Salpausselkä

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Course of the Salpausselkä moraines

The Salpausselkä [ ˈsɑlpɑu̯sˌselkæ ] is a series of terminal moraines that stretch in a wide arc from south to east Finland .

They originated in the Younger Dryas around 11,000 years ago, when a cold period delayed the retreat of the glaciers that covered almost all of Fennos Scandinavia due to the deposition of post-glacial sands and gravels on the edges of the ice sheet. There are generally three mountain ranges.

The longest and most striking is the so-called "first" Salpausselkä ( Salpausselkä I ), which stretches from the Hanko peninsula in the extreme southwest of Finland via Lahti and Lappeenranta over a length of around 600 km in a wide arc to far into eastern Finland. The Salpausselkä reaches its highest point in Tiirismaa at 222.6 meters west of Lahti in the area of ​​the city of Hollola . In this section, the Salpausselkä marks the southern end of the Päijänne . There is a high transmission mast on the Tiirismaa. In Lahti, on the slopes of the Salpausselkä with the Salpausselkä ski jumps , the center of Finnish ski jumping is also located.

The "second" Salpausselkä ( Salpausselkä II ) runs 10–20 km to the north, but is significantly lower.

The Salpausselkä III in Southwest Finland only reaches a length of 150 kilometers and is also younger. It was formed during a cold period around 9,900-9600 years ago, when another cold period brought the melting of the ice sheet to a standstill.

As a watershed, the Salpausselkä borders the Finnish Lake District to the south and east. The two only outflows of the lake system to the south are the Kymijoki and Vuoksi rivers . The Kymijoki broke through the Salpausselkä around 6000 years ago, the Vuoksi around 5000 years ago on the site of the Imatrafall ; since then they have been draining eastern Finland and large parts of central Finland to Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland .