Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T07:21:16.566Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sedimentology, stratigraphy, and glacier dynamics, western scottish Highlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Nicholas R. Golledge
Nicholas R. Golledge*
Affiliation:
British Geological Survey, Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3LA, UK School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JW, UK
*
*British Geological Survey, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3LA, UK.E-mail address:n.golledge@bgs.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Glacial sediments of the western Scottish Highlands are comprehensively described and characterized here for the first time, enabling the first glacial stratigraphy for the area to be proposed. This classification is based on the results of extensive geological mapping and field investigation of sedimentary sequences and their structures, X-ray diffraction and particle size distribution analyses, and comparison with deposits formed in contemporary glaciated environments. These new data are subsequently appraised in terms of their implications for late Pleistocene glacier evolution and dynamics. Together, the data suggest that much of the landscape is palimpsest, and can be attributed to the Weichselian (Late Devensian) glaciation. Subsequent glacier advance during the Younger Dryas did little to modify the area, suggesting that ice flow was dominated by sliding on a meltwater-lubricated rigid bed, with deformation of basal sediments playing a more limited role. Final deglaciation was marked by a significant increase in basal meltwater flux, reflecting the warming climate and increasing precipitation. These new palaeoglaciological and palaeoenvironmental insights advance our understanding of former glacier dynamics in the western Scottish Highlands, improve our knowledge of Pleistocene landscape evolution of this area, and enable comparisons to be made with sedimentary sequences elsewhere.

Keywords

Late WeichselianYounger DryasBritish Ice SheetStratigraphyGlacier dynamicsPalaeoglaciologyScotland
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 68 , Issue 1 , July 2007 , pp. 79 - 95
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agassiz, L. (1841). On glaciers, and the evidence of their having once existed in Scotland, Ireland, and England. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, 3, 327–332.Google Scholar
Alley, R.B. (2000). The Younger Dryas cold interval as viewed from central Greenland. Quaternary Science Reviews, 19, 213–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alley, R.B., MacAyeal, D.R.(1994). Ice-rafted debris associated with binge purge oscillations of the Laurentide Ice-Sheet. Paleoceanography, 9, 503–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alley, R.B., Cuffey, K.M., Evenson, E.B., Strasser, J.C., Lawson, D.E., Larson, G.J.(1997). How glaciers entrain and transport basal sediment: physical constraints. Quaternary Science Reviews, 16, 1017–1038.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, J.B., Shipp, S.S., Lowe, A.L., Wellner, J.S., Mosola, A.B.(2002). The Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum and its subsequent retreat history: a review. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21, 49–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ballantyne, C.K. (1997). The periglacial geomorphology of Scotland. In: Gordon, J. E. (Ed.), Reflections on the Ice Age in Scotland: an Update on Quaternary Studies.. Glasgow: Scottish Association of Geography Teachers and Scottish Natural Heritage, pp. 166–178.Google Scholar
Barnard, P.L., Owen, L.A., Finkel, R.C.(2006). Quaternary fans and terraces in the Khumbu Himal south of Mount Everest: their characteristics, age and formation. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 163, 383–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benn, D.I. (1994). Fluted moraine formation and till genesis below a temperate valley glacier—Slettmarkbreen, Jotunheimen, southern Norway. Sedimentology, 41, 279–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benn, D.I., Ballantyne, C.K.(2005). Palaeoclimatic reconstruction from Loch Lomond Readvance glaciers in the West Drumochter Hills, Scotland. Journal of Quaternary Science, 20, 577–592.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benn, D.I., Evans, D.J.A.(1996). The interpretation and classification of subglacially deformed materials. Quaternary Science Reviews, 15, 23–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benn, D.I., Lukas, S.(2006). Younger Dryas glacial landsystems in western Scotland: possible modern analogues and palaeoclimatic implications. Quaternary Science Reviews, 25, 2390–2408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benn, D.I., Lowe, J.J., Walker, M.J.C.(1992). Glacier response to climatic change during the Loch Lomond Stadial and early Flandrian: geomorphological and palynological evidence from the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Journal of Quaternary Science, 7, 125–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charlesworth, J.K. (1955). Late-glacial history of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 62, 769–928.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christoffersen, P., Tulaczyk, S.(2003). Signature of palaeo-ice-stream stagnation: till consolidation induced by basal freeze-on. Boreas, 32, 114–129.Google Scholar
