baltic coastal zones, the study of the geological structure of the adjacent spits, and the study of the structure of sea bottom sediments and deeper structures of the Quaternary cover, down to the top of the older bedrock. The author also presents the history of research on sea level changes in the Baltic Sea throughout its evolution, as well as on the changes in ancient shorelines during the successive marine transgressions and regressions. The chapter also discusses publications on lithological, lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and palaeoecological investigations of the basin’s sediments, important for getting familiar with the geological history of the Baltic Sea, allowing for reconstructions of ancient environments and events <...>