The Loch Lomond Readvance on the Isle of Skye,Scotland: Glacier reconstruction and palaeoclimatic implications

Geomorphological mapping of southern Skye indicates evidence for a single readvance of locally-nourished glaciers. These comprised a major icefield that occupied c. 155 km² of the main mountain area, a small icefield c. 10 km² in extent in the Kyleakin hills and ten corrie glaciers with a total area of c. 16 km². The absence of Lateglacial pollen sites, shorelines and periglacial features within the limits of local glaciation implies a Loch Lomond Readvance age for this glacial event. The area-weighted mean equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of the reconstructed Loch Lomond Readvance glaciers (319 m) conforms with a regional eastwards rise in ELAs that indicates dominant westerly airstreams during the Loch Lomond Stadial. An easterly decline in ELAs across the former icefields is interpreted in terms of easterly transfer of snow across ice-sheds by westerly winds, though the altitudes of corrie glacier ELAs suggest that the dominant snow-bearing winds were southerlies. Calculations based on the area-weighted mean ELA for the major icefield (308 m) indicate a stadial mean July sea-level temperature of c. 6 °C. The anomalously low gradients of certain former icefield outlet glaciers are attributed to deformation of subglacial sediment, an effect that may vitiate the assumption of linear ablation/accumulation gradients in the calculation of former ELAs for reconstructed glaciers.     

Late devensian ice sheet in the western Grampians,Scotland

A radial pattern of ice flow of the last ice sheet in the largest source area of ice (c. 5000 km²) in the British Isles in western Scotland is demonstrated by the dispersal of indicator erratics and by patterns of striae, friction cracks and ice-moulded landforms. Three major ice domes and the principal ice divide are identified in the western Grampians. The ice domes coincided with the highest mountain blocks while it is inferred that the alignment of many of the pre-existing valleys controlled much of the outflow of ice, forming ice streams within the ice sheet. The importance of the Rannoch Moor basin as a radial provider of ice to surrounding areas was apparently less significant than has hitherto been considered. Ice flowed into and across the southern part of the basin from the principal ice divide located to the west and south. No evidence has yet been found that would support a model of an eastward-migrating ice divide either during the build-up or during the deglaciation of the Late Devensian ice sheet.     

Loch Lomond Stadial glaciers in the Aran and Arenig Mountains,North Wales,Great Britain

Geomorphological evidence for four former local glaciers has been mapped in the Aran and Arenig Mountains, North Wales. Former glacial extent was deduced from the distribution and assemblage of end and lateral moraines, hummocky moraine, boulder limits, drift limits and periglacial trimlines. Comparison of infilled lake sediment stratigraphies inside and outside of the former glacier limits suggests a Loch Lomond Stadial (Late Devensian) age of the former glaciers (c. 12.9–11.5 cal. ka BP ). This finding is also supported by periglacial–landform contrasts between the land inside and outside of the glacier limits. Reconstruction of the four glaciers illustrates a mean equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of c. 504 m. From the reconstructed ELAs and the combination of precipitation and snowblow input for total accumulation, by analogy with Norwegian glaciers, a mean sea‐level July temperature is calculated at 8.4°C. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palaeoclimatic reconstruction from Loch Lomond Readvance glaciers in the West Drumochter Hills,Scotland