Clapperton, C.M. (1997). Greenland ice cores and North Atlantic sediments: implications for the last glaciation in Scotland. Gordon, J.E. Reflections on the ice age in Scotland: an update on Quaternary Studies Scottish Association of Geography Teachers and Scottish Natural Heritage, 45–58.Google Scholar
Clark, C.D. (1997). Reconstructing the evolutionary dynamics of former ice sheets using multi-temporal evidence, remote sensing and GIS. Quaternary Science Reviews, 16, 1067–1092.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, C.D., Evans, D.J.A., Khatwa, A., Bradwell, T., Jordan, C.J., Marsh, S.H., Mitchell, W.A., Bateman, M.D.(2004). Map and GIS database of glacial landforms and features related to the last British Ice Sheet. Boreas, 33, 359–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, L., Mickelson, D.M., Attig, J.W.(1989). Evidence against pervasively deformed bed material beneath rapidly moving lobes of the southern Laurentide Ice-Sheet. Sedimentary Geology, 62, 203–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dansgaard, W., Johnsen, S.J., Clausen, H.B., Dahl-Jensen, D., Gundestrup, N.S., Hammer, C.U., Hvidberg, C.S., Steffensen, J.P., Sveinsbjörnsdottir, A.E., Jouzel, J., Bond, G.(1993). Evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250-kyr ice-core record. Nature, 364, 218–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, D.J.A., Phillips, E.R., Hiemstra, J.F., Auton, C.A.(2006). Subglacial till: formation, sedimentary characteristics and classification. Earth-Science Reviews, 78, 115–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, D.J.A., Clark, C.D., Mitchell, W.A.(2005). The last British Ice Sheet: a review of the evidence utilised in the compilation of the Glacial Map of Britain. Earth-Science Reviews, 70, 253–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eyles, N., Miall, A.D.(1984). Glacial facies. Walker, R.G. Facies Models. Geoscience Canada Reprint Series, no. 1 Geological Association of Canada, 15–38.Google Scholar
Eyles, N., Miall, A.D., Eyles, C.H.(1984). Lithofacies types and vertical profile models—An alternative approach to the description and environmental interpretation of glacial diamict and diamictite sequences—Reply. Sedimentology, 31, 891–898.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fountain, A.G., Walder, J.S.(1998). Water flow through temperate glaciers. Reviews of Geophysics, 36, 299–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geikie, A. (1863). On the glacial drift of Scotland. Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow, 1, 1–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glasser, N.F. (2002). The large roches moutonnées of Upper Deeside. Scottish Geographical Journal, 118, 129–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glasser, N.F., Bennett, M.R.(2004). Glacial erosional landforms: origins and significance for palaeoglaciology. Progress in Physical Geography, 28, 43–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golledge, N.R. (2006). The Loch Lomond Stadial glaciation south of Rannoch Moor: new evidence and palaeoglaciological insights. Scottish Geographical Journal, 122, 326–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golledge, N.R. (2007). An ice cap landsystem for palaeoglaciological reconstructions: characterizing the Younger Dryas in western Scotland. Quaternary Science Reviews, 26, 213–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golledge, N.R., Hubbard, A.(2005). Evaluating Younger Dryas glacier reconstructions in part of the western Scottish Highlands: a combined empirical and theoretical approach. Boreas, 34, 274–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Golledge, N.R., Robinson, R.A.J.(2007). OSL dating of glaciotectonised sand deposits from Coire Chailein: evidence of multiple glacial episodes preserved in an ice sheet core area. p29 of: The Growth, Maximum Extent and Decay of the Last British and Irish Ice Sheets: Abstracts volume.. Quaternary Research Association Annual Discussion Meeting, St. Andrews., Google Scholar
