Pleistocene glaciations and interglacials in the Vistula, the Oder, and the Elbe drainage basins (Central European Lowland)

Abstract

Extents of Scandinavian glaciations within the three main river drainage basins of the Central European Lowland exhibit principal similarities, but also outstanding peculiarities. Most glacial events during the Pleistocene are well pronounced in the Vistula drainage basin, less so in the Oder, and the least - in the Elbe one. Such pattern is thought to have resulted from location of the Vistula drainage basin at the southern termination of the Baltic Channel. The latter has controlled many a time the main route of the Scandinavian icesheets that advanced the Central European Lowland.