Geological Evolution and Resources of the Baltic Sea Area from the Precambrian to the Quaternary - The Baltic Sea Basin - page 36

are of pre-glacial tectonic origin and that glacial erosion and deposition had only a
very limited role (e.g. Voipio 1981 , Šliaupa et al. 1995b ) , while the others stress the
essential role of erosional processes (e.g. Marks 2004 ) .
Due to the absence of Palaeogene and Neogene marine sediments, except for the
southernmost part of the Baltic region, the reconstruction of the neotectonic move-
ments is very uncertain. The smoothed sub-Quaternary surface is often considered to
mainly reflect vertical tectonic movements (Šliaupa et al. 1995a ) . However, it does
not completely remove and exclude erosional components either. Figure 2.16 shows
the altitudes of this smoothed surface; it ranges from +100 m in northeast Lithuania
to -280 m in the Gotland low and generally reflects the shape of the Baltic sedimen-
tary basin. The pattern of morphological highs and lows is dominated by N-S trends.
Pandevere, Vidzeme and south Lithuanian structures compose the eastern system of
highs separated by Riga and Kaunas lows from Saaremaa and Kurzeme-Zemaitija
highs. The west Gotland, Gotland and Gdansk lows are the main sub-Quaternary
features in the sea area. This dominating N-S pattern is superimposed by lower
order features striking generally ENE-WSW.
Fig. 2.16 Smoothed depth map of the sub-Quaternary surface in the Baltic area (after Šliaupa
et al. 1995b , with modifications)