Little Ice Age catastrophic storms and the destruction of a Shetland Island community

Bampton, Matthew; Kelley, Alice R.; Kelley, Joseph T.; Jones, Michael E.; Bigelow, Gerald F.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2017.08.003

Cited by 17 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The timing of sand blows is consistent with Kinnaird et al (2015)'s findings at Sandwick and other work carried out in Shetland, as well as the general trend towards storminess in the British Isles understood at this time (e.g. Lamb, 1972;Lamb & Frydendahl, 1991;Burbidge et al, 2001;Sommerville, 2007;Bampton et al, 2017). The implications of these bodies of work is that large-scale sand movements occurred from the 13 th century onwards.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Wind-blown sands in coastal regions in the Northern British islands are primarily derived from sandy beaches along their coastlines (e.g. Orford et al, 2000;Dawson et al, 2004;Dawson et al, 2011, Ashmore & Griffiths;2011;Sandweiss & Kelley, 2012;Bampton et al, 2017). These are distinct from 'cover sand' deposits, which are glacial in origin (Sherman et al, 1998, Udo et al, 2008, but the mechanisms responsible for delivering sand to a coastal embayment to form a beach, or indeed what deprives an embayment of sandy material, have rarely been considered.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dynamic beach response to changing storminess of Unst, Shetland: implications for landing places exploited by Norse communities

Preston

Sanderson

Kinnaird

et al. 2019

The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology

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We present major new findings on the stability of Norse landing places on the island of Unst, Shetland using a combination of geomorphology, OSL dating, fetch analysis and sediment transport modelling. Islanders needed reliable access to the sea, and exploited sandy beaches as safe landing places. The persistence of beaches was important for long-term continuity of settlement and could be threatened by stormy conditions. Sediment modelling undertaken on two embayments on Unst, Lunda Wick and Sandwick, reveals major differences in the ability of sandy beaches to reform in these embayments after the onset of persistent stormy conditions; sandy beaches can endure under these conditions at Sandwick, but not at Lunda Wick. OSL dating of blown sands at Lunda Wick reveals a history of sand blow events pointing to large scale depletion of beach material throughout the Little Ice Age (beginning circa 1250 CE). This correlates with known sand blows at Sandwick, but here the beach could be replenished from the nearshore environment, something that was more problematic at Lunda Wick. These findings agree with the emerging picture of increased environment pressure from blown sands on communities throughout the North Atlantic and identifies different models of related beach persistence and change. 'ayr' on sandy beaches. If no ayr or shingle beach was available, fish was either transported wet and dried elsewhere or consumed fresh (Goodlad, 1971). Small Norse boats, such as a faering (4-man boat) were fragile craft, and it was important to have the safest landing places possible, particular in the face of storms, as mentioned by Morrison (1978): ""The extent to which it was felt profitable to push this aspect of Norse design philosophy to its very limits is illustrated by the occasional structural failures that took place in exceptional sea conditions. Undecked fishing boats far out in the open Atlantic often survived only through their sheer speed in making shelter as heavy weather blew up." While these craft may well have been able to withstand rough landings on cobble and rock coasts on occasion, it would have been a more dangerous proposition than a softer landing on sandy beaches.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamic beach response to changing storminess of Unst, Shetland: implications for landing places exploited by Norse communities

Preston

Sanderson

Kinnaird

et al. 2019

The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology

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“…Famine, epidemic disease, falling birth rates, and migration together reduced the population as Scotland by as much as 15%, and of Finland by some 28%. In the Shetland Islands, meanwhile, a sharp increase in the frequency of storms drove major sand incursions into the township of Broo, and encouraged its abandonment in the early 18th century (Bampton, Kelley, Kelley, Jones, & Bigelow, ; Cullen, ; Lappalainen, ; Seppel, ).…”

Section: Dearth and Disaster In The Late Liamentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and society in the 15th to 18th centuries