Geomorphological mapping in the West Drumochter Hills provides evidence of a readvance of locally nourished glaciers during the Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stade, in the form of an icefield 67.7 km² in area drained by outlet glaciers. The icefield limits accord broadly with those proposed by Sissons (1980) but all geomorphic, stratigraphic and sedimentological evidence conflicts with a recent proposal that the landforms in the area reflect southwestwards retreat of the last ice sheet. Up‐valley continuity of recessional moraines indicates that the ice remained active and close to climatic equilibrium during the earlier stages of glacier retreat, consistent with slow warming following the coldest part of the stade. The pattern of equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) across the icefield is consistent with transfer of snow by westerly and southerly winds. The ELA of the reconstructed icefield as a whole is 622–629 m, although this figure is likely to be lower than the regional (climatic) ELA because the icefield probably received additional snow blown from adjacent plateau surfaces and slopes. Inclusion of potential snow‐blow areas in the ELA calculation yields a value of 648–656 m; the climatic ELA is therefore likely to have lain between 622 and 656 m. Mean June to August temperature at the ELA, based on chironomid assemblages at two sites, falls within the range 4.0 ± 0.7°C. Empirical relationships between temperature and precipitation at modern glacier ELAs indicate that mean annual precipitation (MAP) at the ELA was 1977 ± 464 mm, statistically indistinguishable from modern values. Comparison with precipitation values calculated for the Isle of Mull on the west coast suggest that the precipitation gradient across the Central Highlands of Scotland was steeper during the Loch Lomond Stade than at present, probably as the result of efficient scavenging of precipitation from westerly airflows by the West Highland Icefield. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Permian glaciated bedrock surfaces and associated sediments on Kangaroo Island,South Australia: Implications for local Gondwanan ice‐mass dynamics

Late Palaeozoic glaciated rock surfaces and associated sediments occur along the northeastern coast of Kangaroo Island. The erosional forms include glacially polished rock surfaces, striae, grooves, chatter marks, friction cracks, crescentic gouges, p‐forms, sichelwannen, miniature rock crag‐and‐tails and roches moutonnées. The distribution and orientation of these along with till fabrics indicate a general northwesterly ice flow in this part of the Troubridge Basin. The glacial erosional forms and the presence of thick lodgement till imply that the local basal ice was at pressure‐melting point during their formation. Temperate to subpolar glacial ice conditions, similar to those currently prevailing in glaciers in Spitsbergen, are inferred.     

Dartmoor's overlooked glacial legacy

Traditionally regarded as a relict permafrost and periglacial landscape that lay beyond the limits of Pleistocene glaciation, the granite uplands of northern Dartmoor in south‐west England in fact contain geomorphological evidence for the former existence of a plateau ice cap, making the area the location of the southernmost independent glacier mass in the British Isles. In addition to weakly U‐shaped valleys, the most prominent evidence comprises arcuate and linear bouldery ridges and hummocky valley floor drift, which are interpreted as latero‐frontal moraines deposited by the outlet glacier lobes of a plateau ice cap. Inset sequences of these depositional landforms, in association with meltwater channels, demarcate the receding margins of the glacier lobes. A numerical model of ice cap development shows that a predominantly thin plateau icefield type glaciation is required in order to produce significant ice flow into surrounding valleys. The highest and most extensive plateau areas were occupied by ice for the longest cumulative period of time throughout the Pleistocene, thereby explaining: (1) the lack of tors in such areas as the product of ‘average’ glacial conditions preferentially removing tors or dampening their production rates, (2) the survival of high relief tors during glaciation if they occupied summits too narrow to develop thick and erosive glacier ice, and (3) the survival of subdued tors in areas glaciated less regularly during the Pleistocene.     

Reactivated strike–slip faults: examples from north Cornwall, UK

Several strike–slip faults at Crackington Haven, UK show evidence of right-lateral movement with tip cracks and dilatational jogs, which have been reactivated by left-lateral strike–slip movement. Evidence for reactivation includes two slickenside striae on a single fault surface, two groups of tip cracks with different orientations and very low displacement gradients or negative (left-lateral) displacements at fault tips.

Evidence for the relative age of the two strike–slip movements is (1) the first formed tip cracks associated with right-lateral slip are deformed, whereas the tip cracks formed during left-lateral slip show no deformation; (2) some of the tip cracks associated with right-lateral movement show left-lateral reactivation; and (3) left-lateral displacement is commonly recorded at the tips of dominantly right-lateral faults.

