Pleistocene glacial limits in England, Scotland and Wales
TL;DR: The evidence for glaciation of England, Scotland, and Wales is primarily lithological with glacial episodes being identified by till and glacio-fluvial sediments and glacial limits being determined by the extent of these deposits as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: This chapter reviews the evidence for glacial limits in England, Scotland, and Wales as understood at the beginning of 2002. Evidence for glaciation of England, Scotland, and Wales is primarily lithological with glacial episodes being identified by till and glaciofluvial sediments and glacial limits being determined by the extent of these deposits. Additionally, geomorphological evidence has played an important role in reconstructing the extent of ice masses in younger glaciations. Moraine ridges and ice-contact landforms, including patterns of glacio-isostatically deformed displaced shorelines, have played an important role in the determination of ice limits of these younger glacial events. Biological evidence has played a role in separating glacial events and in indicating a tendency toward climatic deterioration, or the existence of cold conditions that may be associated with glaciation. In the majority of cases, this biological evidence has taken the form of pollen, but molluska and plant macros have also been used to differentiate different stages of the Quaternary and insect faunas to provide direct evidence for the presence of glacial meltwater. Soil evidence, usually in the form of permafrost structures, has been used to indicate cold climate conditions that have been linked with the formation of glacier ice elsewhere in England, Wales, and Scotland.
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Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research1, Stockholm University2, Saint Petersburg State University3, Russian Academy of Sciences4, University of Cambridge5, Geological Museum6, Gas Technology Institute7, Lund University8, University of Copenhagen9, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research10, University of Iceland11, University of New Hampshire12, Geological Survey of Sweden13, University of Oulu14, Aarhus University15, Ohio State University16, Geological Survey of Finland17, University of Bristol18, Leibniz Association19
TL;DR: In this paper, the maximum limits of the Eurasian ice sheets during four glaciations have been reconstructed: (1) the Late Saalian (>140 ka), (2) the Early Weichselian (100-80 ka),(3) the Middle Weichsellian (60-50 ka), and (4) the late Weichselsian (25-15 ka) based on satellite data and aerial photographs combined with geological field investigations in Russia and Siberia, and with marine seismic and sediment core data.
1,426 citations
Cites background from "Pleistocene glacial limits in Engla..."
...Much of the North Sea Basin seems to have been ice covered during the Late Saalian and in Britain the northern tip of East Anglia (Norfolk) seems to have been covered (Clark et al., 2004)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reconstruct the demise of the British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) and present palaeo-glaciological maps of retreat stages between 27 and 15 ka BP.
471 citations
TL;DR: The Quaternary is synonymous with extensive glaciation of Earth's mid-and high-latitudes as discussed by the authors, and significant glaciation began in the latest Eocene (ca 35-Ma) in eastern Antarctica, followed by glaciation in mountain areas through the Miocene (in Alaska, Greenland, Iceland and Patagonia), later in the Pliocene (e.g. in the Bolivian Andes and possibly in Tasmania) and in the earliest Pleistocene (i.e.
316 citations
Cites background from "Pleistocene glacial limits in Engla..."
...The North Sea and Irish Sea were fully glaciated (Clark et al., 2004)....
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University College Dublin1, University of California, Los Angeles2, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven3, University of Cambridge4, Royal Holloway, University of London5, Pennsylvania State University6, University of Oxford7, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research8, National Museum of Ireland9, University of Copenhagen10, Russian Academy of Sciences11, University of Edinburgh12, University College London13, Uppsala University14
TL;DR: The reconstructed matrilineal history of brown and polar bears has two striking features: first, it is punctuated by dramatic and discrete climate-driven dispersal events, and second, opportunistic mating between these two species as their ranges overlapped has left a strong genetic imprint.
259 citations
Cites background from "Pleistocene glacial limits in Engla..."
...The shaded area in (A) indicates the traditional limit of the last glacial maximum (LGM) in Ireland....
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...7 kya [32] and that Ireland was completely covered in ice from circa 27–23 kya [29, 31]....
