What is the shelf-edge margin of the British-Irish Ice Sheet? | How do we know the British-Irish Ice Sheet reached the shelf edge? | How did the British-Irish Ice Sheet retreat from the shelf edge? | Why do we study shelf-edge margins of the British-Irish Ice Sheet?
What is the shelf-edge margin of the British-Irish Ice Sheet?
At its maximum extent, around 27,000 years ago1, the British-Irish Ice Sheet covered most of Britain, all of Ireland, and extended all the way to the edge of the continental shelf2. The continental shelf is the shallow part of the ocean that surrounds most land, before the continental slope drops into the deep oceans. Around Britain and Ireland, this continental shelf extends 100-150 km from the present-day coastline. It is generally shallower than 120 m below present-day sea level. The maximum extent of the British-Irish Ice Sheet, crossing over the continental shelf, is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 2 shows a cross-section that runs from the northwest to the southeast from the deep ocean of the Rockall Trough through to the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. The ice sheet margin is located at the shelf edge because in deeper water, the ice floats and becomes an ice shelf. Thick ice, which built up in the accumulation zones of the Outer Hebrides and Scottish domes1, spread out across the flat topography of the continental shelf to reach the margin when the ice sheet was at its greatest volume.
How do we know the British-Irish Ice Sheet reached the shelf edge?
Evidence for the ice sheet reaching the shelf edge comes from marine geological surveys. These geophysical surveys tell us the shape of the seabed, and the pattern of sediment layers under the seabed. Such surveys reveal glacial geomorphology all over the continental shelf, right out to the shelf edge3. At the shelf edge, large trough-mouth fans are present (Figure 3), which tell us that large volumes of sediment were carried to the shelf edge by ice, then tipped over the side and down the continental slope. The style of these fans, the type of glacial geomorphology, and the depth of the shelf edge, tell us that the British-Irish Ice Sheet ended in the ocean. This means the British-Irish Ice Sheet was marine-based, much like the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is today.
How did the British-Irish Ice Sheet retreat from the shelf edge?
Along the shelf edge, the British-Irish Ice Sheet had numerous ice streams (Figure 4). These ice streams moved vast amounts of ice rapidly from the accumulation zone of the ice sheet out to the shelf edge. Ice streams are vulnerable to rapid retreat when they are marine-terminating, a process known as marine ice sheet instability. This instability can cause rapid, irreversible retreat, and is suggested to have caused the demise of the Minch Ice Stream4. The removal of ice shelves and retreat of ice streams can cause a debuttressing effect5, which caused the retreat of the ice sheet between the ice streams. De Geer moraines are moraines that form underwater, and are present on the continental shelf north of Scotland (Figure 5). These moraines tell us that the sectors of ice between the ice streams, known as interstreams, retreated more slowly as sea level rose3, as ice from the accumulation zones flowed more slowly out to an ice margin, which was calving icebergs straight into the sea1.
Why do we study shelf-edge margins of the British-Irish Ice Sheet?
The marine ice sheet instability theory could mean that present day, marine-based ice sheets, such as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, may retreat rapidly4. That means studying past marine-based ice sheets, such as the British-Irish Ice Sheet, becomes important to understand what may happen in the future. Theories on the effect of marine ice sheet instability can be tested using models based on actual ice sheet data, such as in the Minch Ice Stream4. These models tell us that ice streams may be vulnerable to marine ice sheet instability6, but interstream areas may be more dependent on calving, and topography beneath the ice sheet, and less susceptible to runaway retreat1,3.