Fracture controls on valley persistence: the Cairngorm Granite pluton, Scotland

Hall, Adrian M.; Gillespie, Martin R.

doi:10.1007/s00531-016-1423-z

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…5). Where glacial valleys are developed from fluvial precursors, as in the Cairngorms (Sugden, 1968;Hall & Gillespie, 2016) and across much of the southern Highland boundary (Linton, 1940), the timescales for glacial modification likely span the Pleistocene (Fredin et al, 2013). Large meltwater channels may have been re-occupied in successive glaciations, especially where meltwater flow was constrained by topography in cols, for example the many Nye channels in the eastern Grampians (Clapperton & Sugden, 1977), or against hill flanks, for example in the Ochils (Russell, 1995) and Lammermuirs (Sissons, 1961).…”

Section: Erosion Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rock compartments with low fracture spacing have emerged as tors through the repeated formation and stripping of thin regolith similar in properties to that which exists on surrounding slopes today (Hall & Sugden 2007). This debris mantle, in areas such as the Cairngorms, is of complex origin, with elements that derive from hydrothermal alteration (Hall & Gillespie 2016), multiple phases of chemical weathering (Hall & Mellor 1988), granular disintegration due to stress release (Phillips et al 2006) and frost weathering (Ballantyne 1994b). Studies in other humid, unglaciated granite terrains indicate rates of regolith formation of >5 m/Ma (Bierman 1994; Duxbury et al 2015), comparable to known rates of MTD production.…”

Section: Weathering and Non-glacial Erosionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another potentially favourable location is where advancing ice fronts moved along the main straths sending ice lobes into closed tributary valleys, ponding lakes and disgorging sediment, before bypassing these locations as ice thickened and topographic control over ice flow weakened. Examples of this type of accommodation space are seen in the central Grampians, where thick glacilacustrine sediments have been overridden by later ice movements and disturbed by glacitectonics (Smith et al 2011; Hall et al 2016). The possibility also exists that old tills are simply overlooked through incorrect attribution to younger phases of glaciation.…”

Section: Middle Pleistocene Terrestrial Stratigraphymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the type landscape of selective linear erosion in the Cairngorms (Sugden 1968), glacial erosion of plateau surfaces was negligible (Hall & Glasser 2003), although non-glacial denudation of bare rock surfaces operated at 2.8-12.0 m/Ma (Phillips et al 2006). Most erosion resulted from glacial deepening of valleys by a maximum of 200-350 metres (Sugden 1968;Hall & Gillespie 2016). Estimated average Pleistocene erosion depths across the Dee catchment are estimated at 30-60 m, with a substantial contribution from the removal of saprock and saprolite (Glasser & Hall 1997).…”

Section: Erosion Depthsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Early and Middle Pleistocene environments, landforms and sediments in Scotland

Hall

Merritt

Connell

et al. 2018

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Socie

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This paper reviews the changing environments, developing landforms and terrestrial stratigraphy during the Early and Middle Pleistocene stages in Scotland. Cold stages after 2.7 Ma brought mountain ice caps and lowland permafrost, but larger ice sheets were short-lived. The late Early and Middle Pleistocene sedimentary record found offshore indicates more than 10 advances of ice sheets from Scotland into the North Sea but only 4–5 advances have been identified from the terrestrial stratigraphy. Two primary modes of glaciation, mountain ice cap and full ice sheet modes, can be recognised. Different zones of glacial erosion in Scotland reflect this bimodal glaciation and the spatially and temporally variable dynamics at glacier beds. Depths of glacial erosion vary from almost zero in Buchan to hundreds of metres in glens in the western Highlands and in basins both onshore and offshore. The presence of tors and blockfields indicates repeated development of patches of cold-based, non-erosive glacier ice on summits and plateaux. In lowlands, chemical weathering continued to operate during interglacials, but gruss-type saprolites are mainly of Pliocene to Early Pleistocene age. The Middle Pleistocene terrestrial stratigraphic record in Scotland, whilst fragmentary and poorly dated, provides important and accessible evidence of changing glacial, periglacial and interglacial environments over at least three stadial–interstadial–interglacial cycles. The distributions of blockfields and tors and the erratic contents of glacial sediments indicate that the configuration, thermal regime and pattern of ice flow during MIS 6 were broadly comparable to those of the last ice sheet. Improved control over the ages of Early and Middle Pleistocene sediments, soils and saprolites and on long-term rates of weathering and erosion, combined with information on palaeoenvironments, ice extent and sea level, will in future allow development and testing of new models of Pleistocene tectonics, isostasy, sea-level change and ice sheet dynamics in Scotland.