Degroot

2018

WIREs Climate Change

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Scholars in many disciplines have used diverse methods and sources to establish that, between the 15th and 18th centuries, a “Little Ice Age” considerably cooled Earth's climate. In four particularly chilly periods—the Spörer Minimum, Grindelwald Fluctuation, Maunder Minimum, and Dalton Minimum—falling temperatures both caused and reflected changes in atmospheric circulation that altered regional patterns of precipitation. Many scholars have argued that weather in these cold periods provoked or worsened regional food shortages, famines, rebellions, wars, and outbreaks of epidemic disease, in ways that may have contributed to mass mortality across the early modern world. More recently, some scholars have contrasted the fates of societies or communities that were “vulnerable” to climate change with those that were “resilient” or even consciously or unconsciously adaptive in the face of the Little Ice Age. Overall, research that connects climatic and social histories has suggested that human decisions, political structures, economic arrangements, institutions, and cultures either magnified or mitigated the impact of climate change on the societies of the early modern world. This article is categorized under: Climate, History, Society, Culture > Major Historical Eras

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“…Ad Hoc-AG Boden, 2005). Based on samples taken from all stratigraphic units of each vibracore, grain-size analyses were conducted in the laboratory using the sieving and pipette method according to Köhn (1929) and Barsch et al (2000).…”

Section: Field Methods and Laboratory Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hekelius, 1719;Lamb, 2005;Meier, 2011), as well as by (iii) geoscientific and historical evidence indicating that storms in Europe were especially strong and frequent during the Little Ice Age (c.1300 to 1850; e.g. Foster et al, 1991;Meeker & Mayewski, 2002;Matulla et al, 2008;Clarke & Rendell, 2009;Bampton et al, 2017;Goslin & Clemmensen, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dyke failures in the Province of Groningen (Netherlands) associated with the 1717 Christmas flood: a reconstruction based on geoscientific field data and numerical simulations

Röbke

Oost

Bungenstock

et al. 2020

Netherlands Journal of Geosciences

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The 1717 Christmas flood is one of the most catastrophic storm surges the Frisian coast (Netherlands and Germany) has ever experienced. With more than 13,700 casualties it is the last severe storm surge with a death toll of this order. At the same time, little is known about the hydrodynamic conditions and the morphological effects associated with this storm surge. In this study, 41 potential dyke failures in the Province of Groningen (Netherlands) associated with the 1717 Christmas flood were systematically reconstructed and mapped by using historical maps and literature and by analysing the recent topography in search of typical pothole structures and sediment fans. The dimensions of the sediment fans as derived from the topography show a good accordance with the dimensions documented by vibracore profiles, direct push tests and electrical resistivity tomography data taken at three fieldwork sites. Moreover, the fan dimensions closely agree with the dimensions as simulated using a process-based morphodynamic numerical model for one of the three sites, the village of Wierhuizen. Consequently, the recent topography is still indicative for the locations and dimensions of dyke failures and sediment fans associated with the 1717 Christmas flood. Considering the large number of detected dyke failures (41) and the large dimensions of the potholes and particularly of the sediment fans up to a few hundred metres wide and up to 0.7 m thick, this study proves significant morphological effects of the 1717 Christmas flood on the mainland of the Province of Groningen. Based on the numerical simulation approach and the comparison with field data and field observations, a maximum seaward water level of 5 m NAP for the dyke failure at Wierhuizen during the Christmas flood can be derived. A similar maximum water level is indicated for the two other fieldwork sites Vierhuizen and Kohol, which is in good agreement with the maximum storm surge level of 4.62 m NAP historically documented for the city of Emden located almost 50 km to the east of Wierhuizen. The results of the current study demonstrate that the reconstruction of historical dyke failures based on (i) historical sources, (ii) recent lidar/high-resolution topographical data, (iii) multi-proxy sedimentary field data and (iv) hydro- and morphodynamic numerical simulations is a highly promising approach to derive hydrodynamic conditions and the morphological onshore response of the 1717 Christmas flood in the Province of Groningen. This knowledge is essential to improve our understanding of extreme storm surge dynamics, their influence on the coastal landscape and the associated hazards for the coastal population.

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Little Ice Age catastrophic storms and the destruction of a Shetland Island community

Cited by 17 publications

References 33 publications

Dynamic beach response to changing storminess of Unst, Shetland: implications for landing places exploited by Norse communities

Dynamic beach response to changing storminess of Unst, Shetland: implications for landing places exploited by Norse communities

Climate change and society in the 15th to 18th centuries

Dyke failures in the Province of Groningen (Netherlands) associated with the 1717 Christmas flood: a reconstruction based on geoscientific field data and numerical simulations

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