Golledge, N.R., Fabel, D., Everest, J.D., Freeman, S.andBinnie, S.in press.yearFirst cosmogenic 10Be age constraint of the timing of Younger Dryas glaciation and ice cap thickness, western Scottish Highlands.. Journal of Quaternary Science 22.doi:10.1002/jqs.1113.Google Scholar
Hall, A.M., Glasser, N.F.(2003). Reconstructing the basal thermal regime of an ice stream in a landscape of selective linear erosion: Glen Avon, Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland. Boreas, 32, 191–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hendry, M.J., McCready, R.G.L., Gould, W.D.(1984). Distribution, source and evolution of nitrate in a glacial till of southern Alberta, Canada. Journal of Hydrology, 70, 177–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinxman, L.W., Carruther, R.G., MacGregor, M.(1923). The Geology of Corrour and the Moor of Rannoch. Memoir of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. HMSO, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Hodgkins, R. (1997). Glacier hydrology in Svalbard, Norwegian High Arctic. Quaternary Science Reviews, 16, 957–973.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horsfield, B.R. (1983). The deglaciation pattern of the Western Grampians of Scotland. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of East Anglia., Google Scholar
Hubbard, A. (1999). High-resolution modeling of the advance of the Younger Dryas ice sheet and its climate in Scotland. Quaternary Research, 52, 27–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hubbard, A., Hein, A.S., Kaplan, M.R., Hulton, N.R.J., Glasser, N.(2005). A modelling reconstruction of the last glacial maximum ice sheet and its deglaciation in the vicinity of the Northern Patagonian Icefield, South America. Geografiska Annaler, 87A, 375–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutter, K., Olunloyo, V.O.S.(1981). Basal stress concentrations due to abrupt changes in boundary conditions: a cause for high till concentration at the bottom of a glacier. Annals of Glaciology, 2, 29–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Isarin, R.F.B., Renssen, H.(1999). Reconstructing and modelling Late Weichselian climates: the Younger Dryas in Europe as a case study. Earth-Science Reviews, 48, 1–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jansson, P., Hock, R., Schneider, T.(2003). The concept of glacier storage: a review. Journal of Hydrology, 282, 116–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, T. (1998). Empirical testing of Loch Lomond Stadial glacier limits derived from a glaciological model for the Applecross Peninsula, Wester Ross, Scotland. Scottish Geographical Magazine, 114, 164–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleman, J. (1994). Preservation of landforms under ice sheets and ice caps. Geomorphology, 9, 19–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleman, J., Borgstrom, I.(1994). Glacial landforms indicative of a partly frozen bed. Journal of Glaciology, 40, 255–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleman, J., Hättestrand, C.("ttestrand, 1999). Frozen-bed Fennoscandian and Laurentide ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature, 402, 63–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krüger, J. ("ger, 1996). Moraine ridges formed from subglacial frozen-on sediment slabs and their differentiation from push moraines. Boreas, 25, 57–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krüger, J., Kjær, K.H.("ger and Kjær, 1999). A data chart for field description and genetic interpretation of glacial diamicts and associated sediments—With examples from Greenland, Iceland, and Denmark. Boreas, 28, 386–402.Google Scholar
Lagerbäck, R. ("ck, 1992). Dating of Late Quaternary faulting in northern Sweden. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 149, 285–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowe, A.L., Anderson, J.B.(2003). Evidence for abundant subglacial meltwater beneath the paleo-ice sheet in Pine Island Bay, Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology, 49, 125–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lukas, S. (2005a). A test of the englacial thrusting hypothesis of ‘hummocky’ moraine formation: case studies from the northwest Highlands, Scotland. Boreas, 34, 287–307.Google Scholar
Lukas, S. (2005b). Younger Dryas moraines in the NW Highlands of Scotland: genesis, significance and potential modern analogues. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of St. Andrews., Google Scholar
