| Summary: | The marine Late Weichselian Kattegat began at about 15,000 BP when the ice left northern Denmark and sea water entered the Kattegat Basin. At about 14,000 BP the ice front reached the swedish west-coast. Between 13,500 BP and about 12,200 BP icebergs from the south, containing sedimentary clasts, were transported into the Kattegat. At about 12,700 BP the outflow from the Baltic Ice Lake water through the Oresund Strait increased, which affected the hydrography in the Kattegat, especially the surface water. From this date to about 10,300 BP the fresh water drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake water was substantial into the Kattegat, which created arctic to boreo-arctic environmental conditions with brackish salinity. The environmental conditions changed at about 11,000 BP in the beginning of the cold Younger Dryas period, when cold sea water flowed into the Kattegat at the bottom from the Atlantic Ocean, whereas the surface water was still affected by an outflow of Baltic Ice Lake water. At 10,500 BP the water temperature increased, especially in the southern part of the Kattegat. The shift of the Baltic Ice Lake outlet to the northern part of the Billingen Mountain at 10,300 BP changed the hydrography of the Kattegat. Freshwater from the Baltic basin mainly flowed out north of the Kattegat via the Skagerrak to the Norwegian Sea, so that the salinity and the surface water temperature in the Kattegat increased.
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