The orientation of the tip cracks to the main fault is 30–70° clockwise for right-lateral slip, and 20–40° counter-clockwise for left-lateral slip. The structure formed by this process of strike–slip reactivation is termed a “tree structure” because it is similar to a tree with branches. The angular difference between these two groups of tip cracks could be interpreted as due to different stress distribution (e.g., transtensional/transpressional, near-field or far-field stress), different fracture modes or fractures utilizing pre-existing planes of weakness.

Most of the d–x profiles have similar patterns, which show low or negative displacement at the segment fault tips. Although the d–x profiles are complicated by fault segments and reactivation, they provide clear evidence for reactivation. Profiles that experienced two opposite slip movements show various shapes depending on the amount of displacement and the slip sequence. For a larger slip followed by a smaller slip with opposite sense, the profile would be expected to record very low or reverse displacement at fault tips due to late-stage tip propagation. Whereas for a smaller slip followed by larger slip with opposite sense, the d–x profile would be flatter with no reverse displacement at the tips. Reactivation also decreases the ratio of d_max/L since for an original right-lateral fault, left lateral reactivation will reduce the net displacement (d_max) along a fault and increase the fault length (L).

Finally we compare Crackington Haven faults with these in the Atacama system of northern Chile. The Salar Grande Fault (SGF) formed as a left-lateral fault with large displacement in its central region. Later right-lateral reactivation is preserved at the fault tips and at the smaller sub-parallel Cerro Chuculay Fault. These faults resemble those seen at Crackington Haven.     

Late Devensian and Holocene depositional environments associated with the coversand around Caistor, north Lincolnshire, UK

Sand deposits described at three sites near Caistor, north Lincolnshire (UK), provide a record of Late Devensian (Late Weichselian) to Holocene palaeoenvironments at the western margin of the European sand belt. Thermoluminescence (TL) and radiocarbon analyses provide for the first time a chronological framework for the demise of proglacial Lake Humber and the onset of coversand deposition. The reconstructed palaeoenvironmental history suggests that proglacial Lake Humber had receded from its initial high-level stand before c. 18 ka, exposing the lake floor to periglacial conditions marked by the development of thermal contraction cracks. In the period between c. 18 and 14 ka, sand-depositional processes changed from dominantly fluvial to aeolian. The fluvial activity was possibly a consequence of ameliorating winter climates between c. 17 and 16 ka. The aeolian coversand deposition in this period has not been previously recognized in Britain and correlates with the Older Coversand II and Younger Coversand I deposits elsewhere in the European sand belt. Peat accumulation followed during the Windermere (Bølling/Allerød) Interstadial and early part of the Loch Lomond Stadial (Younger Dryas) before regionally extensive coversand deposition took place in the later part of the Loch Lomond Stadial. This coversand correlates with the widespread Younger Coversand II deposits found both within the UK and across the European sand belt. The Holocene has been characterized by widespread stability with the development of soils on the coversand punctuated with periods of localized reworking through to the present day.     

Lake shoreline development, frost weathering and rock platform erosion in an alpine periglacial environment, Jotunheimen, southern Norway

Ice-dammed lake Boverbrevatnet existed for 75–125 years in the 'Little Ice Age'. After about A.D. 1826, glacier retreat led to a fall in lake level and to exposure of the former shoreline, which includes well-developed platforms cut in metamorphic bedrock. The rock platforms, up to 5.3 m wide and backed by cliffs up to 1.55 m high, are partially covered by large angular boulders which form pavements. Accurate levelling has permitted correlation of platform fragments, overflow cols and related features of the shoreline, such as benches eroded in moraines, ice-push ridges, a perched delta, vegetation trim-lines, lichen limits and a 'lichen-kill' zone. The evolution of the lake, the chronology of deglaciation and the period of formation of the rock platforms have been dated by lichenometry, supported by ¹⁴C dating, Schmidt hammer 'R'-values and historical data. The morphology of the rock platforms, together with estimates of their rate of erosion ranging from 1.4 to 7.1 cm/year, indicate the importance of frost shattering (frost riving, frost wedging or macrogelivation) at the lake margin under a periglacial climate, while the permanence of such platforms as landscape features suggests their use in the reconstruction of former periglacial environments. A semi-quantitative model is outlined for the development of rock platforms which emphasises deep penetration of the annual freeze-thaw cycle, the movement of unfrozen lake water towards the freezing plane, and the growth of segregation ice in fissures and cracks at the interface between lake ice and bedrock. Ice-push and ice-pull processes are involved primarily as transporting agents in the formation of boulder pavements and in the removal of debris from the platforms. Analogous processes may occur on polar coasts producing coastal rock platforms.     