Madgett, P.A. (1975). Re-interpretation of Devensian Till stratigraphy of eastern England. Nature, 253, 105–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madgett, P.A., Catt, J.A.(1978). Petrography, stratigraphy and weathering of Late Pleistocene tills in East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk. Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society, 42, 55–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayle, F.E., Bell, M., Birks, H.H., Brooks, S.J., Coope, G.R., Lowe, J.J., Sheldrick, C., Shijie, L., Turney, C.S.M., Walker, M.J.C.(1999). Climate variations in Britain during the last Glacial–Holocene transition (15.0–11.5 cal ka BP): comparison with the GRIP ice-core record. Journal of the Geological Society, 156, 411–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menzies, J. (1989). Subglacial hydraulic conditions and their possible impact upon subglacial bed formation. Sedimentary Geology, 62, 125–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menzies, J., van der Meer, J.J.M., Rose, J.(2006). Till—As a glacial “tectomict”, its internal architecture, and the development of a “typing” method for till differentiation. Geomorphology, 75, 172–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merritt, J.W., Auton, C.A., Firth, C.R.(1995). Ice-proximal glaciomarine sedimentation and sea-level change in the Inverness area, Scotland—A review of the deglaciation of a major ice stream of the British Late Devensian Ice-Sheet. Quaternary Science Reviews, 14, 289–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, W.A. (1994). Drumlins in ice sheet reconstructions, with reference to the western Pennines, northern England. Sedimentary Geology, 91, 313–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piotrowski, J.A., Tulaczyk, S.(1999). Subglacial conditions under the last ice sheet in northwest Germany: ice-bed separation and enhanced basal sliding?. Quaternary Science Reviews, 18, 737–751.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piotrowski, J.A., Mickelson, D.M., Tulaczyk, S., Krzyszkowski, D., Junge, F.W.(2001). Were deforming subglacial beds beneath past ice sheets really widespread?. Quaternary International, 86, 139–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piotrowski, J.A., Larsen, N.K., Junge, F.W.(2004). Reflections on soft subglacial beds as a mosaic of deforming and stable spots. Quaternary Science Reviews, 23, 993–1000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rattas, M., Kalm, V.(2001). Lithostratigraphy and distribution of tills in the Saadjärve drumlin field, east-central Estonia. Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. Geology, 50, 24–42.Google Scholar
Roberts, D.H., Long, A.J.(2005). Streamlined bedrock terrain and fast ice flow, Jakobshavns Isbrae, West Greenland: implications for ice stream and ice sheet dynamics. Boreas, 34, 25–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sissons, J.B. (1965). Quaternary of Scotland. Craig, G.Y. The Geology of Scotland Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh.467–503.Google Scholar
Stoker, M., Bradwell, T.(2005). The Minch palaeo-ice stream, NW sector of the British-Irish Ice Sheet. Journal of the Geological Society, 162, 425–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugden, D.E. (1977). Reconstruction of the morphology, dynamics, and thermal characteristics of the Laurentide Ice Sheet at its maximum. Arctic And Alpine Research, 9, 21–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutherland, D.G. (1993). South-west Highlands: Introduction. Gordon, J.E., Sutherland, D.G. Quaternary of Scotland. Geological Conservation Review, vol. 6, Scottish Natural Heritage, 307–310.Google Scholar
Thompson, K.S.R..(1972). The last glaciers of Western Perthshire. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of Edinburgh., Google Scholar
Thorp, P.W. (1984). The glacial geomorphology of part of the western Grampians of Scotland with especial reference to the limits of the Loch Lomond Advance. Unpublished PhD thesis. City of London Polytechnic., Google Scholar
Thorp, P.W. (1986). A mountain icefield of Loch Lomond Stadial age, western Grampians, Scotland. Boreas, 15, 83–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorp, P.W. (1987). Late Devensian ice sheet in the western Grampians, Scotland. Journal of Quaternary Science, 2, 103–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorp, P.W. (1991a). Surface profiles and basal shear stresses of outlet glaciers from a Lateglacial mountain ice field in western Scotland. Journal of Glaciology, 37, 77–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorp, P.W. (1991b). The glaciation and glacial deposits of the western Grampians. Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., Rose, J. Glacial Deposits in Great Britain and Ireland Balkema, Rotterdam.137–149.Google Scholar
Van Tatenhove, F.G.M., Fabre, A., Greve, R., Huybrechts, P.(1996). Modelled ice-sheet margins of three Greenland ice-sheet models compared with a geological record from ice marginal deposits in central West Greenland. Annals of Glaciology, 23, 52–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar