Sedimentological traces of earthquakes (seismites= layer deformed as a result of seismic activity) within Pleistocene sediments linked mainly to glacio-isostatic adjustment (GIA) caused by loading/unloading of Scandinavian Ice Sheet were objectives of the GREBAL project. Studies were conducted in the northern part of Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (so called the Southern Peribalticum area). Seismites were found in ten study sites in glaciolacustrine/lacustrine and fine-grained fluvial sediments of Pleistocene-age in Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. Seismic activity did accompany Saalian and Weichselian glaciations and occurred in different periods of glacial cycle - during or after deglaciation and during ice-advance periods. Earthquakes caused by the reactivation of pre-Quaternary faults due to stress state changes were the most probable source of interpreted seismic activity. However, glacial earthquakes caused e.g. by large-scale, violent stick-slip motion are also discussed as probable source of seismic activity.
Moreover, it was made a kind of inventory of evidences of structural and textural features that could help in distinction of the soft-sediment deformation structures formed as a result of the shock waves propagation from those that arise as a result of other processes related to glacial and periglacial processes.
The study has been financially supported by a grant for the GREBAL project (No. 2015/19/B/ST10/ 00661) from the National Science Centre Poland.

Presentation (PL PDF)