The deglaciation of the northwest sector of the last British-Irish ice sheet : integrating onshore and offshore data relating to chronology and behaviour
It is now accepted that the last British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) was highly dynamic and drained by numerous fast flowing ice streams. This dynamic nature combined with its maritime location made the BIIS sensitive to the rapid climate change that characterised the Last Glacial Interglacial Transition...
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University of St Andrews
2013
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ftstandrewserep:oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/3410 2023-07-02T03:32:28+02:00 The deglaciation of the northwest sector of the last British-Irish ice sheet : integrating onshore and offshore data relating to chronology and behaviour Small, David Rinterknecht, Vincent Austin, W. E. N. (William E. N.) SAGES 323 2013-03-21T10:44:56Z application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3410 en eng University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews uk.bl.ethos.569024 http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3410 Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ British-Irish Ice Sheet Deglaciation Cosmogenic Ice rafted detritus Provenance Environmental change QE697.S6 Ice sheets--Great Britain Glacial epoch--Great Britain Climatic changes Radioisotopes in glaciology Radioactive dating Geochronometry Thesis Doctoral PhD Doctor of Philosophy 2013 ftstandrewserep 2023-06-13T18:26:00Z It is now accepted that the last British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) was highly dynamic and drained by numerous fast flowing ice streams. This dynamic nature combined with its maritime location made the BIIS sensitive to the rapid climate change that characterised the Last Glacial Interglacial Transition. Gaining an understanding of the behaviour of the BIIS at this time is important to explore the nature of forcing between ice sheets and climate. This thesis presents new chronological data relating to the deglaciation of the northwest sector of the BIIS (NW-BIIS) from onshore dating of moraines using cosmogenic exposure dating. This improved chronological framework is supported by offshore data in the form of a newly constructed Ice Rafted Detritus (IRD) record from the offshore sediment core MD95-2007. These data suggest that deglaciation commenced sometime after 18 ka and that the NW-BIIS was located close to the present day shoreline by 16 ka. Further provenance analysis of the IRD using U-Pb dating of detrital minerals demonstrates that during the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition MD95-2007 was being supplied distal IRD from a source(s) to the west. The absence of diagnostic Scottish material suggests that after retreat to the coastline at 16 ka calving margins were not re-established during Greenland Interstadial 1. By combining these results with existing data relating to the deglaciation of the NW-BIIS it is possible to summarise the deglaciation history of the NW-BIIS from the continental shelf to mountainous source regions and compare this to numerical models of BIIS behaviour during this time. With a better understanding of the chronology of NW-BIIS retreat it is possible to relate the timing of initial deglaciation to possible forcing factors and gain a better understanding of the response of a marine based sector of an ice sheet to rapid climate change. Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Greenland Ice Sheet University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftstandrewserep |
language |
English |
topic |
British-Irish Ice Sheet Deglaciation Cosmogenic Ice rafted detritus Provenance Environmental change QE697.S6 Ice sheets--Great Britain Glacial epoch--Great Britain Climatic changes Radioisotopes in glaciology Radioactive dating Geochronometry |
spellingShingle |
British-Irish Ice Sheet Deglaciation Cosmogenic Ice rafted detritus Provenance Environmental change QE697.S6 Ice sheets--Great Britain Glacial epoch--Great Britain Climatic changes Radioisotopes in glaciology Radioactive dating Geochronometry Small, David The deglaciation of the northwest sector of the last British-Irish ice sheet : integrating onshore and offshore data relating to chronology and behaviour |
topic_facet |
British-Irish Ice Sheet Deglaciation Cosmogenic Ice rafted detritus Provenance Environmental change QE697.S6 Ice sheets--Great Britain Glacial epoch--Great Britain Climatic changes Radioisotopes in glaciology Radioactive dating Geochronometry |
description |
It is now accepted that the last British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) was highly dynamic and drained by numerous fast flowing ice streams. This dynamic nature combined with its maritime location made the BIIS sensitive to the rapid climate change that characterised the Last Glacial Interglacial Transition. Gaining an understanding of the behaviour of the BIIS at this time is important to explore the nature of forcing between ice sheets and climate. This thesis presents new chronological data relating to the deglaciation of the northwest sector of the BIIS (NW-BIIS) from onshore dating of moraines using cosmogenic exposure dating. This improved chronological framework is supported by offshore data in the form of a newly constructed Ice Rafted Detritus (IRD) record from the offshore sediment core MD95-2007. These data suggest that deglaciation commenced sometime after 18 ka and that the NW-BIIS was located close to the present day shoreline by 16 ka. Further provenance analysis of the IRD using U-Pb dating of detrital minerals demonstrates that during the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition MD95-2007 was being supplied distal IRD from a source(s) to the west. The absence of diagnostic Scottish material suggests that after retreat to the coastline at 16 ka calving margins were not re-established during Greenland Interstadial 1. By combining these results with existing data relating to the deglaciation of the NW-BIIS it is possible to summarise the deglaciation history of the NW-BIIS from the continental shelf to mountainous source regions and compare this to numerical models of BIIS behaviour during this time. With a better understanding of the chronology of NW-BIIS retreat it is possible to relate the timing of initial deglaciation to possible forcing factors and gain a better understanding of the response of a marine based sector of an ice sheet to rapid climate change. |
author2 |
Rinterknecht, Vincent Austin, W. E. N. (William E. N.) SAGES |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Small, David |
author_facet |
Small, David |
author_sort |
Small, David |
title |
The deglaciation of the northwest sector of the last British-Irish ice sheet : integrating onshore and offshore data relating to chronology and behaviour |
title_short |
The deglaciation of the northwest sector of the last British-Irish ice sheet : integrating onshore and offshore data relating to chronology and behaviour |
title_full |
The deglaciation of the northwest sector of the last British-Irish ice sheet : integrating onshore and offshore data relating to chronology and behaviour |
title_fullStr |
The deglaciation of the northwest sector of the last British-Irish ice sheet : integrating onshore and offshore data relating to chronology and behaviour |
title_full_unstemmed |
The deglaciation of the northwest sector of the last British-Irish ice sheet : integrating onshore and offshore data relating to chronology and behaviour |
title_sort |
deglaciation of the northwest sector of the last british-irish ice sheet : integrating onshore and offshore data relating to chronology and behaviour |
publisher |
University of St Andrews |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3410 |
op_coverage |
323 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_relation |
uk.bl.ethos.569024 http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3410 |
op_rights |
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ |
_version_ |
1770272039142162432 |