Extent of the last ice sheet in northern Scotland tested with cosmogenic Be-10 exposure ages

The extent of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) in northern Scotland is disputed. A restricted ice sheet model holds that at the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ca. 23-19 ka) the BIIS terminated on land in northern Scotland, leaving Buchan, Caithness and the Orkney Islands ice-free. An alter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Quaternary Science
Main Authors: Phillips, William M., Hall, Adrian M., Ballantyne, Colin Kerr, Binnie, Steven, Kubik, Peter W, Freeman, Stewart
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2008
Subjects:
Scotland
last ice sheet
Be-10 exposure dating
deglaciation chronology
ET-AL. 2002
GLACIAL MAXIMUM
GREAT-BRITAIN
SCOTTISH PERSPECTIVE
NORTHWEST SCOTLAND
OUTER HEBRIDES
IRELAND
SEA
DEGLACIATION
STREAM
Buchan
Ice Sheet
Online Access:https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/extent-of-the-last-ice-sheet-in-northern-scotland-tested-with-cosmogenic-be10-exposure-ages(ea492438-007d-477e-a5b6-05754d800273).html
https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.1161
Description
Summary:The extent of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) in northern Scotland is disputed. A restricted ice sheet model holds that at the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ca. 23-19 ka) the BIIS terminated on land in northern Scotland, leaving Buchan, Caithness and the Orkney Islands ice-free. An alternative model implies that these three areas were ice-covered at the LGM, with the BIIS extending offshore onto the adjacent shelves. We test the two models using cosmogenic Be-10 surface exposure dating of erratic boulders and glacially eroded bedrock from the three areas. Our results indicate that the last BIIS covered all of northern Scotland during the LGM, but that widespread deglaciation of Caithness and Orkney occurred prior to rapid warming at ca. 14.5 ka. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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