Topographic controls on plateau icefield recession: insights from the Younger Dryas Monadhliath Icefield,Scotland

Plateau icefields are a common form of mountain ice mass, frequently found in mid‐latitude to high‐arctic regions and increasingly recognized in the Quaternary record. Their top‐heavy hypsometry makes them highly sensitive to changes in climate when the equilibriaum line altitude (ELA) lies above the plateau edge, allowing ice to expand significantly as regional ELAs decrease, and causing rapid recession as climate warms. With respect to future climate warming, it is important to understand the controls on plateau icefield response to climate change in order to better predict recession rates, with implications for water resources and sea‐level rise. Improving knowledge of the controls on glacier recession may also enable further palaeoclimatic information to be extracted from the Quaternary glacial record. We use the distribution of moraines to examine topographic controls on Younger Dryas icefield recession in Scotland. We find that overall valley morphology influences the style of recession, through microclimatic and geometric controls, with bed gradient affecting moraine spacing. Ice mass reconfiguration may occur as recession progresses because ice divide migration could alter the expected response based on hypsometric distribution. These results add to a growing body of research examining controls on glacier recession and offer a step towards unravelling non‐linear ice mass behaviour. Copyright © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Glacial landsystems,retreat dynamics and controls on Loch Lomond Stadial (Younger Dryas) glaciation in Britain

Glacial geomorphology relating to the Loch Lomond Stadial (Younger Dryas) in Britain is used to construct five glacial landsystem models. These landsystems lie on a continuum of increasing ice thickness and decreasing topographic control and typify the principal styles of glaciation during the stadial. The landsystems comprise: the cirque/niche glacier landsystem, the alpine icefield landsystem, the lowland piedmont lobe landsystem, the plateau icefield landsystem and the icecap landsystem. Geomorphological features representing the icecap landsystem are present only at the centre of the West Highland Glacier Complex, which was flanked primarily by satellite alpine and plateau icefields. The cirque/niche glacier landsystem was present predominantly in areas that experienced conditions only marginally favourable for glacier development at peripheral sites. Three styles of glacier retreat are recorded by the geomorphology: active, two‐phase and uninterrupted retreat. Of these, active retreat appears to be most widespread within the Loch Lomond Stadial limits. These retreat styles reflect a combination of climatic and topographic conditions, coupled with local factors influencing the preservation of landforms from which retreat dynamics can be inferred. Likewise, the distribution of landsystems was influenced by an interplay between topography and climate, with glacier formation being facilitated in locations where topographical conditions aided in the accumulation of snow. The pattern also supports the existence of previously recognized northward and eastward precipitation gradients across Britain during the stadial.     

北京西山潭柘寺地区第四纪冰川与环境问题

第四纪时期,北京西山潭柘寺地区没有发生过任何山地冰川作用。所渭的冰川遗迹、冰碛、冰水沉积及各种冰蚀地貌,实际上是不存在的。因此,所渭的冰期划分也都是不可靠的。在更新世冰期阶段,北京西山属冰缘环境,而非冰川环境。     

Periglacial wedges and the late Pleistocene environment of Wyoming's intermontane basins

