Ice‐sheet deglaciation and Loch Lomond Readvance in the eastern Cairngorms: implications of a Lateglacial sediment record from Glen Builg

Abstract We present new lithostratigraphic, pollen‐stratigraphic and tephrochronological data obtained from a sediment sequence in a small lake basin in Glen Builg, eastern Cairngorms, with mapping of the surrounding glacial geomorphological features. The collective evidence indicates that basin org...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Quaternary Science
Main Authors: Carter‐Champion, Alice, Abrook, Ashley M., Pike, Joshua H., Matthews, Ian P., Palmer, Adrian P., Lowe, J. John
Other Authors: Natural Environment Research Council
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2022
Subjects:
Greenland
Loch Lomond
glacier
Ice Sheet
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3448
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.3448
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/jqs.3448
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Summary:Abstract We present new lithostratigraphic, pollen‐stratigraphic and tephrochronological data obtained from a sediment sequence in a small lake basin in Glen Builg, eastern Cairngorms, with mapping of the surrounding glacial geomorphological features. The collective evidence indicates that basin organic sediment accumulation started during the Windermere Interstadial at ~14.3 ka. The new results reaffirm the conclusions of Clapperton et al. (1975), that any occupation of the eastern Cairngorms by Loch Lomond (‘Younger Dryas’) Stadial glacier ice was spatially restricted. The record also suggests that harsh climatic conditions prevailed throughout the Windermere Interstadial, probably due to the relatively high altitude of the site (~460 m) and its proximity to major Cairngorm peaks. Our new, more comprehensive study provides a robust chronology, and reveals several palaeoenvironmental signals congruent with other recently reported Scottish Highlands records. Key similarities with regional records are: (i) a short climatic reversal corresponding to GI‐1d in the Greenland stratotype sequence; (ii) a two‐phased Loch Lomond Stadial, with a transition around the Vedde Ash, dating to ~12.1 ka; and (iii) a delayed response to Early Holocene climatic warming of ~250 years, before soils were sufficiently stabilised to permit shrub vegetation establishment.

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