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...If the Irish bears carrying clade II matrilines, or at least those Irish bears associated with radiocarbon ages postdating the LGM, were actually polar bears and not brown bears, then fewer hybridization events would be required to explain the observed data (in Figure 4B, only the transfer of the polar bear matriline to the ABC island brown bears would be required)....
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...However, although it is consistent with conditions during the LGM favoring the emergence of a cold-adapted species, the timeline of this scenario conflicts with both the existence of the two ancient polar bears and the high degree of morphological and behavioral dissimilarity between brown bears and polar bears....
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...Extent and timing of the last glacial maximum (LGM) in Britain and Ireland: A review....
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TL;DR: In this paper, high-resolution continuous core material, geophysical measurements and hundreds of archived core descriptions enabled to identify 13 Late Pleistocene Rhine-Meuse sedimentary units in the infill of the southern part of the North Sea basin (the Netherlands, northwestern Europe).
242 citations
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TL;DR: The core Vema 28-238 as discussed by the authors preserves an excellent oxygen isotope and magnetic stratigraphy and is shown to contain undisturbed sediments deposited continuously through the past 870,000 yr.
2,515 citations
Book•
06 Jan 1994
TL;DR: The periglaciation of up-land Britain was studied in this article, where the authors showed that the periglacial mass-wasting and slope evolution in lowland Britain can be traced to fluvial and aeolian processes.
Abstract: Part I. Introduction and Context: 1. Introduction 2. Quaternary environmental change in Great Britain 3. Periglacial environments Part II. The Periglaciation of Lowland Britain: 4. Ice wedge casts and relict tundra polygons 5. Ground ice depressions and related phenomena 6. Active layer processes: cryoturbation and patterned ground 7. Periglacial mass-wasting and slope evolution in lowland Britain 8. Lowland landscape modification by fluvial and aeolian processes Part III. The Periglaciation of Up-Land Britain: 9. Frost weathering and mountain-top detritus 10. Patterned ground on British mountains 11. Solifluction landforms in upland Britain 12. Talus slopes and related landforms 13. Nival, fluvial, aeolian and coastal features Part VI. Periglacial Environments: 14. Past and present periglacial environments.
514 citations
TL;DR: In this article, satellite imagery and data from ground surveys are used to reconstruct the integrated pattern of the principal longitudinal and transverse features produced on a continent-wide scale by the last ice sheets in Europe and North America.
Abstract: Satellite imagery and data from ground surveys are used to reconstruct the integrated pattern of the principal longitudinal and transverse features produced on a continent-wide scale by the last ice sheets in Europe and North America. From modern analogues, it is argued that most longitudinal features reflect flow in the outer zone of the ice sheet, and that most major transverse features reflect relatively stable ice-sheet margins. These principles are tested and, using them alone, detailed patterns for the decay of the last ice sheets in North America, Europe and the British Isles are produced, and periods during which they attained near steady-states identified. These patterns can be calibrated by dated sequences to yield deglaciation isochrons. Application of glaciological models to these geological reconstructions generates detailed prediction of net ablation for the period of ice-sheet decay and, by using evidence of last glaciation stratigraphy, models of the dynamic behaviour of the ice sheets throughout the last glacial period are constructed. These enable volumetric changes, oceanic isotopic changes and erratic dispersal pathways to be reconstructed. Erratic dispersal patterns give a good indication of the long-term distribution of centres of ice sheet mass. Discrepancies between predicted and empirical oceanic isotopic records indicate ways in which the conventional continental timescale of glacial change must be altered to fit the better-dated deep ocean record. In addition discrepancies between predicted and empirical erratic dispersal patterns suggest that conventional views of ice-sheet behaviour based on high latitude models may be inappropriate to the dynamically more active mid-latitude ice sheets based in large part on deformable sediment beds.
398 citations
Book•
13 Feb 2012
Abstract: The Pleistocene of the Thames the upper Thames basin the middle Thames the lower Thames Essex.
310 citations