Nonsorted polygons in the uppermost 2 to 3 m beneath Pleistocene surfaces indicate permafrost at 1340 m and higher elevations in the intermontane and piedmont plains of Wyoming during the Wisconsin, and perhaps earlier, glacial maxima. The polygons, as much as 10 m in diameter, are delineated by wedges that vary in depths, range from narrow to moderately flared forms, and deform host materials. The wedges have silty fine-to-medium sand matrices (largely eolian) with pebbles or clasts from hosts of gravel or bedrock. Some wedges may reflect seasonal cracking in a periglacial active zone, but most are either permafrost sand-wedge relics or, less commonly, ice-wedge casts. Alternative explanations are rejected largely because similar features are apparently lacking in the lower and warmer plains from eastern Colorado southward. The wedges suggest an arid, windy, periglacial environment whose mean-annual temperatures are conservatively estimated as some 10° to 13°C colder than those at present. Although late Wisconsin-early Holocene floral and faunal evidence indicates lowered montane biotic zones, the eolian and periglacial features indicate a lack of extensive forest cover on the basin floors. In conjunction with vertebrate-fossil associations of grazing and tundra animals, the wedges may provide a parallel line of evidence for a former periglacial steppe, or “steppe-tundra”, in the Wyoming basins.     

Denudation history of the high T/P Ryoke metamorphic belt, southwest Japan: constraints from CHIME monazite ages of gneisses and granitoids

CHIME (chemical Th–U-total Pb isochron method) monazite ages were determined for gneisses and granitoids from the eastern and western parts of the Ryoke belt separated by about 500 km. The monazite ages for the gneisses are concentrated between 102 and 98  Ma, and are interpreted as the time of monazite formation under lower amphibolite facies conditions. The peak metamorphism seems to be contemporaneous with the emplacement of the geologically oldest plutons that are dated at c . 95  Ma in both the eastern and western parts. In the eastern part plutonism continued from c . 95  Ma to c . 68  Ma at intervals of 2–10  Ma, whereas in the western part it ceased at c . 85  Ma. The CHIME monazite ages agree well with the relative age of granitoids derived from intrusive relationships of granitoids in both parts. These lines of evidence are incompatible with a current view that the plutonometamorphism in the Ryoke belt becomes younger towards the east. The CHIME monazite ages, coupled with available data on the depth at which the Ryoke metamorphism took place and the emplacement of individual plutons, show that the western part was eroded more rapidly (about 1.5  mm year⁻¹) than the eastern part (about 0.8  mm year⁻¹) over the time span from 91 to 85  Ma. The denudation rates agree well with those in active orogenic belts like the Alps and Himalayas.     

Periglacial phenomena and their significance as climatic and edaphic indicators

As formed by frost-action and the presence of intensely frozen ground periglacial phenomena, especially microrelief features, are good examples for geomorphic phenomena as being clearly dependent upon specific climatic conditions. Whereas climate controls and delimits the formation and occurrence of periglacial phenomena at a zonal and regional scale, non-climatic vegetational, topographical and edaphic factors are significant within the climatically defined boundary conditions at a smaller scale. It can be shown that each type of periglacial phenomenon is dependent on specific climatic and edaphic conditions. Data on these conditions are compiled in several tables. On the other hand, because of this dependence on specific environmental conditions periglacial phenomena are at the same time diagnostic indicators for such conditions. As to climate they are indicators for specific climatically defined types of frozen ground and for thermal conditions in terms of mean values, such as mean air temperatures, freezing and thawing indexes. Spatial associations of genetically different types of periglacial phenomena indicate the extent and regional subdivision of the periglacial environment and its climatic limits. The definition of the climate-diagnostic value of present periglacial phenomena is an essential perequisite for the palaeoclimatic interpretation phenomena are sensitive to climatic variations of small amplitude and as such they are also indicators of recent short-term climatic changes. As to edaphic conditions they indicate frost-action potential of the groud and various soil properties which have practical implications. As edaphic indicators periglacial phenomena are of significance for terrain evaluation programmes in the Arctic for practical purposes.     

