XIX.—The Late-glacial History of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland

1955 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 769-928 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. K. Charlesworth
Keyword(s):  
Late Glacial ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Glacial History ◽  
The West ◽  
Orkney Islands ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Late Glacial Period ◽  
The North ◽  
Moray Firth ◽  
History Of

SynopsisFrom the abounding moraines, drainage features (fig. 21) and other marginal indications an attempt has been made to reconstruct the successive phases of the ice in its retreat into the corries of the Highlands and Islands (Pl. I). Two late-glacial stages are recognised. During the first, the Highland Glaciation, an ice-margin ran from the Orkney Islands across the mouth of the Moray Firth to the Buchan and out to sea north of Aberdeen. Twelve substages (A–L) of retreat, arbitrarily selected, have been traced through the country, except in the Moraineless West where they are unrepresented.At the maximum of the second stage, the Moraine Glaciation, the ice readvanced to the line stage M (beaded line in Pl. I). The retreat from this line, the inner boundary of the Moraineless West and of the 100-foot raised beach (Pl. I), is divided into nine substages (N–V), based upon a consideration of snowlines. Substage N corresponds to the 50-foot raised beach, substage P to an important readvance.The snowline throughout the late-glacial period ran in the west parallel with the meridians and rose eastwards. The disposition of the snowlines for stage M is given in fig. 22, p. 900.The distribution of the ice in the British Isles during the North British, Highland and Moraine Glaciations is represented in fig. 23, p. 923.

Late-glacial deposits at Llyn Dwythwch and Nant Ffrancon, Caernarvonshire

1962 ◽  
Vol 244 (716) ◽  
pp. 459-481 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation History ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Late Glacial Period ◽  
Lacustrine Deposits ◽  
Kettle Hole ◽  
Lycopodium Annotinum ◽  
Northern Distribution ◽  
History Of ◽  
Zone Ii

The stratigraphy of sediments in two lake basins in the Caernarvonshire mountains at 600 and 900 ft. O.D. is described and it is shown that the basal layers were deposited in the Late-glacial Period. The deposits of a third site occupying a kettle-hole in morainic gravels at 1223 ft. O.D. are described and here the Late-glacial Period is not represented. The relation of these sites to the youngest corrie moraines of the district indicates that the latter were formed during the post-Allerod climatic regression (Zone III). The vegetation history of the district was studied by means of pollen analysis of lacustrine deposits from the two first-mentioned sites (above). The vegetation of the Late-glacial Period at first formed tundra (Zone I) in which arctic-alpines, notably Betula , flourished together with species of oceanic and oceanic-northern distribution and calcicolous, eutrophic and moderately thermophilous plants. The spread of juniper scrub preceded the arrival of tree birches, which form ‘park-tundra’ in Zone II at Nant Ffrancon but failed to grow as high as Llyn Dwythwch. The birch ‘ parktundra’ is considered to have covered Britain south of the Forth-Clyde at low altitudes and to have occupied central and eastern Ireland at this time. The climatic deterioration of Zone III is clearly registered by the decline of juniper and tree birch and the local severity of conditions is demonstrated by the increased abundance of the chianophilous fern, Cryptogramma crispa, Lycopodium selago, Saussurea alpina and other montane herbs. The extensive occurrence of solifluxion, augmented by glacier streams, brought down silt and clay into the lakes. The ensuing amelioration in climate and the course of forest development through the Post-glacial Period is briefly traced and the persistence of certain elements of the present mountain flora from the Late-glacial Period demonstrated. A description is given of the spores of Cryptogramma crispa which together with Lycopodium annotinum and Saussurea alpina are new to British Late-glacial records.

Radiocarbon dating and post-glacial vegetational history: Scaleby Moss

1957 ◽  
Vol 147 (928) ◽  
pp. 352-366 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Zone Boundary ◽  
Background Rate ◽  
Late Glacial Period ◽  
The North ◽  
Self Consistent ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Combustion Technique

A proportional gas-counter of about 21. volume, within a castle of 5 tons of zinc, enclosing in turn an anticoincidence shield, has been used to make radiocarbon assays of highly purified carbon dioxide at a pressure of 2 atm. A net contemporary count-rate of 27 counts per minute has been secured with a constant background rate of 25. The chief features of this apparatus and of the combustion technique are briefly indicated. The radiocarbon assays have been employed to provide age determinations from a series of peat samples secured from a dry peat-bog at Scaleby Moss, Cumberland. The whole peat sequence has been pollen-analyzed and each radiocarbon sample is very exactly referred to a major zone boundary in a zone sequence which extends from the Late-glacial period continuously through almost the whole of the Post-glacial period. The dates obtained have been based upon an estimated half-life for radiocarbon of 5568 ± 30 years. The errors of determination are of the order (1 S. D.) of ± 150 years. The results are satisfactorily self-consistent, contiguous samples have closely similar dates, and the whole series of dates follows the stratigraphical sequence. It is shown that at Scaleby Moss the Late-glacial/Post-glacial boundary was about 8300 B. C.; The Boreal/Atlantic boundary at about 5000 B. C., and the Sub-boreal/Sub-atlantic boundary at about 3000 B. C. The other zone datings conform with this sequence. This evidence goes some way to establish the synchroneity of the major zones on both sides of the North Sea and indicates the suitability of the method for resolving this type of Quaternary historical problem.

