Lohilahti delta and ancient outlet channel

In the final stages of the Ice Age about 11,600 years ago the edge of the melting ice sheet had receded to the Saimaa area. In front of the glacier was waving a great meltwater basin, called The Baltic Ice Lake. The continuous withdrawal of the ice led to the opening of a new outlet channel to the Yoldia Sea in Middle-Sweden. After this the water level in the Saimaa area sank which caused the isolation of the waters into local ice lakes. When the edge of the glacier had retreated to Lohilahti area, new channels for the meltwaters emerged underneath the ice sheet. The water flowed through several routes and transported sandy material which accumulated and formed Salmenkangas Delta. This connected the northern ice lakes with the ice lakes in Saimaa area, forming one large basin, the Saimaa ice lake.

Näe ja koe GEOKOHTEET Lohilahti delta and ancient outlet channel

Experience a country village built on a Delta

The pond in front of the Salmenkangas delta is a kettle hole that formed at the end of the ice age when a large block of ice buried in the layers of sand and gravel melted. The southeastern ridge of the delta, on the pond side, has been eroded into a steep slope by flowing water. Nowadays there is a Lohikoski church and graveyard on the delta. There is a summer market and the memorial of Mark by the pond. Nearby you will also find a village shop, café, boat dock and school. The distance to the Lohikoski mill is about 1.5 km along Myllytie. The Saimaa Geopark sign is on the edge of the summer market.

Image: Heli Rautanen

Saimaa geopark signpost

Geological vocabulary

Coordinates

Geographic coordinates

61.610846791, 28.701132585

GPS-devices

x=590227,830 y=6832007,819