Geomorphology and dynamics of the British-Irish Ice Sheet in western Scotland
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Date
30/06/2014Author
Finlayson, Andrew
Metadata
Abstract
Predicting the long-term behaviour of present-day ice sheets is hampered by the short timescales
of our observations and restricted knowledge of the subglacial environment. Studying palaeoice
sheets can help by revealing the nature and amplitude of past centennial- to millennial-scale
ice sheet change. This thesis uses glacial sediments and landforms to examine the evolution of
the partly marine-based British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) and its bed, in western Scotland. Three
zones of the former BIIS are considered: ranging from a mountain ice cap, to a core area of the
ice sheet, to a peripheral marine-terminating sector. The topography of the subglacial landscape
was an important in
uence on the location of dynamic and stable components of the ice
sheet. At an ice cap scale, zones of glacier inception and retreat were linked to catchment elevation
and size. At the ice sheet scale, the migration of ice divides and thermal boundaries were
focused through corridors of low relief subglacial topography. The main west-east ice divide of
the BIIS in central Scotland migrated by 60 km, 10% of the ice sheet's width, through one
such corridor during the glacial cycle. A major change in the
ow regime of the BIIS in western
Scotland accompanied the development of a marine-based sector on the Malin Shelf. As the
BIIS advanced to the shelf edge, ice
ow was drawn westwards { orthogonal to the earlier, geologically
controlled,
ow pattern. Retreat of the BIIS from the shelf edge occurred at an average
rate of 10 m a-1, but was punctuated by at least one episode of accelerated retreat at 100 m
a-1. In each zone of the BIIS examined, a rich palimpsest landscape is preserved and the role
of earlier glaciations in conditioning or priming the landscape is highlighted. Western Scotland
in particular is dominated by features relating to a 'restricted' mountain ice sheet, suggested
to have been the prevailing ice sheet mode during the Early and Middle Quaternary. Where
the last BIIS was underlain by soft sediments, glacier movement at the bed was facilitated
by a combination of basal sliding and a localised mosaic of shallow deforming spots, allowing
landform and sediment preservation. In places, till deposition was focused over permeable substrates
acting to seal the bed, promote lower e ective pressures, and enhance motion by basal
sliding. The modern land surface in western Scotland provides an approximation for the relief
of the former glacier bed, and can be used for conceptual palaeoglaciological reconstructions.
Areas of focused postglacial deposition have, however, obscured parts of the ice sheet bed, with
demonstrable implications for quantitative palaeoglaciological analyses. Methods to improve
the representation of former ice sheet bed in these areas are discussed and may be pertinent
to future palaeo-ice sheet modelling exercises.