three parallel ridges traversing the breadth of southern Finland from Hangö (Hanko), at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland in the west, to Joensuu, on Lake Pyhäselkä, near the Russian border in the east. The significance and origin of the Salpausselkä ridges has been a subject of much controversy. The ridges are acuate (needle-shaped) in form and sometimes more than 2 kilometres (as much as 1.5 miles) wide and 100 metres (320 feet) high.

The ridges form two distinct arcs termed Salpausselkä I and II. In some regions a third arc, Salpausselkä III, is recognized, although this has a more restricted distribution. Salpausselkä ridges are characteristically narrow with a flat plateau. They consist of glacial till and material carried in streams that probably flowed through the ice.

Some authorities believe that the ridges were built up outside the ice margin at time of major halts of the glacial ice. The form and structure of the features were modified by the action of waves; this accounts for the flat tops of the ridges.

The Salpausselkä ridges thus provide information about the complex changes in sea levels that occurred simultaneously with the process of deglaciation. The Salpausselkä ridges also serve to provide evidence about varve chronologies, the measurement and counting of thin, annual layers of silts and clays deposited in glacially influenced basins.