scholarly journals Local Pleistocene Glaciation and the Level of the Snow Line of Croaghaun Mountain in Achill Island, Co. Mayo, Ireland

1953 ◽  
Vol 2 (14) ◽  
pp. 262-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Farrington
Keyword(s):  
Late Glacial ◽  
Pleistocene Glaciation ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Glacial Period ◽  
Snow Line ◽  
Local Topography ◽  
Achill Island ◽  
Inland Ice ◽  
West Of Ireland

Abstract The group of corries on Croaghaun Mountain on Achill Island is described. The existence of these corries and the absence of any extraneous drift from the mountain is taken as evidence that the inland ice of Co. Mayo did not extend far beyond the present coast. The relation of the corries to the local topography is described, and the effect of the topography on the apparent snow line is discussed. The probable snow line of the main glaciation of the west of Ireland is shown to be in the neighbourhood of 1250 ft. O.D. (384 m.) but may have been as low as 1000 ft. O.D. (305 m.) and that of the Late-glacial period in the neighbourhood of 1750 ft. O.D. (533 m.).

scholarly journals Studies of the post-Glacial History of British vegetation VII. Lake sediments: Pollen diagrams from the bottom deposits of the North Basin of Windermere

1947 ◽  
Vol 233 (596) ◽  
pp. 137-175 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Deep Water ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Birch Wood ◽  
Glacial History ◽  
The North ◽  
Bottom Deposits ◽  
Pollen Diagrams ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Glacial Clay ◽  
History Of

Eight pollen diagrams from cores lying approximately on an east to west transect across the North Basin of Windermere and macroscopic plant remains identified from these cores are described and figured. The marginal cores show a well-developed late-glacial succession of two layers of barren laminated glacial clay, separated by a detritus silt containing plant remains which indicate a cold-temperate birch wood flora; it is suggested that this succession may be correlated with the Upper and Lower Dryas clays separated by the cold-temperate Allerod layer of Continental authors. The post-glacial deposits, which are most completely represented in the deep-water cores, show similar phases of forest history to those already recognized in England and Wales, but the apparent over-representation of Pinus in deep-water deposits and the absence of Fagus and Carpinus introduce complications into any attempt to apply to these deposits the zonation scheme worked out for the East Anglian fenland.

Late-glacial deposits on the chalk of South-East England

1963 ◽  
Vol 246 (730) ◽  
pp. 203-254 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Late Glacial ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Frozen Ground ◽  
North West ◽  
Late Glacial Period ◽  
The North ◽  
Zone Ii ◽  
South East England ◽  
A Minor

Subaerial deposits of the Late-glacial Period ( ca . 12000 to 8300 B. C.) of the Last Glaciation are described at a number of sites in Kent, Surrey and Sussex. The deposits are primarily stratified chalk muds and fine rubbles, produced by frost-shattering and the release of water from melting snow-fields and from frozen ground. The climatic improvement of zone II, or Allerod Oscillation (10000 to 8800 B. C.), is widely reflected stratigraphically by a rendsina soil, containing fragments of wood charcoal, separating two sheets of chalk muds referred to zones I and III. The age of the soil has been confirmed by radiocarbon dating. It is correlated with the Usselo Layer within the Younger Coversands of the Netherlands. There is evidence from two areas, Folkestone and the Medway Valley, that the climate of south-east England became sufficiently cold during zone III to produce fairly intense frost-heaving (cryoturbation). The deposits contain virtually no pollen, but yield a fauna of land Mollusca. Columns of samples were collected from six sections and the assemblages they yielded are presented in the form of histograms, showing the changing vertical abundance of each species. The fauna is a remarkable mixture of diverse zoogeographical elements; its relations are with the Alpine area rather than with the Arctic. The ecological and climatic significance of the changes in the assemblages is discussed. During zone II, the assemblages increase in variety and certain relatively thermophilous species were able to spread widely, most notably the West European and Alpine snail Abida secale . The climate of zone III was probably more humid than that of zone I, and also less cold. In Sussex, due to the proximity of the open sea to the south-west, the climate of zone I may have been relatively milder than in Kent and Surrey; this is suggested by the appearance of thermophilous species perhaps 1000 years before their general expansion on the North Downs. Evidence is put forward from several sites for a minor climatic oscillation within zone I ; this is equated with the Bolling Oscillation (zone I b ) of north-west Europe. The Late-glacial Period is the last for which there is evidence of active erosion in the Chalk landscape.

