Abstract The Middle to Late Pleistocene palaeoenvironmental record from the repeatedly glaciated central and eastern Fennoscandia is poorly known. The majority of the glacial and warm interval records have been interpreted to represent only the last, Weichselian, glacial cycle (119–11.7 ka). We have revised the crucial part of the existing stratigraphic documentation in central and southern Finland. Our findings show that a considerable part of the depositional record extends further back in time and is more complete than previously thought. One record may reach the Middle Pleistocene Holsteinian Interglacial (≈MIS 11), 424-374 ka ago, and a large number of records are tentatively attributed to the Middle Pleistocene Ropersdorf-Schoningen Interglacial (≈MIS 7) 243-191 ka ago. During this possible Ropersdorf-Schoningen Interglacial, the Gulf of Bothnia hosted larger alkaline and smaller dystrophic lakes surrounded by boreal pine forests in a continental climate with warmer summers and colder winters than today. The Eemian (≈MIS 5e) 131-119 ka sea coastal records show detailed evidence of the widespread intermixing of continental fresh and marine waters. During the Early Weichselian Brorup Interstadial (≈MIS 5c) 109-96 ka, central and southern Finland seem to have supported open birch forest tundra, later invaded by spruce; not boreal pine forest as earlier thought. The early birch vegetation faced a tundra phase which may be the Montaigu cooling event c. 103 ka ago. The revised palaeoenvironmental interpretation shows that the development during the three discussed warmer intervals is well in line with the central European vegetational development. Our palaeoenvironmental interpretations concerning Ropersdorf-Schoningen and Brorup warm intervals are preliminary and will need further investigations. No indisputable Middle Weichselian (≈MIS 3, 57-29 ka) sedimentary record seems to have been recorded in the studied area.

中文翻译：

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Fennoscandia 东部冰川期中更新世和晚更新世间冰期和间期记录的修订版

摘要 来自 Fennoscandia 中部和东部反复冰川作用的中至晚更新世古环境记录鲜为人知。大多数冰川和暖间隔记录被解释为仅代表最后的魏克塞尔冰川周期（119-11.7 ka）。我们已经修订了芬兰中部和南部现有地层记录的关键部分。我们的研究结果表明，相当一部分沉积记录可以追溯到更远的时间，并且比以前认为的更完整。一条记录可能到达424-374 ka前的中更新世荷尔斯泰因间冰期（≈MIS 11），大量记录暂定为243-191 ka前的中更新世Ropersdorf-Schoningen间冰期（≈MIS 7）。在这个可能的罗珀斯多夫-舍宁根间冰期，波的尼亚湾拥有较大的碱性湖泊和较小的营养不良湖泊，周围是北方松树林，属于大陆性气候，夏季温暖，冬季比今天更冷。Eemian (≈MIS 5e) 131-119 ka 沿海记录显示了大陆淡水和海水广泛混合的详细证据。在早期 Weichselian Brorup Interstadial (≈MIS 5c) 109-96 ka 期间，芬兰中部和南部似乎支持开放的桦树林苔原，后来被云杉入侵；不像早先想象的那样北松林。早期的桦树植被面临着苔原阶段，这可能是蒙泰古降温事件 c。103 年前。修订后的古环境解释表明，所讨论的三个温暖间隔期间的发展与中欧植被发展非常一致。我们对 Ropersdorf-Schoningen 和 Brorup 暖期的古环境解释是初步的，需要进一步调查。在研究区域似乎没有记录到无可争议的中魏克塞尔 (≈MIS 3, 57-29 ka) 沉积记录。