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

Merritt, J.W.; Hall, Adrian M.; Gordon, John E.; Connell, E. Rodger

doi:10.1017/s1755691018000890

Cited by 19 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 258 publications

(1,017 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Following sections considering chronological framework, terminology, dating calibration and the history of ideas concerning the SIS, we first outline current understanding of the pattern of ice-sheet expansion, then the nature of ice-sheet retreat and associated readvance episodes. Details of the stratigraphy associated with these events are given in the reviews by Merritt et al (2018) and Stewart et al (2018) in this volume, and are considered here only where essential. This review concludes with the demise, or near-demise, of the SIS during the Lateglacial Interstade (∼14.7–12.9 ka); later glacial events, during the Younger Dryas Stade, are reviewed by Golledge (2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Last Scottish Ice Sheet

Ballantyne¹,

Small

2018

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Socie

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Last Scottish Ice Sheet

Ballantyne¹,

Small

2018

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Socie

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…2012, 2018a; Bradwell & Stoker 2015; Ballantyne & Small 2018; Merritt et al . 2019). Progress in understanding the pattern of deglaciation of the last BIIS and its responses to climate factors and sea-level changes has allowed insights into the coupling of ice-sheet dynamics, ocean processes, climate, the rheology of the upper mantle, glacio-isostatic adjustment and RSL change (Milne et al .…”

Section: The Gcr and The Scientific Importance Of Quaternary Depositsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the terrestrial evidence represents only a small, and often discontinuous, part of the ice-sheet footprint, it is relatively accessible (Merritt et al . 2019). The formation and evolution of subglacial bedforms, such as drumlins and megascale glacial lineations (MSGLs), underpin the understanding of glacier processes and provide key boundary conditions for modelling past, present and future ice sheet evolution and their interplay with sea level (Barchyn et al .…”

Section: The Gcr and The Scientific Importance Of Quaternary Depositsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An unresolved question is how best to protect the potentially large number of reference sites for lithostratigraphy (Merritt et al . 2019). Several potential new sites representing Lateglacial and Holocene vegetation history include Tynaspirit West (Walker & Lowe 2017), Clettnadal (Shetland) (Whittington et al .…”

Section: Assessment Of Progress In Auditing Key Sites For Quaternary mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Advances in Quaternary studies and geomorphology in Scotland: implications for geoconservation

Gordon¹,

Brazier

Hansom³

et al. 2019

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Socie

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Quaternary deposits and landforms are an integral component of Scotland's geodiversity and natural heritage with intrinsic, scientific, educational, cultural, aesthetic and ecological values. Their conservation is founded on the assessment and safeguard of key protected areas principally for their scientific values. The evaluation of site networks for Quaternary deposits and landforms (including glacial, fluvial, coastal, mass movement, karst and cave features) has evolved since the late 1940s, culminating in the Great Britain Geological Conservation Review (GCR) site assessments undertaken principally between 1977 and the early 1990s. Significant scientific progress since then has arisen, for example, from re-investigation of existing sites and discoveries of new sites, developments in geochronology and the formulation and application of new concepts and models. Both the GCR site lists and the supporting site documentation now require updating in the light of this progress. Today there is greater emphasis on the wider, non-scientific values of geoconservation including, for example, on ecosystem services, links with biodiversity and cultural heritage, geotourism and the benefits for human health and wellbeing through improved understanding of dynamic landscapes, climate change and natural hazards. Involvement of wider public support beyond the geoscience community and fostering better integration of geoheritage within the developing nature conservation agenda, including a land systems approach, protected area planning and management, natural capital and connecting people and nature, will help further to protect our Quaternary geoheritage.

show abstract

“…Recent work in Scotland has been focused on the study of Late Pleistocene (128-12 ka) environments, landforms and sediments (Ballantyne & Small 2018;Merritt et al 2019;Smith et al 2018). Events in the Early (2.588-0.774 Ma) and Middle (774-128 ka) Pleistocene have received much less attention despite the far longer time periods involved.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

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

Cited by 19 publications

References 258 publications

The Last Scottish Ice Sheet

The Last Scottish Ice Sheet

Advances in Quaternary studies and geomorphology in Scotland: implications for geoconservation

Early and Middle Pleistocene environments, landforms and sediments in Scotland

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About