Holocene river development and environmental change in Upper Wharfedale,Yorkshire Dales,England

This paper provides the first radiometrically dated evidence of Holocene alluvial landform development in Upper Wharfedale, Yorkshire Dales. Four river terraces are identified. Terraces 1 and 2 are closely linked to Late Devensian and early Holocene environmental change, with gravel reworked from local glacial and periglacial sources prior to cementation by carbonate‐rich waters. U‐series dating of cement provides age estimates for cementation of between ca. 5.1–7.4 kyr BP for Terrace 1 and ca. 3.6–>8.0 kyr BP for Terrace 2. U‐series dating of tufas overlying Terraces 1 and 2 produced ages of ca. 4.2–4.5 kyr BP and ca. 2.1–2.2 kyr BP respectively, and provide upper age limits for terrace formation. Terrace 3 marks a change in sediment calibre, supply and sedimentation style, and ¹⁴C dating suggests that the principal source of fine‐grained material may be agricultural expansion in the Yorkshire Dales from ca. ad 600 (1350 cal. yr BP). Radiocarbon dates indicate that Terrace 4 was deposited from the eleventh century, with initiation of the contemporary floodplain between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries ad. Both these lowest units contain sediments contaminated with heavy metals as a result of mining activities within the catchment. The evidence presented in this study is comparable to that of research undertaken in upland environments elsewhere in northern and western Britain, thereby adding to the corpus of information currently available for evaluating the fluvial geomorphological response to climate and vegetation change during the Holocene. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Loch Lomond Readvance on the Isle of Mull,Scotland: glacier reconstruction and palaeoclimatic implications

Geomorphological mapping of Mull provides evidence for an icefield 143 km² in area flanked by six corrie glaciers with a total area of ca. 13 km². The absence of Lateglacial periglacial features, shorelines and pollen sites from the area occupied by this readvance, together with radiocarbon dating of shell fragments, confirm that it occurred during the Loch Lomond (Younger Dryas) Stade. The thickness of glacigenic deposits within the area of the readvance is attributed to reworking of paraglacial sediments. Up‐valley continuity of recessional moraines indicates that the ice remained active and near to equilibrium during retreat, consistent with slow warming following the coldest part of the stade. Reconstructed equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) imply vigorous snow‐blowing by westerly winds, and are consistent with a general southwestwards decline in ELAs across the Scottish Highlands. An ELA of 250 m was calculated for the Mull Icefield using an ablation:accumulation balance ratio (ABR) approach. Palaeotemperature and palaeoprecipitation estimates were derived by calculating a theoretical regional ELA from meteorological data and assuming that the combination of temperature and precipitation implied by the theoretical ELA approximates conditions at 250 m on Mull during the Loch Lomond Stade. The result indicates a mean July sea‐level temperature of 5.7 ± 0.5°C and a mean annual precipitation at 250 m of ca. 2700–3800 mm (best estimate 3200 mm), indicating higher precipitation totals than at present owing to more vigorous atmospheric circulation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Palaeoglaciology of the last Irish ice sheet reconstructed from striae evidence

A database comprising some ～5200 individual striation measurements on bedrock surfaces across the island of Ireland was used to produce maps of flowsets corresponding to individual ice flow events during the last (late Devensian) glacial cycle. These flowsets were identified on the basis of regional-scale correspondence between striae orientations which, when linked together spatially, are able to identify consistent ice flow vectors. Four main chronological stages are identified on the basis of this evidence: (i) incursion of Scottish ice into Ireland; (ii) glacial maximum conditions; (iii) ice retreat and dissolution; and (iv) development of localised ice domes. Striae-based reconstructions of the glaciology of the last Irish ice sheet are qualitatively different from those based on bedform (mainly drumlin and ribbed moraine) evidence. Significant differences are apparent in upland areas which have fewer preserved bedforms and a higher concentration of striae. Combining bedform and striae datasets will enable a better understanding of the temporal evolution of the ice sheet. It is likely that both datasets record a snapshot of ice flow direction and subglacial conditions and environments immediately prior to preservation of this directional evidence.