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Section: Erosion Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Weathering and Non-glacial Erosionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Middle Pleistocene Terrestrial Stratigraphymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Erosion Depthsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Early and Middle Pleistocene environments, landforms and sediments in Scotland

Hall

Merritt

Connell

et al. 2018

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Socie

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show abstract

“…The longevity of preglacial drainage systems and preservation of pre-Quaternary weathering profiles are well documented in the Scottish Highlands (Hall 1991;Hall & Bishop 2002;Hall & Gillespie 2017;Merritt et al 2017). Less is known in the Midland Valley of Scotland.…”

Section: Ice-flow Alignment and Timingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the geometry, age and genesis of buried Quaternary valley systems in the Midland Valley of Scotland, UK

Kearsey

Lee

Finlayson

et al. 2018

Boreas

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Buried palaeo‐valley systems have been identified widely beneath lowland parts of the UK including eastern England, central England, south Wales and the North Sea. In the Midland Valley of Scotland palaeo‐valleys have been identified yet the age and genesis of these enigmatic features remain poorly understood. This study utilizes a digital data set of over 100 000 boreholes that penetrate the full thickness of deposits in the Midland Valley of Scotland. It identified 18 buried palaeo‐valleys, which range from 4 to 36 km in length and 24 to 162 m in depth. Geometric analysis has revealed four distinct valley morphologies, which were formed by different subglacial and subaerial processes. Some palaeo‐valleys cross‐cut each other with the deepest features aligning east–west. These east–west features align with the reconstructed ice‐flow direction under maximum conditions of the Main Late Devensian glaciation. The shallower features appear more aligned to ice‐flow direction during ice‐sheet retreat, and were therefore probably incised under more restricted ice‐sheet configurations. The bedrock lithology influences and enhances the position and depth of palaeo‐valleys in this lowland glacial terrain. Faults have juxtaposed Palaeozoic sedimentary and igneous rocks and the deepest palaeo‐valleys occur immediately down‐ice of knick‐points in the more resistant igneous bedrock. The features are regularly reused and the fills are dominated by glacial fluvial and glacial marine deposits. This suggests that the majority of infilling of the features happened during deglaciation and may be unrelated to the processes that cut them.

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Structural control on drainage pattern development of the western Taiwan orogenic wedge

Chen

Ôta

Willett

et al. 2023

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Structural control on drainage patterns has long been suggested to play an important role in the development of fluvial systems, including their map pattern. Along the western Taiwan orogenic wedge, a prominent drainage pattern change is present, from predominantly orogen parallel drainages in the south to river systems that flow perpendicular to the long axis of the mountain belt in the north. Such change likely reflects the temporal evolutionary process as the Taiwan orogen propagates southward. We propose that the flow direction change of river systems is produced by the development of the fold‐and‐thrust belt on the pro‐wedge side of the mountain belt and is facilitated by drainage reorganization that includes abrupt drainage captures and more gradual divide movements, permitting drainage basins to attain a geometrically stable configuration with time. Our observations in Taiwan demonstrate not only how tectonic uplift is effective at modifying river patterns in the early stages of orogenic development but also how time and increased stream power encourage river networks to adjust to more effective patterns in mature mountain belts.

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Fracture controls on valley persistence: the Cairngorm Granite pluton, Scotland

Cited by 14 publications

References 75 publications

Early and Middle Pleistocene environments, landforms and sediments in Scotland

Early and Middle Pleistocene environments, landforms and sediments in Scotland

Examining the geometry, age and genesis of buried Quaternary valley systems in the Midland Valley of Scotland, UK

Structural control on drainage pattern development of the western Taiwan orogenic wedge

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