The last glaciation in Caithness, Scotland: revised till stratigraphy and ice-flow paths indicate multiple ice flow phases

Hall, Adrian M.; Riding, James B.

doi:10.1144/sjg2016-001

Cited by 15 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…MSGLs in Caithness (Hughes et al 2010(Hughes et al , 2014 conform to the main flow paths for the glaciers that laid down the Reay Burn Till (inland ice) and Reisgill Burn Till (Moray Firth ice) (Peach & Horne 1881) ( Fig. 3B), but the multiple events identified from units in both formations demonstrate that these subglacial landforms are composite products of multiple ice flow events following similar paths (Hall & Riding 2016;Hall et al 2016a). Hall et al (2016a) for the last glaciation of Caithness, Orkney and Shetland proposes ice flow both towards the Atlantic shelf edge and into the North Sea basin during three main phases, at 32-28, .…”

Section: Orkney and Caithnessmentioning

confidence: 73%

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Late Pleistocene sediments, landforms and events in Scotland: a review of the terrestrial stratigraphic record

Merritt¹,

Hall

Gordon

et al. 2019

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Socie

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Lithostratigraphical studies coupled with the development of new dating methods has led to significant progress in understanding the Late Pleistocene terrestrial record in Scotland. Systematic analysis and re-evaluation of key localities have provided new insights into the complexity of the event stratigraphy in some regions and the timing of Late Pleistocene environmental changes, but few additional critical sites have been described in the past 25 years. The terrestrial stratigraphic record remains important for understanding the timing, sequence and patterns of glaciation and deglaciation during the last glacial/interglacial cycle. Former interpretations of ice-free areas in peripheral areas during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) are inconsistent with current stratigraphic and dating evidence. Significant challenges remain to determine events and patterns of glaciation during the Early and Middle Devensian, particularly in the context of offshore evidence and ice sheet modelling that indicate significant build-up of ice throughout much of the period. The terrestrial evidence broadly supports recent reconstructions of a highly dynamic and climate-sensitive British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS), which apparently reached its greatest thickness in Scotland between 30 and 27 ka, before the global LGM. A thick (relative to topography) integrated ice sheet reaching the shelf edge with a simple ice-divide structure was replaced after the LGM by a much thinner one comprising multiple dispersion centres and a more complex flow structure.

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Section: Orkney and Caithnessmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…More complex glacial sequences occur in Orkney and Caithness (Hall & Whittington 1989;Gordon 1993a;Hall et al 2011) from which a three-stage glaciation has been proposed recently for the last glacial cycle based on the preservation of stacked till sequences (Hall & Riding 2016;Hall et al 2016a) (Fig. 7A) (Table 3) (section 3.2.2).…”

Section: Orkney and Caithnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Pleistocene sediments, landforms and events in Scotland: a review of the terrestrial stratigraphic record

Merritt¹,

Hall

Gordon

et al. 2019

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Socie

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“…Overprinting of one flowset by another indicates the relative chronology of ice flow trajectories ( Fig. 4), though it does not exclude the possibility that the oldest flowsets identified in this way represent pre-Late Devensian ice flow directions, and some supposed flowsets in areas of thin drift cover may be influenced by underlying rock structure (Hall & Riding 2016;Merritt et al 2017). Using this approach, and incorporating data on erratic transport and offshore landforms, Hughes et al (2014) developed a first-order reconstruction of the stages of ice sheet expansion ( Ice Sheet and Southern Uplands ice dome has resulted in development of an ice divide between SW Scotland and Ireland; at this time the ice margin is inferred to have approached or reached the Atlantic Shelf edge.…”

Section: The Overall Pattern Of Ice-sheet Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Last Scottish Ice Sheet

Ballantyne¹,

Small

2018

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Socie

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The last Scottish Ice Sheet (SIS) expanded from a pre-existing ice cap after ∼35 ka. Highland ice dominated, with subsequent build-up of a Southern Uplands ice mass. The Outer Hebrides, Skye, Mull, the Cairngorms and Shetland supported persistent independent ice centres. Expansion was accompanied by ice-divide migration and switching flow directions. Ice nourished in Scotland reached the Atlantic Shelf break in some sectors but only mid-shelf in others, was confluent with the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet (FIS) in the North Sea Basin, extended into northern England, and fed the Irish Sea Ice Stream and a lobe that reached East Anglia. The timing of maximum extent was diachronous, from ∼30–27 ka on the Atlantic Shelf to ∼22–21 ka in Yorkshire. The SIS buried all mountains, but experienced periods of thickening alternating with drawdown driven by ice streams such as the Minch, the Hebrides and the Moray Firth Ice Streams. Submarine moraine banks indicate oscillating retreat and progressive decoupling of Highland ice from Orkney–Shetland ice. The pattern and timing of separation of the SIS and FIS in the North Sea Basin remain uncertain. Available evidence suggests that by ∼17 ka, much of the Sea of the Hebrides, the Outer Hebrides, Caithness and the coasts of E Scotland were deglaciated. By ∼16 ka, the Solway lowlands, Orkney and Shetland were deglaciated, the SIS and Irish Ice Sheet had separated, the ice margin lay along the western seaboard, nunataks had emerged in Wester Ross, the ice margin lay N of the Cairngorms and the sea had invaded the Tay and Forth estuaries. By ∼15 ka, most of the Southern Uplands, the Firth of Clyde, the Midland Valley and the upper Spey valley were deglaciated, and in NW Scotland ice was retreating from fjords and valleys. By the onset of rapid warming at ∼14.7 ka, much of the remnant SIS was confined within the limits of Younger Dryas glaciation. The SIS, therefore, lost most of its mass during the Dimlington Stade. It is uncertain whether fragments of the SIS persisted on high ground throughout the Lateglacial Interstade.

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“…Striated and till:covered inter:tidal rock platforms also occur (Merritt . 2003;Hall & Riding 2016).…”

Section: Middle and Late Pleistocenementioning

confidence: 99%

Quaternary sea level change in Scotland

Smith¹,

Barlow²,

Bradley³

et al. 2018

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Socie

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The last glaciation in Caithness, Scotland: revised till stratigraphy and ice-flow paths indicate multiple ice flow phases

Abstract: 3

Cited by 15 publications

References 79 publications

Late Pleistocene sediments, landforms and events in Scotland: a review of the terrestrial stratigraphic record

Late Pleistocene sediments, landforms and events in Scotland: a review of the terrestrial stratigraphic record

The Last Scottish Ice Sheet

Quaternary sea level change in Scotland

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