The last British Ice Sheet: A review of the evidence utilised in the compilation of the Glacial Map of Britain

This paper reviews the evidence presently available (as at December 2003) for the compilation of the Glacial Map of Britain (see Clark C.D., Evans D.J.A., Khatwa A., Bradwell T., Jordan C.J., Marsh S.H., Mitchell W.A., Bateman, M.D. , 2004. Map and GIS database of glacial landforms and features related to the last British Ice Sheet. Boreas 33, 359–375] and http://www.shef.ac.uk/geography/staff/clark_chris/britice.html) in an effort to stimulate further research on the last British Ice Sheet and promote a reconstruction of ice sheet behaviour based on glacial geology and geomorphology. The wide range of evidence that has been scrutinized for inclusion on the glacial map is assessed with respect to the variability of its quality and quantity and the existing controversies in ice sheet reconstructions. Landforms interpreted as being of unequivocal ice-marginal origin (moraines, ice-contact glacifluvial landforms and lateral meltwater channels) and till sheet margins are used in conjunction with available chronological control to locate former glacier and ice-sheet margins throughout the last glacial cycle. Subglacial landforms (drumlins, flutings and eskers) have been used to demarcate former flow patterns within the ice sheet. The compilation of evidence in a regional map is crucial to any future reconstructions of palaeo-ice sheet dynamics and will provide a clearer understanding of ice sheet configuration, ice divide migration and ice thickness and coverage for the British Ice Sheet as it evolved through the last glacial cycle.