We present a new time-slice reconstruction of the Eurasian ice sheets (British–Irish, Svalbard–Barents–Kara Seas and Scandinavian) documenting the spatial evolution of these interconnected ice sheets every 1000 years from 25 to 10 ka, and at four selected time periods back to 40 ka. The time-slice maps of ice-sheet extent are based on a new Geographical Information System (GIS) database, where we have collected published numerical dates constraining the timing of ice-sheet advance and retreat, and additionally geomorphological and geological evidence contained within the existing literature. We integrate all uncertainty estimates into three ice-margin lines for each time-slice; a most-credible line, derived from our assessment of all available evidence, with bounding maximum and minimum limits allowed by existing data. This approach was motivated by the demands of glaciological, isostatic and climate modelling and to clearly display limitations in knowledge. The timing of advance and retreat were both remarkably spatially variable across the ice-sheet area. According to our compilation the westernmost limit along the British–Irish and Norwegian continental shelf was reached up to 7000 years earlier (at c. 27–26 ka) than the eastern limit on the Russian Plain (at c. 20–19 ka). The Eurasian ice sheet complex as a whole attained its maximum extent (5.5 Mkm2) and volume (~24 m Sea Level Equivalent) at c. 21 ka. Our continental-scale approach highlights instances of conflicting evidence and gaps in the ice-sheet chronology where uncertainties remain large and should be a focus for future research. Largest uncertainties coincide with locations presently below sea level and where contradicting evidence exists. This first version of the database and time-slices (DATED-1) has a census date of 1 January 2013 and both are available to download via the Bjerknes Climate Data Centre and PANGAEA (www.bcdc.no; http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.848117).

The last Eurasian ice sheets - a chronological database and time-slice reconstruction, DATED-1

A goal of phylogeography is to relate patterns of genetic differentiation to potential historical geographic isolating events. Quaternary glaciations, particularly the one culminating in the Last Glacial Maximum ;21 ka (thousands of years ago), greatly affected the distributions and population sizes of temperate marine species as their ranges retreated southward to escape ice sheets. Traditional genetic models of glacial refugia and routes of recolonization include these predictions: low genetic diversity in formerly glaciated areas, with a small number of alleles/haplotypes dominating disproportionately large areas, and high diversity including ''private'' alleles in glacial refugia. In the Northern Hemisphere, low diversity in the north and high diversity in the south are expected. This simple model does not account for the possibility of populations surviving in relatively small northern periglacial refugia. If these periglacial populations experienced extreme bottlenecks, they could have the low genetic diversity expected in recolonized areas with no refugia, but should have more endemic diversity (private alleles) than recently recolonized areas. This review examines evidence of putative glacial refugia for eight benthic marine taxa in the temperate North Atlantic. All data sets were reanalyzed to allow direct comparisons between geographic patterns of genetic diversity and distribution of particular clades and haplotypes including private alleles. We contend that for marine organisms the genetic signatures of northern periglacial and southern refugia can be distinguished from one another. There is evidence for several periglacial refugia in northern latitudes, giving credence to recent climatic reconstructions with less extensive glaciation.

Evaluating signatures of glacial refugia for north atlantic benthic marine taxa

https://notendur.hi.is/oi/AG-326%202006%20readings/Ice%20sheets%20and%20glacial%20cycles/Clark_QSR2002.pdf

Ice sheets and sea level of the Last Glacial Maximum

Pattern and timing of retreat of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet

Palaeo-ice streams

New data for the Last Glacial Maximum in Great Britain and Ireland

Correlation of Quaternary glaciations in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales

Quaternary deposits and glacial stratigraphy in Ireland

Strong early Holocene crustal uplift over the Spitsbergen archipelago reflects disappearance of an ice mass centred just north-east of the archipelago and which decayed rapidly just after 10,000 BP after a maximum extension between 12,600 and 10,000 BP. From the lithofacies distributions associated with these events a glacio-isostatic facies model can be defined which, combined with analyses of amino acid racemization, provides a valuable stratigraphic method for correlating pre-Holocene glacio-isostatic events. These are correlated with events in Greenland, and both are contrasted with Weichselian glacial events at the southern margins of the two great Northern Hemisphere ice sheets and with contemporary water mass changes in the North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea. The geographical variation in glacier response through time is explained by three principal climatic circulation patterns.

A.M. McCabe

Papers

New data for the Last Glacial Maximum in Great Britain and Ireland

Correlation of Quaternary glaciations in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales

Quaternary deposits and glacial stratigraphy in Ireland

A glacio-isostatic facies model and amino acid stratigraphy for late Quaternary events in Spitsbergen and the Arctic

AMS C-14 dating of deglacial events in the Irish Sea Basin and other sectors of the British-Irish ice sheet