The Baltic Sea and Kattegat are connected via three straits: Storebælt, Lillebælt and Øresund (Fig. 1). Øresund is the shallowest with a threshold around 7 m deep and increasing water depths to the north (Fig. 2). In the early Holocene, global sea-level rise led to reflooding of Øresund. It started in northern Øresund which was transformed into a fjord. However, so far the timing of the transgression has not been well determined, but sediment cores collected north of the threshold, at water depths of 12 to 20 m, and a new series of radiocarbon ages help to constrain this. As the relative sea level continued to rise, the threshold in Øresund was also flooded, and Øresund became a strait. In mid-Holocene time, the relative sea level rose until it was 4–5 m higher than at present, and low-lying areas around Øresund became small fjords. During the late Holocene, the relative sea level fell again. Part of the data set discussed here was presented by Andreasen (2005).
Rates of Holocene isostatic uplift and relative sea-level lowering of the Baltic in SW Finland based on studies of isolation contacts