Radiocarbon dating and post-glacial vegetational history: Scaleby Moss

1957 ◽  
Vol 243 (1233) ◽  
pp. 289-289
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Zone Boundary ◽  
Background Rate ◽  
Late Glacial Period ◽  
The North ◽  
Self Consistent ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Combustion Technique

A proportional gas-counter of about 2 1. volume, within a castle of 5 tons of zinc, enclosing in turn an anticoincidence shield, has been used to make radiocarbon assays of highly purified carbon dioxide at a pressure of 2 atm. A net contemporary count-rate of twenty-seven counts per minute has been secured with a constant background rate of twenty-five. The chief features of this apparatus and of the combustion technique are briefly indicated. The radiocarbon assays have been employed to provide age determinations from a series of peat samples secured from a dry peat-bog at Scaleby Moss, Cumberland. The whole peat sequence has been pollen-analyzed and each radiocarbon sample is very exactly referred to a major zone boundary in a zone sequence which extends from the Late-glacial period continuously through almost the whole of the Post-glacial period. The dates obtained have been based upon an estimated half-life for radiocarbon of 5568 ± 30 years. The errors of determination are of the order (1 standard deviation) of ± 150 years. The results are satisfactorily self-consistent, contiguous samples have closely similar dates, and the whole series of dates follows the stratigraphical sequence. It is shown that at Scaleby Moss the Late-glacial/Post-glacial boundary was about 8300B. C., the Boreal/Atlantic boundary at about 5000 B. C., and the Sub-boreal/Sub-atlantic boundary at about 3000 B. C. The other zone datings conform with this sequence. This evidence goes some way to establish the synchroneity of the major zones on both sides of the North Sea and indicates the suitability of the method for resolving this type of quater­nary historical problem.

scholarly journals Local Pleistocene Glaciation and the Level of the Snow Line of Croaghaun Mountain in Achill Island, Co. Mayo, Ireland

1953 ◽  
Vol 2 (14) ◽  
pp. 262-267
Author(s):  
A. Farrington
Keyword(s):  
Late Glacial ◽  
Pleistocene Glaciation ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Glacial Period ◽  
Snow Line ◽  
Local Topography ◽  
Achill Island ◽  
Inland Ice ◽  
West Of Ireland

AbstractThe group of corries on Croaghaun Mountain on Achill Island is described. The existence of these corries and the absence of any extraneous drift from the mountain is taken as evidence that the inland ice of Co. Mayo did not extend far beyond the present coast. The relation of the corries to the local topography is described, and the effect of the topography on the apparent snow line is discussed. The probable snow line of the main glaciation of the west of Ireland is shown to be in the neighbourhood of 1250 ft. O.D. (384 m.) but may have been as low as 1000 ft. O.D. (305 m.) and that of the Late-glacial period in the neighbourhood of 1750 ft. O.D. (533 m.).

Holocene vegetation history in Romanian Subcarpathians

2009 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioan Tantau ◽  
Maurice Reille ◽  
Jacques-Louis de Beaulieu ◽  
Sorina Farcas ◽  
Simon Brewer
Keyword(s):  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Vegetation History ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Fast Response ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Climatic Warming ◽  
Peat Core ◽  
Late Glacial Period ◽  
History Of

AbstractPollen analysis from a peat core 7.0 m in length, taken from a bog near Bisoca, in a mid-altitude area of the Buzăului Subcarpathian mountains, is used to reconstruct the postglacial vegetation history of the region. The vegetation record, which is supported by twelve 14C dates, starts at the end of the Late Glacial period. At the Late Glacial/Holocene transition, open vegetation was replaced by forest, suggesting a fast response to climatic warming. The Holocene began with the expansion of Betula, Pinus and Ulmus, followed, after 11,000 cal yr BP, by Fraxinus, Quercus, Tilia and Picea. The rapid expansion of these taxa may be due to their existence in the area during the Late Glacial period. At ca. 9200 cal yr BP, Corylus expanded, reaching a maximum after 7600 cal yr BP. The establishment of Carpinus occurred at ca. 7200 cal yr BP, with a maximum at ca. 5700 cal yr BP. Fagus pollen is regularly recorded after 7800 cal yr BP and became dominant at ca. 2000 cal yr BP. The first indications of human activities appear around 3800 cal yr BP.

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