Defining the centre of glacio‐isostatic uplift of the last Scottish ice‐sheet: the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, Scottish Highlands

Abstract The Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, Scottish Highlands, represent a series of ice‐dammed lake shorelines produced during the cold climate of the Younger Dryas. It is shown here that each lake shoreline exhibits evidence of glacio‐isostatic tilting associated with the decay of the last (Late Dev...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Quaternary Science
Main Authors: Dawson, Alastair G., Hampton, Shaun, Fretwell, Peter, Harrison, Stephan, Greengrass, Peter
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2002
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Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.712
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjqs.712
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.712
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Summary:Abstract The Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, Scottish Highlands, represent a series of ice‐dammed lake shorelines produced during the cold climate of the Younger Dryas. It is shown here that each lake shoreline exhibits evidence of glacio‐isostatic tilting associated with the decay of the last (Late Devensian) ice sheet. The directions of tilting of the three shorelines (in the quadrant between north and east), are at variance with published glacio‐isostatic uplift isobases based on marine shoreline data that suggest a pattern of decreased uplift towards the northwest. The gradient of shoreline tilting (between 0.11 and 0.14 m km −1 ) is similar to measured regional tilts of a well‐developed marine shoreline (the Main Rock Platform) considered to have been produced in Scotland during the same period of extreme cold climate. Consideration of the ice‐dammed lake shoreline data also points to the former occurrence of two separate episodes of tectonic activity during the Younger Dryas. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.